Remembering Thelma Todd

Thelma Todd (July 29, 1906) was an American actress. Appearing in about 120 pictures between 1926 and 1935.

Birth Name: Thelma Alice Todd
Hair: Blonde
Eyes: Blue
Nickname: Hot Toddy
Height: 5' 4"

During the silent film era, Todd appeared in numerous supporting roles that made full use of her beauty but gave her little chance to act. With the advent of the talkies, Todd was given opportunity to expand her roles when producer Hal Roach signed her to appear with such comedy stars as Harry Langdon, Charley Chase, and Laurel and Hardy. In 1931

she was given her own series, teaming with ZaSu Pitts for slapstick comedies. This was Roach's attempt to create a female version of Laurel and Hardy. When Pitts left Roach in 1933, she was replaced by Patsy Kelly. The Todd shorts often cast her as a working girl having all sorts of problems, and trying her best to remain poised and charming despite the embarrassing antics of her sidekick.

Todd became highly regarded as a capable film comedian, and Roach loaned her out to other studios to play opposite Wheeler & Woolsey, Buster Keaton, Joe E. Brown, and the Marx Brothers. She also appeared successfully in such dramas as the original 1931 film version of The Maltese Falcon starring Ricardo Cortez as Sam Spade, in which she played Miles Archer's treacherous widow.

During her career she appeared in 119 films although many of these were short films, and was sometimes publicized as "The Ice Cream Blonde". In August 1934, she opened a successful cafe at Pacific Palisades, called Thelma Todd's Sidewalk Cafe, attracting a diverse clientele of Hollywood celebrities as well as many tourists.

Todd continued her short-subject series through 1935, and was featured in the full-length Laurel and Hardy comedy The Bohemian Girl. This was her last film; she died after completing all of her scenes, but most of them were re-shot. Producer Roach deleted all of Todd's dialogue and limited her appearance to one musical number.

On the morning of December 16, 1935, Thelma Todd was found dead in her car inside the garage of Jewel Carmen, a former actress and former wife of Todd's lover and business partner, Roland West. Subsequently a grand jury probe was held to determine whether Todd's death was a murder. The case was closed by the Homicide Bureau, which listed the death as "accidental with possible suicide tendencies."

Remembering Jeff Chandler

Jeff Chandler (born December 15, 1918) was an American actor, film producer and singer best remembered for playing Cochise in Broken Arrow (1950), for which he was Oscar nominated.

Birth Name: Ira Grossel
Hair: Black (premature gray)
Eyes: Green
Nickname: Big Gray
Height: 6' 4"
Quote: "Today, for a man to be a hit on the screen, he has to take his shirt off."

After being discharged from the Army, Chandler moved to Los Angeles in December 1945 with $3,000 he had saved. Chandler had appeared on air in Rogue's Gallery with Dick Powell, who was impressed by the actor and put pressure on Columbia to give Chandler his first film role, a one-line part as a gangster in Johnny O'Clock (1947). He received more attention playing Eve Arden's boyfriend on radio in Our Miss Brooks, which debuted in July 1948 and became a massive hit.

Chandler's performance in Our Miss Brooks brought him to the attention of executives at Universal, who were looking for someone to play an Israeli leader in Sword in the Desert (1948). He was cast in February 1949.[16] Chandler impressed studio executives so much with his work that shortly into filming Universal signed him to a seven-year contract. His first movie under the arrangement was a supporting role in Abandoned (1949).

Writer-director Delmer Daves was looking for an actor to play Cochise in a Western, Broken Arrow (1950), over at 20th Century Fox. The part was proving tricky to cast; in Chandler's words, "Fox were looking for a guy big enough physically to play the role and unfamiliar enough to moviegoers to lend authenticity." Chandler's performance as a similar resistance-leader-type in Sword of the Desert brought him to the studio's attention and he was borrowed from Universal for the role in May 1949.As part of the arrangement Chandler signed a deal with Fox to make a movie a year with them for six years.

Broken Arrow turned out to be a considerable hit, earning Chandler an Oscar nomination and establishing him as a star. He was the first actor nominated for an Academy Award for portraying an American Indian.

In 1952 exhibitors voted Chandler the 22nd most popular star in the US.

While working on Merrill's Marauders in the Philippines, on April 15, 1961, Chandler injured his back while playing baseball with U.S. Army Special Forces soldiers who served as extras in the film. He had injections to deaden the pain and enable him to finish the production.

On May 13, 1961, he entered a Culver City hospital and had surgery for a spinal disc herniation. There were severe complications when an artery was damaged and Chandler hemorrhaged. He died on June 17, 1961 at age 42.

Remembering Patty Duke

Patty Duke (born December 14, 1946) was an American actress of stage, film, and television.

Birth Name: Anna Marie Duke
Hair: Light Brown
Eyes: Blue
Nickname: Patty
Height: 5'
Quote: "Actors take risks all the time. We put ourselves on the line. It is creative to be able to interpret someone's words and breathe life into them."

She first became known as a teen star, winning an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress at age 16 for her role as Helen Keller in The Miracle Worker (1962), a role which she had originated on Broadway. The following year she was given her own show, The Patty Duke Show, in which she played "identical cousins".

She later progressed to more mature roles such as that of Neely O'Hara in the film Valley of the Dolls (1967).

 Over the course of her career, she received ten Emmy Award nominations and three Emmy Awards, and two Golden Globe Awards. Duke also served as president of the Screen Actors Guild from 1985 to 1988.

Duke was diagnosed with bipolar disorder in 1982, after which she devoted much of her time to advocating for and educating the public on mental health issues.

Duke died on the morning of March 29, 2016  of sepsis from a ruptured intestine at the age of 69.

Recommended Films:

The Miracle Worker (1962)
The Daydreamer (1966)
Valley of the Dolls (1967)

Celebrating Dick Van Dyke

Dick Van Dyke (born December 13, 1925) is an American actor, comedian, writer, singer, dancer, and producer whose career in entertainment has spanned almost seven decades.

Birth Name: Richard Wayne Van Dyke
Hair: Light Brown
Eyes: Blue
Nickname: "Dick"
Height: 6' 1"
Quote: "I've retired so many times now it's getting to be a habit."

Van Dyke starred in the films Bye Bye Birdie (1963), Mary Poppins (1964), and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (1968) and in the TV series The Dick Van Dyke Show and Diagnosis: Murder.

Beginning in 2006, he was introduced to a new generation through his role as Cecil Fredericks in the popular Night at the Museum film series.

Recipient of five Emmys, a Tony and a Grammy, Van Dyke was inducted into the Television Hall of Fame in 1995. He received the Screen Actors Guild's highest honor, the SAG Life Achievement Award, in 2013.

Van Dyke has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 7021 Hollywood Boulevard and has also been recognized as a Disney Legend.

He is the older brother of Jerry Van Dyke and father of Barry Van Dyke.

Remembering Frank Sinatra

Frank Sinatra (born December 12, 1915) was an American singer, actor, and producer who was one of the most popular and influential musical artists of the 20th century. He is one of the best-selling music artists of all time, having sold more than 150 million records worldwide.

Birth Name: Francis Albert Sinatra
Hair: Brown
Eyes: Blue
Nickname: "Ol' Blue Eyes"
Height: 5' 7"
Quote: "A friend is never an imposition"

Born in Hoboken, New Jersey, to Italian immigrants, Sinatra began his musical career in the swing era with bandleaders Harry James and Tommy Dorsey. Sinatra found success as a solo artist after he signed with Columbia Records in 1943, becoming the idol of the "bobby soxers". He released his debut album, The Voice of Frank Sinatra, in 1946. Sinatra's professional career had stalled by the early 1950s, and he turned to Las Vegas, where he became one of its best known performers as part of the Rat Pack. His career was reborn in 1953 with the success of From Here to Eternity and his subsequent Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. Sinatra released several critically lauded albums, including In the Wee Small Hours (1955), Songs for Swingin' Lovers! (1956), Come Fly with Me (1958), Only the Lonely (1958) and Nice 'n' Easy (1960).

Sinatra forged a highly successful career as a film actor. After winning an Academy Award for From Here to Eternity, he starred in The Man with the Golden Arm (1955), and received critical acclaim for his performance in The Manchurian Candidate (1962). He appeared in various musicals such as On the Town (1949), Guys and Dolls (1955), High Society (1956), and Pal Joey (1957), and toward the end of his career he became associated with playing detectives, including the title character in Tony Rome (1967). On television, The Frank Sinatra Show began on ABC in 1950, and he continued to make appearances on television throughout the 1950s and 1960s.

Sinatra left Capitol in 1960 to start his own record label, Reprise Records, and released a string of successful albums. In 1965 he recorded the retrospective September of My Years, starred in the Emmy-winning television special Frank Sinatra: A Man and His Music, and scored hits with "Strangers in the Night" and "My Way". After releasing Sinatra at the Sands, recorded at the Sands Hotel and Casino in Vegas with frequent collaborator Count Basie in early 1966, the following year he recorded one of his most famous collaborations with Tom Jobim, the album Francis Albert Sinatra & Antonio Carlos Jobim. It was followed by 1968's collaboration with Duke Ellington. Sinatra retired for the first time in 1971, but came out of retirement two years later and recorded several albums and resumed performing at Caesars Palace. In 1980 he scored a Top 40 hit with "New York, New York". Using his Las Vegas shows as a home base, he toured both within the United States and internationally until a short time before his death on May 14, 1998, aged 82, after a heart attack..

Remembering Marie Windsor

Marie Windsor (born December 11, 1919)  was an actress known as "The Queen of the Bs" because she appeared in so many B-movies and film noirs.

Birth Name: Emily Marie Bertelsen
Hair: Brown
Eyes: Blue
Height: 5' 9"
Quote: "I had to do a tango with George Raft and I learned to dance in ballet shoes with my knees bent."

In 1940, after moving to Hollywood, and entering Maria Ouspenskaya's drama school, she appeared in the play Forty Thousand Smiths, her first use of the stage name Marie Windsor. The next year she appeared in Once in a Lifetime at the Pasadena Playhouse. She also was seen as a villainess in a New York production of Follow the Girls.

After working for several years as a telephone operator, a stage and radio actress, and a bit and extra player in films, Windsor began playing feature parts on the big screen in 1947. Her first film contract, with Warner Bros. in 1942, resulted from her writing jokes and submitting them to Jack Benny. Windsor said she submitted the gags under the name M.E. Windsor "because I was afraid he might be prejudiced against a woman gag writer." When Benny finally met Windsor, "he was stunned by her good looks" and had a producer sign her to a contract.  After a tenure with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in which the studio "signed her, put her in two small roles and then promptly forgot her", she signed a seven-year contract with The Enterprise Studios in 1948.

The 5'9" actress's first memorable role was in 1948 opposite John Garfield in Force of Evil playing seductress Edna Tucker. She had roles in numerous 1950s film noirs, notably The Sniper, The Narrow Margin, City That Never Sleeps, and Stanley Kubrick's heist movie, The Killing, in which she played Elisha Cook Jr.'s scheming wife. She also made a foray into science fiction with the 1953 release of Cat-Women of the Moon.  Windsor co-starred with Randolph Scott in The Bounty Hunter (1954).

Later, Windsor moved to television. She appeared in 1954 as Belle Starr in the premiere episode of Stories of the Century. In 1962, she played "Ann Jesse", a woman dying in childbirth, in the episode "The Wanted Man" of Lawman. She appeared on such programs as Maverick, Bat Masterson, Perry Mason, Bourbon Street Beat, The Incredible Hulk, Rawhide, General Hospital, Salem's Lot (TV miniseries), and Murder, She Wrote.

Windsor worked consistently through the '60s and '70s, and remained on screen once or so annually clear up to the 1990s, playing her final role at 72 in 1991.

Windsor died of congestive heart failure on December 10, 2000......one day before her 81st birthday.

Remembering Edward G. Robinson

Edward G. Robinson (born  December 12, 1893) was a Romanian-born American actor. He is ranked #24 in the American Film Institute's list of the 25 greatest male stars of Classic American cinema.

Birth Name: Emanuel Goldenberg
Hair: Brown
Eyes: Brown
Height: 5' 7"
Nickname: "Eddie"
Quote: "To my mind, the actor has this great responsibility of playing another human being . . . it's like taking on another person's life and you have to do it as sincerely and honestly as you can.."

A popular star on stage and screen during Hollywood's Golden Age, he appeared in 40 Broadway plays and more than 100 films during a 50-year career. He is best remembered for his tough-guy roles as a gangster, such as his star-making film Little Caesar and Key Largo.

During the 1930s and 1940s, he was an outspoken public critic of fascism and Nazism which was then growing in Europe. His activism included contributing over $250,000 to more than 850 organizations involved in war relief, along with cultural, educational and religious groups. During the 1950s, he was called to testify at the House Un-American Activities Committee during the Red Scare, but was cleared of any Communist involvement.

Robinson's character portrayals have covered a wide range, with such roles as an insurance investigator in the film noir Double Indemnity, Dathan (adversary of Moses) in The Ten Commandments, and his final performance in the science-fiction story Soylent Green.

Robinson received an Honorary Academy Award for his work in the film industry, which was posthumously awarded two months after his death on January 26, 1973 of bladder cancer at age 79. 

Celebrating Kirk Douglas

Kirk Douglas (born December 9, 1916) is an American actor, producer, director, and author. He is one of the last survivors of the industry's Golden Age.

Birth Name: Issur Danielovitch
Hair: Brown
Eyes: Blue
Height: 5' 9"
Nickname: Izzy
Quote: "I think half the success in life comes from first trying to find out what you really want to do. And then going ahead and doing it.."

After an impoverished childhood with immigrant parents and six sisters, he had his film debut in The Strange Love of Martha Ivers (1946) with Barbara Stanwyck. Douglas soon developed into a leading box-office star throughout the 1950s and 1960s, known for serious dramas, including westerns and war movies. During a sixty-year acting career, he has appeared in over 90 movies, and in 1960 helped end the Hollywood Blacklist.

Douglas became an international star through positive reception for his leading role as an unscrupulous boxing hero in Champion (1949), which brought him his first nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actor. Other early films include Young Man with a Horn (1950), playing opposite Lauren Bacall and Doris Day; Ace in the Hole opposite Jan Sterling (1951); and Detective Story (1951). He received a second Oscar nomination for his dramatic role in The Bad and the Beautiful (1952), opposite Lana Turner, and his third nomination for portraying Vincent van Gogh in Lust for Life (1956).

In 1955, he established Bryna Productions, which began producing films as varied as Paths of Glory (1957) and Spartacus (1960). In those two films, he starred and collaborated with then relatively unknown director, Stanley Kubrick. Douglas helped break the Hollywood blacklist by having Dalton Trumbo write Spartacus with an official on-screen credit, although Trumbo's family claims he overstated his role. He produced and starred in Lonely Are the Brave (1962), considered a cult classic, and Seven Days in May (1964), opposite Burt Lancaster, with whom he made seven films. In 1963, he starred in the Broadway play One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, a story he purchased, which he later gave to his son Michael Douglas, who turned it into an Oscar-winning film.

As an actor and philanthropist, Douglas has received three Academy Award nominations, an Oscar for Lifetime Achievement, and the Presidential Medal of Freedom. As an author, he has written ten novels and memoirs. Currently, he is No. 17 on the American Film Institute's list of the greatest male screen legends of classic Hollywood cinema, and the highest-ranked living person on the list. After barely surviving a helicopter crash in 1991 and then suffering a stroke in 1996, he has focused on renewing his spiritual and religious life. He lives with his second wife of more than 60 years, Anne, a producer. He turned 100 on December 9, 2016.

Remembering Sammy Davis Jr

Sammy Davis Jr. (born December 8, 1925) was an American entertainer. Primarily a dancer and singer, he was also an actor of stage and screen, comedian, musician, and impressionist, noted for his impersonations of actors, musicians and other celebrities.


Birth Name: Samuel George Davis Jr.
Hair: Black
Eyes: Brown
Height: 5' 5"
Nickname: Smokey
Quote: "Being a star has made it possible for me to get insulted in places where the average Negro could never hope to get insulted."

At the age of 3, Davis began his career in vaudeville with his father and Will Mastin as the Will Mastin Trio, which toured nationally. After military service, Davis returned to the trio. Davis became an overnight sensation following a nightclub performance at Ciro's (in West Hollywood) after the 1951 Academy Awards. With the trio, he became a recording artist. In 1954, he lost his left eye in a car accident, and several years later, he converted to Judaism.

Davis's film career began as a child in 1933. In 1960, he appeared in the Rat Pack film Ocean's 11. After a starring role on Broadway in 1956's Mr Wonderful, he returned to the stage in 1964's Golden Boy. In 1966 he had his own TV variety show, titled The Sammy Davis Jr. Show.

Davis's career slowed in the late 1960s, but he had a hit record with "The Candy Man" in 1972 and became a star in Las Vegas, earning him the nickname "Mister Show Business".

Davis was a victim of racism throughout his life, particularly during the pre-Civil Rights era, and was a large financial supporter of the Civil Rights movement. Davis had a complex relationship with the black community, and drew criticism after physically embracing President Richard Nixon in 1972.

One day on a golf course with Jack Benny, he was asked what his handicap was. "Handicap?" he asked. "Talk about handicap. I'm a one-eyed Negro Jew." This was to become a signature comment, recounted in his autobiography, and in countless articles.[8]

After reuniting with Sinatra and Dean Martin in 1987, Davis toured with them and Liza Minnelli internationally, before he died of throat cancer on May 16, 1990 at age 64. 

Remembering Eli Walach

Eli Herschel Wallach (born December 7, 1915) was an American film, television and stage actor whose career spanned more than six decades.


Birth Name: Eli Herschel Wallach
Hair: Black
Eyes: Blue
Height: 5' 7"
Quote: "I never lost my appetite for acting."

Trained in stage acting, which he enjoyed doing most, he became "one of the greatest 'character actors' ever to appear on stage and screen"  with over 90 film credits. On stage, he often co-starred with his wife, Anne Jackson, becoming one of the best-known acting couples in the American theater.

Wallach initially studied method acting under Sanford Meisner, and later became a founding member of the Actors Studio, where he studied under Lee Strasberg. His versatility gave him the ability to play a wide variety of different roles throughout his career, primarily as a supporting actor.

For his debut screen performance in Baby Doll, he won a BAFTA Award for Best Newcomer and a Golden Globe Award nomination. Among his other most famous roles are Calvera in The Magnificent Seven (1960), Guido in The Misfits (1961), and Tuco ("The Ugly") in The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966). Other notable portrayals include outlaw Charlie Gant in How The West Was Won (1962), Don Altobello in The Godfather Part III, Cotton Weinberger in The Two Jakes (both 1990), and Arthur Abbott in The Holiday (2006). One of America's most prolific screen actors, Wallach remained active well into his nineties.

Wallach received BAFTA Awards, Tony Awards and Emmy Awards for his work, and received an Academy Honorary Award at the second annual Governors Awards, presented on November 13, 2010.

Wallach died on June 24, 2014 of natural causes at the age of 98.

Remembering Agnes Moorehead

Agnes Moorehead (December 6, 1900) was an American actress whose career of six decades included work in radio, stage, film, and television.


Birth Name: Agnes Robertson Moorehead
Hair: Red
Eyes: Blue
Height: 5' 4"
Nickname: "Aggie"
Quote: "It's an unavoidable truth. Fear of life closes off more opportunities for us than fear of death ever does."

She is chiefly known for her role as Endora on the television series Bewitched and as the voice of the friendly Mother Goose in Hanna-Barbera's 1973 adaptation of the E. B. White children's book Charlotte's Web.. She was also notable for her film roles in Citizen Kane, The Magnificent Ambersons, All That Heaven Allows, Show Boat and Hush… Hush, Sweet Charlotte.

While rarely playing lead roles, Moorehead's skill at character development and range earned her one Primetime Emmy Award and two Golden Globe awards in addition to four Academy Award and six Emmy Award nominations. Moorehead's transition to television won acclaim for drama and comedy. She could play many different types, but often portrayed haughty, arrogant characters.

Moorehead died of uterine cancer on April 30, 1974. She was 73.

Remembering Walt Disney

Walt Disney (born December 5, 1901)  was an American entrepreneur, animator, voice actor and film producer.

Birth Name: Walter Elias Disney
Hair: Black
Eyes: Brown
Height: 5' 10"
Nickname: "Uncle Walt"
Quote: "It's kind of fun to do the impossible."

 A pioneer of the American animation industry, he introduced several developments in the production of cartoons. As a film producer, Disney holds the record for most Academy Awards earned by an individual, having won 22 Oscars from 59 nominations. He was presented with two Golden Globe Special Achievement Awards and an Emmy Award, among other honors. Several of his films are included in the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress.

Born in Chicago in 1901, Disney developed an early interest in drawing. He took art classes as a boy and got a job as a commercial illustrator at the age of 18. He moved to Hollywood in the early 1920s and set up the Disney Brothers Studio with his brother Roy. With Ub Iwerks, Walt developed the character Mickey Mouse in 1928, his first highly popular success; he also provided the voice for his creation in the early years. As the studio grew, Disney became more adventurous, introducing synchronized sound, full-color three-strip Technicolor, feature-length cartoons and technical developments in cameras. The results, seen in features such as Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937), Fantasia, Pinocchio (both 1940), Dumbo (1941) and Bambi (1942), furthered the development of animated film. New animated and live-action films followed after World War II, including the critically successful Cinderella (1950) and Mary Poppins (1964), the latter of which received five Academy Awards.

In the 1950s, Disney expanded into the amusement park industry, and in 1955 he opened Disneyland. To fund the project he diversified into television programs, such as Walt Disney's Disneyland and The Mickey Mouse Club; he was also involved in planning the 1959 Moscow Fair, the 1960 Winter Olympics, and the 1964 New York World's Fair. In 1965, he began development of another theme park, Disney World, the heart of which was to be a new type of city, the "Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow".

Disney was a shy, self-deprecating and insecure man in private but adopted a warm and outgoing public persona. He had high standards and high expectations of those with whom he worked.

Disney is considered a cultural icon, particularly in the United States, where the company he co-founded is one of the world's largest and best-known entertainment companies.

On December 15, ten days after his 65th birthday, Disney died of circulatory collapse caused by lung cancer.

Remembering Deanna Durbin

Deanna Durbin (born December 4, 1921), was a Canadian actress and singer, who appeared in musical films in the 1930s and 1940s.

Birth Name: Edna Mae Durbin
Hair: Red
Eyes: Blue
Height: 5' 3"
Nickname: "Winnepeg's Sweetheart"
Quote: "I couldn't go on forever being Little Miss Fixit who burst into song."

Durbin made her first film appearance in the short Every Sunday (1936) with a young Judy Garland. The film helped to prove the pair, as studio executives had questioned the wisdom of casting two female singers together.

Durbin signed a contract with Universal Studios, where she was given the professional name Deanna. She was 14 years old when she made her first feature-length film, Three Smart Girls (1936). Three Smart Girls was a success and established Durbin as a star. With Pasternak producing for Universal, Durbin went on to star in a string of successful musical films, including One Hundred Men and a Girl (1937), Mad About Music (1938), That Certain Age (1938), Three Smart Girls Grow Up (1939), and First Love (1939)—most of which were directed by Henry Koster.

The success of Durbin's films was reported to have saved Universal from bankruptcy. In 1938, she received an Academy Juvenile Award with Mickey Rooney. Her producer, Joe Pasternak, said:

In the early 1940s, Durbin continued her success with It's a Date (1940), Spring Parade (1940), Nice Girl? (1941), and It Started with Eve (1941), her last film with Pasternak and director Henry Koster. After Pasternak moved from Universal to MGM, Durbin was suspended between October 16, 1941 and early February 1942 for refusing to appear in They Lived Alone, which was scheduled to be directed by Koster. The project was canceled when Durbin and Universal settled their differences. In the agreement, Universal conceded to Durbin the approval of her directors, stories, and songs.

Following the two sequels to her first film Three Smart Girls, Durbin issued a press release announcing that she was no longer inclined to participate in these team efforts and was now performing as a solo artist. The Three Smart Girls Join Up title was changed to Hers to Hold (1943). In 1943, Durbin took on a more sophisticated role in the World War II story of refugee children from China, The Amazing Mrs. Holliday. Additional adult roles followed, including the film noir Christmas Holiday (1944), directed by Robert Siodmak, and the whodunit Lady on a Train (1945).

While these adult dramatic roles may have been more satisfying for Durbin, her fans preferred her in light musical confections such as Can't Help Singing (1944), her only Technicolor film, which featured some of the last melodies written by Jerome Kern plus lyrics by E. Y. Harburg.

In 1946, Universal merged with two other companies to create Universal-International. The new regime discontinued much of Universal's familiar product and scheduled only a few musicals. She stayed on for another four pictures: I'll Be Yours (1947), Something in the Wind (1947), Up in Central Park (1948), and For the Love of Mary (1948).

By 1948, however, her box-office clout began to diminish. In private life, On August 22, 1948, two months after completing her final film, Universal-International announced a lawsuit which sought to collect from Durbin $87,083 in wages the studio had paid her in advance.] Durbin settled the complaint by agreeing to star in three more pictures, including one in Paris. The studio allowed Deanna's contract to expire on August 31, 1949, so the three films were never made. Durbin, chose to retire from movies.

According to a family friend, Durbin died on or about April 20, 2013 in Neauphle-le-Château, France. She was 91 years old.

Remembering Richard Todd

Richard  Todd OBE (born 11 June 1919) was an Irish-born British soldier and stage and film actor.

Birth Name: Richard Andrew Palethorpe Todd
Hair: Brown
Eyes: Blue
Height: 5' 9"
Quote: "You don't consciously set out to do something gallant. You just do it because that is what you are there for."

Whilst performing in a play. he was spotted by Robert Lennard, a casting director for Associated British Picture Corporation, who offered him a screen test, and he subsequently signed a long-term contract in 1948. He was cast in For Them That Trespass (1949).

Todd had appeared in the Dundee Repertory stage version of The Hasty Heart, playing the role of Yank and was subsequently chosen to appear in the 1948 London stage version of the play, this time in the leading role of Cpl. Lachlan McLachlan. This led to his being cast in that role in the Warner Bros. film adaptation of the play, which was filmed in Britain. Todd was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor for the role in 1949.

Alfred Hitchcock used him in Stage Fright (1950), then he made a film in Hollywood for King Vidor, Lightning Strikes Twice (1951). Neither did particularly well at the box office. He appeared in three films for the Disney Corporation, The Story of Robin Hood and His Merrie Men (1952), The Sword and the Rose (1953) and Rob Roy, the Highland Rogue (1953).

Todd's career received a boost when 20th Century-Fox signed him to a non-exclusive contract and cast him as the United States Senate Chaplain Peter Marshall in the film version of Catherine Marshall's best selling biography, A Man Called Peter (1955), which was a popular success.

In the mid-1950s Todd's acting career reached its zenith with performances as the epitome of the heroic English male lead in commercially successful and critically acclaimed films such as The Dam Busters (1955) in which he played Wing Commander Guy Gibson, which would become the defining role of his movie career. In the same year he appeared in The Virgin Queen opposite Bette Davis playing Walter Raleigh. Other notable films that he starred in during this period were Saint Joan (1957), directed by Otto Preminger and The Yangtse Incident (1957).

His career in films rapidly declined in the 1960s as the counter-culture movement in the Arts became fashionable in England, with Social-realist dramas commercially replacing the more middle-class orientated dramatic productions that Todd's performance character-type had previously excelled in.

Todd, who had been suffering from cancer, died in his sleep at a nursing home in Bourne in Lincolnshire on 3 December 2009, at age 90.

Remembering Julie Harris

Julie Harris (born December 2, 1925) was an American stage, screen, and television actress.

Birth Name: Julia Ann Harris
Hair: Red
Eyes: Blue/Grey
Height: 5' 3"
Quote: "Pictures make me look like a twelve-year-old boy who flunked his body-building course."

Harris's screen debut was in 1952, repeating her Broadway success as the monumentally lonely teenaged girl Frankie in Carson McCullers' The Member of the Wedding, for which she was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress. Harris played the ethereal Eleanor Lance in The Haunting (1963), director Robert Wise's screen adaptation of a novel by Shirley Jackson, a classic film of the horror genre. Another cast member recalled Harris maintaining a social distance from the other actors while not on set, later explaining that she had done so as a method of emphasizing the alienation from the other characters experienced by her character in the film.

 She reprised her Tony-winning role as Mary Todd Lincoln in The Last of Mrs. Lincoln (1973) in the film version (1976). Another noteworthy film appearance was the World War II drama The Hiding Place (1975). She also appeared in such films as East of Eden (also 1955), with James Dean (with whom she became close friends), Requiem for a Heavyweight (1962), with Paul Newman in the private-detective film Harper (1966), and Reflections in a Golden Eye (1967).

For her television work, Harris had won three Emmy Awards and had been nominated 11 times. One of her most famous television roles was as Queen Victoria, in the 1961 Hallmark Hall of Fame production of Laurence Housman's Victoria Regina, for which she won an Emmy. Earlier, also for the Hallmark Hall of Fame, she starred as Nora Helmer opposite Christopher Plummer in A Doll's House (1959), a 90-minute television adaptation of Ibsen's play. She made more appearances in leading roles on the Hallmark program than any other actress, also appearing in two different adaptations of the play Little Moon of Alban. In her later career, she was perhaps best known as country singer Lilimae Clements, the eccentric and protective mother of Valene Ewing (played by Joan Van Ark) on the CBS nighttime soap opera Knots Landing. The role was as a guest appearance in 1980 before returning as a series regular from 1981–87.

She was a 10-time Tony Award nominee and five-time winner. She also won three Emmy Awards, a Grammy Award, and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress for the 1952 film The Member of the Wedding. She was inducted into the American Theatre Hall of Fame in 1979, received the National Medal of Arts in 1994,and the 2002 Special Lifetime Achievement Tony Award.

Harris died on August 24, 2013, of congestive heart failure at her home in West Chatham, Massachusetts, aged 87.

Remembering Lou Rawls

Lou Rawls (December 1, 1933) was an American recording artist, voice actor, songwriter, and record producer.  Frank Sinatra once said that Rawls had "the classiest singing and silkiest chops in the singing game".

Birth Name: Louis Allen Rawls
Hair: Black
Eyes: Brown
Height: 5' 10"
Quote: "I don't put myself in any particular category. Whatever the occasion calls for, I rise to the occasion. There are no limits to music, so why should I limit myself?"

Rawls released more than 60 albums, sold more than 40 million records, and had numerous charting singles, most notably his song "You'll Never Find Another Love Like Mine". He worked as a television, motion picture, and voice actor. He was also a three-time Grammy-winner, all for Best Male R&B Vocal Performance.

Throughout Rawls' singing career, he had the opportunity to appear in many films, television shows, and commercials. His first acting credit was in the western television series The Big Valley (starring Barbara Stanwyck, along with Lee Majors and Linda Evans). Here he delivered the memorable line, "Ain't a horse that can't be rode; ain't a man that can't be throwed." He can be seen in such films as Leaving Las Vegas, Blues Brothers 2000, and Angel, Angel, Down We Go.

Lou also brought his flair to children's programming, becoming the singing voice of the animated feline Garfield. In 1982, he was Grammy-nominated for Best Recording for Children for Here Comes Garfield and is the musical star of the "Garfield" TV specials.

 Lou Rawls died from lung and brain cancer on January 6, 2006, at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, California, at age 72.

Remembering Virginia Mayo

Virginia Mayo (born November 30, 1920) was an American actress and dancer.

Birth Name: Virginia Clara Jones
Hair: Blonde
Eyes: Green
Height: 5' 5"
Nickname: "Ginny"
Quote: "Working with comedians like [Bob Hope] and [Danny Kaye] taught me timing, pace and fine points of acting I never would have learned otherwise."

One of her first films was the 1943 hit Jack London, which starred her future husband Michael O'Shea. Other roles soon followed as she became a popular actress who personified the dream girl or girl-next-door image in a series of films. Her first starring role came in 1944 opposite comedian Bob Hope in The Princess and the Pirate. Remaining in the comedy genre, Mayo had several popular on-screen pairings with dancer-actor Danny Kaye, including Wonder Man (1945), The Kid from Brooklyn (1946), and The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (1947).

Going against previous stereotype, Mayo accepted the supporting role of unsympathetic gold-digger Marie Derry in William Wyler's drama The Best Years of Our Lives (1946). Her performance drew favorable reviews from critics, as the film also became the highest-grossing film inside the US since Gone with the Wind. At the zenith of her career, Mayo was seen as the quintessential voluptuous Hollywood beauty.

She would continue a series of dramatic performances in the late 1940s in films such as Smart Girls Don't Talk (1948). Virginia Mayo was a constant fixture in the movie theaters in 1949 as she co-starred in many movies all released that year. Among them were Flaxy Martin, opposite Joel McCrea in the western Colorado Territory, co-starred with future United States President Ronald Reagan in The Girl from Jones Beach, and with comedian Milton Berle in Always Leave Them Laughing. Mixing drama with comedy roles all year, Mayo received rave reviews for her performance alongside James Cagney and Edmond O'Brien in 1949's White Heat and received equally impressive reviews for co-starring with George Raft in Roy Del Ruth's Red Light that same year.

At the beginning of the 1950s, Mayo scored success with the adventure film The Flame and the Arrow (1950) with Burt Lancaster. She co-starred again with James Cagney and a young Doris Day in The West Point Story (1950), singing and dancing with Cagney, and appeared in the all-star cast of Starlift (1951). She starred opposite Dennis Morgan in David Butler's Technicolor musical, Painting the Clouds with Sunshine (1951) which was a moderate success.

During the rest of the 1950s, Mayo continued to appear in films with varying genres. In 1953, she appeared in the comedy-drama-action film South Sea Woman with Burt Lancaster and Chuck Connors. She played Helena in Victor Saville's The Silver Chalice (1954) opposite Pier Angeli and Paul Newman in his film debut. Mayo co-starred with Rex Harrison and George Sanders in King Richard and the Crusaders (1954). Mayo played Cleopatra in the 1957 fantasy film The Story of Mankind with Vincent Price, Hedy Lamarr, Cesar Romero, Agnes Moorehead, and the Marx Brothers. Her last film of the decade was 1959's Jet Over the Atlantic with Guy Madison and George Raft.

By the 1960s, Mayo's film career had tapered off considerably, although she continued to appear in films throughout the next several decades, with one of her last prominent roles being in Fort Utah (1967) with John Ireland. She was also one of the several stars to make a cameo appearance in the all-star box office bomb Won Ton Ton, the Dog Who Saved Hollywood (1976). Her final film appearance was in the 1997 film The Man Next Door.

Mayo died of pneumonia and complications of congestive heart failure in Los Angeles on January 17, 2005, aged 84.

Remembering Natalie Wood

Natalie Wood (born July 20, 1938) was an American film and television actress of Russian origin parents. She was known for her screen roles in Miracle on 34th Street, Splendor in the Grass, Rebel Without a Cause, The Searchers, and West Side Story. She first worked in films as a child, then became a successful Hollywood star as a young adult, receiving three Academy Award nominations before she was 25-years-old.

Birth Name: Natalia Nikolaevna Zakharenko
Hair: Brown
Eyes: Brown
Height: 5'
Nickname: "Natasha"
Quote: "You get tough in this business, until you get big enough to hire people to get tough for you. Then you can sit back and be a lady."

Wood began acting in movies at the age of four and, at age eight, was given a co-starring role with Maureen O'Hara in the classic Christmas film Miracle on 34th Street.

 As a teenager, her performance in Rebel Without a Cause (1955) earned her a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.

She starred in the musical films West Side Story (1961) and Gypsy (1962), and received Academy Award for Best Actress nominations for her performances in Splendor in the Grass (1961) and Love with the Proper Stranger (1963). Her career continued with films such as Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice (1969).

After this, she took a break from acting and had two children with different husbands, appearing in only three theatrical films during the 1970s. She was married to actor Robert Wagner twice, and to producer Richard Gregson. She had one daughter with Gregson, actress Natasha Gregson Wagner. Wood gave birth to Courtney Wagner during her second marriage to Wagner.

Wood starred in several television productions, including a remake of the film From Here to Eternity (1979) for which she won a Golden Globe Award. During her career, her films represented a "coming of age" for both her and Hollywood films in general.

During the making of the film Brainstorm, Wood drowned on November 29, 1981, while on a weekend boat trip to Santa Catalina Island on board the Splendour. She was 43 years old. 

Remembering Gloria Grahame

Gloria Grahame (born November 28, 1923) was an American stage, film and television actress.

Birth Name: Gloria Grahame Hallward
Hair: Blonde
Eyes: Hazel
Height: 5' 5"
Nickname: "The Woman You Love to Hate"
Quote: "It wasn't the way I looked at a man, it was the thought behind it."

Grahame began her acting career in theatre, and in 1944 made her first film for MGM. Despite a featured role in It's a Wonderful Life (1946), MGM did not believe she had the potential for major success, and sold her contract to RKO Studios. Often cast in film noir projects, Grahame received a nomination for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for Crossfire (1947), and she won this award for her work in The Bad and the Beautiful (1952). She achieved her highest profile with Sudden Fear (1952), Human Desire (1953), The Big Heat (1953), and Oklahoma! (1955), but her film career began to wane soon afterwards.

She returned to work on the stage, but continued to appear in films and television productions, usually in supporting roles. In 1974, Grahame was diagnosed with breast cancer. It went into remission less than a year later and Grahame returned to work. In 1980, the cancer returned but Grahame refused to accept the diagnosis or seek treatment. Choosing instead to continue working, she travelled to England to appear in a play. Her health, however, declined rapidly and she developed peritonitis after undergoing a procedure to remove fluid from her abdomen in September, 1981. She returned to New York City where she died on October 5, 1981 at the age of 57.

Remembering Bruce Lee

Bruce Lee (born November 27, 1940),  was a Hong Kong and American actor, martial artist, philosopher, filmmaker, and founder of the martial art Jeet Kune Do. He is widely considered by commentators, critics, media, and other martial artists to be one of the most influential martial artists of all time. He is often credited with helping to change the way Asians were presented in American films.

Birth Name: Lee Jun-fan
Hair: Black
Eyes: Black
Height: 5' 7"
Nickname: "Little Phoenix"
Quote: "The key to immortality is first living a life worth remembering."

Lee was born in Chinatown, San Francisco to parents from Hong Kong and was raised in Kowloon, Hong Kong with his family until his late teens. He was introduced to the film industry by his father and appeared in several films as a child actor. Lee moved to the United States at the age of 18 to receive his higher education, at the University of Washington, at Seattle and it was during this time that he began teaching martial arts.

His Hong Kong and Hollywood-produced films elevated the traditional Hong Kong martial arts film to a new level of popularity and acclaim, sparking a surge of interest in Chinese martial arts in the West in the 1970s. The direction and tone of his films influenced martial arts and martial arts films in the US, Hong Kong and the rest of the world.

He is noted for his roles in five feature-length films: Lo Wei's The Big Boss (1971) and Fist of Fury (1972); Golden Harvest's Way of the Dragon (1972), directed and written by Lee; Golden Harvest and Warner Brothers' Enter the Dragon (1973) and The Game of Death (1978), both directed by Robert Clouse.

Lee became an iconic figure known throughout the world, particularly among the Chinese, as he portrayed Chinese nationalism in his films.n He trained in the art of Wing Chun and later combined his other influences from various sources, in the spirit of his personal martial arts philosophy, which he dubbed Jeet Kune Do (The Way of the Intercepting Fist).

He died of an allergic reaction to headache medicine in Kowloon Tong on July 20, 1973 at the age of 32.

Remembering Robert Goulet

Robert Goulet (born November 26, 1933) was an American singer and actor of French-Canadian ancestry.

Birth Name: Robert Gerard Goulet
Hair: Brown
Eyes: Blue
Height: 6'
Nickname: "Mr. Camelot"
Quote: "No one should take himself that seriously."

Goulet was born and raised in Lawrence, Massachusetts. Cast as Sir Lancelot and originating the role in the 1960 Broadway musical Camelot starring opposite established Broadway stars Richard Burton and Julie Andrews, he achieved instant recognition with his performance and interpretation of the song "If Ever I Would Leave You", which became his signature song. His debut in Camelot marked the beginning of an award-winning stage, screen, and recording career .

Goulet's first film performance was released in 1962: the UPA (United Productions of America) animated musical feature Gay Purr-ee, in which he provided the voice of the male lead character, 'Jaune Tom', opposite the female lead character, 'Mewsette', voiced by Judy Garland. His first non-singing role was in Honeymoon Hotel (1964), but it was not until a cameo appearance as a singer in Louis Malle's film, Atlantic City (1980) that Goulet was given critical acclaim.

In 1988, he was cast by Tim Burton as a houseguest blown through the roof by Beetlejuice and also played himself in Bill Murray's Scrooged (both 1988).

In 1991, he appeared as Quentin Hapsburg, opposite Leslie Nielsen, in the comedy film The Naked Gun 2½: The Smell of Fear. This followed a cameo in the 1982 TV series Police Squad!. In the episode "The Butler Did It (A Bird in the Hand)", as "Special Guest Star", he died by firing squad during the opening credits.

Goulet continued to perform on stage and television until October 30, 2007, when he passed away from pulmonary fibrosis, less than a month short of his 74th birthday.

His vocal performances have involved every medium of the entertainment world. A Grammy, Tony, and an Emmy award winner, his career spanned almost six decades. It is for these achievements that Robert Goulet is considered to be one of the greatest baritones of all time and one of the most prominent musical stars of the second half of the 20th century.

Remembering Ricardo Montalban

Ricardo Montalbán (born  November 25, 1920), was a Mexican actor. whose career spanned seven decades.

Birth Name: Ricardo Gonzalo Pedro Montalbán y Merino
Hair: Brown
Eyes: Brown
Height: 6'
Nickname: "The Latin Lover"
Quote: "Through the fantasies, you learn to appreciate your own realities."

Though his first leading role was in the film noir Border Incident (1949) with actor George Murphy, many of his early roles were in Westerns in which he played character roles, usually as Native Americans or as Latin Lovers. He was cast against type in the film noir Mystery Street (1950), playing a Cape Cod police officer.

During the 1950s and 1960s, he was one of only a handful of actively working Hispanic actors in Hollywood, although he portrayed several ethnicities – occasionally of Japanese background, as in with the character of Nakamura in the film Sayonara (1957), and as Tokura in the Hawaii Five-O episode "Samurai" (1968). In the romance comedy Love Is a Ball (1963), he played a naive, penniless French duke being groomed as a potential husband for a rich American woman.

 In 1975, he was chosen as the television spokesman for the new Chrysler Cordoba. The car became a successful model, and over the following several years, was heavily advertised; his mellifluous delivery of a line praising the "soft Corinthian leather" upholstery of the car's interior, often misquoted as "fine" or "rich Corinthian leather" , became famous and was much parodied, and Montalbán subsequently became a favorite subject of impersonators.

Montalbán's best-known television role was that of Mr. Roarke on the television series Fantasy Island, which he played from 1977 until 1984. For a while, the series was one of the most popular on television, and his character as well as that of his sidekick, Tattoo (played by Hervé Villechaize), became popular icons.

Another of his well-known roles was that of Khan Noonien Singh in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982), in which he reprised a role that he had originated in the 1967 episode of Star Trek titled "Space Seed". Early rumors suggested Montalbán wore prosthetic muscles on his chest during filming of Star Trek II to appear more muscular. Director Nicholas Meyer replied that even in his sixties Montalbán, who had a vigorous training regimen, was "one strong cookie", and that his real chest was seen on film. Khan's costume was specifically designed to display Montalbán's physique. Critic Christopher Null called Khan the "greatest role of Montalbán's career".

Montalbán appeared in many diverse films including The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad! (1988) as well as two films from both the Planet of the Apes and Spy Kids series.

On January 14, 2009, Montalbán died at his home in Los Angeles at age 88 of congestive heart failure.

Remembering Pat Morita

Pat Morita (born June 28, 1932 ) was an American film and television actor.

Birth Name: Noriyuki "Pat" Morita
Hair: Black
Eyes: Black/Dark Brown
Height: 5' 3"
Nickname: "Nori"
Quote: "It's been a career filled with very low valleys and some wonderful, high peaks."

He was well known for playing the roles of Matsuo "Arnold" Takahashi on Happy Days and Mr. Kesuke Miyagi in the The Karate Kid movie series, for which he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor in 1985. He's also known for portraying the Emperor of China in the Disney animated film Mulan and Ah Chew in Sanford and Son.

Morita was the series lead actor in the television program Mr. T and Tina, regarded as the first American sitcom centered on a person of Asian descent, and Ohara, a police-themed drama. Both made history for being some of the few TV shows to this day with an Asian American series lead. Both television shows were aired on ABC, but they were both short-lived.

Morita died on November 24, 2005, at his home in Las Vegas of kidney failure at the age of 73.

Remembering Boris Karloff

Boris Karloff (born 23 November 1887), was an English actor best known for his portrayal of Frankenstein's monster, and for "The Grinch Who Stole Christmas" (1966).

Birth Name: William Henry Pratt
Hair: Black
Eyes: Dark Brown
Height: 5' 11"
Nickname: "The Uncanny"
Quote: "My dear old monster. I owe everything to him. He's my best friend."

In Canada he began appearing in theatrical performances, and during this period he adopted the professional name of "Boris Karloff".  Karloff always claimed he chose the first name "Boris" because it sounded foreign and exotic, and that "Karloff" was a family name. One reason for the name change was to prevent embarrassment to his family.

Once Karloff arrived in Hollywood, he made dozens of silent films, but work was sporadic, and he often had to take up manual labour such as digging ditches or delivering construction plaster to earn a living. A key film which brought Karloff recognition was The Criminal Code (1931), a prison drama in which he reprised a dramatic part he had played on stage. Another significant role in the autumn of 1931 saw Karloff play a key supporting part as an unethical newspaper reporter in Five Star Final, a film about tabloid journalism which was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture.

His role as Frankenstein's monster in Frankenstein (1931) made Karloff a star. The bulky costume with four inch platform boots made it an arduous role. The costume was a job in itself for Karloff with the shoes weighing 11 pounds each.  A year later, Karloff played another iconic character, Imhotep in The Mummy. The Old Dark House (with Charles Laughton) and the starring role in The Mask of Fu Manchu quickly followed. These films all confirmed Karloff's new-found stardom.

In later years, he hosted and acted in a number of television series, most notably Thriller, Out Of This World, and The Veil, but the last of these was never actually broadcast, and only came to light in the 1990s. In the 1960s, Karloff appeared in several films for American International Pictures, including The Comedy of Terrors, The Raven, and The Terror, the latter two directed by Roger Corman, and Die, Monster, Die! He also starred in Michael Reeves's second feature film, The Sorcerers, in 1966.

In the mid-1960s, he gained a late-career surge of American popularity when he narrated the made-for-television animated film of Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas, and also provided the voice of the Grinch, although the song "You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch" was sung by the American voice actor Thurl Ravenscroft. The film was first broadcast on CBS-TV in 1966. Karloff later received a Grammy Award for "Best Recording For Children" after the story was released as a record.

His retirement was spent in England at his country cottage named Roundabout in the Hampshire village of Bramshott. He contracted bronchitis in 1968 and was hospitalized at University College Hospital.  He died of pneumonia at the King Edward VII Hospital, Midhurst, in Sussex, on 2 February 1969 at the age of 81.

Remembering Rodney Dangerfield

Rodney Dangerfield (born  November 22, 1921) was an American stand-up comedian, actor, producer, screenwriter and comedian known for the catchphrase "I don't get no respect!"

Birth Name: Jacob Cohen
Hair: Brown
Eyes: Blue
Height: 5' 10"
Nickname: "Jack"
"My wife and I were happy for 20 years. Then we met.."

Though his acting career had begun much earlier in obscure movies like The Projectionist (1971), Dangerfield's career peaked during the early 1980s, when he began acting in hit comedy movies.

One of Dangerfield's more memorable performances was in the 1980 golf comedy Caddyshack, in which he played a nouveau riche developer who was a guest at a golf club and began shaking up the establishment of the club's old guard. His role was initially smaller, but because he and fellow cast members Chevy Chase and Bill Murray were so deft at improvisation, their roles were greatly expanded (much to the chagrin of some of their castmates). His appearance in Caddyshack led to starring roles in Easy Money and Back To School.

In a change of pace from the comedy persona that made him famous, he played an abusive father in Natural Born Killers in a scene for which he wrote or rewrote all of his own lines.

Dangerfield was rejected for membership in the Motion Picture Academy in 1995 by the head of the Academy's Actors Section, Roddy McDowall. After fan protests the Academy reconsidered, but Dangerfield then refused to accept membership.

Dangerfield also appeared in the 2000 Adam Sandler film Little Nicky, playing Lucifer, the father of Satan (Harvey Keitel) and grandfather of Nicky (Sandler).

Dangerfield played an important role in comedian Jim Carrey's rise to stardom. In the 1980s, after watching Carrey perform at the Comedy Store in Los Angeles, Rodney signed Carrey to open for his Las Vegas show. The two would tour together for about two more years.

 Rodney Dangerfield died on October 5, 2004–a month and a half shy of his 83rd birthday

Celebrating Goldie Hawn

Goldie Hawn (born November 21, 1945) is an American actress, director, producer, and occasional singer.

Birth Name: Goldie Jeanne Hawn
Hair: Blonde
Eyes: Blue
Height: 5' 6"
Nickname: "Go-Go"
Quote: "I have a light personality and a deep-thinking brain. Those are two very different things."

She rose to fame on television's Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In (1968–70). She won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress and the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress for the 1969 film, Cactus Flower, maintaining bankable star status for more than three decades thereafter.

Hawn was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress for the title role in the 1980 film Private Benjamin. Other films include: There's a Girl in My Soup (1970), Butterflies Are Free (1972), The Sugarland Express (1974), Shampoo (1975), Foul Play (1978), Seems Like Old Times (1980), Best Friends (1982), Overboard (1987), Bird on a Wire (1990), Death Becomes Her (1992), Housesitter (1992), The First Wives Club (1996), and The Banger Sisters (2002).

She is the mother of actors Oliver Hudson, Kate Hudson and Wyatt Russell, and has been in a relationship with actor Kurt Russell since 1983.

Remembering Judy Canova

Judy Canova (born November 20, 1913) was an American comedian, actress, singer, and radio personality.

Birth Name: Juliette Canova
Hair: Black
Eyes: Brown
Height: 5' 3"
Nickname: "Queen of Corn"
Quote: "Sure, they (her films) were fairy tales that had a little upbeat lesson. I started out as a plain Jane, an ugly duckling, and ended up as a beautiful girl decked out in fancy dresses."

When bandleader Rudy Vallée offered the still-teenaged Canova a guest spot on his radio show in 1931, The Fleischmann Hour, the door opened to a career that spanned more than five decades. The popularity of the Canova family led to numerous performances on radio in the 1930s, and they made their Broadway theater debut in the revue Calling All Stars.

An offer from Warner Bros. led to several bit parts before she signed with Republic Pictures. She recorded for the RCA Victor label and appeared in more than two dozen Hollywood films, playing leading roles as well as supporting parts, including Scatterbrain (1940), Joan of Ozark (1942), and Lay That Rifle Down (1955).

In 1943, she began her own radio program, The Judy Canova Show, that ran for twelve years—first on CBS and then on NBC. Playing herself as a love-starved Ozark bumpkin dividing her time between home and Southern California, Canova was accompanied by a cast that included voicemaster Mel Blanc as Pedro.

By the time her radio program ended in 1955, Canova made a smooth transition to television with appearances on The Colgate Comedy Hour, The Steve Allen Show, Matinee Theatre, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, The Danny Thomas Show, The Love Boat, and other shows.

Judy Canova died from cancer on August 5, 1983 at age 69.

Remembering Clifton Webb

Clifton Webb (born November 19, 1889)  was an American actor, dancer, and singer known for his Oscar-nominated roles in such films as Laura (1944), amd The Razor's Edge (1946).

Birth Name: Webb Parmelee Hollenbeck
Hair: Brown
Eyes: Brown
Height: 5' 10"
Quote: "In my case self-absortion is completely justified. I have never discovered any other subject quite so worthy of my attention."

Webb was in his mid-fifties when actor/director Otto Preminger chose him to play the elegant but evil radio columnist Waldo Lydecker, who is obsessed with Gene Tierney's character in the 1944 film noir Laura. His performance won him wide acclaim, and Webb was signed to a long-term contract with Twentieth Century Fox. Two years later he was reunited with Tierney in another highly praised role as the elitist Elliott Templeton in The Razor's Edge (1946). He received Academy Award nominations for Best Actor in a Supporting Role for both.

Webb also received an Oscar nomination for Best Actor in a Leading Role in 1949 for Sitting Pretty, the first in a three-film series of comedic Mr. Belvedere features with Webb portraying a snide and omniscient babysitter.

In the 1950 film Cheaper by the Dozen, Webb and Myrna Loy played Frank and Lillian Gilbreth, real-life efficiency experts of the 1910s and 1920s, and the parents of 12 children. The film's success led to a sequel, Belles on Their Toes, with Webb appearing only in a cameo flashback as the movie covers the family's life after the death of the father.

Webb's subsequent film roles include that of college professor Thornton Sayre, who in his younger days was known as silent film idol Bruce "Dreamboat" Blair. Now a distinguished academic who wants no part of his past fame, he sets out to stop the showing of his old films on television in 1952's Dreamboat which concludes with Webb's alter ego Sayre watching himself star in Sitting Pretty.

Also in 1952 he starred in the Technicolor film biography of bandmaster John Philip Sousa, Stars and Stripes Forever. In 1953, he had his most dramatic role as the doomed but brave husband of unfaithful Barbara Stanwyck in Titanic and in 1954 played the (fictional) novelist John Frederick Shadwell in Three Coins in the Fountain.

The 1956 British film The Man Who Never Was saw him playing the part of Royal Navy Lt. Cmdr. Ewen Montagu in the true story of Operation Mincemeat, the elaborate plan to trick the Axis powers about the Allied invasion of Sicily during World War II. In 1957's Boy on a Dolphin, second-billed to Alan Ladd, with third-billed Sophia Loren, he portrayed a wealthy sophisticate who enjoyed collecting illegally obtained Greek antiquities. In a nod to his own identity, the character's name was Victor Parmalee.

Webb's final film role was an initially sarcastic, but ultimately self-sacrificing Catholic priest in Leo McCarey's Satan Never Sleeps.

Because of health problems, Webb spent the last five years of his life as a recluse at his home in Beverly Hills, California, eventually succumbing to a heart attack on October 13, 1966, at the age of 76.

Remembering James Coburn

James Coburn (born August 31, 1928) was an American actor.

Birth Name: James Harrison Coburn III
Hair: Brown
Eyes: Blue/Grey
Height: 6' 2"
Quote: "Actors are boring when they are not working."

He was featured in more than 70 films, largely in action roles, and made 100 television appearances during his 45-year career, ultimately winning an Academy Award in 1997 for his supporting role as Glen Whitehouse in Affliction.

A capable, rough-hewn leading man, his toothy grin and lanky body made him a perfect tough guy in numerous leading and supporting roles in westerns and action films, such as The Magnificent Seven, Hell Is for Heroes, The Great Escape, Charade, Our Man Flint, In Like Flint, Duck, You Sucker!, and Cross of Iron. Coburn also provided the voice of Henry Waternoose in the Pixar film Monsters, Inc.

During the late 1960s and early 1970s Coburn cultivated an image synonymous with "cool", and along with such contemporaries as Lee Marvin, Steve McQueen, and Charles Bronson became one of the prominent "tough-guy" actors of his day.

Coburn died of a heart attack on November 18, 2002 while listening to music at his Beverly Hills home.

Remembering Rock Hudson

Rock Hudson (born November 17, 1925) was an American actor.

Birth Name: Roy Harold Scherer, Jr.
Hair: Black
Eyes: Brown
Height: 6' 5"
Nickname: "Rock Pyle"
Quote: "Hollywood is seldom what it seems."

Hudson is generally known for his turns as a leading man in the 1950s and 1960s and is viewed as a prominent actor and 'heartthrob' of the Hollywood Golden Age.

He achieved stardom with roles in films such as Magnificent Obsession (1954), All That Heaven Allows (1955) and Giant (1956), and found continued success with a string of romantic comedies co-starring Doris Day in Pillow Talk (1959), Lover Come Back (1961) and Send Me No Flowers (1964).

After appearing in films like Seconds (1966), Tobruk (1967) and Ice Station Zebra (1968) in the late 1960s, Hudson began a second career in television through the 1970s and 1980s, starring in the popular mystery series McMillan & Wife and the soap opera Dynasty.

Hudson was voted Star of the Year, Favorite Leading Man, and similar titles by numerous film magazines. He completed nearly 70 films and starred in several television productions during a career that spanned more than four decades.

Hudson died from AIDS-related complications in October 2, 1985, becoming the first major celebrity to die from an AIDS-related illness.

Remembering Burgess Meredith

Burgess Meredith (born November 16, 1907) was an American actor, director, producer, and writer in theater, film, and television.

Birth Name: Oliver Burgess Meredith
Hair: Brown
Eyes: Blue
Height: 5' 5"
Nickname: "Buzz"
Quote: "I was born a character actor. I was never really a leading man type."

Active for more than six decades,Meredith has been called "a virtuosic actor" and "one of the most accomplished actors of the century". A life member of the Actors Studio[ by invitation, he won several Emmys, was the first male actor to win the Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor twice, and was nominated for two Academy Awards.

Meredith was known later in his career for his appearances on The Twilight Zone, portraying arch-villain The Penguin on the 1960s TV series Batman, and boxing trainer Mickey Goldmill in the Rocky film series. "Although those performances renewed his popularity," observed Mel Gussow in The New York Times, "they represented only a small part of a richly varied career in which he played many of the more demanding roles in classical and contemporary theater—in plays by Shakespeare, O'Neill, Beckett and others.

Meredith died on September 9,1997 from death Melanoma and Alzheimer's disease.

Celebrating Ed Asner

Ed  Asner (born November 15, 1929) is an American actor, voice actor and a former president of the Screen Actors Guild.

Birth Name: Yitzhak Edward  Asner
Hair: Dark Brown/ Black
Eyes: Hazel
Height: 5' 7"
Nickname: "Eddie"
Quote: "Raising kids is part joy and part guerrilla warfare."

Asner is best known for his character Lou Grant, who was first introduced on The Mary Tyler Moore Show in 1970. In 1977, after the series, Asner's character was given his own show, Lou Grant (1977–82). In contrast to the Mary Tyler Moore series, a thirty-minute comedy, the Lou Grant series was an hour-long award-winning drama about journalism. (For his role as Grant, Asner is one of only two actors to win an Emmy Award for a sitcom and a drama for the same role, with the second being Uzo Aduba.)

Other television series starring Asner in regular roles include Thunder Alley, The Bronx Zoo and Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip. He also starred in one episode of the western series, Dead Man's Gun (1997), as well as portraying art smuggler August March in an episode of the original Hawaii Five-O (1975) and reprised the role in the Hawaii Five-0 (2012) remake.

Asner was acclaimed for his role in the ABC miniseries Roots, as Captain Davies, the morally conflicted captain of the Lord Ligonier, the slave ship that brought Kunta Kinte to America. That role earned Asner an Emmy Award, as did the similarly dark role of Axel Jordache in the miniseries Rich Man, Poor Man (1976). In contrast, he played a former Pontiff in the lead role of Papa Giovanni: Ioannes XXIII (Pope John XXIII 2002), an Italian television film for RAI.

Asner has also had an extensive voice acting career. In 1987, he performed the role of the title character, George F. Babbitt, in the L.A. Classic Theatre Works' radio theatre production of Sinclair Lewis's novel "Babbitt." He also provided the voices for Joshua on Joshua and the Battle of Jericho (1986) for Hanna-Barbera, J. Jonah Jameson on the 1990s animated television series Spider-Man (1994–98); Hoggish Greedly on Captain Planet and the Planeteers (1990–95); Hudson on Gargoyles (1994–96); Jabba the Hutt on the radio version of Star Wars; Master Vrook from Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic and its sequel; Roland Daggett on Batman: The Animated Series (1992–94); Cosgrove on Freakazoid!; Ed Wuncler on The Boondocks (2005–14); and Granny Goodness in various DC Comics animated series. Asner also provided the voice of famed American orator Edward Everett in the 2015 documentary film The Gettysburg Address.

Asner provided the voice of Carl Fredricksen in the Academy Award-winning Pixar film Up (2009). He received great critical praise for the role, with one critic going so far as to suggest "They should create a new category for this year's Academy Award for Best Vocal Acting in an Animated Film and name Asner as the first recipient."

Asner has won more Emmy Awards for performing than any other male actor (seven, including five for the role of Lou Grant). In 1996, he was inducted into the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Hall of Fame.

Remembering Veronica Lake

Veronica Lake (born November 14, 1922) was an American film, stage, and television actress.

Birth Name: Constance Frances Marie Ockelman
Hair: Blonde
Eyes: Blue
Height: 4' 11"
Nickname: "The Peek-a-boo Girl"
Quote: "You could put all the talent I had into your left eye and still not suffer from impaired vision."

Lake won both popular and critical acclaim, most notably for her role in Sullivan's Travels and for her femme fatale roles in film noirs with Alan Ladd, during the 1940s. She was also well known for her peek-a-boo hairstyle. By the late 1940s however, Lake's career had begun to decline in part due to her alcoholism.

She made only one film in the 1950s but appeared in several guest-starring roles on television. She returned to the screen in 1966 with a role in the film Footsteps In the Snow, but the role failed to revitalize her career.

Lake released her memoirs, Veronica: The Autobiography of Veronica Lake, in 1970. She used the money she made from the book to finance a low-budget horror film Flesh Feast. It was her final onscreen role.

Lake died on July 7, 1973 from hepatitis and acute kidney injury at the age of 50.

Remembering Jack Elam

Jack Elam (born November 13, 1920), was an American film and television actor.

Birth Name: William Scott Elam
Hair: Brown
Eyes: Brown
Height: 6'
Nickname: "Jack"
Quote: "The heavy today is usually not my kind of guy."

Elam was best known for his numerous roles as villains in Western films and, later in his career, comedies (sometimes spoofing his villainous image). His most distinguishing physical quality was his lazy left eye which was the result of  a boyhood accident when he was stabbed with a pencil at a Boy Scout meeting.

Elam made his debut in in 1949 She Shoulda Said No!, an exploitation film where a chorus girl's marijuana smoking ruins her career and drives her brother to suicide. He appeared mostly in westerns and gangster films playing villains. Elam made multiple guest star appearances in many popular Western television series in the 1950s and 1960s, including "Gunsmoke", "The Rifleman", "Lawman", "Bonanza", "Cheyenne", "Have Gun Will Travel", "Zorro", "The Lone Ranger", "The Rebel", "F Troop" and "Rawhide". In 1961, Elam played a slightly crazed character in an episode of The Twilight Zone entitled "Will the Real Martian Please Stand Up?." In April 1966 Jack Elam co-starred with Clint Walker in the western The Night of The Grizzly.

In 1968, Elam had an amusing cameo in Sergio Leone's celebrated spaghetti western Once Upon a Time in the West, where he was one of a trio of gunslingers sent to kill Charles Bronson's character. Elam spent a good part of the scene trying to trap an annoying fly in his gun barrel. In 1969, he was given his first comedic role in Support Your Local Sheriff!, which was followed two years later by Support Your Local Gunfighter; both were opposite James Garner, after which he found his villainous parts dwindling and his comic roles increasing. (Both films were also directed by Burt Kennedy, who saw Elam's potential as a comedian and would direct him a total of 15 times in features and television.) In between those two films, he also played a comically cranky old coot opposite John Wayne in Howard Hawks's Rio Lobo (1970).

Elam played in 73 movies, and made an appearance in 41 television series. His best known works consist of Once Upon A Time In The West, High Noon and the television program, The Twilight Zone.

Jack Elam died on October 20, 2003 of congestive heart failure at the age of 82.