Barbara La Marr (1896 - 1926)

La Marr was born in 1896 as Reatha Dale Watson to William Wallace and Rosana “Rose” Watson in Yakima, Washington (La Marr later claimed she was born in Richmond, Virginia). Her father was an editor for a newspaper, and her mother had a son, Henry, born in 1878, and a daughter, Violet, born in February […]

Florence La Badie (1888 - 1917)

While her film career is well documented, her early life is somewhat clouded in mystery, from who her real parents were to what her birth name actually was. She was adopted daughter of the La Badie family. Joseph E. La Badie, believed to have been born in Canada Montreal, Quebec, and said to have been […]

Vola Vale (1897 - 1970)

She was born Vola Smith in Buffalo, New York. Vale was educated in Chevy Chase, Maryland. She began her career in amateur theatricals in Rochester, New York. Then she played in stock companies for a while.  Her first movie experience was with Biograph, under the tutelage of the great film director D.W. Griffith. After a […]

Carmen Zapata (1927 - 2014)

Carmen Margarita Zapata (July 15, 1927 – January 5, 2014) was an American actress. Zapata was born in New York City to a Mexican father and an Argentine mother.  Zapata made her Broadway debut in the chorus of Oklahoma! in 1946. She appeared in over one hundred movies and shows, including Batman: The Animated Series, […]

Sebastian Cabot (1918 - 1977)

Cabot was born in London, England. At the age of 14, he left school to work in an automotive garage, where he served as chauffeur and valet for British actor Frank Pettingell. Cabot became interested in theater, and after becoming acquainted with other actors and having worked for Pettingell, he joined a repertory company. Cabot […]

Jack La Rue (1902 - 1984)

Jack La Rue (May 3, 1902, New York City, New York – January 11, 1984, Santa Monica, California) was an American film and stage actor.  Born Gaspere Biondolillo, he went from high school to his first acting job, in Otis Skinner’s road company production of Blood and Sand. He performed in Broadway plays from around […]

Pepe Iglesias (1915 - 1991)

Son of Spanish immigrants, he developed his career in his native land of Argentina, before settling in Spain in May 1952. Soon after, he made his debut with the Spanish public through a local radio station in Barcelona. The following year, he appeared Ramon Torrado’s film Que Loco!, alongside Pepe Isbert and Emma Penella. He […]

Douglas Fairbanks Sr. (1883 - 1939)

Fairbanks was born Douglas Elton Thomas Ullman (spelled “Ulman” by Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. in his memoirs) in Denver, Colorado, the son of H. Charles Ullman (born September 15, 1833) and Ella Adelaide (née Marsh; born 1847). He had a half-brother, John Fairbanks, Jr. (born 1873), and a full brother, Robert Payne Ullman (March 13, 1882 […]

Clark Gable (1901 - 1960)

Clark Gable (February 1, 1901 – November 16, 1960) was an American film actor, often referred to as “The King of Hollywood” or just simply as “The King”. Gable began his career as a stage actor and appeared as an extra in silent films between 1924 and 1926, and progressed to supporting roles with a […]

Bruce Cabot (1904 - 1972)

Cabot was born Étienne Pelissier Jacques de Bujac in Carlsbad, New Mexico, to a prominent local lawyer, Colonel Etienne de Bujac, and Julia Armandine Graves, who died shortly after giving birth to him. Leaving the University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee without graduating, Cabot worked at many jobs, including as a sailor, an insurance […]

Dan Dailey (1915 - 1978)

Born in New York City on December 14, 1915, to James J. and Helen Dailey, both born in New York City. He appeared in a minstrel show in 1921, and later appeared in vaudeville before his Broadway debut in 1937 in Babes in Arms. In 1940, he was signed by MGM to make films and, […]

Giorgio Gaber (1939 - 2003)

He was born in Milan into a lower-middle-class family. His father, Guido Gaberscik, was born in Trieste, when the city was still part of Austria-Hungary. The surname Gaberscik is in of Slovene origin (Gaberščik). His mother was from the Veneto region. The two met and married in Veneto and later moved to Milan, where Giorgio […]

Robert Quarry (1925 - 2009)

Quarry was born in Santa Rosa, California, the son of Mable (née Shoemaker) and Paul Quarry, a doctor. His grandmother was an actress. He left school at the age of 14 to pursue a career in radio.  During World War II in November 1943, Quarry joined the United States Army, where he formed a theatrical […]

Henny Backus (1911 - 2004)

Henrietta Kaye was born in Brooklyn March 21, 1911. She studied sculpture at Cooper Union, but she preferred working in the theatre and appeared in Broadway musicals during the 1930s. Working as Henriette Kaye, she was a member of the Federal Theatre Project. Described by The New York Times as “a leggy redhead with a […]

Merle Oberon (1911 - 1979)

Estelle Merle Thompson was born in Bombay, British India on 19 February 1911. According to some sources, her birth name was Estelle Merle O’Brien Thompson. Merle was given “Queenie” as a nickname, in honour of Queen Mary, who visited India along with King George V in 1911.  Over the years, Oberon obscured her parentage. Some […]

Robert Arnold (1931 - 2003)

Actor. He was born in Mansten, Kent, England and died in Brighton, East Sussex, England. He was married to June Brown, British actress, since 1958 until his death in 2003. He is survived by his wife and 6 children. He is best remembered for his role as PC/Det. Con. Swain on the television series “Dixon […]

Marilyn Monroe (1926 - 1962)

Marilyn Monroe Actress. In a career that spanned 16 years, with no acting experience and through the promotion of her sex symbol image, Marilyn became a Hollywood media star and a legend while making 29 movies. She was born in Los Angeles at General Hospital to unmarried Gladys Pearl Monroe Baker. Her father was Charles […]

Sig Arno (1895 - 1975)

Siegfried Arno was born Siegfried Aron in Hamburg, Germany. Before beginning to make films in 1920 he was well known in Germany as a stage comedian. He acted in ninety films in Germany – including G.W. Pabst’s Pandora’s Box with Louise Brooks – playing primarily comic roles, before leaving the country in 1933, due to […]

Gus Arnheim (1897 - 1955)

Armheim’s first recorded for OKeh in 1928-1929, when he signed with Victor in 1929 and stayed through 1933. He signed with Brunswick and recorded through 1937. In 1928-31, Arnheim had an extended engagement at the Cocoanut Grove in Los Angeles. In 1930, when Paul Whiteman finished filming The King of Jazz for Universal, The Rhythm […]

Desi Arnaz (1917 - 1986)

Cuban-American actor, musician, and innovative television producer, best remembered for the hugely popular television sitcom “I Love Lucy” (1951-1957), which he produced and in which he portrayed ‘Ricky Ricardo.’ He was born Desiderio Alberto Arnaz y de Acha III in Santiago, Cuba on March 2, 1917, the son of a wealthy landowner who was also […]

James Arness (1923 - 2011)

James Arness Actor. He is best remembered for his role of ‘Marshall Matt Dillon’ in the long-running television Western “Gunsmoke” (1955 to 1975). Born James King Aurness, his father was a traveling salesman, his mother was a newspaper columnist. He briefly attended Beloit College in Wisconsin before his service with the USA Army during World […]

Robert Armstrong (1890 - 1973)

Born Robert William Armstrong in Saginaw, Michigan, lived in Bay City, Michigan until about 1902 and moved to Seattle, Washington. Armstrong studied to be a lawyer but gave it up to manage his uncle’s touring companies. He attended the University of Washington where he became a member of Delta Tau Delta International Fraternity. In his […]

Henry Armetta (1888 - 1945)

Actor. At the age of 14, he stowed away on a boat to America, performed menial tasks to get by and eventually got a part in a chorus for a New York City stage show. In 1920, he moved to Hollywood and easily found work performing as stereotypical Italian in silent films. He went on […]

George Arliss (1868 - 1946)

Actor. Appearing on stage and in motion pictures, he is best known for his portrayal of famous historical personalities. He began his acting career in 1887 but did not gain his popularity until around 1900-1901 when he appeared with British actress, Mrs Patrick Campbell in London during the stage season. In 1902 he appeared on […]

Pedro Armendariz (1912 - 1963)

Actor. Born in Churubusco, a suburb of Mexico City, and raised in Texas, he studied at California Polytechnic State University where he graduated with an engineering degree. He began his acting career at the stage in Mexico City, entering films there in 1935. During the next years he made 42 Spanish-language films, among them “Maria […]

Victor Argo (1934 - 2004)

Actor. Tough-guy actor who played heavies, hoodlums and detectives in films like “Mean Streets” (1973) with Robert De Niro and Harvey Keitel. The Martin Scorsese “Taxi Driver” (1976)(as the deli owner), “King of New York” (1990) as Roy Bishop with Christopher Walken, David Caruso, Laurence Fishburne, Wesley Snipes, and Steve Buscemi, and “Ghost Dog: The […]

John Arledge (1907 - 1947)

Actor. Born Johnson Lundy Arledge, he performed in vaudeville and on stage, making his big screen debut in “King of Jazz” (1930). A veteran of nearly fifty films, his credits included “Heart Break” (1931),”County Fair” (1937), “Gone With the Wind” (1939), “The Grapes of Wrath” (1940), “Ski Patrol” (1940), “Cheers for Miss Bishop” (1941) and […]

Richard Arlen (1898 - 1976)

Actor. Born Cornelius Richard Van Mattimore, in Charlottesville, Virginia, he served as a pilot in the Royal Canadian Air Force during World War I. While working as a motorcycle messenger for a film laboratory, he was injured in an accident at Paramount Studios in the early 1920s. When he later went to the studio to […]

Roscoe Arbuckle (1887 - 1933)

Legendary Comic-actor. Roscoe Conkling Arbuckle was born on March 24, 1887 in Smith Center, Kansas. His family was poor, constantly struggling and on the move. When he was just a year old, he and his family moved to California. Roscoe grew into an overweight child and local children gave him the nickname of “Fatty” which […]

Allan Arbus (1918 - 2013)

Actor. He is best remembered for his role as psychiatrist Dr. Sidney Freedman on the television series M*A*S*H. Born Allan Franklin Arbus to Jewish parents in New York City, New York, his father was a stockbroker. He developed an interest in acting when he won a part in a play at DeWitt Clinton High School […]