Belinda Lee (1935 - 1961)

Born in Budleigh Salterton, Devon, Belinda Lee was signed to a film contract in 1954 by the Rank Studios after being seen performing as a student of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. Often cast in demure roles in her early career, she was able to demonstrate her dramatic abilities, however she found more constant […]

Dorothy Layton (1912 - 2009)

Dorothy Layton (August 13, 1912 – June 4, 2009) was an American film actress of the early 1930s. Born as Dorothy Ann Wannenwetsch in Cincinnati, Ohio, Layton was selected as one of the “WAMPAS Baby Stars” for 1932.  In 1929 she went to California for a short visit and ended up staying; soon dating well-connected Hollywood […]

Dilys Laye (1934 - 2009)

From 1950, Dilys Laye appeared in numerous West End revues, including And So to Bed, Intimacy at 8.30, For Amusement Only and High Spirits. In 1954, she played the first Dulcie in The Boy Friend on Broadway alongside Julie Andrews, with whom she shared a Manhattan flat during the run. At this time she dated […]

Priscilla Lawson (1914 - 1958)

Priscilla Lawson (March 8, 1914 – August 27, 1958), born Priscilla Shortridge, was an American actress best known for her role as Princess Aura in the original Flash Gordon serial (1936). Lawson was a professional model by her early twenties and was named Miss Miami Beach in 1935. This gained her a contract with Universal Studios, […]

Rosina Lawrence (1912 - 1997)

Rosina Lawrence (December 30, 1912 – June 23, 1997) was a Canadian-born American actress, singer, and dancer. She was a native of Ottawa, Ontario. Rosina Lawrence had a short-lived but memorable career in the 1930s before she married in 1939 and retired from entertainment. She is best known for portraying Mary Roberts in Laurel and Hardy’s […]

Frances Langford (1913 - 2005)

Frances Langford grew up in the Mulberry, Florida area, a tiny community near Lakeland. She attended Lakeland High School. Langford originally trained as an opera singer. While a young girl she required a tonsillectomy that changed her soprano range to a contralto. As a result, she was forced to change her vocal style to a […]

Hope Lange (1933 - 2003)

Hope Lange began working in television in the 1950s with appearances on Kraft Television Theatre, which caught the eye of a Hollywood producer. Lange came to prominence in her first film role in Bus Stop with Marilyn Monroe and Don Murray, whom she married on April 14, 1956. Murray later said that Monroe grew jealous […]

June Lang (1917 - 2005)

June Lang born Winifred June Vlasek in Minneapolis, Minnesota, the daughter of Edith and Clarence Vlasek, she originally trained as a dancer in “kiddie revues” and went to Hollywood at the urging of her mother. She made her film debut in 1931 and caught the eye of Darryl F. Zanuck at 20th Century Fox, gradually securing […]

Jessie Landis (1896 - 1972)

Jessie Landis (November 25, 1896 – February 2, 1972) was an American actress. Jesse Landis was born Jessie Medbury in Chicago, Illinois, to Paul, an orchestra musician, and Ella Medbury. As per Ancestry.com, “Royce” does not appear to have been her middle name by birth; her middle initial is cited as either “J.” or “T”. […]

Elissa Landi (1904 - 1948)

Elissa Landi (December 6, 1904 – October 21, 1948) was an Italian-born actress who was popular in Hollywood films of the 1920s and 1930s. Rumoured to be a descendant of Emperor Franz Joseph of Austria, she was noted for her aristocratic bearing. Born Elisabeth Marie Christine Kühnelt in Venice, Landi was raised in Austria and educated […]

Muriel Landers (1921 - 1977)

Born in Chicago, Muriel Landers began her career as a concert singer before moving to New York to pursue acting. She initially found it difficult to find parts because of her weight (Landers was 5 ft 2 in (1.57 m) and weighed 200 pounds), but found her niche in comedy. In 1951, Landers appeared on […]

Elsa Lanchester (1902 - 1986)

Elsa Lanchester made her film debut in The Scarlet Woman (1925) and in 1928 appeared in three ‘silent shorts’ written for her by H.G. Wells and directed by Ivor Montagu (Bluebottles, Daydreams and The Tonic) in which Laughton made brief appearances. They also appeared together in a 1930 ‘film revue’ entitled Comets, featuring British stage, […]

Carla Laemmle (1909 - 2014)

Carla Laemmle entered films in 1925, as “Carla Laemmle”, in an uncredited role as a ballet dancer in the original silent film version of The Phantom of the Opera (1925) and later had a small role in the early talkie version of Dracula (1931). In that classic film, she portrayed (again uncredited) a bespectacled passenger […]

Karyn Kupcinet (1941 - 1963)

Karyn Kupcinet was born Roberta Lynn Kupcinet in Chicago, Illinois to Irv Kupcinet, a sportswriter for the Chicago Daily Times, and his wife, Esther “Essee” Solomon Kupcinet. She acquired the nickname “Cookie” during her childhood. She made her acting debut at age 13 in the Chicago production of Anniversary Waltz and went on to attend […]

Sylvia Kristel (1952 - 2012)

Sylvia Kristel was born in Utrecht, Netherlands, the elder daughter of an innkeeper, Jean-Nicholas Kristel, and his wife Pietje Hendrika Lamme. In her 2006 autobiography, Nue, she stated that she was sexually abused by an elderly hotel guest when she was nine years old, an experience she otherwise refused to discuss. Her parents divorced when […]

Mary Kornman (1915 - 1973)

Mary Kornman was the daughter of Hal Roach′s still-photo cameraman Eugene Kornman, and his wife, Verna, who appeared in several films. After Peggy Cartwright, who appeared in only four or five Our Gang episodes, Mary became the leading lady of the series, appearing in more than 40 episodes. Kornman was one of the series′ biggest […]

Gail Kobe (1932 - 2013)

Gail Kobe was born Gabriella Joyce Kobe in Hamtramck in Wayne County in southeastern Michigan to Benjamin and Theresa Kobe. She had one sister, Beatrice Kobe Adamski, who predeceased her. Kobe graduated from UCLA earning a fine arts degree in theatre and dance. During the 1950s and 1960s, Kobe made guest appearances on Richard Diamond, Private […]

Barbara Knudson (1927 - 2014)

Barbara Ann Knudson (December 4, 1927 – May 11, 2014) was an American film and television actress with more than forty professional credits, including starring roles in Meet Danny Wilson in 1952, The Cry Baby Killer in 1958, and The Jayhawkers! in 1959. Barbara Knudson was born in Las Vegas, Nevada, on December 4, 1927, to […]

June Knight (1913 - 1987)

June Knight (January 22, 1913 – June 16, 1987) was an American Broadway and film actress. June Knight was born Margaret Rose Valliquietto in Los Angeles in 1913. During the first years of her life, she was in very poor health. She suffered from tuberculosis when she was 4 years old and Doctors told her parents […]

Evalyn Knapp (1906 - 1981)

Evalyn Knapp was born in 1906 in Kansas City, Missouri, as Evelyn Pauline Knapp. She started acting in silent films, her first role being in the 1929 film, At The Dentist’s. She was cast as leading lady in Smart Money in 1931, the only film starring both Edward G. Robinson and James Cagney. In 1932, […]

Manyi Kiss (1911 - 1971)

Manyi Kiss (12 March 1911 – 24 March 1971) was a Hungarian actress. Born in Magyarlona, she acted from 1926 in Cluj, Romania, from 1928 in Miskolc and then between 1929 and 1932 in Szeged, Hungary. From the beginning of her career she possessed a natural acting style, an excellent knowledge of dance and ability to […]

Phyllis Kirk (1927 - 2006)

Phyllis Kirk was born in Syracuse, New York, though some sources state her birthplace as Plainfield, New Jersey. She contracted polio as a child, which resulted in health problems for the rest of her life. As a teenager, Kirk moved to New York City to study acting and changed her last name from Kirkegaard to Kirk. […]

Natalie Kingston (1905 - 1991)

Natalie Kingston was born as Natalia Ringstrom in Sonoma County, California, and raised in San Francisco. She was of Spanish and Hungarian descent. She was a great-granddaughter of General Mariano Vallejo, who commanded the army which surrendered California to General John C. Fremont. Her mother was Natalia Haraszthy, granddaughter of Agoston Haraszthy, founder of California’s […]

Loretta King (1917 - 2007)

Loretta King (August 20, 1917 – September 10, 2007) was an American actress, best known for the brevity of her career and her relationship with director Ed Wood. Loretta King was the star of Ed Wood’s 1955 film “Bride of the Monster,” with Bela Lugosi. She played investigative newspaper reporter Janet Lawton. King appeared in […]

Winifred Emms (1883 - 1972)

Winifred Emms was born in New Brighton, a seaside resort in Cheshire, and performed with her father on the beach in a company of minstrels. Winifred Emms adopted the name Hetty King when she first appeared on the stage of the Shoreditch Theatre, at the age of six with her father, William Emms (1856–1954), a comedian […]

Ann Sheridan (1915 - 1967)

Born in Denton, Texas on February 21, 1915, Ann Sheridan was a student at the University of North Texas when her sister sent a photograph of her to Paramount Pictures. She subsequently entered and won a beauty contest, with part of her prize being a bit part in a Paramount film. She abandoned college to […]

Evelyn Keyes (1916 - 2008)

Evelyn Keyes was born in Port Arthur, Texas, to Omar Dow Keyes and Maude Ollive Keyes, the daughter of a Methodist minister. After Omar Keyes died when she was three years old, Keyes moved with her mother to Atlanta, Georgia, where they lived with her grandparents. As a teenager, Keyes took dancing lessons and performed […]

Dr. Nick (1927 - 2016)

Dr. Nick Dr. Nick (George Nichopoulos), died at age 88 in Memphis, Tennessee, according to the Memorial Park Funeral Home and Cemetery. No cause of death was given by the funeral home, which said he died Wednesday. Known as “Dr. Nick,” he treated Elvis Presley for the last decade of his life and was accused […]

Kathleen Key (1903 - 1954)

Kathleen Key was born Kitty Lanahan in Buffalo, New York, she debuted in films in 1920 in the film The Jackeroo of Coolabong, playing a lead role. From that point on to the end of the 1920s, Kathleen Key, sometimes credited as Kathleen Keys, starred in several films, but never really reached stardom, and was […]

Shell Kepler (1958 - 2008)

Shell Kepler (October 5, 1958 – February 1, 2008) was an American television actress best known for her work on General Hospital as “Nurse Amy Vining” from 1979 until 2002. Shell Kepler portrayed busybody nurse Amy Vining, a “fan favorite”, on General Hospital from 1979 to 2002. She also appeared on the General Hospital spinoff […]