Joyce Grenfell (1910 - 1979)

Born in Montpelier Square in Knightsbridge, London, Joyce Grenfell was the daughter of architect Paul Phipps (1880–1953), the grandson of Charles Paul Phipps and a second cousin of Ruth Draper. Her mother was an American socialite, Nora Langhorne (1889–1955), one of five daughters of Chiswell Langhorne, an American railway millionaire. Nancy Astor, née Nancy Langhorne, […]

Billy Bletcher (1894 - 1979)

Billy Bletcher appeared on-screen in films and later television from the 1910s to the 1970s, including appearances in several Our Gang and The Three Stooges comedies. He was most famous as a voice actor. His voice was a deep and strong-sounding baritone. Bletcher provided the voices of various characters for Walt Disney Pictures (Black Pete, Short Ghost […]

Derek Royle (1928 - 1990)

Derek Royle (7 September 1928 – 23 January 1990) was a British actor born in London, England. His face was probably better known than his name to British viewers, but he acted in films and TV from the mid-1960s until his death. He had a supporting role in the Beatles’ film Magical Mystery Tour in […]

Vincent Sherman (1906 - 2006)

Vincent Sherman was born Abraham Orovitz, to Jewish parents. He was born and grew up in the small town of Vienna, Georgia, where his father was a dry-goods salesman. Not long after graduating from Oglethorpe University in Atlanta, he became a professional actor. Vincent Sherman arrived in New York to sell a play and soon became […]

Robert Stevenson (1905 - 1986)

Robert Stevenson (31 March 1905 – 30 April 1986) was an English film writer and director. He was educated at Cambridge University where he became the president of both the Liberal Club and the Cambridge Union Society. After directing a number of British films, including King Solomon’s Mines (1937), he was given a contract by David […]

Michael Curtiz (1886 - 1962)

Michael Curtiz was born Manó Kaminer to a Jewish family in Budapest, Hungary (then Austria-Hungary). In 1905 he Hungaricised his name to Mihály Kertész. He claimed to have been born December 24, 1886. Both the date and the year are open to debate: he was fond of telling tall tales about his early life, including […]

Ross Elliott (1917 - 1999)

Ross Elliott (June 18, 1917 – August 12, 1999) was an American television and film character actor. He began his acting career in the Mercury Theatre, where he performed in Orson Welles’ famed radio program, The War of the Worlds. Throughout his career, Ross Elliott appeared in more than 100 television programs, including the recurring role […]

Ernest Lehman (1915 - 2005)

Ernest Lehman was born to a Jewish family in New York City, the son of Gertrude (Thorn) and Paul E. Lehman. He was from a wealthy Jewish Long Island family whose fortunes were seriously affected by the Great Depression. Upon his graduation from College of the City of New York (The City College of New […]

Max Wall (1908 - 1990)

Max Wall was born Maxwell George Lorimer, son of the successful music-hall entertainer Jack (Jock) Lorimer, a Scottish comedy actor from Forfar, known for his songs and dancing, and his wife Stella (born Maud Clara Mitchison). He was born near the Oval, at 37 Glenshaw Mansions, Brixton Road, London SW9. In 1916, during a World […]

Richard Murdoch (1907 - 1990)

Richard Murdoch was educated at Charterhouse School in Surrey, and Pembroke College, Cambridge University. Whilst at university he participated in the Footlights Dramatic Club’s performances. Richard Murdoch’s first appearance in cinema was as an un-credited dancing extra in 1932 film Looking on the Bright Side. In 1937 he was listed among the cast of the “Television […]

Lois Moran (1909 - 1990)

Lois Moran (March 1, 1909 – July 13, 1990) was an American film actress. She was born Lois Darlington Dowling in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and died in Sedona, Arizona. Her career began in 1921, and Moran appeared in a couple of silent movies in the early 1920s. She is probably best known for her role, as Laurel Dallas, […]

Carlos Thompson (1923 - 1990)

Of German Swiss descent, Carlos Thompson played leading roles on stage and in films in Argentina. He went to Hollywood in the 1950s and was typically cast as a European womanizer. His Hollywood films include Flame and the Flesh (1954) with Lana Turner and Pier Angeli, Valley of the Kings (1954), with Robert Taylor and […]

Dolores Faith (1941 - 1990)

She was born Dolores Faith Hedges, July 15, 1941 in Cleveland, Ohio. She was of Hungarian-Italian descent. She lost her hearing at age 4 from an accident but it later returned by age 8. A natural blonde, she died her hair black to better match her olive skin. She graduated from Alexander Hamilton High School in […]

Helene Stanley (1929 - 1929)

Dolores Diane Freymouth (July 17, 1929 – December 27, 1990), better known by the stage name of Helene Stanley, was an American actress and a live model for Cinderella and other Disney characters. Stanley was born in Gary, Indiana. Her parents were Michael Freymouth, who was an acrobat who worked in Europe, and Gerty Freymouth. Around 1953 […]

Freda Jackson (1907 - 1990)

Freda Jackson made her stage debut on 1 January 1934, appearing at the Northampton Repertory Theatre in Sweet Lavender. After two years with the resident company there she first appeared in London on 13 July 1936 in The Sacred Flame at the Q Theatre, afterwards touring with Emlyn Williams in Williams’ play Night Must Fall. […]

Sunset Carson (1920 - 1990)

Born on November 12, 1920 at Gracemont, Oklahoma to Maurice Greely Harrison and Azalee Belle McAdams. He moved to Plainview, Texas as a child (1930 US Census Hale County, Texas). Carson became an accomplished rodeo rider in his youth. For a time he worked in a western show owned by early cowboy actor Tom Mix. […]

Helene Whitney (1914 - 1990)

Helene Whitney (July 4, 1914 – March 28, 1990) was an American actress who appeared in films in the late 1930s and 1940s. She was known as Helene Reynolds after her marriage. Whitney was born Kenyon Fortescue in 1914, but was known as Helene. Through her mother, Grace Fortescue (1883–1979), she was a grandniece (and cousin […]

Art Lund (1915 - 1990)

Arthur Lund was a graduate of Eastern Kentucky University, and received his master’s degree from the United States Naval Academy in aerological engineering. Lund was a high school math teacher in Kentucky who worked as a musician on the side. He left teaching to tour with Jimmy Ray and his band. He originally billed himself as […]

Vanda Godsell (1922 - 1990)

Vanda Godsell (17 November 1922 – 11 April 1990) was an English actress. Hal Erickson writes in Allmovie, “Vanda Godsell specialized in playing disheveled housewives, busybody landladies, and blowsy domestics.” She appeared as Mrs. Weaver in This Sporting Life (1963), Mrs. Pitt in Bitter Harvest (1965), Mrs. Goodge in The Wrong Box (1967)  She was […]

John Merivale (1917 - 1990)

John Herman Merivale (1 December 1917 – 6 February 1990), also known as Jack Merivale, was a Canadian-born British theatre actor, and occasional supporting player in British films. Born in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, John Merivale was the son of English actor Philip Merivale. His stepmother was the renowned English actress Gladys Cooper. Merivale was educated in […]

Valerie French (1928 - 1990)

Born Valerie Harrison in London, she spent her early childhood in Spain, but returned to England to become a student at Malvern Girls’ College. After graduating, she joined the BBC drama department, working in television production before deciding to become an actress, joining the Theatre Royal Repertory Company. She moved into film acting in her […]

Jill Esmond (1908 - 1990)

Esmond was born Jill Esmond Moore in London, the daughter of stage actors Henry V. Esmond and Eva Moore. While her parents toured with theatre companies, Jill Esmond spent her childhood in boarding schools until she decided at the age of 14 to become an actress. She made her stage debut playing Wendy to Gladys […]

Dave Willock (1909 - 1990)

Dave Willock (August 13, 1909 – November 12, 1990) was an American character actor. Willock appeared in 181 films and television series from 1939 to 1989. He is probably most familiar to modern audiences from his performance as Baby Jane Hudson’s father in the opening scenes of the cult classic What Ever Happened to Baby […]

Lotus Long (1909 - 1990)

Lotus Long (July 18, 1909 – September 14, 1990) was an American actress. She was born Lotus Pearl Shibata in New Jersey, to a father of Japanese ancestry and a mother of Hawaiian ancestry. She came to Southern California during the 1920s to act in Hollywood films, and usually portrayed ethnic Asian female characters in […]

Franklyn Seales (1952 - 1990)

Franklyn Vincent Ellison Seales was born on July 15, 1952 in Calliaqua to Francis Seales, a merchant seaman and government employee, and Olive Seales (nee Allen), a homemaker. He was the fifth eldest of eight siblings and second eldest son. Seales was of English, Scottish, African, Portuguese and Native Caribbean descent. He grew up among […]

Raymond Huntley (1904 - 1990)

Born in Birmingham in 1904, Raymond Huntley made his stage debut at the Birmingham Repertory Theatre on 1 April 1922, in A Woman Killed with Kindness. His London debut followed at the Court Theatre on 22 February 1924, in As Far as Thought can Reach. He subsequently inherited the role of Count Dracula from Edmund Blake […]

Athene Seyler (1889 - 1990)

Athene Seyler was educated at Coombe Hill School in Surrey, a progressive co-educational school which disliked petitionary prayer and whose advanced biology classes studied Darwin’s On The Origin of Species. Seyler took part in an anti-blood sports demonstration, during which pupils captured the fox from the local hunt. She was also active in the South Place […]

Ina Balin (1937 - 1990)

Born Ina Rosenberg to a Jewish family in Brooklyn, Ina Balin first appeared on television on The Perry Como Show. She also did summer stock, which led to roles on Broadway, and in 1959, she won the Theatre World Award for her performance in the Broadway comedy, A Majority of One, starring Gertrude Berg and […]

Anne Revere (1903 - 1990)

Born in New York City, Anne Revere was a direct descendant of Boston silversmith and American Revolution hero Paul Revere. Her father, Clinton, was a stockbroker, and she was raised on the Upper West Side and in Westfield, New Jersey. In 1926, she graduated from Wellesley College, then enrolled at the American Laboratory School to […]

Harry Lauter (1914 - 1990)

Harry Lauter was born in White Plains, New York. He came to be a familiar presence in low-budget films, serials (where he was often cast because of his facial resemblance to stuntman Tom Steele, who would double for him), and television programs in the 1950s, though he only once really came close to stardom, as […]