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1-50 of 1,479
- Actress
- Writer
- Producer
Amanda Peet was born and raised in New York City. She is the daughter of Penny (Levy), a social worker, and Charles Peet, a lawyer, and has an older sister. Her father was of mostly English and German ancestry, and her mother was from a Jewish family (from Germany, Russia, and Hungary). Peet's great-grandfathers were politician Samuel Levy and showbiz impresario S.L. Rothafel.
Peet made an unconventional stage debut at the age of three, when she jumped onto the stage during a play. Yet, despite this early start, she later studied acting more as a hobby than anything else. She studied history at Columbia University, where a drama professor convinced her to audition for acting teacher Uta Hagen, with whom she later went on to study for a four-year period. During this time, she participated in the off-Broadway revival of Clifford Odets's "Awake and Sing." She supported herself during the audition phase of her career by working as a waitress and with the residual checks she received from a Skittles candy commercial. Perseverance and hard work paid off, and, in 1995, she was cast in a guest-starring role on the hit series Law & Order (1990).
Her feature film debut came in 1995 with the movie Animal Room (1995). For a while afterward, Amanda continued to find steady work but also found herself appearing in a depressingly large number of indie films that were never picked up for distribution. She did, however, meet her boyfriend Brian Van Holt on the set of indie movie Whipped (2000). Her turn as the ditzy hit-woman with the heart of gold in the hit comedy The Whole Nine Yards (2000), opposite Bruce Willis, took her from supporting role status to leading lady. That same year she was voted one of the 50 Most Beautiful People in the World by "People" Magazine.- Actress
- Soundtrack
Phyllis Logan was born on 11 January 1956 in Paisley, Scotland, UK. She is an actress, known for Secrets & Lies (1996), Another Time, Another Place (1983) and Downton Abbey (2010). She has been married to Kevin McNally since 15 August 2011. They have one child.- Actor
- Producer
- Writer
Marc graduated Girard High School in 1990. Marc played basketball throughout high school and his senior year. Because of his athletic ability, Marc went on full scholarship to Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem North Carolina. After college, he played one year in Europe for the Manchester Giants.
His acting break came when the producers of Eddie (1996) needed a baby-faced kid that could play basketball.- Actress
- Producer
- Additional Crew
Kyle Egan Richards was born in Los Angeles, California to Kathleen Mary Dugan and Kenneth Edwin Richards, a business executive. Ken died in 1998. Kathleen was diagnosed with breast cancer the same year, and passed away in March of 2002. Kyle, like her sister Kim, began acting at a very young age. She made many appearances on Little House on the Prairie (1974) as Alicia Sanderson Edwards.
Kyle has four daughters: Farrah (from her previous marriage to Guraish Aldjufrie), and Alexia, Sophia and Portia from her marriage to real estate agent Mauricio Umansky.- Dawn Lyn made her acting debut at age four in the low-budget, independent Cry Blood, Apache (1970). It wasn't until she was 12 that she discovered she had played a Native American boy in the movie. She was the original Prudence in the pilot for Nanny and the Professor (1970) TV series. By the time the pilot sold at the last minute, Dawn had already been released from her contract and cast as Dodie in My Three Sons (1960), and the producers of "Nanny and the Professor" unsuccessfully sued in an attempt to get her back. She worked steadily, financially supporting her family, until she was in her mid-teens; she says her petite stature began to work against her instead of for her, as it had when she was a child.
Dawn decided to branch out professionally, instead of concentrating on acting, and has done many things over the years, including co-owning a boutique on Pier 39 when she lived in San Francisco. People often ask her if she will act again; her answer is that while she has not actively pursued roles, that door is not closed. - Actress
- Director
- Producer
Olivia Barash began her work in the entertainment industry at the age of five. During her early years of acting, singing and dancing in classic musicals on stage in New York, Olivia starred as "Baby June" in Gypsy with Angela Lansbury. She was the first child actor to win the acclaimed New York Critics Circle Award. Moving to Hollywood to expand her acting experience, Olivia's career took on a new turn in television and feature films. One of her most memorable roles, the controversial character "Sylvia" in Little House On The Prairie, propelled her to receive consideration for an Emmy nomination. That led to the female lead role of "Leila" in the cult film classic, Repo Man. Olivia was then written into the hit T.V. series: Fame. Evolving as an indie film actor, she worked with a range of Hollywood greats including Robert Downey, Jr. and Johnny Depp. In between acting gigs, Depp hired Olivia as the in house promoter of his nightclub, The Viper Room. Crossing over as a songwriter/singer, she signed with Warner Chappell Music, placing her original songs in motion pictures such as Oliver Stone's, The Doors. Now bringing together her diverse experience, she began developing scripts and raising finance for indie films. Barash brought forward her own production company with record producer, Dave Jerden. Original Pixel Cowboys launched Olivia's animated/live action series starring dogs, BarkvilleTV. Jukin Media brought Olivia on board to direct and write content for The Pet Collective and Jukin's first branded content campaign for Mattel. Barash continues to create new content and is getting back in front of the camera.- De Oliveira was born in Toronto, Ontario, to a family of Brazilian origin. She began a modeling career at the age of 14, but she always knew she wanted to be an actress. She studied drama and dance at Rosedale Heights School of the Arts, and once she went to college, she finally acquired an acting agent.
- Actor
- Producer
- Director
Rockmond Dunbar was born on 11 January 1973 in Berkeley, California, USA. He is an actor and producer, known for Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (2005), Sons of Anarchy (2008) and The Family That Preys (2008). He has been married to Maya Dunbar since 8 June 2013. They have two children. He was previously married to Ivy Holmes.- Actress
- Producer
- Writer
Poppy Liu is a bilingual, first generation Chinese American actress born in Xi'An, China and raised between Minnesota and Shanghai.
Poppy began performing at age 4. Her early performance background began with traditional Chinese dance which she performed for 10 years from childhood through early adolescence. At age 14 Poppy moved to Shanghai with her family where she began studying theater. Upon moving to New York Poppy became active in New York's downtown theater and puppetry scenes and founded what would later become a community-centered production company with the mission of centering and uplifting the stories of queer, femme, and migrant communities.
Poppy's entry into film began with a number of collaborations with Chinese American and women indie filmmakers. In 2016 Poppy produced her first narrative short film Names of Women (2017) which she toured around the country speaking at numerous college campuses and conferences. In 2017 Poppy and her collaborators began producing Mercy Mistress (2018), a viral web series based on the memoirs of a Chinese American professional dominatrix in which Poppy stars as the title character Mistress Yin.
In the fall of 2018 Poppy made her network television debut on NBC's New Amsterdam (2018). In 2019 Poppy appeared as a series regular on NBC's Sunnyside (2019) and was recognized as one of 'Fall TV Breakout Stars' by TVLine, and in 2021 Poppy broke out in the critically-acclaimed, award-winning HBO Max series Hacks (2021).- King appeared in several short films before landing guest roles on the CBS procedurals Blue Bloods and Person of Interest. Her big break came in 2012 when she was cast as new surgical intern Cassandra Kopelson on the CW drama Emily Owens, M.D. The series was canceled after a single season in 2013. She later starred in the Amazon Studios comedy pilot The Onion Presents: The News. King also played Wendell Pierce's daughter Abigayle in the independent film Four, released on September 13, 2013. Along with her castmates, she won a Los Angeles Film Festival Award for her role in this movie.
In 2014, King had a recurring role in the ABC drama series Black Box, and was later cast as one of the leads in the Shonda Rhimes' legal thriller How to Get Away with Murder. - Actress
- Soundtrack
As of her debut in South Korean films, Ye-jin Son became one of the stars of Chungmoore, the Korean Hollywood, notably appearing in the beautiful "Drunk on Women and Poetry" by the master Kwan-taek Im. In "April Snow", directed by Jin-ho Hur (2005), she questioned her pure innocent girl image, playing to perfection an ordinary housewife confronted to tragedy and to an unexpected love story.- Actor
- Director
- Producer
Jason Connery has appeared in over 30 films, television movies and series, combined, since his breakthrough role as "Robin Hood" in the UK television series Robin Hood (1984) in 1985.
The son of Sean Connery and Diane Cilento, Connery grew up in London and Scotland. He attended boarding school at Somerset, where he received a half-scholarship for swimming and held the under-16 freestyle record for the south of England. Connery's interest in acting developed while studying at the Gordonstoun School for Boys in the north of Scotland. He started the Inter-House Players Group - wherein two houses combine to put on one play each term. Connery also took on directing duties and directed fellow classmate Prince Edward (aka Prince Edward) in "Hotel Paradiso". Connery was accepted to The Bristol Old Vic Drama School and, one year later, to Perth Repertory Company in Scotland. For six months, he did weekly repertory work, acted, and worked as the assistant stage manager in an effort to earn his Equity card. He worked hard, rehearsing one play by day and performing another by night, learning as much as he could along the way.
His big break came in 1985 when he took over the role of "Robin Hood" in the popular UK television series "Robin of Sherwood" (1984). The role launched him to stardom in England and he remains a cult favorite with the show's passionate fans. He has since had starring roles in feature films including Return of the Thief of Baghdad (1999), Private Moments (2005), Wishmaster 3: Beyond the Gates of Hell (2001), Requiem (2001), Shanghai Noon (2000), Bullet to Beijing (1995), Urban Ghost Story (1998) and Macbeth (1997). He has also starred in television movies (Merlin (1998) and Spymaker: The Secret Life of Ian Fleming (1990)) and series (Smallville (2001), Liberty's Kids (2002) and Shoebox Zoo (2004)).
In 1996, he married actress Mia Sara and they have one son, Dashiell Connery. The couple divorced in 2002. He is most proud of his role as father to Dashiell Quinn Connery, whom he refers to as "the most wonderful person I know". Connery now resides in Los Angeles and spends every bit of free time with his son. Connery feels that, as an actor, he continues to grow because every job is a new and exciting challenge. He credits his mother and father, who inspire him in many ways, for his drive and his ability to survive and persevere in an unpredictable business. He is also inspired by live theatre - an inspirational journey unique to performance, in one moment, with one audience - that will never be duplicated. Most importantly, it is his son who inspires him to be a loving, nurturing human being and to hold close what is dear in life. Through affiliations with Coventry University's new filmmaking facility and the "Independent Filmmakers Group", he is working to educate and support the next generation of filmmakers. He recently wrapped Shoebox Zoo (2004) in the UK after two seasons and has completed three films in America - Hoboken Hollow (2006), The Far Side of Jericho (2006) and Night Skies (2007). After achieving success as an actor for two decades, Connery is working behind the cameras with his recently formed production company, "Unconditional Entertainment". The company, headed by Connery and Ricki Maslar, currently has several projects in development for film and television. "Unconditional" has announced Connery's directorial debut with the film Pandemic (2009).- Actor
- Music Department
- Writer
Suave and handsome Australian actor arrived in Hollywood in the 1950s, and built himself up from a supporting actor into taking the lead in several well-remembered movies. Arguably his most fondly remembered role was that as George (Herbert George Wells), the inventor, in George Pal's spectacular The Time Machine (1960). As the movie finished with George, and his best friend Filby Alan Young seemingly parting forever, both actors were brought back together in 1993 to film a 30-minute epilogue to the original movie! Taylor's virile, matinée idol looks also assisted him in scoring the lead of Mitch Brenner in Alfred Hitchcock's creepy thriller The Birds (1963), the role of Jane Fonda's love interest in Sunday in New York (1963), the title role in John Ford's biopic of Irish playwright Sean O'Casey in Young Cassidy (1965), and a co-starring role in The Train Robbers (1973) with John Wayne. Taylor also appeared as Bette Davis future son-in-law in the well-received film The Catered Affair (1956). He also gave a sterling performance as the German-American Nazi Major trying to fool James Garner in 36 Hours (1964). Later, Taylor made many westerns and action movies during the 1960s and 1970s; however, none of these were much better than "B" pictures and failed to push his star to the next level. Additionally, Taylor was cast as the lead in several TV series including Bearcats! (1971), Masquerade (1983), and Outlaws (1986); however, none of them truly ignited viewer interest, and they were cancelled after only one or two seasons. Most fans would agree that Rod Taylor's last great role was in the wonderful Australian film The Picture Show Man (1977), about a travelling sideshow bringing "moving pictures" to remote towns in the Australian outback.- Actor
- Director
- Writer
Alfonso Arau has had a long and fruitful career both in front of and behind the camera and is one of the most prominent Latino film-makers in Hollywood. He was a drama disciple of Seki Sano--a Japanese teacher, classmate of Lee Strasberg with Konstantin Stanislavski in Russia--and traveled the world from 1964 to 1968 with his one-man show, "Pantomime Happy Madness", after studying with Etienne Decroux and Jacques Lecoq in Paris.
A renowned writer-producer-director-actor in theater and film for more than twenty years, in 1969 he directed his first feature film, El águila descalza (1971), in which he also starred. He has directed many films in Mexico, among them Inspector Calzonzin (1974) and Mojado Power (1981). He has received six Arieles--the Mexican equivalent of the Oscar--and numerous international film awards.
Arau has acted in a number of Mexican and Hollywood films, including The Wild Bunch (1969), El Topo (1970), Mojado Power (1981), Used Cars (1980), Romancing the Stone (1984), Three Amigos! (1986) and Committed (2000). In addition to Like Water for Chocolate (1992), his directing credits include A Walk in the Clouds (1995) with Keanu Reeves and Picking Up the Pieces (2000) with Woody Allen. For television he has done The Magnificent Ambersons (2002), based on the script of Orson Welles' film version (The Magnificent Ambersons (1942)) and the novel by Booth Tarkington.- Actor
- Writer
- Producer
Harry Greenwood was born on 11 January 1989 in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. He is an actor and writer, known for The Nightingale (2018), Hacksaw Ridge (2016) and Pacific (2006).- Actor
- Writer
- Producer
Devin Ratray was born on 11 January 1977 in New York City, New York, USA. He is an actor and writer, known for Nebraska (2013), R.I.P.D. (2013) and Masterminds (2015).- After completing a BA in business studies at the University of Strathclyde, in his home city of Glasgow, he went on to train at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art and has worked extensively in theatre film and television in both the UK and the USA Having first come to prominence in Channel 4's cult hit "The Book Group" ,he has since had recurring roles in many well known, much loved and award winning series such as "Happy Valley", " Undercover" ,"The Village", "Frankie", "No Angels" and "Clocking Off" In the US he starred alongside Lily Taylor in Lifetime's 'State of Mind' and is also known for the role of Stuart in series 2 and 3 of ABC's "Ugly Betty"
- Actress
- Producer
- Writer
Feisty, spirited and gutsy red headed actress Sondra Currie has amassed an impressive number of television, film and stage credits to her name - including "Linda Garner," Zach Galifianakis' doting mother, in one of the biggest all-time comedy franchises, "The Hangover" trilogy. "Would a cupcake kill you?" Sondra also recurred as "Ms. Vivian" in Tyler Perry's popular comedy series "Love Thy Neighbor" and starred alongside Barbara Bain and Eileen Grubba in a new film "Take My Hand".
Born and raised in Los Angeles, Sondra grew up in a "show business family." As the daughter of actress, Marie Harmon ("Gunsmoke," "The El Paso Kid," "Night Time in Nevada." "Ladies Courageous"), Sondra grew up with a natural passion for acting and the art of filmmaking. She was discovered in her teens by the legendary producer and director, Howard Hawks ("Sergeant York," "To Have and Have Not," "The Big Sleep," "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes," and "Rio Bravo.") Hawks cast Sondra in her first film, "Rio Lobo" starring the Duke himself, John Wayne. Sondra relates the story of their first meeting, as he extended his hand to the very young actress and said "How do you do, I'm John Wayne"...to which the red faced actress replied "Yes, I know, I'm Sandy Currie!"
Sondra was known for her adventurous spirit and her willingness to take risks in her film roles and choices - including performing her own stunts. She went on to star in numerous features, among them, 1970's cult favorites "Jessi's Girls," "Policewomen" and "Mama's Dirty Girls" and the '80's "Concrete Jungle". She refers to these early projects as "slice and dice" films where she definitely got her degree at the college of human nature. Since then, Sondra has continued her focus on working and training with the best that Hollywood has to offer. Sondra is a lifetime member of the famed Actors Studio, studying under such greats as Martin Landau, Mark Rydell, Lou Antonio and Salome Jens. Sondra also studied under Milton Katselas' as a member of his Master Class for 17 years.
Sondra has guest starred in well over 125 television shows, including "NCIS," "ER," "JAG," "7th Heaven," "Cheers," "Murder She Wrote," "The Golden Girls," multiples of "Three's Company," multiples of "Simon & Simon," "Magnum P.I.," and "Knight Rider." Starring roles in television Movies of the Week include two "Columbo" films, "Kid Cop," "The Secretary," "The Perfect Wife," "Thicker Than Water" and "Alien Nation: Dark Horizon."
Sondra and her husband, renowned producer/director Alan J. Levi, co-own Lumina Pictures and Entertainment LTD. together. Lumina Pictures has several projects in various stages of production, having just completed "Take My Hand." As part of a large, extended entertainment family, Sondra and Alan enjoy incorporating the talents of friends and family members alike in their creative endeavors... including Cherie Currie ("The Runaways"), Marie Currie ("The Narrow Road Of Light"), Robert Hays ("Airplane!") and Jake Hays ("Maudlin Strangers").
Sondra is also very active in Los Angeles area theatre - as an actress, producer and ardent advocate. Her favorite stage credits include "The Vagina Monologues," "Death of a Salesman," "AfterThe Fall," "The Chesterfield Woman" and "Hatful of Rain". She was a founding member of Camelot Artists - now the Katselas Theatre Company - and is a member of the prestigious Theatre West. She considers her mentor, her husband, her luckiest gift of all. "He's the most patient, giving, talented person I've ever known. And, I'm the smartest, I married him!"
Sondra and Alan served on the Board of the California Independent Film Festival together and were Jury Members for the first ten years of the Festival. In 2008 they were honored to be invited to be Jurors of the First International Indie Film Festival in Sapporo, Japan, where Sondra was the sole woman on the panel.
One of her most rewarding endeavors is being a member of SHARE Inc. (Est. 1953). SHARE inc. is a highly visible and successful Los Angeles charity devoted to helping at-risk youth, developmentally disabled and abused and children-in-need. "This is a place where I might really be able to make a difference," she says. "I see it first-hand. The children are so receptive, and it's such a positive experience. It helps me keep everything else in perspective."
In her spare time, Sondra is an avid photographer. "I love to explore through my lens, it really gives me an intimate look at my subject", she loves to garden and tend her orchids and she and her husband are ardent travelers. They've explored almost every canal in France and many canals in England, Belgium, Holland and Italy on a small boat that they manage themselves. "Alan navigates and I do the ropes and locks myself" she beams. Meeting the locals in the small villages is most rewarding and we've made some life-long friends. It's our time to just drop off the planet. "My life is very rich."- Jedidiah Goodacre was born on 11 January 1989 in Petrolia, Ontario, Canada. He is an actor, known for Legacies (2018), Chilling Adventures of Sabrina (2018) and Finding You (2020).
- Actor
- Soundtrack
American character actor born in Cincinnati and raised in Louisville, Mitchell Ryan was a well known supporting actor in films and television. Joined the Navy in 1951 at age 17 and was later assigned to the Special Services Entertainment and became hooked on acting. After his term in the Navy, he appeared in dozens of plays until he received notice as playing a regular in TV's Dark Shadows (1966).
Beginning in the 1970s, he received work in motion pictures including Monte Walsh (1970), Magnum Force (1973) and in Clint Eastwood's High Plains Drifter (1973). He had a small part in Universal's Midway (1976) and returned to act in numerous soaps and television series, among them included a recurring guest role in Having Babies (1978), Executive Suite (1976), The Chisholms (1979) and All My Children (1970) and a growing list of television films and TV guest appearances.
He may have been best-known for portraying the villain that Mel Gibson and Danny Glover are after in Lethal Weapon (1987), but his career included several supporting roles in the past ten years including Judge Dredd (1995), Michael Myers' nemesis in Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers (1995), Liar Liar (1997) (with Jim Carrey), and as Harrison Ford's chief out to get Brad Pitt in the film The Devil's Own (1997).- Tom Ward was born on 11 January 1971 in Swansea, Wales, UK. He is an actor, known for Quills (2000), The Lost World (2001) and The Infinite Worlds of H.G. Wells (2001). He has been married to Emily Hohler since 2001. They have three children.
- Actress
- Soundtrack
Melanie attended RADA in London where she won the Vanburgh Award. Her stage plays have included Women Beware Women (Royal Court), Under Milk Wood, Selfish Shellfish, Twelfth Night, Deathtrap, Dirty Linen, Breezeblock Park, Who Killed Hilda Murrell?, Fire in the Lake, and the stage version of Bread (1986). She's best known as Aveline in the British TV series Bread (1986). Other TV appearances include Auf Wiedersehen, Pet (1983) (Hazel), Juliet Bravo (1980), The Bill (1984), A Night on the Tyne (1989) and Boon (1986). Melanie has two young daughters, Lorna and Molly.- Anna Calder-Marshall was born on 11 January 1947 in Kensington, London, England, UK. She is an actress, known for Wuthering Heights (1970), Male of the Species (1969) and Last Christmas (2019). She has been married to David Burke since 20 March 1971. They have one child.
- Actress
- Soundtrack
Kaliko Kauahi was born in Lawai, Kauai, Hawaii, USA. Kaliko is an actor, known for Superstore (2015).- Actress
- Additional Crew
- Soundtrack
Alyson Reed was born on 11 January 1958 in Anaheim, California, USA. She is an actress, known for High School Musical 3: Senior Year (2008), High School Musical (2006) and Ad Astra (2019).- Music Artist
- Actress
- Composer
Mary J. Blige was born on 11 January 1971 in The Bronx, New York City, New York, USA. She is a music artist and actress, known for Mudbound (2017), Rock of Ages (2012) and The Help (2011). She was previously married to Kendu Isaacs.- Actress
- Producer
Natalie Lisinska burst onto the Canadian acting scene soon after graduating from Toronto Metropolitan University Theatre School, when she was cast as the lead in "At the Hotel", a series directed by Ken Finkleman for the CBC. Other leading roles soon followed. Adept at both comedy and drama, Natalie was the series lead of "Insecurity" (CBC) for two seasons and won a Canadian Screen Award for her recurring role in the acclaimed dramatic series "Orphan Black" (BBC America). Natalie has worked extensively in Canadian film and television including leading roles on "The Lake" (Prime Video), "Northern Rescue" (Netflix/CBC), "The Expanse" (SyFy), "Mary Kills People" (Global) and "Young People F*cking" (Maple Pictures). A bright light wherever she goes, Natalie is energized and grounded by the live wires at home, her always hilarious son and actor/writer husband, Matthew MacFadzean.- Mort Mills was born on 11 January 1919 in New York City, New York, USA. He was an actor, known for Touch of Evil (1958), Psycho (1960) and Torn Curtain (1966). He was married to Elizabeth (Betty) Dell Pentland and Mary Loretta Grady. He died on 6 June 1993 in Ventura, California, USA.
- Teo was born Mateo Justis Briones in Oxford, England while his parents were on tour. His father is the Filipino actor/singer Jon Jon Briones and his mother is an American actress/singer. His sister Isa Briones is also an actress/singer. He moved to Los Angeles at the age of 3 and began acting and modeling at 5. He is a musician, playing guitar, bass and drums. He also does martial arts- XMA, Karate, gymnastics, acrobatics and cinematic marital arts.
- Prolific supporting actor, arguably best known for his two guest appearances on Rod Serling 's The Twilight Zone (1959). In one of his later roles he played the chimpanzee veterinarian Dr. Galen in Planet of the Apes (1968) which was also co-scripted by Serling. Wright King studied drama at the St Louis School of Theater, graduating in 1941. During the Second World War he served for three years with the U.S.Navy, stationed in the South Pacific. After being honorably discharged he continued his drama studies in New York at the Actors Studio and at the American Theatre Wing. He did not make his screen debut until 1949. A string of walk-on parts was followed by a critically acclaimed supporting role in the original Broadway production of A Streetcar Named Desire (1947-49) as well as in the subsequent motion picture. King enjoyed a lengthy career, featuring in stage plays on both sides of the Atlantic and popping up in numerous television episodes (especially westerns). In one season of Wanted: Dead or Alive (1958) he played the sidekick of bounty hunter Josh Randall, played by Steve McQueen (1960) .
A close friend of Eileen Heckart until her death in 2001, King left the acting profession in 1987. With his wife June, he retired to Portland, Oregon. More recently, he resided in Woodland Hills, California, where he died at the venerable age of 95 on November 25 2018. His son is actor Meegan King . - Kathleen Byron trained for the stage at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, beginning her work in the movies soon after she finished her training. Her early work with Michael Powell made her name in the UK. She went to Hollywood in the 1940s and 50s but found it difficult to break into the US productions. Mainly because although everyone greatly admired her performance as Sister Ruth in Black Narcissus (1947), she was typecast and only expected to be able to play neurotic characters.
- Long-time circus acrobatic partner of Burt Lancaster (performing as "Lang & Cravat") may have been short on stature, but he was big on athletic prowess and highly enjoyable to watch on-screen. According to reports, Cravat was as strong as a bull. When he lost his cool, it took several men to hold him back. Cravat appeared with Lancaster in nine films. The best remembered were The Flame and the Arrow (1950) with Cravat playing Piccolo, and The Crimson Pirate (1952) with Cravat as Ojo. Another of Cravat's key roles was as the aircraft-eating gremlin terrorizing nervy passenger William Shatner on Nightmare at 20,000 Feet (1963) in the episode, Nightmare at 20,000 Feet. Interestingly, Cravat & Lancaster both passed away in 1994.
- Actor
- Writer
- Additional Crew
Actor and comedian known for his various roles on film, TV and stage. He was born in Largs, Scotland, in 1953. He has an older brother and a twin sister. His debut film was The Sender (1982), a horror feature in which he played a patient. His next film was The Bounty (1984) with Mel Gibson and Anthony Hopkins. He has also appeared in Henry V (1989) and A Midwinter's Tale (1995), both directed by Kenneth Branagh, his friend and frequent collaborator. The two met at RADA in 1979. He continues to appear in Stella Street (1997) in which he plays a variety of middle-aged actors, alongside Phil Cornwell. One of his most memorable performances to date is the role of Dr. Prunesquallor in Gormenghast (2000), the BBC's lavish production of Mervyn Peake's novels "Titus Groan" and "Gormenghast." Onstage, he has appeared in many productions and performed numerous one-man shows. His ability to improvise landed him a spot as the first regular contestant on Whose Line Is It Anyway? (1988). It was here that he showcased his great literary knowledge. He appeared on the BBC Radio 4 show "Dead Man Talking," as various "dead" characters, including J. Robert Oppenheimer and Michelangelo.- Actress
- Soundtrack
Kim Hartman was born on 11 January 1952 in Hammersmith, London, England, UK. She is an actress, known for 'Allo 'Allo! (1982), Dunkirk (2017) and Grange Hill (1978). She has been married to John Nolan since 1975. They have two children.- Actor
- Additional Crew
Lionel Stander, the movie character actor with the great gravelly voice, was born on January 11th, 1908 in The Bronx borough of New York City. Stander's acting career was derailed when he was blacklisted during the 1950s after being exposed as a Communist Party member during the House Un-American Activities Committee hearings. In his own HUAC testimony in May 1953, Stander denounced HUAC's use of informers, particularly those with mental problems.
Stander specialized in playing lovable hoodlums and henchmen and assorted acerbic, hard-boiled types. His physique was burly and brutish, and his head featured a square-jaw beneath a coarse-featured pan that was lightened by his charm. But it was his gruff, foghorn voice that made his fortune.
Stander attended the University of North Carolina, but after making his stage debut at the age of 19, he decided to give up college for acting. Along with a successful stage career, his unusual voice made him ideal for radio. His movie screen debut was in the comedy short Salt Water Daffy (1933) with Jack Haley and Shemp Howard. He went on to star in a number of two-reel comedy shorts produced at Vitaphone's Brooklyn studio before moving to Hollywood in 1935, where he appeared as a character actor in many A-list features such as Nothing Sacred (1937).
John Howard Lawson, the screenwriter who was one of the Hollywood Ten and who served as the Communist Party's cultural commissar in Hollywood, held up Stander as the model of a committed communist actor who enhanced the class struggle through his performances. In the movie No Time to Marry (1938), which had been written by Party member Paul Jarrico, Stander had whistled a few bars of the "Internationale" while waiting for an elevator.
Stander thought that the scene would be cut from the movie, but it remained in the picture because "they were so apolitical in Hollywood at the time that nobody recognized the tune".
Stander had a long history of supporting left-wing causes. He was an active member of the Popular Front from 1936-39, a broad grouping of left-wing organizations dedicated to fighting reactionaries at home and fascism abroad. Stander wrote of the time, "We fought on every front because we realized that the forces of reaction and Faciscm fight democracy on every front. We, too, have been forced, therefore, to organize in order to combat them on every front: politically through such organizations as the Motion Picture Democratic Committee; economically through our guilds and unions; socially, and culturally through such organizations as the Hollywood Anti-Nazi League."
The Front disintegrated when the U.S.S.R. signed a non-aggression pact with Nazi Germany, which engendered World War II by giving the Nazis the get-go to invade Poland (with the Soviet Union invading from the East). The Communist Party-USA dropped out of the Front and from anti-Nazi activities, and during the early days of the War, before Germany invaded the U.S.S.R. in June 1941, it tried to hamper US support for the UK under the aegis of supporting "peace," including calling strikes in defense plants. Many communists, such as Elia Kazan, dropped out of the Party after this development, but many others stayed. These were the Stalinists that the American non-communist left grew to despise, and eventually joined with the right to destroy, though much of their antipathy after 1947-48 was generated by a desire to save themselves from the tightening noose of reaction.
Melvyn Douglas, a prominent liberal whose wife Helen Gahagan Douglas would later be a U.S. Representative from California (and would lose her bid for the Senate to a young Congressman named Richard Nixon, who red-baited her as "The Pink Lady"), had resisted Stander's attempts to recruit him to the Party. "One night, Lionel Stander kept me up until dawn trying to sell me the Russian brand of Marxism and to recruit me for the Communist Party. I resisted. I had always been condemnatory of totalitarianism and I made continual, critical references to the U.S.S.R. in my speeches. Members of the Anti-Nazi League would urge me to delete these references and several conflicts ensued."
Douglas, his wife, and other liberals were not adverse to cooperating with Party members and fellow travelers under the aegis of the MPDC, working to oppose fascism and organize relief for the Spanish Republic. They believed that they could minimize Communist Party influence, and were heartened by the fact that the Communists had joined the liberal, patriotic, anti-fascist bandwagon. Their tolerance of Communists lasted until the Soviet-Nazi Pact of August 1939. That, and the invasion of Poland by the Nazis and the USSR shattered the Popular Front.
Stander had been subpoenaed by the very first House Un-American Activities Committee inquisition in Hollywood, in 1940, when it was headed by Texas Congressman Martin Dies. The Dies Committee had succeeded in abolishing the Federal Theatre Project of the Works Progress Administration as a left-wing menace in 1939 (the FTP had put on a revival of Lawson's play about the exploitation of miners, "Prcessional," that year in New York). The attack on the FTP had been opposed by many liberals in Hollywood. Stung by the criticisms of Hollywood, the Dies Committee decided to turn its attention on Hollywood itself.
Sending investigators to Hollywood, Dies' HUAC compiled a long-list of subversives, including Melvyn Douglas. John L. Leech, a police agent who had infiltrated the Communist Party before being expelled in 1937, presented a list of real and suspected communists to a Los Angeles County grand jury, which also subpoenaed Stander. The testimony was leaked, and the newspapers reported that Stander, along with such prominent Hollywood liberals as James Cagney, Humphrey Bogart, Frederic March and Francot Tone, had been identified as communists.
Committee chairman Dies offered all of the people named as communists the opportunity to clear themselves if they would cooperate with him in executive session. Only one of the named people did not appear, and Stander was the only one to appear who was not cleared. Subsequently, he was fired by his studio, Republic Pictures.
Stander was then subpoenaed to testify before the California Assembly's Committee on Un-American Activities, along with John Howard Lawson, the union leader John Sorrell and others. During the strike led by Sorrell's militant Conference of Student Unions against the studios in 1945, Stander was the head of a group of progressives in the Screen Actors Guild who supported the CSU and lobbied the guild to honor its picket lines. They were outvoted by the more conservative faction headed by Robert Montgomery, George Murphy and Ronald Reagan. The SAG membership voted 3,029 to 88 to cross the CSU picket-line.
Stander continued to work after being fired by Republic. He appeared in Hangmen Also Die! (1943), a film about the Nazi Reinhard Heydrich, who was assassinated by anti-fascists. After the bitter CSU strike, which was smeared as being communist-inspired by the studios, HUAC once again turned its gaze towards Hollywood, starting two cycles of inquisitions in 1947 and 1951. The screenwriter Martin Berkeley, who set a record by naming 155 names before the the second round of Committee hearings, testified that Stander had introduced him to the militant labor union leader Harry Bridges, long suspected of being a communist, whom Stander called "comrade".
After being blacklisted, Stander worked as a broker on Wall Street and appeared on the stage as a journeyman actor. He returned to the movies in Tony Richardson's The Loved One (1965), and he began his career anew as a character actor, appearing in many films, including Roman Polanski's Cul-de-sac (1966) and Martin Scorsese's New York, New York (1977). Other movies he appeared in included Promise Her Anything (1966), The Black Bird (1975), The Cassandra Crossing (1976), 1941 (1979), Cookie (1989) and The Last Good Time (1994), his final theatrical film.
Stander is best remembered for playing Max on TV's Hart to Hart (1979) (1979-84) with Robert Wagner and Stefanie Powers, a role he reprised in a series of "Hart to Hart" TV movies. Stander also appeared on Wagner's earlier TV series It Takes a Thief (1968) and on the HBO series Dream On (1990).
Lionel Stander died of lung cancer on November 30, 1994 in Los Angeles, California. He was 86 years old.- Actress
- Soundtrack
Born in Austria to a French mother and a German father, young Christine Kaufmann conquered the hearts of post-war German movie audiences in movies like Der schweigende Engel (1954), Ein Herz schlägt für Erika (1956) and, most famously, Rosen-Resli (1954). Discovered at the tender age of six, Christine was soon the breadwinner for her family. This quickly changed when puberty destroyed her blooming career as "the sweet innocent child" in West Germany. Her ambitious mother, by now Christine's manager, relocated to Rome with her. In Italy, her Lolita-like qualities were appreciated and used in movies like The Last Days of Pompeii (1959) in which, at age 13, she played the love-interest of "Mr. Universe" Steve Reeves (then 32). Due to her hard work as a child (between 1952 and 1959 she starred in 18 films!), she was never able to attend school; yet, by the age of 14, young Christine was fluent in German, French, Italian, Spanish and English.
In 1959, Christine headed to London to audition for the role of Karen in Exodus (1960). Director Otto Preminger chose Jill Haworth over Kaufmann but was still so impressed with her that he recommended her for a substantial part in Gottfried Reinhardt's courtroom drama Town Without Pity (1961). The movie, which starred Kirk Douglas, E.G. Marshall and Robert Blake, became an international success and earned Kaufmann a Golden Globe as Most Promising Newcomer. After a string of rather forgettable movies in West Germany, France, and Italy, she flew to Argentina to co-star alongside Yul Brynner and Tony Curtis in Taras Bulba (1962). Curtis, who was already 36, fell immediately for the 16-year-old German starlet, left his wife Janet Leigh and his two daughters and started to live with Christine in both Europe and in Los Angeles. (In the US, they had to keep their relationship on the DL because Christine was still underage and therefore jail bait.) Shortly after her 18th birthday, Curtis and Kaufmann got married in Las Vegas. Kirk Douglas was their best man. One of Curtis' demands was that she would retire from acting after the wedding, and Christine gladly acquiesced to his request; actually she had been dreaming of retiring since her success with Rosen-Resli (1954) which had ended her once-peaceful childhood abruptly. She later claimed that she'd never really been interested in becoming an actress in the first place and was more or less forced into it by her parents: "I was an obedient girl and wanted to make my mother happy, so I simply did what I was being told. Unfortunately, once you are famous, there's no way back, and since I didn't have a formal school education, I could not fulfill my dream of studying archaeology and art history."
Her last movie, a droll comedy titled Wild and Wonderful (1964), was released in June 1964 to mixed reviews. In July, she gave birth to her first daughter, Alexandra Curtis. Christine was 19. Two years later, a second daughter, Allegra Curtis, arrived. Her husband, who already had two daughters with his first wife, had wanted a son and was unable to hide his disappointment. By late 1966, Tony Curtis was pretty much spending his time with other women, while Christine, living the life of a 40-year-old Hollywood matron at the age of 20, was slowly growing up. In 1968, she left Curtis and filed for divorce in Mexico, because she didn't want any of his money. She took her daughters and moved back to Europe.
By the early 1970s, Christine worked steadily in theatre, on TV and occasionally in movies: "I worked with discipline, but without any interest." Art house directors like Werner Schroeter, Percy Adlon, and Rainer Werner Fassbinder cast her in sometimes interesting, but mostly forgettable movies. In 1971, she did another American movie (filmed in Madrid), the tepid, too-artsy-for-its-own-good Murders in the Rue Morgue (1971) with Jason Robards and Herbert Lom, and in 1987 she was offered a wonderfully written part in Bagdad Cafe (1987) with Marianne Sägebrecht, CCH Pounder and Jack Palance which became one of the most enchantingly beautiful movies of the decade. But Christine's real passion belonged to the theatre where she acted under maverick directors like Peter Zadek and Michael Bogdanov.
She made a lasting impression on German television with her hilariously witty portrayal of Olga Behrens in Monaco Franze - Der ewige Stenz (1983), written by Patrick Süskind.
In the 1990s, now approaching 50, Christine took up writing, publishing several books on beauty, health, and fame, including three autobiographies. She also became a business woman with her own line of cosmetics which made her a fairly wealthy woman. Generous as she was, she financed (with the help of ex-stepdaughter Jamie Lee Curtis) her grandchildren's education.
After Curtis, Christine Kaufmann re-married three times, all marriages ending in divorce. She lived all over the world, including five years in Morocco. In March 2017, shortly after her 72nd birthday, Christine died of leukemia (like her mother) in Munich. She wanted to be buried next to her mother and grandmother in Vernon, just outside Paris, a wish that was granted by her older brother and her daughters.- Rachel Riley was born on 11 January 1986 in Southend, Essex, England, UK. She is an actress, known for The IT Crowd (2006), 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown (2012) and The Boat Race (1938). She has been married to Pasha Kovalev since 28 June 2019. They have two children. She was previously married to Jamie Gilbert.
- Actress
- Writer
- Producer
Kim Coles was born on 11 January 1962 in Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA. She is an actress and writer, known for Living Single (1993), Frasier (1993) and The Geena Davis Show (2000). She was previously married to Reggie Mckiver and Aton Edwards.- Actor
- Stunts
- Additional Crew
Felix Silla was born on January 11, 1937 in a small village outside Rome, Lazio, Italy. Silla trained as a circus performer, came to the United States in 1955, and toured with the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Show. His multiple talents -- as a bareback rider, trapeze artist and tumbler -- brought him to Hollywood where he became a stuntman, starting with the Gig Young-Shirley Jones vehicle, A Ticklish Affair (1963).
His best-known roles are the maniacal, miniature "Hitler" who menaces George Segal in The Black Bird (1975) and Cousin Itt on The Addams Family (1964). He had doubled -- often for children -- in such hits as The Towering Inferno (1974), The Hindenburg (1975) and Battlestar Galactica (1978). Between movies, he frequently appears in Las Vegas and Reno nightclubs with his own musical combo, "The Original Harmonica Band".
Silla and wife Sue Silla -- a "little person", like himself -- were married from 1965 until Felix's death on April 16, 2021, and had three children, Bonnie, Michael and Diana.- Lin Yi was born on 11 January 1999 in Hebei, China. He is an actor, known for Put Your Head on My Shoulder (2019), Hu Tong (2022) and Angels Fall Sometimes (2024).
- Actress
- Producer
- Writer
Naomi Judd was born on 11 January 1946 in Ashland, Kentucky, USA. She was an actress and producer, known for Someone Like You (2001), An Evergreen Christmas (2014) and Route 65 Nashville. She was married to Larry Strickland and Michael Charles Ciminella. She died on 30 April 2022 in Nashville, Tennessee, USA.- Actor
- Writer
- Producer
Donald Barry went from the stage to the screen. After four years of playing villains and henchmen at various studios, Barry got the role that changed his image: Red Ryder in the Republic Pictures serial Adventures of Red Ryder (1940). Although he had appeared in westerns for two years or so, this was the one that kept him there. He acquired the nickname "Red" from his association with the Red Ryder character. After the success of "Red Ryder" Barry starred in a string of westerns for Republic. Studio chief Herbert J. Yates got the idea that Barry could be Republic's version of James Cagney, as he was short and had the same scrappy, feisty nature that Cagney had. Unfortunately, while Barry could in fact be a good actor when he wanted to be -- as he showed in the World War II drama The Purple Heart (1944) -- his "feistiness", combative nature and oversized ego caused him to alienate many of the casts and crews he worked with at Republic (ace serial director William Witney detested him, calling him "the midget", and director John English worked with him once and refused to ever work with him again). Barry made a series of westerns at Republic throughout the 1940s, but by 1950 his career had pretty much come to a halt, and he was reduced to making cheaper and cheaper pictures for bottom-of-the-barrel companies like Lippert and Screen Guild. Barry continued to work and still appeared in westerns up through the 1970s, but they were often in small supporting roles, sometimes unbilled. In 1980 he committed suicide by shooting himself.- Producer
- Actress
Yolanda Hadid was born on 11 January 1964 in Papendrecht, Zuid-Holland, Netherlands. She is a producer and actress, known for 1st & Ten (1984), Lady Gaga: G.U.Y. (2014) and Making a Model with Yolanda Hadid (2018). She was previously married to David Foster and Mohamed Hadid.- Writer
- Actor
- Producer
Peter Grosz was born on 11 January 1974 in New York City, New York, USA. He is a writer and actor, known for The Menu (2022), Catherine & Michael (2023) and Stranger Than Fiction (2006).- Tetona Jackson was born on 11 January 1989 in Los Angeles, California, USA. She is an actress, known for All Night (2018), Severed Road and Maximum Ride (2016).
- Fatima Sana Shaikh was born in Mumbai, India, to Hindu Brahman Father, Vipen Sharma, and Muslim Mother, Raj Tabassum. She was enrolled to St. Xavier High School in Mumbai for her primary education and later to Mithibai College, Mumbai for higher education.
Shaikh began her film career with the 1997 film Chachi 420 with Kamal Hasan. She played the role of Bharti, Jaiprakash Paswan a.k.a. Jai and Janki Paswan's daughter. Though she has been acting since 1997, she has scaled new heights of fame and success now after playing the role of Geeta Phogat in Aamir Khan's movie and also sharing the screen with the star.
Her hobbies include dancing, reading, sketching and photography. - Director
- Producer
- Writer
Darren Lynn Bousman was born on 11 January 1979 in Overland Park, Kansas, USA. He is a director and producer, known for Repo! The Genetic Opera (2008), Saw II (2005) and Abattoir (2016). He has been married to Laura Bousman since 2 January 2010. They have two children.- Actress
- Director
Paton was described as a "natural comic" and one of the "legends of the local stage" of San Francisco. She is a veteran of the American Conservatory Theater (A.C.T.), and also one of A.C.T.'s leading actresses in its first few seasons. After leaving A.C.T. in the early 1970s, Paton and her husband founded and ran the Berkeley Stage Company for a number of years.
Since then, she and her husband, theatre director Robert Goldsby, moved to Malibu, CA, where they lived until 2015. Paton appeared in 38 films and over 50 TV series. She also continued her decades-long run of regional theatre work across the country, including her 2014 role in the Broadway play, Harvey.- Actor
- Producer
- Production Designer
Ryan Alosio is an American television, film and voice actor. As the son of an Italian father and an Irish mother, he holds citizenship in both Ireland and the U.S. He has performed in over 30 television shows, 23 films, 20 national commercials and vocally in multiple video games and cartoons. He graduated with honors from the Interlochen Arts Academy and continued his education at Northwestern and New York University. He has portrayed an eclectic mix of characters in dramatic and comedic stage, television and film productions working with many noteworthy actors such as Hugh Laurie, Tony Shalhoub, Elijah Wood, Jeff Goldblum, Laura Dern, Kiefer Sutherland, Gary Sinise and Patrick Dempsey. He appears in and voices multiple national ad campaigns for Dodge, Mountain Dew, Taco Bell, Nissan, Wendy's, Jeep and Carl's Jr., as well as animated characters for Warner Bros., Honda, Cartoon Network and in video games such as Shocker from The Amazing Spider-Man 2 and Deacon and H2-22 from Fallout 4. Alosio is a gallery-shown and sold abstract painter and published architectural photographer. He was the singer/songwriter of blackradio, an alt-rock band that performed in Los Angeles in venues such as The Viper Room, Whisky a Go Go, and The Troubadour. Alosio rides and has built and customized multiple vintage motorcycles and classic American muscle cars. He lives in Los Angeles, California.- Kim Young-kwang was born on 11 January 1987. He is an actor, known for On Your Wedding Day (2018), Pinocchio (2014) and Evilive (2023).