Jack Gilford (1907 - 1990)

Jack Gilford was born Jacob Aaron Gellman on the Lower East Side of Manhattan and grew up in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. His parents were Romanian-born Jewish immigrants Sophie “Susksa” (née Jackness), who owned a restaurant, and Aaron Gellman, a furrier. Gilford was the second of three sons, with an older brother Murray (“Moisha”) and a younger […]

Henry Brandon (1912 - 1990)

Henry Brandon (June 8, 1912 – February 15, 1990) was a German-American character actor with an extensive career over 60 years involving more than one hundred films, with an ability at playing a wide diversity of ethnic roles, from European to American, Oriental to American Indians. Born Heinrich von Kleinbach in Berlin, Germany, his parents emigrated […]

Edward Binns (1916 - 1990)

Edward Binns was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. One of the first members of the newly formed Actors Studio, Binns began studying with Elia Kazan in the fall of 1947. After appearing in a number of Broadway plays, Binns began appearing in films in the early 1950s. Some of his notable roles include playing Juror #6 […]

Gary Merrill (1915 - 1990)

Born in Hartford, Connecticut, Gary Merrill attended private Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine, and Trinity College and began acting in 1944, while still in the United States Army Air Forces, in Winged Victory. Before entering films, Merrill’s deep cultured voice won him a recurring role as Batman in the Superman radio series. His film career […]

Ken Lynch (1910 - 1990)

Kenneth E. “Ken” Lynch (July 15, 1910 – February 13, 1990) was a Cleveland, Ohio-born American radio, film, and TV actor credited with more than 180 credits to his name. He was generally known for portraying law enforcement officers and detectives. He may have been best known for his starring role as ‘the Lieutenant’ on […]

Howard Duff (1913 - 1990)

Howard Duff was born in Charleston, now part of Bremerton, Washington. He graduated in 1932 from Roosevelt High School in Seattle, where he began acting in school plays after he was cut from the school basketball team. Thereafter, he worked locally in the theater in Seattle until he entered the United States Army Air Corps […]

Bill Cullen (1920 - 1990)

Cullen was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the only child of William and Lillian Cullen. He survived a childhood bout with polio that left him with significant physical limitations for the rest of his life (see medical history). He also wore spectacles, which became his trademark. Cullen’s broadcasting career began in Pittsburgh at WWSW radio, where he […]

Barbara Baxley (1923 - 1990)

Barbara Baxley (January 1, 1923 – June 7, 1990) was an American actress and singer. Barbara Angie Rose Baxley was born in Porterville, California, the daughter of Emma (née Tyler) and Bert Baxley. A life member of the Actors Studio, Barbara Baxley also studied acting under the tutelage of Sanford Meisner at the prestigious Neighborhood Playhouse School […]

Rusty Hamer (1947 - 1990)

Rusty Hamer in Tenafly, New Jersey, Hamer was the youngest of three sons of Arthur Walter John, Sr., a men’s shirt salesman and Dorothy Hamer (née Chretin), a former silent film actress. He had two elder brothers, John and Walter. As a child, Hamer was nicknamed “Rusty” because of his red hair and freckles. Due […]

Ugo Tognazzi (1922 - 1990)

Ugo Tognazzi was born in Cremona, in northern Italy but spent his youth in various localities as his father was a traveller clerk for an insurance company. After his return to his native city in 1936, he worked in a salami production plant. During World War II, he was inducted into the Army and returned home […]

Edwina Booth (1904 - 1991)

Born Josephine Constance Woodruff, the daughter of a doctor, in Provo, Utah, Edwina Booth’s brief film career began in 1928 with the Dorothy Arzner-directed Manhattan Cocktail. She was on vacation following a 1927 stage appearance when film director E. Mason Hopper saw her and offered her a part in a Marie Prevost picture. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) […]

Sara Seegar (1914 - 1990)

Seegar was born in Greentown, Indiana, the youngest of five sisters. She was schooled in London and Paris but ultimately graduated from Hollywood High School. She received a degree in drama from Los Angeles City College. Following school, Seegar performed on stage in London, starting her career with Three Men on a Horse. She continued performing […]

Frank Tashlin (1913 - 1972)

Frank Tashlin drifted from job to job after dropping out of high school in New Jersey at age 13. In 1930, he started working for Paul Terry as a cartoonist on the Aesop’s Film Fables cartoon series, then worked briefly for Amadee J. Van Beuren, but he was just as much a drifter in his […]

Pert Kelton (1907 - 1968)

Pert Kelton was a young comedienne in A-list movies during the 1930s, often as the leading lady’s wisecracking friend. She had a memorable turn in 1933 as dance hall singer “Trixie” in The Bowery alongside Wallace Beery, George Raft, Jackie Cooper and Fay Wray. Directed by Raoul Walsh, the film depicts Steve Brodie, the first […]

Beatrice Reading (1933 - 1991)

Beatrice Reading was born in Chester, Pennsylvania. Her performing career started at the age of 3, when she was talent-spotted by Bill “Bojangles” Robinson. She appeared in the all-black revue The Jazz Train, in Paris in the spring of 1955 and at the Piccadilly Theatre in London. In this show she had notable success playing the […]

Larry Kert (1930 - 1991)

Born as Frederick Lawrence Kert in Los Angeles, California, Larry Kert graduated from Hollywood High School. From a Shubert Theater Playbill for 1963’s ‘I Can Get It For You Wholesale’, starring Kert: “He attended Los Angeles City College. As a teenager he worked at breaking wild horses to saddle– which led to a teen-age career […]

Walter Chiari (1924 - 1991)

Born in Verona, Walter Chiari achieved a certain degree of international success in films such as The Little Hut (1957), Bonjour Tristesse (1958), Chimes at Midnight (1966), and The Valachi Papers (1972). He appeared opposite Anna Magnani in Luchino Visconti’s film Bellissima (1951). In the late 1950s and ’60s he was one of the main protagonists […]

Thorley Walters (1913 - 1991)

Thorley Walters (12 May 1913 – 6 July 1991) was an English character actor. He is probably best remembered for his comedy film roles such as in Two-Way Stretch and Carlton-Browne of the FO. Walters was born in Teigngrace, Devon, the son of Prebendary T. C. Walters of Silverton, Devon, and great uncle of Michael […]

Berry Kroeger (1912 - 1991)

Berry Kroeger (October 16, 1912 – January 4, 1991) was an American film, television, and stage actor. Born in San Antonio, Texas, Kroeger got his acting start on radio as an announcer on Suspense and as an actor, playing for a time The Falcon in the radio series Kroeger was a regular as Sam Williams on […]

Bernard Miles (1907 - 1991)

Bernard Miles, Baron Miles of Blackfriars, CBE (27 September 1907 – 14 June 1991) was an English character actor, writer and director. He opened the Mermaid Theatre in London in 1959, the first new theatre opened in the City of London since the 17th century. Miles was born in Uxbridge, Middlesex and attended Bishopshalt School in […]

Jean Rogers (1916 - 1991)

Rogers was born Eleanor Dorothy Lovegren in Belmont, Massachusetts. Her father was an immigrant from Malmö, Sweden. She had hoped to study art. In 1933, though, she won a beauty contest sponsored by Paramount Pictures, which led to her career in Hollywood. Rogers starred in several serials for Universal between 1935 and 1938, including Ace […]

Joan Caulfield (1922 - 1991)

Born Beatrice Joan Caulfield while her family resided in East Orange, New Jersey, she moved to West Orange during childhood but continued attending Miss Beard’s School in Orange, New Jersey. During her teenage years, the family moved to New York City where Joan eventually attended Columbia University. Caulfield was the niece of Genevieve Caulfield, who received […]

Gloria Holden (1903 - 1991)

Born in England, Gloria Holden emigrated to the U.S. as a child. Her mother Eska (née Bergmann) was German. She attended school in Wayne, Pennsylvania, and later studied at New York’s American Academy of Dramatic Arts. Holden’s early stage work included small parts in plays such as The Royal Family, in which she spoke four lines […]

Maxine Audley (1923 - 1992)

Maxine Audley was born in London, England on 29 April 1923. Her parents were Henry Julius Hecht and Katherine Arkandy, the coloratura soprano. Audley attended the Westonbirt School in Gloucestershire. She trained for the stage at the Tamara Daykharhanova School in New York and the London Mask Theatre School. Maxine Audley was married four times: […]

Larry Riley (1953 - 1992)

Born in Memphis, Tennessee, Larry Riley began acting in high school before studying drama at Memphis State University. He made his professional stage debut in 1971, and went on to appear in various stage productions on and off-Broadway including A Broadway Musical, Shakespeare’s Cabaret, I Love My Wife, and Big River, a musical based on […]

Dorothy Tree (1906 - 1992)

She was born in Brooklyn, New York, the eldest of three daughters of Herman Triebitz (1877–1943) and Bertha Hert (1885–1967). Her sisters were Sylvia Triebitz (1911–1949) and Mildred “Mimi” Triebitz (1918–?) Her parents were born in Austria, and immigrated to the United States. Their native language was Yiddish. He was the proprietor of a shoe […]

Ben Lessy (1902 - 1992)

Ben Lessy (April 29, 1902 – October 30, 1992) was an American nightclub comedian and television and film actor. He was born in New York City, New York. Lessy was known for a nightclub act done with Patti Moore, the long-time wife of his best friend and agent, Sammy Lewis. They were regulars at Los Angeles nightclubs […]

Daniel Pollock (1968 - 1992)

Daniel John Pollock (24 August 1968 – 13 April 1992) was an Australian actor best known for his role as Davey in the 1992 Australian drama film Romper Stomper, which featured Russell Crowe. Pollock is the son of John and Lucy Pollock. Pollock attended Swinburne Senior Community School in the Melbourne suburb of Hawthorn, Victoria in the […]

Eddie Fontaine (1927 - 1992)

Eddie Fontaine (March 6, 1927 – April 13, 1992) was an American actor and singer, best known for television roles in the 1960s and 1970s. Born Edward Reardon in Springfield, Massachusetts, Fontaine signed as a vocalist with RCA in 1954 after serving in the US Navy. In 1955 he appeared at the Brooklyn Paramount Theater in […]

Ruth Nelson (1905 - 1992)

Born in Saginaw, Michigan, Nelson was the daughter of vaudeville actress Eva Mudge. She attended Immaculate Heart High School in Los Angeles and went on to study at the American Laboratory Theatre in New York City during the early 1920s. Nelson made her New York City stage debut as a member of the theatre collective […]