Ruth Cracknell (1925 - 2002)

Cracknell was born in 1925 in Maitland, New South Wales to Charles and Winifred Cracknell. When she was four years old, the family moved to Sydney. She was educated at North Sydney Girls High School and, after graduating, worked at the Ku-ring-gai Council as a clerk. At 17 she was taken to the theatre by […]

Sylvester Weaver (1908 - 2002)

Weaver was born Sylvester Laflin Weaver, Jr. in Los Angeles, California, the son of Eleanor Isabel (née Dixon) and Sylvester Laflin Weaver. He was of Scottish descent (possibly Clan MacFarlane), as well as of Ulster Scots and early New England ancestry. He was a great-great-grandson of Charles Laflin, a gunpowder manufacturer, who came to America […]

Phyllis Calvert (1915 - 2002)

Born Phyllis Hannah Bickle in Chelsea, she trained at the Margaret Morris School of Dancing and performed from the age of ten, gaining her first film role at the age of 12, in The Arcadians (1927), also known as The Land of Heart’s Desire. Calvert performed in repertory theatre and in several films, before making […]

Wolfgang Preiss (1910 - 2002)

Wolfgang Preiss (27 February 1910 – 27 November 2002) was a German theatre, film and television actor. The son of a teacher, Preiss studied philosophy, German and drama in the early 1930s. He also took private acting classes with Hans Schlenck, making his stage début in Munich in 1932. He went to appear in various theatre […]

Spike Milligan (1918 - 2002)

Milligan was born in Ahmednagar, India, on 16 April 1918, the son of an Irish father, Captain Leo Alphonso Milligan, MSM, RA (1890–1969), who was serving in the British Indian Army. His mother, Florence Mary Winifred Kettleband (1893–1990), was English. He spent his childhood in Poona (India) and later in Rangoon, capital of British Burma. […]

Mary Brian (1906 - 2002)

She was born Louise Byrdie Dantzler in Corsicana, Texas, the daughter of Taurrence J. Dantzler (December 1869 – March 18, 1906) and Louise B. (August 12, 1876 – April 3, 1973). Her brother was Taurrence J. Dantzler, Jr. (August 9, 1903 – April 6, 1973). Her father died when she was one month old and the […]

Chuck Traynor (1937 - 2002)

Charles Everett “Chuck” Traynor (August 21, 1937 – July 22, 2002) was an American pornographer. Traynor was a minor figure in the early US East Coast pornographic film industry and appeared in a number of short “loops” in the early 1970s, usually with his then wife, Linda Lovelace. He was the production manager during the production […]

Maurice Denham (1909 - 2002)

Denham was born in Beckenham, Kent, the son of Eleanor Winifred (née Lillico) and Norman Denham. He was educated at Tonbridge School and trained as a lift engineer. Denham eventually became an actor in 1934 and appeared in live television broadcasts as early as 1938, continuing to perform in that medium until 1997. Like fellow […]

Meg Wyllie (1917 - 2002)

Born in Honolulu, Hawaii, she grew up in the Philippines, where her father worked as an engineer in sugar plantations and moved to New York City in the 1940s. In 1960, she was cast as Mrs. Shafer in the episode “The Captain’s Dilemma” of the CBS military sitcom/drama series, Hennesey, starring Jackie Cooper as a United […]

Guy Stockwell (1934 - 2002)

Guy Harry Stockwell (November 16, 1934 – February 6, 2002) was an American actor who appeared in nearly 30 movies and 250 television series episodes. Stockwell was born in Hollywood, California, the son of Nina Olivette (née Elizabeth Margaret Veronica), an actress and dancer, and Harry Bayless Stockwell, or Harry Stockwell, an actor and singer. His […]

Lawrence Dobkin (1919 - 2002)

A former child actor, Dobkin began working in radio to pay for his studies at the Yale University School of Drama. He understudied on Broadway before serving with a radio propaganda unit of the United States Army Air Corps during World War II. When he returned to network radio he was one of five actors […]

Harold Russell (1914 - 2002)

Harold Russell was born in North Sydney, Nova Scotia, Canada and moved to Massachusetts with his family in 1921, after his father’s death in 1920. In 1941, he was so profoundly affected by the December 7 attack on Pearl Harbor that he enlisted in the Army on the following day. While an Army instructor, and training with […]

Michael Elphick (1946 - 2002)

Elphick grew up in Chichester, Sussex, where his family had a butcher’s shop. He was educated at Lancastrian Secondary Modern Boys School in Chichester, where he took part in several school productions including Noah and A Midsummer Night’s Dream. He initially considered joining the Merchant Navy and helped out in his local boatyard during school […]

Cliff Gorman (1936 - 2002)

Cliff Gorman (October 13, 1936 – September 5, 2002) was an American stage and screen actor. He won an Obie award in 1968 for the stage presentation of The Boys in the Band, and went on to reprise his role in the 1970 film version. Gorman was born in New York City, New York, the son […]

Raf Vallone (1916 - 2002)

Raffaele “Raf” Vallone (17 February 1916 – 31 October 2002) was an Italian footballer, actor and an international film star. Born in Tropea, Calabria, the son of a lawyer, Vallone attended Liceo classico Cavour in Turin, and studied Law and Philosophy at the University of Turin and entered his father’s law firm. He played professional Football […]

Dolores Gray (1923 - 2002)

Born as Sylvia Dolores Finkelstein (but known by Sylvia Dolores Vernon growing up) to Barbara Marguerite Gray (born Marguerite Gray) and Harry Vernon Finkelstein (Stage Name Harry Vernon) in Los Angeles, California. Both her mother and father were Vaudeville actors – which is how they met. Gray’s parents divorced when she was a young child. […]

Katrin Cartlidge (1961 - 2002)

Cartlidge was born in London to an English father and a German Jewish refugee mother. She was educated at the Parliament Hill School for Girls in Camden. Her work on Manchevski’s Before the Rain, and on No Man’s Land made her well known in the Balkans and Bosnia-Herzogovina. Sophie, in Mike Leigh’s Naked, was her first […]

John Agar (1921 - 2002)

Agar was born in Chicago, Illinois, the son of Lillian (née Rogers) and John Agar, Sr., a meat packer. He was educated at the Harvard School for Boys in Chicago and Lake Forest Academy in Lake Forest, Illinois. He graduated from Trinity-Pawling Preparatory School in Pawling, New York, but did not attend college. He and […]

Jeff Corey (1914 - 2002)

Jeff Corey was born Arthur Zwerling[citation needed] in Brooklyn, New York, the son of Mary (née Peskin) and Nathan Zwerling. He attended the Feagin School of Dramatic Art and took part in the New York Federal Theatre Project. He worked with Jules Dassin, Elia Kazan, John Randolph and other politically liberal theatrical personalities. Although he […]

Nobu McCarthy (1934 - 2002)

McCarthy was born Nobu Atsumi in Ottawa, Ontario, the daughter of Yuki (née Kano) and Masaji Atsumi, a Japanese fashion designer and diplomatic attache stationed in Canada at the time. She was raised in Japan, where she studied ballet. A modeling career eventually led to a beauty pageant where she won the title of “Miss […]

Dennis Fimple (1940 - 2002)

Dennis Clarke Fimple (November 11, 1940 – August 23, 2002) was an American character actor. He appeared in a variety of TV shows including Here Come the Brides, Petticoat Junction, M*A*S*H, Centennial, Simon & Simon, Sledge Hammer!, Knight Rider, Quantum Leap and ER. He also had roles in films such as Truck Stop Women (1974), […]

Dennis Patrick (1918 - 2002)

Patrick is known for his work in television shows. He made four guest appearances on Perry Mason, three of them as the murder victim: Martin Selkirk in the 1959 episode, “The Case of the Deadly Toy,” Martin Somers in the 1962 episode, “The Case of the Tarnished Trademark,” and golf pro Chick Farley — an […]

Jack Kruschen (1922 - 2002)

Born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Kruschen began his radio career while still in high school, and during the 1940s, he became a staple of West Coast radio drama. He had several roles in programs made especially for the Armed Forces Radio Service (AFRS) broadcast for the benefit of members on active duty in the military in […]

Merlin Santana (1976 - 2002)

Born in Brookyln, New York to parents from the Dominican Republic, Santana’s career in show business began with a push from his parents, who wanted to keep him off the tough streets of New York. He began his career at the age of three as an advertising model for a fast food chain. His first […]

Ted Ross (1934 - 2002)

Theodore “Ted” Ross Roberts (June 30, 1934 – September 3, 2002) was an American actor who was probably best known for his role as the Lion in The Wiz, an all-African American reinterpretation of The Wizard of Oz. He won a Tony Award for the original 1975 Broadway production, and went on to recreate the […]

Hildegard Knef (1925 - 2002)

Hildegard Knef was born in Ulm. Her parents were Hans Theodor and Friede Augustine Knef. Her father, who was a decorated First World War veteran, died of syphilis when she was only six months. Then her mother moved to Berlin and worked in a factory. Knef began studying acting at the age of 14, in […]

Kenneth Tobey (1917 - 2002)

Born in Oakland, California, Tobey was headed for a law career when he first dabbled in acting at the University of California Little Theater. That experience led to a year-and-a-half of study at New York’s Neighborhood Playhouse, where his classmates included fellow University of California at Berkeley alumnus Gregory Peck, Eli Wallach, and Tony Randall. […]

Leo McKern (1920 - 2002)

McKern was born in Sydney, New South Wales, the son of Vera (née Martin) and Norman Walton McKern. He attended Sydney Technical High School. After an accident at the age of 15, he lost his left eye. He first worked as an engineering apprentice, then as an artist, followed by service in the Australian Army […]

Eddie Bracken (1915 - 2002)

Bracken was born in Astoria, Queens, New York, the son of Catherine and Joseph L. Bracken. Bracken performed in vaudeville at the age of nine and gained fame with the Broadway musical Too Many Girls in a role he reprised for the 1940 film adaptation. He had performed in a short film series called The […]

Ted Demme (1963 - 2002)

Demme was born in New York City, the son of Gail (Kern) and Frederick Rogers Demme. He grew up in Rockville Centre on Long Island, New York and attended South Side Senior High School. He graduated from SUNY-Cortland in 1985. His media career likely began with a radio show at WSUC-FM (SUNY-Cortland) in Cortland, New […]