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1-11 of 11
- Actor
- Writer
- Director
Gene Raymond was born on August 13, 1908, in New York City as Raymond Guion. He was a child performer and a Broadway veteran by the age of 12. Blond, husky, and handsome, he enjoyed his greatest popularity in the 1930s and early 1940s. His big break came in Personal Maid (1931). He was soon cast in classics such as Red Dust (1932) (opposite Jean Harlow and Clark Gable) and in Ex-Lady (1933) (as the husband of Bette Davis 's character). His career continued to grow with a starring role in Sadie McKee (1934) (opposite Joan Crawford).
Soon after, he met and fell in love with one of MGM's stars, actress/singer Jeanette MacDonald. They married in 1937. In 1941, he and Jeanette were cast opposite one another in Smilin' Through (1941), their only picture together. In 1948, Raymond tried his hand at directing and producing with Million Dollar Weekend (1948), but it was not a very successful venture. In 1949, he and MacDonald decided to slow down their careers: she left the movies, and he became very selective on the ones he did. They spent the next 14 years traveling and staying active in Hollywood society.
In 1963, MacDonald, who suffered from heart disease, had an arterial transplant, and Raymond tried to nurse her back to health. In 1965, she had a heart attack and died with her husband by her side. This brought an end to their 28-year marriage, one of Hollywood's longest-lasting, although the union was childless. Every year after her death, he attended the Jeanette MacDonald International Fan Club convention in Los Angeles. He shared stories with her fans and friends, a thing he once said he would do "till Jeanette and I are together again".- Actor
- Soundtrack
A tall, athletic bear of a man, Raimund Harmstorf rose to stardom on the strength of a single role: the amoral, brutal, self-righteous captain Wolf Larsen (a Nietzschean 'superman', if there ever was one) in Jack London's Der Seewolf (1971). Harmstorf's was a genuinely chilling, mesmerizing performance, which captivated audiences and contributed to this German/Austrian/French/Romanian co-production (with a nominal American-born lead) to be sold to numerous countries worldwide. The role not only defined his career but led to various myths about the actor himself. The most famous of these related to Larsen/Harmstorf squashing a raw potato with one hand, by all accounts not an easy thing to do. Detractors claimed the potato had been a cooked one, which it almost certainly was. Nonetheless, Harmstorf proved in subsequent appearances on national television that he was more than capable of pulverizing a raw spud with one paw. A publicity stunt had him issuing forth a nationwide challenge (with prize money offered) for anyone capable of emulating his feat.
Raimund Harmstorf grew up in Hamburg where he studied medicine and then attended the local college for music and the performing arts. He made the rounds of auditions for plays with modest success, leading to engagements in Hamburg and Berlin. He spent two years in South America cultivating his image as a macho adventurer, returning to Germany with two Deutschmarks in his pocket. A lover of action sports (paragliding, surfing and fast cars), he was also an accomplished athlete (in a 1972 issue of 'Bravo' magazine, he claimed to have been a regional decathlon youth champion). By the mid-1960's, he started to establish himself on screen, initially in small TV roles. After 'Wolf Larsen' put him on the map, he had further success in the title role of Jules Verne's Michel Strogoff (1975) and as the vernacular protagonist of Götz von Berlichingen mit der eisernen Hand (1979) (a role, he also played on the stage). He also made appearances in several spaghetti westerns along with such genre favorites as Franco Nero and Terence Hill.
By the early 1990's, Harmstorf's life as an action hero began to unravel. He had sustained numerous sporting injuries (broken arms and legs, a hole in his knee after a botched operation), lost two teeth in a screen fight with Bud Spencer and was (during shooting of the same film) accidentally shot in the foot. His restaurant, "Zum Seewolf", had gone bankrupt. In 1994, Harmstorf was diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease. He unwisely self-medicated to the extent of causing severe side effects, including bouts of paranoia and depression. Scurrilous tabloids reported on the minutiae of his psychiatric condition and one even published a premature report of his suicide. What was left of Harmstorf's fragile state of mind broke and he hanged himself on the night of May 3 1998.- Eva Ralf was born on 14 March 1926 in Berlin, Germany. She was an actress, known for Passport to Danger (1954), The Man Behind the Badge (1953) and Whirlybirds (1957). She was married to John Howard and ??? Jaworsky. She died on 3 May 1998 in Santa Rosa, California, USA.
- Actor
- Director
- Writer
René Múgica was born on 8 August 1909 in Carhué, Buenos Aires, Argentina. He was an actor and director, known for El octavo infierno (1964), El demonio en la sangre (1964) and El reñidero (1965). He died on 3 May 1998 in Buenos Aires, Argentina.- Actor
- Composer
Gerulf Pannach was born on 24 June 1948 in Arnsdorf, Germany. He was an actor and composer, known for Singing the Blues in Red (1986). He died on 3 May 1998 in Berlin, Germany.- Sonya Petrie was born on 12 April 1941 in Shipston-on-Stour, Warwickshire, England, UK. She was an actress, known for Raise Your Glasses (1962), Dixon of Dock Green (1955) and Tales of Mystery (1961). She was married to Keith Knight. She died on 3 May 1998 in Westminster, London, England, UK.
- Erika Cheetham was born on 7 July 1939 in London, England, UK. She was married to James Nicholas Milne Cheetham. She died on 3 May 1998 in London.
- Jerrold T. Brandt was born on 10 June 1913 in New York City, New York, USA. He was a producer, known for The Girl from Rio (1939), Scattergood Survives a Murder (1942) and Cinderella Swings It (1943). He died on 3 May 1998 in Los Angeles, California, USA.
- Gojko Susak was born on 16 March 1945 in Siroki Brijeg, Bosnia and Herzegovina. He died on 3 May 1998 in Zagreb, Croatia.
- Writer
- Director
Vojtech Trapl was born on 11 May 1917 in Pribram, Bohemia, Austria-Hungary [now Príbram, Czech Republic]. He was a writer and director, known for Velké prání (1981), Vítezný lid (1977) and Tobe hrana zvonit nebude (1975). He died on 3 May 1998 in Prague, Czech Republic.- Donald Rawley was born on 11 October 1957. He was an actor, known for Vice Squad (1982). He died on 3 May 1998 in Los Angeles, California, USA.