Remembering Dale Evans

Dale Evans (born October 31, 1912) was an American writer, film star and singer-songwriter.

Birth Name: Lucille Wood Smith (changed to Frances Octavia Smith shortly thereafter)
Hair: Blonde
Eyes: Blue
Height: 5' 4"
Quote: "If we never had any storms, we couldn't appreciate the sunshine."

After beginning her career singing at the radio station where she was employed as a secretary, Evans had a productive career as a jazz, swing, and big band singer that led to a screen test and contract with 20th Century Fox studios.

Evans married Roy Rogers on New Year's Eve 1947 at the Flying L Ranch in Davis, Oklahoma, where they had earlier filmed the movie Home in Oklahoma.

From 1951-57, Evans and Rogers starred in the highly successful television series The Roy Rogers Show, in which they continued their cowboy and cowgirl roles, with her riding her trusty buckskin horse, Buttermilk.

 In addition to her successful TV shows, more than 30 films and some 200 songs, Evans wrote the well-known song "Happy Trails". In later episodes of the program, she was outspoken in her Christianity, telling people that God would assist them with their troubles and imploring adults and children to turn to Him for guidance.

Evans was very influential in changing public perceptions of children with developmental disabilities and served as a role model for many parents. After she wrote Angel Unaware, a group then known as the “Oklahoma County Council for Mentally Retarded Children” adopted its better-known name Dale Rogers Training Center in her honor.

Evans died of congestive heart failure on February 7, 2001, at the age of 88 in Apple Valley, California.

Remembering Ruth Gordon

Ruth Gordon (October 30, 1896), was an American film, stage, and television actress, as well as screenwriter and playwright.

Birth Name: Ruth Gordon Jones
Hair: Light Brown
Eyes: Dark Brown
Height: 5'
Quote: "The best impromptu speeches are the ones written well in advance."

Gordon began her career performing on Broadway at age nineteen. Known for her nasal voice and distinct personality, she gained international visibility and critical acclaim for film roles which continued into her seventies and eighties. Her later work included performances in Rosemary's Baby (1968), Harold and Maude (1971), and the Clint Eastwood films Every Which Way but Loose (1978) and Any Which Way You Can (1980).

In addition to her acting career, Gordon wrote numerous plays, film scripts and books, most notably co-writing the screenplay for the 1949 film Adam's Rib.

Gordon won an Academy Award, an Emmy and two Golden Globe awards for her acting, as well as receiving three Academy Award nominations for her writing.

On August 28, 1985, Ruth Gordon died at her summer home in Edgartown, Massachusetts, following a stroke. She was 88.

Remembering Fanny Brice

Fanny Brice (born October 29, 1891) was an American illustrated song model, comedian, singer, theater and film actress.

Birth Name: Fania Borach
Hair: Dark Brown
Eyes: Brown
Height: 5' 6"
Quote: "I've done everything in theatre except marry a property man."

In 1908, Brice dropped out of school to work in a burlesque revue, "The Girls from Happy Land Starring Sliding Billy Watson". Two years later she began her association with Florenz Ziegfeld, headlining his Ziegfeld Follies.

In the 1921 Follies, she was featured singing "My Man", which became both a big hit and her signature song. She recorded nearly two dozen record sides for Victor and also cut several for Columbia. She is a posthumous recipient of a Grammy Hall of Fame Award for her 1921 recording of "My Man".

Her films include My Man (1928), Be Yourself! (1930) and Everybody Sing (1938) with Judy Garland. Brice, Ray Bolger and Harriet Hoctor were the only original Ziegfeld performers to portray themselves in The Great Ziegfeld (1936) and Ziegfeld Follies (1946).

From the 1930s until her death in 1951, Fanny made a radio presence as a bratty toddler named Snooks. Brice was so meticulous about the program and the title character that she was known to perform in costume as a toddler girl even though she was seen only by the radio studio audience. She was 45 years old when the character began her long radio life.

Brice died at the Cedars of Lebanon Hospital in Hollywood on  May 29, 1951, from a cerebral hemorrhage at 11:15 a.m., she was 59.

Thirteen years after her death, she was portrayed on the Broadway stage by Barbra Streisand in the musical Funny Girl and its 1968 film adaptation, for which Streisand won an Oscar.

Remembering Elsa Lanchester

Elsa Lanchester (born October 28, 1902), was an English-born American actress with a long career in theatre, film and television.

Birth Name: Elsa Sullivan Lanchester
Hair: Red
Eyes: Green
Height: 5' 4"
Quote: "There is no such thing as a person that nothing has happened to, and each person's story is as different as his fingerprints."

Lanchester studied dance as a child and after the First World War began performing in theatre and cabaret, where she established her career over the following decade.

She met the actor Charles Laughton in 1927, and they were married two years later. She began playing small roles in British films, including the role of Anne of Cleves with Laughton in The Private Life of Henry VIII (1933). His success in American films resulted in the couple moving to Hollywood, where Lanchester played small film roles.

Lanchester did only a few films up to 1935 and was disappointed enough with Hollywood's reception to return to London. She was quickly called back by old friend from London, James Whale, now the noted director of Frankenstein (1931) and The Invisible Man (1933). He wanted her for two parts in The Bride of Frankenstein (1935).

Lanchester was wrapped in yards of bandage and covered in heavy makeup. The stand-on-end hairdo was accomplished by combing it over a wire mesh cage.  Her eyes were kept taped wide open for long takes - and it showed in her looks of horror. Her monster's screaming and hissing sounds (based on the sounds of Regents Park swans in London) were taped and then run backward to spook-up the effect. She was well received for this part , and her bride would become iconic. Many consider The Bride of Frankenstein (1935) the best of the golden age horror movies.

She played supporting roles through the 1940s and 1950s. She was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for Come to the Stable (1949) and Witness for the Prosecution (1957), the last of twelve films in which she appeared with Laughton.

Following Laughton's death in 1962, Lanchester resumed her career with appearances in such Disney films as Mary Poppins (1964), That Darn Cat! (1965) and Blackbeard's Ghost (1968). The horror film Willard (1971) was highly successful, and one of her last roles was in Murder By Death (1976).

Elsa Lanchester died in Woodland Hills, California on December 26, 1986 aged 84, at the Motion Picture Hospital from bronchopneumonia.

Remembering Ruby Dee

Ruby Dee (born October 27, 1922) was an American actress, poet, playwright, screenwriter, journalist and civil rights activist.

Birth Name: Ruby Ann Wallace
Hair: Black
Eyes: Brown
Height: 5' 2"
Quote: “I didn't have the kind of talent or personality that kept me dreaming about Hollywood. They don't hire little colored girls to do this or that."

She is perhaps best known for originating the role of "Ruth Younger" in the stage and film versions of A Raisin in the Sun (1961). Her other notable film roles include The Jackie Robinson Story (1950), and Do the Right Thing (1989).

For her performance as Mahalee Lucas in American Gangster (2007), she was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress and won the Screen Actors Guild Award for Female Actor in a Supporting Role.

She was a Grammy, Emmy, Obie and Drama Desk winner. She was also a National Medal of Arts, Kennedy Center Honors and Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award recipient.

She was married to Ossie Davis, with whom she frequently performed, until his death in 2005.

Dee died on June 11, 2014, at her home in New Rochelle, New York, from natural causes at the age of 91.

Remembering Jackie Coogan

Jackie Coogan (born October 26, 1914) was an American actor who began his movie career as a child actor in silent films.

Birth Name: John Leslie Coogan
Hair: Light Brown
Eyes: Brown
Height: 5' 7"
Quote: “The thing I am proudest of is that I've never been beaten at Scrabble.""

Charlie Chaplin cast him in a small role in A Day's Pleasure (1919). Two years later, he was Chaplin's irascible companion in The Kid (1921) and the following year played the title role in Oliver Twist, directed by Frank Lloyd. Coogan was one of the first stars to be heavily merchandised. Peanut butter, stationery, whistles, dolls, records, and figurines were among the Coogan-themed merchandise on sale.

In 1935, 20-year-old Coogan was the only survivor of a car crash in eastern San Diego County that killed his father; his best friend, 19-year-old actor Junior Durkin; their ranch foreman Charles Jones, and actor and writer Robert J. Horner. The party was returning from a day of dove hunting over the border in Mexico in early May. With his father at the wheel, the car was forced off the mountain highway near Pine Valley by an oncoming vehicle and rolled down an embankment.

As a child star, Coogan earned an estimated $3 to $4 million, but the entire amount was spent by his mother and stepfather, Arthur Bernstein, on fur coats, diamonds and other jewelry, and expensive cars. Coogan's mother and stepfather claimed Jackie enjoyed himself and simply thought he was playing before the camera. She insisted, "No promises were ever made to give Jackie anything," and claimed he "was a bad boy." Coogan sued them in 1938, but after his legal expenses, he received just $126,000 of the $250,000 remaining of his earnings. When he fell on hard times and asked Charlie Chaplin for assistance, Chaplin handed him $1,000 without hesitating.

The legal battle focused attention on child actors and resulted in the 1939 enactment of the California Child Actor's Bill, often referred to as the 'Coogan Law' or the 'Coogan Act.' It required that a child actor's employer set aside 15% of the earnings in a trust (called a Coogan account), and specified the actor's schooling, work hours, and time-off.

After years of various film, radio, and tv roles, Coogan finally found his most famous television role as Uncle Fester in ABC's The Addams Family (1964–1966).

After suffering from heart and kidney ailments, Coogan succumbed to heart failure on March 1, 1984, at age 69 in Santa Monica, California.

Remembering Billy Barty

Billy Barty (born October 25, 1924)) was an American film actor and television star.

Birth Name: William John Bertanzetti
Hair: Light Brown
Eyes: Blue
Height: 3' 9"
“That's where it starts and sometimes finishes. My parents never told me I was small, so I never knew any better. They had to sign for me to play football and basketball, but they never said, "No, you can't. You're too small." I'm not the only one who has proved little people can get along in a big world. There are other little people out there who are doctors, lawyers, school teachers, electronics engineers."

He began performing at age three and began making pictures in 1927. He played Mickey Rooney's little brother in the "Mickey McGuire" comedy shorts series. In adult life, he stood three feet, nine inches, due to cartilage-hair hypoplasia dwarfism, and because of his short stature, he was often cast in movies opposite taller performers for comic effect. He specialized in outspoken or wisecracking characters.He was equally adept in both comedy and drama, and generally gives an added zest to any production he is associated with.

In the 1933 film Gold Diggers of 1933, a nine-year-old Barty appeared as a baby who escapes from his stroller. He also appeared as The Child in the 1933 film Footlight Parade. He is briefly seen in the 1935 film Bride of Frankenstein, in an uncredited role as a baby in one of Dr. Pretorius' experiments, although his close-ups were cut out of the picture.
Much of Barty's film work consisted of bit parts and gag roles. He appeared in Fireman Save My Child (with Spike Jones), and also appeared in two Elvis Presley films. He had one scene in Roustabout and co-starred without dialogue in Harum Scarum.

Barty also starred as "Sparky the Firefly" in the popular children's television shows The Bugaloos from 1970 to 1972 and as "Sigmund" in Sigmund and the Sea Monsters produced by Sid Krofft and Marty Krofft from 1974 to 1976. Barty played the evil sidekick on the 1970s Saturday morning TV series Dr. Shrinker, and was a regular cast member of comedian Redd Foxx's variety show The Redd Foxx Show.

Barty appeared in an episode of Barney Miller in 1977 & The Love Boat in 1978. Another show he guest-starred in was CHiPs. In June 1978, Barty guest-starred in the final episode of Man from Atlantis entitled "Deadly Carnival". He also guest starred in two episodes of Little House On The Prairie playing a circus member in the episode "Annabelle". Also in a later episode as a single dad trying to raise a baby daughter. Barty was regularly seen on Bizarre, a weekly Canadian TV sketch comedy series, airing from 1980 to 1985.

Barty died of heart failure on December 23, 2000 at age 76.

Remembering Maureen O'Hara

Maureen O'Hara (born  August 1920) was an Irish actress and singer. The famously redheaded O'Hara was known for her beauty and playing fiercely passionate but sensible heroines, often in westerns and adventure films. She worked on numerous occasions with director John Ford and longtime friend John Wayne, and was one of the last surviving stars from the Golden Age of Hollywood.

Birth Name: Maureen FitzSimons
Hair: Red
Eyes: Green
Height: 5' 7"
Nickname: The Queen of Technicolor
Quote: “How could you have had such a wonderful life as me if there wasn't a God directing?"

O'Hara grew up in the Dublin suburb of Ranelagh to an "eccentric" but devout Catholic family, and aspired to become an actress from a very young age. She trained with the Rathmines Theatre Company from the age of 10 and at the Abbey Theatre from the age of 14. She was given a screen test, which was deemed unsatisfactory, but Charles Laughton saw potential and arranged for her to co-star with him in Alfred Hitchcock's Jamaica Inn in 1939. She moved to Hollywood the same year to appear with him in the production of The Hunchback of Notre Dame, and was given a contract by RKO Pictures. 

From there, she went on to enjoy a long and highly successful career, and acquired the nickname "The Queen of Technicolor", something which she detested, believing that people saw her only for her beauty rather than talent. O'Hara gained a reputation in Hollywood for bossiness and prudishness, avoiding the partying lifestyle. She appeared in films such as How Green Was My Valley (1941) (her first collaboration with John Ford), The Black Swan with Tyrone Power (1942), The Spanish Main (1945), Sinbad the Sailor (1947), the Christmas classic Miracle on 34th Street (1947) with John Payne and Natalie Wood and Comanche Territory (1950).

O'Hara made her first film with Wayne, the actor with whom she is most closely associated, with Rio Grande (1950). This was followed by The Quiet Man (1952), her best-known film, and The Wings of Eagles (1957), by which time her relationship with Ford had deteriorated. Such was her strong chemistry with Wayne that many assumed they were married or in a relationship.

 In the 1960s O'Hara increasingly turned to more motherly roles as she aged, appearing in films such as The Deadly Companions (1961), The Parent Trap (1961) and The Rare Breed (1966). She retired from the industry in 1971 after starring with Wayne one final time in Big Jake, but returned 20 years later to appear with John Candy in Only the Lonely (1991).

 In the late 1970s, O'Hara helped run her third husband's flying business in St Croix in the American Virgin Islands, and edited a magazine, but later sold them to spend more time in Glengariff in Ireland. She was married three times, and had one daughter, Bronwyn, born in 1944 to her second husband. Her autobiography, 'Tis Herself, was published in 2004 and became a New York Times Bestseller.

 In November 2014, she was presented with an Honorary Academy Award with the inscription "To Maureen O'Hara, one of Hollywood's brightest stars, whose inspiring performances glowed with passion, warmth and strength".

On 24 October 2015, Maureen O'Hara died in her sleep at her home in Boise, Idaho from natural causes. She was 95 years old. 

Remembering Johnny Carson

Johnny Carson (born October 23, 1925) was an American television talk show host and comedian, best known for his 30 years as host of The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (1962–1992).

Birth Name: John William Carson
Hair: Brown
Eyes: Green
Height: 5' 10"
Nickname: The King of Late-night
“People will pay more to be entertained than educated.."

He began his broadcasting career in 1950 at WOW radio and television in Omaha, Nebraska. Carson soon hosted a morning television program called The Squirrel's Nest. One of his routines involved interviewing pigeons on the roof of the local courthouse that would allegedly report on the political corruption they had seen. Carson supplemented his income by serving as master of ceremonies at local church dinners, attended by some of the same politicians and civic leaders that he had lampooned on the radio.

After the prime-time "The Johnny Carson Show" failed, he moved to New York City to host Who Do You Trust? (1957–1962), formerly known as Do You Trust Your Wife? where he met his future sidekick and straight man, Ed McMahon. Although he believed moving to daytime would hurt his career, Who Do You Trust? was a success. It was the first show where he could ad lib and interview guests, and because of Carson's on-camera wit, the show became "the hottest item on daytime television" during his five years at ABC.

Johnny Carson's success on ABC's Who Do You Trust? led NBC to invite him to take over Tonight. Carson declined the offer because he feared the difficulty of interviewing celebrities for 1 3/4 hours (105 minutes) daily. Bob Newhart, Jackie Gleason, Groucho Marx, and Joey Bishop all declined, as well, but NBC finally convinced Carson to sign by early February 1962.

Although his show was already successful by the end of the 1960s, during the 1970s, Carson became an American icon and remained so even after his retirement in 1992. He adopted a casual, conversational approach with extensive interaction with guests.

Carson received six Emmy Awards, the Governor's Award, and a 1985 Peabody Award. He was inducted into the Television Academy Hall of Fame in 1987. Johnny Carson was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1992 and received a Kennedy Center Honor in 1993.

On January 23, 2005, Carson died at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles of respiratory failure arising from emphysema.

Remembering Curly Howard

Curly Howard (born October 22, 1903),  was an American comedian and vaudevillian actor.

Birth Name: Jerome Lester Horwitz
Hair: Chestnut Brown
Eyes: Blue
Height: 5' 5"
Nickname: Babe
Quote: “If at first you don't succeed, keep on sucking till you do succeed.."

He was best known as the most outrageous and energetic member of the American farce comedy team the Three Stooges, which also featured his older brothers Moe and Shemp Howard and actor Larry Fine.

Curly was generally considered the most popular and recognizable of the Stooges. He was well known for his high-pitched voice and vocal expressions ("nyuk-nyuk-nyuk!", "woob-woob-woob!", "soitenly!" (certainly), and barking like a dog) as well as his physical comedy (e.g., falling on ground and pivoting on his shoulder as he "walked" in circular motion), improvisations, and athleticism.

 An untrained actor, Curly borrowed (and significantly exaggerated) the "woob woob" from "nervous" and soft-spoken comedian Hugh Herbert. Curly's unique version of "woob-woob-woob" was firmly established by the time of the Stooges' second Columbia film, Punch Drunks (1934).

Curly was forced to leave the Three Stooges act in 1946 when a massive stroke ended his showbusiness career. He suffered through serious health problems and several more strokes until his death  on January 18, 1952 at age 48.

Celebrating Carrie Fisher

Carrie Fisher (born October 21, 1956) is an American actress and writer.

Birth Name: Carrie Frances Fisher
Hair: Brown
Eyes: Brown
Height: 5' 1"
Quote:  "I signed my likeness away. Every time I look in the mirror, I have to send Lucas a couple of bucks."

She is best known for her role as Princess Leia in the original Star Wars trilogy (1977–83) and Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015).

 Fisher is also known for her semi-autobiographical novels, including Postcards from the Edge, and the screenplay for the film of the same name, as well as her autobiographical one-woman play, and its nonfiction book, Wishful Drinking, based on the show.

Her other film roles include Shampoo (1975), The Blues Brothers (1980), Hannah and Her Sisters (1986), The 'Burbs (1989), and When Harry Met Sally... (1989).

Besides acting and writing original works, Fisher was one of the top script doctors in Hollywood, working on the screenplays of other writers. She did uncredited polishes on movies in a 15-year stretch from 1991 to 2005, and was hired by the creator of Star Wars, George Lucas, to polish scripts for his 1992 TV series The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles, as well as the dialogue for the Star Wars prequel scripts.

During the height of her career as a script doctor and rewriter, she worked on Hook (1991), Lethal Weapon 3 and Sister Act (1992), Made in America, Last Action Hero and So I Married an Axe Murderer (1993), My Girl 2, Milk Money, The River Wild and Love Affair (1994), Outbreak (1995), The Mirror Has Two Faces (1996), The Wedding Singer (1998), The Out-of-Towners and Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace (1999), Coyote Ugly and Scream 3 (2000), Kate & Leopold (2001), Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones (2002), and Intolerable Cruelty (2003). Fisher also worked on Mr. and Mrs. Smith and Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith (2005).

Remembering Rex Ingram

Rex Ingram (born October 20, 1895) was an American stage, film, and television actor.

Birth Name: Rex Ingram
Hair: Black
Eyes: Brown
Height: 6' 2"
Quote: "My career as an actor was quite by chance. I was standing on a Hollywood corner waiting to cross the street when I was discovered by a movie talent scout. I was persuaded that I was just what was needed to play a native of the jungles in the first Tarzan pictures.."

Ingram graduated from the Northwestern University medical school in 1919 and was the first African-American man to receive a Phi Beta Kappa key from Northwestern University. He went to Hollywood as a young man where he was literally discovered on a street corner by the casting director for Tarzan of the Apes (1918), starring Elmo Lincoln. He made his (uncredited) screen debut in that film and had many other small roles, usually as a generic black native, such as in the Tarzan films. With the arrival of sound, his presence and powerful voice became an asset and he went on to memorable roles in The Green Pastures (1936), The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (the 1939 MGM version, opposite Mickey Rooney), The Thief of Bagdad (1940—perhaps his best-known film appearance—as the genie), The Talk of the Town (1942), and Sahara (1943)

In 1962, he became the first African-American actor to be hired for a contract role on a soap opera, when he appeared on The Brighter Day. He had other minor work in television in the sixties, appearing in an episode each of I Spy and The Bill Cosby Show, both of which starred Bill Cosby, who used his influence to land him the roles.

Shortly after filming a guest spot on The Bill Cosby Show, Ingram died on September 19, 1969 of a heart attack at the age of 73

Remembering Robert Reed

Robert Reed (October 19, 1932 – May 12, 1992) was an American stage, film, and television actor.

Birth Name: John Robert Rietz, Jr.
Hair: Brown
Eyes: Blue
Height: 6' 3"
Quote: "The Brady Bunch (1969) will remain popular until it's an anachronism. Then it'll fall into Our Gang status."

Reed made his first guest-starring appearance in an episode of Father Knows Best in 1959. This led to guest roles on Men into Space and Lawman, as well as his first credited film appearance in Bloodlust!. In 1961, Reed landed his first television starring role in The Defenders alongside fellow Studebaker Theater performer E.G. Marshall, with the two playing a father and son team of defense attorneys.

Reed was the producers' second choice for the role of Mike Brady, after Gene Hackman was rejected because he was too unfamiliar at the time. Also starring on The Brady Bunch was actress Florence Henderson, who played the role of Mike's wife Carol Brady after her best friend Shirley Jones turned down the role in favor of The Partridge Family. Also cast on the show was Ann B. Davis as the Bradys' maid Alice Nelson. Despite earning poor reviews from critics and never cracking the Top 30 during its five-season run, The Brady Bunch remained an audience favorite of the 1970s. Since its cancellation in 1974, the show has led a healthy afterlife in syndication and spawned several spin-off series and two television reunion movies.

After the end of The Brady Bunch in 1974, Reed acted on the stage and made guest star appearances on other television shows and television movies, including Pray for the Wildcats and SST: Death Flight. He won critical acclaim for his portrayal of Pat Caddison, a doctor who comes out as transgender, in a two-part episode of Medical Center in 1975. The episode also earned him a Primetime Emmy Award nomination. Reed appeared in the television film The Boy in the Plastic Bubble (1976), the 1976 miniseries Rich Man, Poor Man, and the 1977 miniseries Roots. Reed was again nominated for an Emmy for his work in Rich Man, Poor Man and Roots. He also guest-starred on Wonder Woman, Hawaii Five-O, Charlie's Angels, Galactica 1980, and Vega$.

In November 1991, Reed was diagnosed with colon cancer. He died on May 12, 1992, at Huntington Memorial Hospital in Pasadena, California, at age 59.

Remembering Peter Boyle

Peter Boyle (October 18, 1935) was an American actor, best known for his role as Frank Barone on the sitcom Everybody Loves Raymond, and as a comical monster in Mel Brooks' film spoof Young Frankenstein (1974).

Birth Name: Peter Lawrence Boyle Jr
Hair: Brown
Eyes: Hazel
Height: 6'
Quote: "When I was in high school I wanted to be a leading man guy, like Howard Keel. But then God saw fit to take the hair off my head at age 24."

Boyle gained acclaim for his first starring role, playing the title character, a bigoted New York City factory worker, in the 1970 movie Joe.

His next major role was as the campaign manager for a U.S. Senate candidate (Robert Redford) in The Candidate (1972). In 1973 he appeared in Steelyard Blues with Jane Fonda and Donald Sutherland, a film about a bunch of misfits trying to get a Catalina flying boat in a scrapyard flying again so that they could fly away to somewhere there weren't so many rules. He also played an Irish mobster opposite Robert Mitchum in The Friends of Eddie Coyle (1973).

Boyle had another hit role as Frankenstein's monster in the 1974 Mel Brooks comedy Young Frankenstein, in which, in an homage to King Kong, the monster is placed onstage in top hat and tails, grunt-singing and dancing to the song "Puttin' on the Ritz".

His other roles include the philosophical cab driver "Wizard" in Martin Scorsese's Taxi Driver (1976), starring Robert De Niro; a bar owner and fence in The Brink's Job (1978); the private detective hired in Hardcore (1979); the attorney of gonzo journalist Hunter S. Thompson (played by Bill Murray) in Where the Buffalo Roam (1980); a corrupt space mining-facility boss in the science-fiction film Outland (1981), opposite Sean Connery; Boatswain Moon in the (1983) pirate comedy Yellowbeard, also starring Cheech and Chong, Madeline Kahn, and members of the comedy troupe Monty Python; a local crime boss named Jocko Dundee on his way to retirement, starring Michael Keaton in the comedy film Johnny Dangerously (1984); a psychiatric patient who belts out a Ray Charles song in the comedy The Dream Team (1989), also starring Michael Keaton; a boss of unscrupulous corporation in the sci-fi Solar Crisis (1990) along Charlton Heston and Jack Palance; the title character's cab driver in The Shadow (1994), starring Alec Baldwin; the father of Sandra Bullock's fiancee in While You Were Sleeping (1995); the corporate raider out to buy Eddie Murphy's medical partnership in Dr. Dolittle (1998); the hateful father of Billy Bob Thornton's prison-guard character in Monster's Ball (2001); Muta in The Cat Returns (2002); and Old Man Wickles in the comedy Scooby Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed (2004).

Boyle was perhaps most widely known for his role as the deadpan, cranky Frank Barone in the CBS television sitcom Everybody Loves Raymond, which aired from 1996 to 2005. The show was shot in Los Angeles, to which Boyle commuted from his New York City home. He was nominated for an Emmy seven times for this role, but never won.

On December 12, 2006, Boyle died at the age of 71 in New York City at New York Presbyterian Hospital after suffering from multiple myeloma and heart disease.

Remembering Jean Arthur

Jean Arthur (born October 17, 1900) was an American actress and a major film star of the 1930s and 1940s.

Birth Name: Gladys Georgianna Greene
Hair: Blonde
Eyes: Dark Brown
Height: 5' 3"
Quote: " I guess I became an actress because I didn't want to be myself."

Arthur had feature roles in three Frank Capra films: Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936), You Can't Take It With You (1938), and Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939), films that championed the "everyday heroine". Arthur was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress in 1944 for her performance in The More the Merrier (1943). James Harvey wrote in his recounting of the era, "No one was more closely identified with the screwball comedy than Jean Arthur. So much was she part of it, so much was her star personality defined by it, that the screwball style itself seems almost unimaginable without her." She has been called "the quintessential comedic leading lady".

Her last film performance was the memorable, and distinctly non-comedic, homesteader's wife in George Stevens' Shane in 1953. To the public, Arthur was known as a reclusive woman. News magazine Life observed in a 1940 article: "Next to Garbo, Jean Arthur is Hollywood's reigning mystery woman." As well as recoiling from interviews, she avoided photographers and refused to become a part of any kind of publicity.

Arthur died from heart failure June 19, 1991, at the age of 90.

Celebrating Angela Lansbury

Dame Angela Lansbury, (born October 16, 1925) is an Irish British-American actress who has appeared in theatre, television and film. Her career has spanned seven decades.

Birth Name: Angela Brigid Lansbury

Hair: Blonde

Eyes: Blue

Height: 5' 8"

Quote: "Providing I can put one foot in front of the other, I will continue to act".

Lansbury was born to a middle-class family in central London, the daughter of actress Moyna Macgill and politician Edgar Lansbury. To escape the Blitz, in 1940 she moved to the United States, there studying acting in New York City. Proceeding to Hollywood in 1942, she signed to MGM and obtained her first film roles, in Gaslight (1944) and The Picture of Dorian Gray (1945), earning her two Oscar nominations and a Golden Globe Award. She appeared in eleven further MGM films, mostly in minor roles, and after her contract ended in 1952 she began supplementing her cinematic work with theatrical appearances. Although largely seen as a B-list star during this period, her appearance in the film The Manchurian Candidate (1962) received widespread acclaim and is cited as being one of her finest performances. Moving into musical theatre, Lansbury finally gained stardom for playing the leading role in the Broadway musical Mame (1966), which earned her a range of awards and established her as a gay icon.

Amid difficulties in her personal life, Lansbury moved from California to County Cork, Ireland, in 1970, and continued with a variety of theatrical and cinematic appearances throughout that decade. These included leading roles in the stage musicals Gypsy, Sweeney Todd, and The King and I, as well as in the hit Disney film Bedknobs and Broomsticks (1971). Moving into television, she achieved worldwide fame as fictional writer and sleuth Jessica Fletcher in the American whodunit series Murder, She Wrote, which ran for twelve seasons from 1984 until 1996, becoming one of the longest-running and most popular detective drama series in television history. Through Corymore Productions, a company that she co-owned with her husband Peter Shaw, Lansbury assumed ownership of the series and was its executive producer for the final four seasons. She also moved into voice work, thereby contributing to animated films like Disney's Beauty and the Beast (1991). Since then, she has toured in a variety of international theatrical productions and continued to make occasional film appearances.

Lansbury has received an Honorary Oscar and has won five Tony Awards, six Golden Globes and an Olivier Award. She has also been nominated for numerous other industry awards, including the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress on three occasions, and various Primetime Emmy Awards on eighteen occasions.

Remembering Jean Peters

Jean Peters (October 15, 1926) was an American actress, known as a star of 20th Century Fox in the late 1940s and early 1950s, and as the second wife of Howard Hughes.

Birth Name: Elizabeth Jean Peters
Hair: Light Brown
Eyes: Green
Height: 5' 5"
Quote: " My life with Howard Hughes was and shall remain a matter on which I will have no comment."

Peters acting career began in ernest when she was selected to replace Linda Darnell as the female lead in the hit film Captain from Castile (1947) opposite Tyrone Powe. For her second film, Deep Waters (1948), she was reunited with her director from Captain from Castile, Henry King. The film was not nearly as successful as Captain from Castile, but Peters was noticed. In early 1949 Peters signed on to play Ray Milland's love interest in It Happens Every Spring (1949). She next starred alongside Paul Douglas in the period film Love That Brute (1950).

Due to her insistence, Peters was given the title role in Anne of the Indies (1951), which the press declared was the film that finally brought her stardom. Before its release, she was cast in Viva Zapata! (1952) opposite Marlon Brando. Also in 1951, Peters had her first collaboration with Marilyn Monroe, when they had secondary roles in As Young as You Feel.

In 1953 the director Samuel Fuller chose Peters over Marilyn Monroe for the part of Candy in Pickup on South Street.

Peters and Marilyn Monroe starred together in another 1953 film noir, Niagara, also starring Joseph Cotten. In Niagara, Peters replaced Anne Baxter, with whom she co-starred in the anthology film O. Henry's Full House (1952). Peters' third film in 1953, A Blueprint for Murder, reunited her with Joseph Cotten.

In 1953 she also starred in the film noir Vicki. The writer Leo Townsend bought the story of the film, a remake of I Wake Up Screaming, as a vehicle for Peters.

Next, Peters was assigned to the film Three Coins in the Fountain (1954), which was shot on location in late 1953

Other 1954 films co-starring Peters were the westerns Apache and Broken Lance. Although Broken Lance did not attract much attention, she was critically acclaimed for her performance in Apache.

Peters' next (and ultimately final) film was A Man Called Peter (1955), in which she played Catherine Marshall, the wife of Peter Marshall, a Presbyterian minister and Chaplain of the United States Senate. Deciding she had had enough, Peters left Fox to focus on her private life.

Peters died of leukemia on October 13, 2000 in Carlsbad, California, two days before her 74th birthday.

Celebrating Roger Moore

Sir Roger Moore (born 14 October 1927) is an English actor and humanitarian. Moore played the British secret agent James Bond in seven feature films between 1973 and 1985.

Birth Name: Roger George Moore
Hair: Light Brown
Eyes: Blue
Height: 6' 1"
Quote: "Of course, I do my own stunts. And I also do my own lying."

 Moore worked as a model and made several appearances in minor films and television dramas before finding more substantial roles in the television serials Ivanhoe (1958–1959), The Alaskans (1960–1961) and Maverick (1961). Moore's most significant television work came with his portrayal of Simon Templar in The Saint from 1962 to 1969 and his starring alongside Tony Curtis in the television drama The Persuaders! (1971).

Moore was cast as Bond in 1973 and portrayed him in Live and Let Die (1973); The Man with the Golden Gun (1974); The Spy Who Loved Me (1977); Moonraker (1979); For Your Eyes Only (1981); Octopussy (1983); and A View to a Kill (1985). He worked regularly throughout his Bond era, and sporadically since then. He is a Goodwill Ambassador for the charity organization UNICEF, and has demonstrated against the production of foie gras. He has been a tax exile from the United Kingdom since the 1970s. Moore has been married four times, including to the Welsh singer Dorothy Squires and the Italian actress Luisa Mattioli, with whom he had three children...including fellow actors Deborah Moore and Geoffrey Moore (the latter was typecast as his character's son for Sherlock Holmes in New York). Moore published an autobiography, My Word Is My Bond, in 2008; he has written other books of reminiscences of his career and filming Bond.

Remembering Cornel Wilde

Cornel Wilde (born October 13, 1912) was a Hungarian-American actor and film director.

Birth Name: Kornél Lajos Weisz
Hair: Black
Eyes: Black (Dark Dark Brown)
Height: 6' 1"
Quote: "I realized long ago that I could not depend on luck to bring me success. I worked hard, extra hard to improve my chance by increasing my abilities and my experience. It was my goal to accomplish, in my life, something of value and to do it with self-respect and integrity."

Wilde's acting career began in 1935, when he made his debut on Broadway. In 1936, he began making small, uncredited appearances in films. By the 1940s, he had signed a contract with 20th Century Fox, and by the mid-1940s he was a major leading man. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance in 1945's A Song to Remember.

In the 1950s, Wilde created his own film production company that was named after Theodora Irvine and produced the film noir The Big Combo (1955). Wilde played the male lead alongside his second wife Jean Wallace. He also produced, directed, and starred in The Naked Prey (1965), in which he played a man stripped naked and chased by hunters from an African tribe affronted by the behavior of other members of his safari party.

During the early 1970s, Wilde took a break from motion pictures and theater to turn toward television. He appeared as an unethical surgeon in the 1971 Night Gallery episode "Deliveries in the Rear" and portrayed an anthropologist in the 1972 TV movie Gargoyles.

Wilde died on October 16, 1989  of leukemia three days after his 77th birthday.

Remembering Art Clokey

"Art" Clokey (Born October 12, 1921) was an American pioneer in the popularization of stop motion clay animation, best known as the creator of the character Gumby. 

Birth Name: Arthur Charles Farrington

Hair: Brown

Eyes: Blue

Height:: 

Nickname: "Art"

Quote: "I didn’t allow merchandising for seven years after it was on the air because I was very idealistic, and I didn’t want parents to think we were trying to exploit their children."

Clokey's career began in 1955 with a film experiment called Gumbasia, which was influenced by his professor, Slavko Vorkapich, at the University of Southern California. Clokey and his wife Ruth subsequently came up with the clay character Gumby and his horse Pokey, who first appeared in the Howdy Doody Show, and later got their own series The Adventures of Gumby, with which they became a familiar presence on American television. The characters enjoyed a renewal of interest in the 1980s when American actor and comedian Eddie Murphy parodied Gumby in a skit on Saturday Night Live. In the 1990s Gumby: The Movie was released, sparking even more interest.

Clokey's second most famous production is the duo of Davey and Goliath, funded by the Lutheran Church in America.

Clokey died in his sleep on January 8, 2010, at age 88, at his home in Los Osos, California after suffering from a recurrent bladder infection.

Remembering Chico Marx

Chico Marx (Born March 22, 1887),  was an American comedian, musician, bandleader, actor and film star, individually and as a member of the Marx Brothers.

Birth Name: Leonard Marx
Hair: Dark Brown
Eyes: Dark Brown
Height:: 5' 6"
Nickname: "Chico"
Quote: "How much money have I lost from gambling in the past ten years? Find out how much money Harpo's got... that's how much I've lost.."

His persona in the act was that of a charming, dim-witted albeit crafty con artist, seemingly of rural Italian origin, who wore shabby clothes and sported a curly-haired wig and Tyrolean hat. In virtually every film that includes the main trio of the Marx Brothers, Chico is seen working with Harpo Marx, usually as partners in crime.

His nickname was originally spelled Chicko. A typesetter accidentally dropped the "k" in his name and it became Chico. It was still pronounced "Chick-oh" although those who were unaware of its origin tended to pronounce it "Cheek-oh". Numerous radio recordings from the 1940s exist where announcers and fellow actors mispronounce the nickname, but Chico apparently felt it was unnecessary to correct them.

Chico was a talented pianist. For a while in the 1930s and 1940s, Chico led a big band. Singer Mel Tormé began his professional career singing with the Chico Marx Orchestra. Chico often played passages with his thumb up and index finger straight, like a gun, as part of the act.

Chico died of arteriosclerosis at age 74 on October 11, 1961, at his Hollywood home.

Remembering Helen Hayes

Helen Hayes (October 10, 1900) was an American actress whose career spanned almost 80 years. She was one of 12 people who have won an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar and a Tony Award. 

Birth Name: Helen Hayes Brown

Hair: Brown

Eyes: Dark Blue

Height: 5'

Nickname: "The First lady of the American Theater"

Quote: "If you rest, you rust."

Hayes began a stage career at an early age. Her sound film debut was The Sin of Madelon Claudet, for which she won the Academy Award for Best Actress. She followed that with starring roles in Arrowsmith (with Ronald Colman), A Farewell to Arms (with actor Gary Cooper), The White Sister (opposite Clark Gable), What Every Woman Knows, and Vanessa: Her Love Story. However, Hayes did not prefer that medium to the stage.

Hayes eventually returned to Broadway in 1935, returning to Hollywood in the 1950s. She starred in My Son John (1952) and Anastasia (1956), and won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role as an elderly stowaway in the disaster film Airport (1970). She followed that up with several roles in Disney films such as Herbie Rides Again, One of Our Dinosaurs is Missing, and Candleshoe. 

Hayes died on St. Patrick's Day, 1993, from congestive heart failure. Helen Hayes is regarded as one of the Greatest Leading Ladies of the 20th century theatre and received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, America's highest civilian honor, from President Ronald Reagan in 1986.

Remembering Alastair Sim

Alastair Sim (born 9 October 1900) was a Scottish character actor, best know in the U.S. for his portrayal of  Ebeneezer Scrooge in "Scrooge" (1951).

Birth Name: Alastair George Bell Sim
Hair: Dark Brown
Eyes: Blue
Height: 6'
Nickname: none
"I stand or fall in my profession by the public's judgement of my performances. No amount of publicity can dampen a good one or gloss over a bad one."

Sim began his theatrical career at the age of thirty and soon became well known on the London stage. A period of more than a year as a member of the Old Vic company brought him wide experience of playing Shakespeare and other classics, to which he returned throughout his career. In the modern repertoire, he formed a close professional association with the author James Bridie, which lasted from 1939 until the dramatist's death in 1951. Sim not only acted in Bridie's works, but directed them.

In the later 1940s and for most of the 1950s, Sim was a leading star of British cinema, appearing in more than fifty films. They included Green for Danger (1946), Hue and Cry (1947), The Happiest Days of Your Life (1950), Scrooge (1951), The Belles of St Trinian's (1954) and An Inspector Calls (1954). Later, he made fewer films and generally concentrated on stage work, including successful productions at the Chichester Festival and regular appearances in new and old works in the West End.

Sim died in 1976, aged 75, in London, from lung cancer. 

Celebrating Chevy Chase

"Chevy" Chase (born October 8, 1943) is an American actor, comedian, writer and producer.

Birth Name: Cornelius Crane Chase
Hair: Brown
Eyes: Dark Brown
Height: 6' 4"
Nickname: "Chevy"
Quote: "I guess I look so straight and normal nobody expects me to pick my nose and fall."

Born into a prominent New York family, he worked a variety of strange jobs before moving into comedy and began acting with National Lampoon. He immediately became a key cast member in the debut season of Saturday Night Live, where his recurring Weekend Update segment soon became a staple of the show.

Chase is well known for his portrayal of the character Clark Griswold in five National Lampoon's Vacation films, and for his roles in comedies including Foul Play (1978), Caddyshack (1980), Seems Like Old Times (1980), Fletch (1985), Spies Like Us (1985), and ¡Three Amigos! (1986). He has hosted the Academy Awards twice (1987 and 1988) and briefly had his own late-night talk show, The Chevy Chase Show. He became a regular cast member as the character Pierce Hawthorne on the NBC comedy series Community, which began in 2009, until he left the show in 2012.

Remembering Andy Devine

Andy Devine (born October 7, 1905) was an American character actor and comic cowboy sidekick known for his distinctive, whiny voice.

Birth Name: Andrew Vabre Devine
Hair: Brown
Eyes: Brown
Height: 6'
Nickname: "Andy"

He attended St. Mary and St. Benedict's College, Northern Arizona State Teacher's College (now Northern Arizona University), and was a star football player at Santa Clara University. He also played semi-professional football under the pseudonym "Jeremiah Schwartz". His football experience led to his first sizable film role, in the 1931 The Spirit of Notre Dame.

He had acting ambitions, so, after college, he went to Hollywood, where he worked as a Venice Beach lifeguard, within easy distance of the studios. Although it was first thought that his peculiar, wheezy voice would prevent him from moving to the talkies, instead it became his trademark.

He appeared in more than 400 films and shared with Walter Brennan, another character actor, the rare ability to move with ease from "B" Westerns to "A" pictures. His notable roles included ten films as sidekick "Cookie" to Roy Rogers, a role in Romeo and Juliet (1936), and "Danny" in A Star Is Born (1937). He made several appearances in films with John Wayne, including Stagecoach (1939), Island in the Sky (1953), and as the frightened marshal in The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962).

While most of his characters were reluctant to get involved in the action, he played the hero in Island in the Sky, as an expert pilot who leads his fellow aviators through the arduous search for a missing airplane. Although Devine was known generally for his comic roles, Jack Webb cast him as a police detective in Pete Kelly's Blues (1955); Devine lowered his voice and was more serious than usual. His film appearances in his later years included movies such as Zebra in the Kitchen, The Over-the-Hill Gang, and "Coyote Bill" in Myra Breckinridge.

Devine died of leukemia at the age of 71 in Orange, California in 1977.

Remembering Carole Lombard

Carole Lombard (born October 6, 1908) was an American film actress. She was particularly noted for her energetic, often off-beat roles in the screwball comedies of the 1930s. She was the highest-paid star in Hollywood in the late 1930s.


Birth Name: Jane Alice Peters
Hair: Blonde
Eyes: Blue
Height: 5' 6"
Nickname: The Profane Angel
Quote: "I've lived by a man's code designed to fit a man's world, yet at the same time, I never forget that a woman's first job is to choose the right shade of lipstick."

Lombard was born into a wealthy family in Fort Wayne, Indiana, but was raised in Los Angeles by her single mother. At 12, she was recruited by the film director Allan Dwan and made her screen debut in A Perfect Crime (1921). Eager to become an actress, she signed a contract with the Fox Film Corporation at age 16, but mainly played bit parts. She was dropped by Fox after a car accident left a scar on her face. Lombard appeared in 15 short comedies for Mack Sennett between 1927 and 1929, and then began appearing in feature films such as High Voltage and The Racketeer. After a successful appearance in The Arizona Kid (1930), she was signed to a contract with Paramount Pictures.

Paramount quickly began casting Lombard as a leading lady, primarily in drama films. Her fame increased when she married William Powell in 1931, but the pair divorced two years later. A turning point in Lombard's career came in 1934, when she starred in Howard Hawks' pioneering screwball comedy Twentieth Century. The actress found her niche in this genre, and continued to appear in films such as Hands Across the Table (1935) - forming a popular partnership with Fred MacMurray - My Man Godfrey (1936), for which she was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress, and Nothing Sacred (1937). During this period, Lombard married "the King of Hollywood", Clark Gable, and the pair was treated in the media as a celebrity supercouple. Keen to win an Oscar, at the end of the decade, Lombard began to move towards more serious roles. Unsuccessful in this aim, she returned to comedy in Alfred Hitchcock's Mr. & Mrs. Smith (1941) and Ernst Lubitsch's To Be or Not to Be (1942) – her final film role.

Lombard's career was cut short when she died on January 16, 1942 at the age of 33 in an aircraft crash on Mount Potosi, Nevada, while returning from a War Bond tour. Today, she is remembered as one of the definitive actresses of the screwball comedy genre and American comedy, and ranks among the American Film Institute's greatest female stars of classic Hollywood cinema.

Remembering Larry Fine

Larry Fine (born October 5, 1902), was an American comedian, actor, violinist, and boxer, who is best known as a member of the comedy act The Three Stooges.

Birth Name: Louis Feinberg
Hair: Red
Eyes: Blue
Height: 5'4"
Nickname: Porcupine
Quote: [to Ted Healy, who said he world pay $100 for his act but to forget the violin] "For $100, I'll forget everything!"

Larry Fine first performed as a violinist in vaudeville at an early age. In March 1928 while starring as the MC at Chicago's Rainbo Gardens, he met Shemp Howard and Ted Healy and was invited to become one of Healy's stooges. When Ted Healy signed for the Shuberts' new revue A Night in Venice in early 1929, Larry, Shemp Howard and Moe Howard came together for the first time as a trio.

Their career with Healy was marked by disputes over pay, film contracts, and Healy's drinking and verbal abuse. They left Healy for good in 1934. The team went on to make over 206 short films and several features, their most prolific period starring Larry, Moe and Curly Howard.

In many of the Stooge shorts, Fine did more reacting than acting, staying in the background and serving as the voice of reason in contrast to the zany antics of Moe and Curly. He was easily recognized by his hairdo, bald on top with lots of thick, bushy, curly red hair around the sides and back, for which Moe would often call him "Porcupine".

After suffering several strokes, Fine died on January 24, 1975, at Motion Picture Country House, at age 72.

Remembering Buster Keaton

"Buster" Keaton (born October 4, 1895) was an American actor, director, producer, writer, and stunt performer.

Birth Name: Joseph Frank Keaton
Hair: Black
Eyes: Brown
Height: 5' 5"
Nickname: The Great Stone Face
Quote: "A comedian does funny things. A good comedian does things funny."

He was best known for his silent films, in which his trademark was physical comedy with a consistently stoic, deadpan expression, earning him the nickname "The Great Stone Face." Critic Roger Ebert wrote of Keaton's "extraordinary period from 1920 to 1929, [when] he worked without interruption on a series of films that make him, arguably, the greatest actor-director in the history of the movies". His career declined afterward with a dispiriting loss of his artistic independence when he was hired by MGM, which resulted in a crippling alcoholism that ruined his family life. He recovered in the 1940s, remarried, and revived his career to a degree as an honored comic performer for the rest of his life, earning an Honorary Academy Award in 1959.

Many of Keaton's films from the 1920s, such as Sherlock Jr. (1924), The General (1926), and The Cameraman (1928), remain highly regarded, with the second of these three widely viewed as his masterpiece. Among its strongest admirers was Orson Welles, who stated that The General was cinema's highest achievement in comedy, and perhaps the greatest film ever made. Keaton was recognized as the seventh-greatest film director by Entertainment Weekly, and in 1999, the American Film Institute ranked him the 21st greatest male star of classic Hollywood cinema,

Keaton died of lung cancer on February 1, 1966, aged 70, in Woodland Hills, California.

Remembering Alan Ladd

Alan Ladd (born September 3, 1913) was an American actor and film and television producer.

Birth Name: Alan Walbridge Ladd
Hair: Blonde
Eyes: Blue
Height: 5' 6"
Nickname: Laddie
Quote: "I have the face of an aging choirboy and the build of an undernourished featherweight. If you can figure out my success on the screen you're a better man than I."

Ladd found success in film the 1940s and early 1950s, particularly in Westerns such as Shane (1953) and film noirs where he was often paired with Veronica Lake, such as This Gun for Hire (1942), The Glass Key (1942) and The Blue Dahlia (1946). Other notable credits include Two Years Before the Mast (1946), Whispering Smith (1949) and The Great Gatsby (1949). His popularity diminished in the late 1950s, though he continued to appear in popular films until his accidental death due to a lethal combination of alcohol, a barbiturate, and two tranquilizers.

On January 29, 1964, his butler said he saw Ladd seemingly asleep on his bed at 10am; when he returned at 3:30pm Ladd was still there, dead. His death, due to cerebral edema caused by an acute overdose of "alcohol and three other drugs", was ruled accidental. Ladd suffered from chronic insomnia and regularly used sleeping pills and alcohol to induce sleep. While he had not taken a lethal amount of any one drug, the combination apparently caused a synergistic reaction that proved fatal.

Remembering Groucho Marx

Groucho Marx (born October 2, 1890) was an American comedian and film and television star. He was known as a master of quick wit and is widely considered one of the best comedians of the modern era. His rapid-fire, often impromptu delivery of innuendo-laden patter earned him many admirers and imitators.

Birth Name: Julius Henry Marx
Hair: Black
Eyes: Dark Brown
Height: 5' 7"
Nickname: Groucho
Quote: "The secret of life is honesty and fair dealing. If you can fake that, you've got it made."

He made 13 feature films with his siblings the Marx Brothers, of whom he was the third-born. He also had a successful solo career, most notably as the host of the radio and television game show You Bet Your Life.

His distinctive appearance, carried over from his days in vaudeville, included quirks such as an exaggerated stooped posture, glasses, cigar, and a thick greasepaint mustache and eyebrows. These exaggerated features resulted in the creation of one of the world's most ubiquitous and recognizable novelty disguises, known as "Groucho glasses": a one-piece mask consisting of horn-rimmed glasses, large plastic nose, bushy eyebrows and mustache.

Marx died of pneumonia on June 22, 1977 at the age of 86.

Remembering Walter Matthau

Walter Matthau (born October 1, 1920) was an American actor and comedian, best known for his role as Oscar Madison in The Odd Couple and his frequent collaborations with Odd Couple co-star Jack Lemmon.

Birth Name: Walter Jake Matthow
Hair: Black
Eyes: Hazel
Height: 6' 2"
Nickname: Jake
Quote: "To be successful in show business, all you need are 50 good breaks."

He made his motion picture debut as a whip-wielding bad guy in The Kentuckian (1955) opposite Burt Lancaster and then a villain in King Creole (1958), in which he gets beaten up by Elvis Presley). Around the same time, he made Ride a Crooked Trail with Audie Murphy, and Onionhead (both 1958) starring Andy Griffith; the latter was a flop. Matthau had a featured role opposite Griffith in the well received drama A Face in the Crowd (1957), directed by Elia Kazan. Matthau was a sympathetic sheriff in Lonely are the Brave (1962), which starred Kirk Douglas. He then appeared opposite Audrey Hepburn in Charade (1963).

Neil Simon cast him in the play The Odd Couple in 1965, with Matthau playing slovenly sportswriter Oscar Madison, opposite Art Carney as Felix Unger. Matthau later reprised the role in the film version, with Jack Lemmon as Felix Ungar.

He achieved great success in the comedy film, The Fortune Cookie (1966), as a shyster lawyer, William H. "Whiplash Willie" Gingrich, starring opposite Lemmon, and the first of many collaborations with Billy Wilder, and a role that would earn him an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor.

Oscar nominations would come Matthau's way again for Kotch (1971), directed by Lemmon, and The Sunshine Boys (1975), another adaptation of a Neil Simon stage play, this time about a pair of former vaudeville stars.

Matthau starred in three crime dramas in the mid-1970s, as a detective investigating a mass murder on a bus in The Laughing Policeman (1973), as a bank robber on the run from the Mafia and the law in Charley Varrick (also 1973) and as a New York transit cop in the action-adventure The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (1974). A change of pace about misfits on a Little League baseball team turned-out to be a solid hit when Matthau starred as coach Morris Buttermaker in the comedy The Bad News Bears (1976).

Matthau and Lemmon reunited for the comedy Grumpy Old Men (1993), co-starring Ann-Margret, and its sequel, Grumpier Old Men (1995), also co-starring Sophia Loren. This led to further pairings late in their careers, Out to Sea (1997) and a Simon-scripted sequel to their much earlier success, The Odd Couple II (1998).

Walter Matthau died of a heart attack in Santa Monica on July 1, 2000. He was 79 years old.