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1-4 of 4
- Actor
- Producer
Hardly remembered today, if at all, Fred Stone was once one of the most multi-faceted circus performers to hit turn-of-the century America. There seemed to be nothing he couldn't do--tightrope walking, acrobatics, clowning . . . you name it. This initial celebrity eventually led to his stellar headlining in vaudeville houses, stardom on the Broadway musical stage and character lead work in films.
He was born in a Valmont, Colorado, log cabin in the summer of 1873. Running away from home at the ripe old age of 11, he eventually joined a traveling circus show. By his teens he had taught himself the high-wire act and other athletic skills so well that he earned a name for himself under the big top. He met and teamed up with fellow circus performer David Craig Montgomery (1870-1917) in 1895. Billed as "Montgomery and Stone," they became a prominent song-and-dance duo in burlesque houses and minstrel shows. The toast of New York in the first decade of the 1900s, they appeared in a number of hit revues, including "The Red Mill" and "Chin Chin." One of their most famous pairings was in the 1903 Broadway musical version of L. Frank Baum's "The Wizard of Oz" in which Fred portrayed the Scarecrow to Montgomery's Tin Man. The agile duo also shared billing on various other circuits, including "Wild West" shows, with the likes of close friends Will Rogers and Annie Oakley.
After Montgomery's unexpected death on April 20, 1917, following an unsuccessful operation, Fred continued solo, often appearing with wife Allene Crater (later billed as Allene Stone or Mrs. Fred Stone) in such musical shows as "Criss Cross" and "Ripples." Fred also extended his talents to the movies. Although he didn't become a steady fixture (he dropped out of films by the early 1920s), he had wrangled a few of his own comedy and western vehicles to make a dent, with The Goat (1918), Under the Top (1919), Johnny Get Your Gun (1919), The Duke of Chimney Butte (1921) and Billy Jim (1922) being his best. He made an auspicious return to the movies in the sound era as Katharine Hepburn's beleaguered father in the seriocomic classic Alice Adams (1935), and as a feuding clan member in the tumbleweed western The Trail of the Lonesome Pine (1936). Given such a rousing reception, the 63-year-old was offered his own secondary feature, top-lining such comedy efforts as The Farmer in the Dell (1936), Grand Jury (1936), Quick Money (1937) and No Place to Go (1939), before ending his lucky streak with The Westerner (1940) starring Gary Cooper and Walter Brennan. In 1950 Fred retired completely from show business. During the final years of his life he suffered from advancing blindness and heart trouble. He died at his Los Angeles home in March of 1959 at age 85. The patriarch of a show-biz family, his daughters Dorothy Stone, Paula Stone and Carol Stone were also actresses who appeared with their father at various times on Broadway (he was also the uncle of Milburn Stone, veteran character actor and Gunsmoke (1955)'s "Doc Adams"). A long-overdue biography of Fred Stone was published by Armond Fields in 2002.- Maurice Bennett Flynn, a native of Greenwich, Connecticut, entered Yale University in 1911. In 1912, he joined the football team and made an immediate impact as a fullback. Nicknamed "Lefty" (because he kicked with his left foot and threw with his left hand), he also excelled in baseball and track. While attending Yale, he lived in the Bronx, acquiring a second nickname, "The Bronx Express." Unfortunately, in two of Yale's biggest games of the 1912 season, he played below par against Harvard and Princeton. In January of 1913, Flynn married Irene Leary, a chorus girl. Some newspapers mistakenly reported that he had married actress Ina Claire, possibly because Leary used the stage name Irene Claire. Officials at Yale were not happy with the situation, and barred Flynn from returning to the school. Before 1913 was over, the marriage ended in divorce, with Leary naming another chorus girl as correspondent.
In 1914, Flynn was a guest at the Long Island home of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Phipps. Mrs. Phipps, formerly Nora Langhorne, fell for Flynn, as he did for her. They had a brief affair, and then Mrs. Phipps returned to her husband. Flynn went to Colorado to live on a 2500-acre ranch his father had bought for him. But that was not to be the last of this romance.
In March of 1916, Flynn married again, this time to Blanche Palmer, a New York society woman. Although this marriage also failed, two children were born, one of whom was Bud Palmer, who became a famous sportscaster.
Flynn's first foray into films was the 1919 musical comedy "Oh Boy!" in which he played, appropriately enough, a football hero. In 1920, Flynn, who was a friend of author Rex Beach, was cast in the role of "Thug" in the Beach story "The Silver Horde." Flynn signed on with Goldwyn, and a few years later signed with Fox. He worked steadily throughout the 1920s, ascending from supporting to lead roles. In 1925, actress Grace Darmond announced that she and Flynn were engaged. Flynn quickly denied this, claiming he hardly knew Darmond. In June of 1925, Flynn married actress Viola Dana. In 1929, Dana filed for divorce, charging Flynn with cruelty and intoxication. With his film career having ended a few years earlier, Flynn took a job as the sports director of the Royal Hawaiian Hotel in Honolulu.
In 1931, Flynn sent a cable to Nora Langhorne Phipps, who was living in London and soon to be divorced. He told her he was coming to England and wanted to see her. Seventeen years had gone by, but their love was rekindled. For the fourth time, Flynn took a wife, marrying Phipps in London. After the ceremony, a photographer attempted to take a photo of the new Mrs. Flynn. With the bride and groom attempting to avoid reporters, Flynn sprang into action, tackling the photographer. Unperturbed, the photographer still managed to snap a photo of the bride.
The couple made their home in Tryon, North Carolina, where Flynn served as President of the Tryon Riding and Hunt Club. In 1935, writer F. Scott Fitzgerald, then in the throes of alcoholism, came to Tryon and befriended the Flynns. Mrs. Flynn, a Christian Scientist, attempted to help Fitzgerald, and for a time, the author was able to stop drinking. But once Fitzgerald left Tryon, the drinking returned.
Flynn's marriage to Phipps was his most successful, with the couple staying together for almost twenty years before divorcing.
In September of 1950, Flynn married one final time, to Lesley Bogert Taylor. The couple lived in Camden, South Carolina, where Flynn founded the Lefty Flynn Pro-Amateur Golf Tournament.
Flynn died from colon cancer on March 4, 1959, in Camden. - Director
- Writer
- Actor
Guido Brignone was born on 6 December 1886 in Milan, Lombardy, Italy. He was a director and writer, known for Passaporto rosso (1935), Loyalty of Love (1934) and Under the Southern Cross (1938). He was married to Lola Visconti-Brignone. He died on 6 March 1959 in Rome, Lazio, Italy.- Sven Miliander was born on 11 March 1894 in Stockholm, Sweden. He was an actor, known for The Girl and the Devil (1944). He died on 6 March 1959.