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1-12 of 12
- Actor
- Producer
- Director
Peter Michael Falk was born on September 16, 1927, in New York City, New York. At the age of 3, his right eye was surgically removed due to cancer. He graduated from Ossining High School, where he was president of his class. His early career choices involved becoming a certified public accountant, and he worked as an efficiency expert for the Budget Bureau of the state of Connecticut before becoming an actor. On choosing to change careers, he studied the acting art with Eva Le Gallienne and Sanford Meisner. His most famous role is that of the detective Columbo (1971); however, this was not his first foray into acting the role of a detective. During a high school play, he stood in for such a role when the original student actor fell sick. He has been married twice, and is the father of two children:Catherine, a private detective in real life, and Jackie. He was diagnosed with dementia in 2008, which was most likely brought on by Alzheimer's disease, from which he died on June 23, 2011.- Music Department
- Composer
- Sound Department
Of Hungarian ancestry, the son of film composer George Steiner followed in his father's footsteps. A child prodigy, he played the piano by the age of six and cello at thirteen. Growing up in Manhattan, Fred immersed himself in his father's vast collection of records, which included a great deal of orchestral and chamber music. Highly motivated to study composition and playing two instruments, he soon earned himself a scholarship. By the age of twenty, he graduated with a degree from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music in Ohio, and, in later years, added a PhD from USC to his resume for writing a dissertation on the legendary film composer Alfred Newman. Straight out of college, Fred began writing and arranging scores for several New York-based radio broadcasts, including "Suspense" and "CBS Radio Workshop". He also scored wartime propaganda shorts, selling war bonds. Another popular show, for which he composed and conducted, was "This Is Your FBI", a semi-documentary production based on actual case files and often narrated by movie personalities, like Richard Widmark, Jack Lemmon and Jeff Chandler.
From 1947, Steiner (who was not related to the legendary Max) spent time in Hollywood, working as arranger, conductor and (often uncredited) composer. His first solo motion picture effort and personal favourite among his scores, Run for the Sun (1956), came about via a recommendation from his good friend Bernard Herrmann. Though he later shared an Academy Award nomination for adaptation/orchestration of The Color Purple (1985), Fred reserved his best work for the small screen. One of the most prolific of television composers, he contributed to numerous episodes of popular series, ranging across diverse genres, from Gunsmoke (1955) to Hogan's Heroes (1965); from The Twilight Zone (1959) to Hawaii Five-O (1968). He was singularly adept at suiting his music to a particular dramatic situation or conveying specific emotions to a certain scene, as, for example, in his use of violins and harp in the Rachmaninoff-inspired score for the "Twilight Zone" episode "The Passersby".
One of Steiner's most fondly remembered compositions is the jazzy "Park Avenue Beat", which served as the theme for the long-running courtroom drama series Perry Mason (1957), conceived to represent a combination of 'sophistication and toughness'. In stark contrast, he provided a more light-hearted musical approach to his score of the animated cult favorite The Bullwinkle Show (1959). His affinity for animation can be traced back to his father, who wrote music for many of the early classic cartoons, such as the "Betty Boop" series and Terrytoons productions, almost always working from home.
Fred Steiner also made a lasting impact on fans of Star Trek (1966), composing music for several episodes, of which "The Corbomite Maneuver" and "Balance of Terror" are often considered among the best of the original series. In an interview (recorded in Santa Fe on June 25, 2003), he recalled that Gene Roddenberry had made it clear to him from the beginning, that he didn't want "poops and peeps music", but "Captain Blood in space"!
Between 1958 and 1960, Steiner worked in Mexico, compiling and archiving Latin American music for government-sponsored television documentaries. He grew to admire the local traditional culture and was in later years drawn back to spend his twilight years there. He also continued his life-long interest in musicology, co-founding the Film Music Society, lecturing in composition at USC and regularly contributing to a number of musical publications (authoring analyses of classic film scores, such as King Kong (1933) and The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938)).- Writer
- Additional Crew
- Actor
Long-time comic book artist, perhaps best known for his work at Marvel. At that company, Gene drew a revival of the Sub-Mariner in the mid-1960s; took over from artist Don Heck on Iron Man; took over from John Romita Sr. on Daredevil; spent time drawing Captain America; and launched a successful Marvel adaptation of Dracula. Fans appreciate his use of shadow for dramatic effect and his ability to draw romantic and action scenes. In the 1980s, he was successful on DC's Batman titles.- Bill Gratton was born on 7 July 1939 in Portland, Oregon, USA. He was an actor, known for The Green Mile (1999), Blast from the Past (1999) and Jagged Edge (1985). He died on 23 June 2011 in Los Angeles, California, USA.
- Ewan 'Sudsy' Clark was born on 17 December 1944 in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. He was an actor, known for The Commish (1991), The Sentinel (1996) and Highlander (1992). He died on 23 June 2011 in New Westminster, British Columbia, Canada.
- Composer
- Soundtrack
Gaye Delorme was born on 20 March 1947 in Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada. He was a composer, known for Up in Smoke (1978), Things Are Tough All Over (1982) and Sleepwalkers (1992). He died on 23 June 2011 in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.- Actor
- Director
- Writer
Gennadi Voronin was born on 10 January 1946. He was an actor and director, known for Mariya Magdalina (1990), Two Shores (1987) and Mostik (1986). He died on 23 June 2011 in Moscow, Russia.- Crystal Phillips was born on 13 July 1980. She was an actress, known for Identity Theft (2009) and The Making of a Mistress (2006). She died on 23 June 2011 in Newbury Park, California, USA.
- Christiane Desroches Noblecourt was born on 17 November 1913 in Paris, France. She is known for Niin on ollut ja niin on aina oleva (1995), Sonderauftrag Führermuseum (2006) and Panorama (1953). She died on 23 June 2011 in Épernay, Marne, France.
- Writer
- Director
- Composer
Jef van der Heyden was born on 7 June 1926 in Hilvarenbeek, Noord-Brabant, Netherlands. He was a writer and director, known for Kasper in de onderwereld (1979), Ongewijde aarde (1967) and Fietsen naar de maan (1963). He died on 23 June 2011 in Meerle, Belgium.- Make-Up Department
- Art Department
Mel Berns Jr. was born on 27 January 1940 in Beverly Hills, Los Angeles, California, USA. Mel is known for Conspiracy Theory (1997), Wayne's World (1992) and The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr. (1993). Mel died on 23 June 2011 in Beverly Hills, Los Angeles, California, USA.- Kostas Zaharakis was an actor, known for Sto vathos kipos (2009), Para ligo, para ponto, para triha (2002) and Doxobus (1987). He died on 23 June 2011 in Athens, Greece.