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1-50 of 640
- Actor
- Director
- Soundtrack
Alan Hale decided on a film career after his attempt at becoming an opera singer didn't pan out. He quickly became much in demand as a supporting actor, starred in several films for Cecil B. DeMille and directed others for him. With the advent of sound, Hale played leads in a few films but soon settled down into a career as one of the busiest character actors in the business. He was one of the featured members of what became known as the "Warner Brothers Stock Co.", a corps of character actors and actresses who appeared in scores of Warner Bros. films of the 1930s and 1940s. Hale's best-known role is probably in The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938), one of several films he made with his friend Errol Flynn, in which he played Little John, a role he played in two other films: Robin Hood (1922) and Rogues of Sherwood Forest (1950).- Actor
- Soundtrack
For many years Walter Huston had two passions: his career as an engineer and his vocation for the stage. In 1909 he dedicated himself to the theatre, and made his debut on Broadway in 1924. In 1929 he journeyed to Hollywood, where his talent and ability made him one of the most respected actors in the industry. He won a Best Supporting Actor Academy Award for The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948).- Actor
- Composer
- Additional Crew
Al Jolson was known in the industry as "The World's Greatest Entertainer," for well over 40 years. After his death his influence continued unabated with such performers as Sammy Davis Jr., Elvis Presley, Mick Jagger, David Bowie, Jackie Wilson and Jerry Lee Lewis all mentioning him as an inspiration.
Al Jolson was born Asa Yoelson in Seredzius, Lithuania, to a Jewish family, the son of Naiomi Etta (Cantor) and Moise Rubin Yoelson, who emigrated alone to Washington, D.C., to establish himself. After four years he sent for his family. Nine months later his wife died (apparently during childbirth), which devastated the eight-year-old Asa. Young Al would soon find his outlet in the theater. Soon he was singing with his older brother, Harry, for senators and soldiers. He entertained the troops that were headed for the Spanish-American War.
Jolson's career in vaudeville started with his brother in New York, but never really got off the ground. Different partners allowed Jolson to experiment, but it was as a solo act in San Francisco that he finally hit it big. He was signed eventually by Lew Dockstaders' Minstrels. It is important to note that, although performing in blackface, Dockstader's was not a minstrel show in the traditional sense of the "Tambo and Bones" variety of the previous century. It was a sophisticated, topical, Broadway-style revue. The myth lingers to this day that Jolson was a minstrel. He most certainly was not.
Jolson's stay in vaudeville was relatively short, as his talent was quickly recognized by the Shubert Brothers, who signed him to appear in the opening show of their new Winter Garden Theater on Broadway in April of 1912. Thus began what many consider to be the greatest career in the history of Broadway. Not a headliner initially, Jolson soon became "King of the Winter Garden," with shows specifically written for him. "Winter Garden" and "Jolson" became synonymous for close to 20 years. During that time Jolson received reviews that have yet to be matched. Audiences shouted, pleaded and often would not allow the show to proceed, such was the power of his presence. At one performance in Boston, the usually staid and conservative Boston audience stopped the show for 45 minutes! He was said to have had an "electric' personality, along with the ability to make each member of the audience believe that he was singing only to them.
In 1927 Jolson starred in the New York-shot The Jazz Singer (1927) and the rest is film history. But just before it was theatrically released, producer, Warner' His appearance in that film, nowadays considered a somewhat creaky, stodgy and primitive museum piece, electrified audiences and caused a sensation. Jolson was bigger than ever and Hollywood came a-calling. However, Jolson on film was a pale version of Jolson on stage. His screen appearances, with some exceptions, are stiff and wooden. Though he continued into the 1930s to star on radio, he was no longer quite the star he had been.
During World War II, Jolson entertained troops in Africa and Sicily but was cut short by a bout of malaria and pneumonia. Always a favorite with audiences, he continued to entertain in the United States when he met his fourth wife, Erle Chenault Galbraith, an x-ray technician.
By the mid-'40s, though. his stardom had faded quite a bit. Columbia Pictures, inspired by the success of Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942), decided that a Jolson biography might work as well. In 1946 it released The Jolson Story (1946), with song-and-dance man Larry Parks miming to Jolson's vocals. It was the surprise smash hit of the season and the highest grossing film of the year. Parks received an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor. Jolson was now as big, or bigger, than ever. So successful was the film that Columbia made a sequel, Jolson Sings Again (1949), which remains one of a few biography sequels in film history (Funny Girl/Funny Lady - the story of fellow Winter Garden performer Fannie Brice is another rare example). It was also quite successful at the box office. So big had Jolson's star risen that in 1948, when Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra and Perry Como were at their peaks, Jolson was voted "The Most Popular Male Vocalist" by a Variety poll.
In 1950, against his doctor's orders, Jolson went to Korea to entertain his favorite audience, American troops. While there his health declined and shortly after his return to the U.S. he suffered a massive heart attack and died.- Born the son of an Opium Agent in Bengal, Eric Blair was educated in England (Eton 1921). The joined the British Imperial Police in Burma, serving until 1927. He then travelled around England and Europe, doing various odd jobs to support his writing. By 1935 he had adopted the 'pen-name' of 'George Orwell' and had written his first novels. He married in 1936. In 1937, he and his wife fought against the Fascists in the Spanish Civil War. He produced some 3000 pages of essays and newspaper articles as well as several books and programs for the BBC.
- Actor
- Producer
- Art Department
His real name was Theodor Friedrich Emil Janenz, and in the early 1900s, he was already working in the theater under Max Reinhardt's company. Important movies where he defined himself as a convincing actor were Passion (1919) and Quo Vadis? (1924), followed by The Last Laugh (1924) (aka The Last Laugh) in 1924 and Variety (1925) (aka Variety) in 1925. In 1928, he became the first male leading actor to receive the academy award for The Last Command (1928) directed by Josef von Sternberg. In 1929, Stenberg directed him in his world famous movie The Blue Angel (1930) (aka The Blue Angel) co-starring the young Marlene Dietrich (her first role). Later on, he concentrated on theater and dedicated his acting skills to the Nazi regime and also took part in the realization of Ohm Krüger (1941) in 1941, an expensive anti-British film production. When the Second World War ended, the US government cleaned his image, and he converted to Catholicism. He played in a few more German movies, but his career never recaptured its brilliance.- An American actress most frequently seen in bit parts in comedy shorts, mostly at Columbia Pictures, particularly those of The Three Stooges, Symona Boniface entered the theatre as a playwright and actress, and produced plays as well. After the stock market crash of 1929 she began taking bit parts in films, many of them merely dress-extra jobs. She had a few substantial supporting roles, but most often she was merely a figure in the background. In the 1930s she signed on as a contract player at Columbia, and began appearing in almost all of that studio's comedy shorts. Most frequently she performed as a foil for The Three Stooges, though she also worked with Andy Clyde. Her haughty demeanor made her perfect for the stuffy grande dames whose lives were made miserable by the incursion of idiot Stooges, and she is a memorable, if rarely identified, part of the Stooge comedy legacy. She died at 56 in 1950, though her image continued to show up for years afterwards due to Columbia's habit of using footage from films shot years previously to pad many of its "new" shorts in order to save money.
- Actor
- Soundtrack
Charles Kemper was born on 6 September 1900 in Oklahoma, USA. He was an actor, known for Scarlet Street (1945), The Doolins of Oklahoma (1949) and Fighting Father Dunne (1948). He was married to Jacqueline Kemper. He died on 12 May 1950 in Burbank, California, USA.- Writer
- Producer
His father had been a major in the Union army during the Civil War. Edgar Rice Burroughs attended the Brown School then, due to a diphtheria epidemic, Miss Coolie's Maplehurst School for Girls, then the Harvard School, Phillips Andover and the Michigan Military Academy. He was a mediocre student and flunked his examination for West Point. He worked a variety of jobs all over the country: a cowboy in Idaho, a gold miner in Oregon, a railroad policeman in Utah, a department manager for Sears Roebuck in Chicago. He published "A Princess of Mars" under the title "Under the Moons of Mars" in six parts between February and July of 1912. The same "All-Story Magazine" put out his immediately successful "Tarzan of the Apes" in October of that year. Two years later the hardback book appeared, and on January 27, 1918, the movie opened on Broadway starring Elmo Lincoln as Tarzan. It was one of the first movies to gross over $1,000,000. Burroughs was able to move his family to the San Fernando Valley in 1919, converting a huge estate into Tarzana Ranch. He was in Pearl Harbor December 7, 1941 and remained in Hawaii as a war correspondent. Afterward he returned home with a heart condition. On March 19, 1950, alone in his home after reading the Sunday comics in bed, he died. By then he had written 91 novels, 26 of which were about Tarzan. The man whose books have sold hundreds of millions of copies in over thirty languages once said "I write to escape ... to escape poverty".- Dublin-born Sara Allgood started her acting career in her native country with the famed Abbey Theatre. From there she traveled to the English stage, where she played for many years before making her film debut in 1918. Her warm, open Irish face meant that she spent a lot of time playing Irish mothers, landladies, neighborhood gossips and the like, although she is best remembered for playing Mrs. Morgan, the mother of a family of Welsh miners, in How Green Was My Valley (1941), for which she was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. Her sister Maire O'Neill was an actress in Ireland, and famed Irish poet William Butler Yeats was a family friend.
Sara Allgood died of a heart attack shortly after making her last film, Sierra (1950). - Actor
- Soundtrack
Worried-looking, balding, moustachioed and usually bespectacled small part character actor, prolific during the 1930s and 40s. Hobart Cavanaugh played downtrodden or henpecked little men -- the perennial victim, forever nervous or bewildered -- to absolute perfection. He was most at home as clerks, mailmen, minor officials, undertakers, shopkeepers and bank tellers. However, when called upon, he could be just as convincing as a sneaky or vaguely sinister villain's accomplice.
A former engineering student at the University of California, Cavanaugh began his acting career on the stage, making his debut on Broadway in 1916. He entered films, somewhat inauspiciously, with a forgotten B-picture, which was shot in New York by the independent Gotham Company. It took another five years, until he was signed by First National/Warner Brothers, where he remained under contract until 1936, thereafter free-lancing. His mild-mannered personae remained in constant demand in Hollywood, for he tallied up an impressive 190 screen appearances -- though often uncredited -- right up until his death in 1950.- Writer
- Director
- Actor
The Anglo-Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950), winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1925, acquired a reputation as the greatest dramatist in the English language during the first half of the 20th Century for the plays he had written at the height of his creativity from "Mrs. Warren's Profession" in 1893 to "The Apple Cart" in 1929. His works have been revived on Broadway from 1894 to 2010. His most famous work in the 21st Century is My Fair Lady (1964), the musical adaptation of Pygmalion (1938).
A Shavian drama (his reputation was so great, he had his own adjective ascribed to his works) had a biting social critique leavened by humor. According to his Nobel Prize citation, "His ideas were those of a somewhat abstract logical radicalism; hence they were far from new, but they received from him a new definiteness and brilliance. In him these ideas combined with a ready wit, a complete absence of respect for any kind of convention, and the merriest humor - all gathered together in an extravagance which has scarcely ever before appeared in literature."
He was a major international celebrity and a force in British politics, being a charter member of the Fabian Society. The Fabians were committed to democratic socialism, that is, using parliamentary mechanisms to encourage a gradual adoption of socialist policies through political reform rather than revolution.- Frances Seymour Fonda was born on 4 April 1908 in Brockville, Ontario, Canada. She was married to Henry Fonda and George Tuttle Brokaw. She died on 14 April 1950 in Beacon, New York, USA.
- Hank Bell was born on 21 January 1892 in Los Angeles, California, USA. He was an actor, known for The White Horseman (1921), The Last Straw (1920) and The Scrappin' Kid (1926). He died on 4 February 1950 in Hollywood, California, USA.
- Actress
- Soundtrack
Zeffie Tilbury was born on 20 November 1863 in London, England, UK. She was an actress, known for The Grapes of Wrath (1940), Werewolf of London (1935) and Mystery of Edwin Drood (1935). She was married to L. E. Woodthorpe and Arthur Frederick Lewis. She died on 24 July 1950 in Los Angeles, California, USA.- Director
- Actor
- Writer
Renowned director Rex Ingram started his film career as a set designer and painter. His directorial debut was The Great Problem (1916). A true master of the medium, Ingram despised the business haggling required in the Hollywood system. He was also unhappy with the level of writing he found in American writers. This led him to work with such foreign writers as Vicente Blasco Ibáñez, which resulted in the first major role for the young Rudolph Valentino. Ingram was a great friend of Erich von Stroheim who, like Ingram, was a great filmmaker but often went way over budget. In 1924 Ingram moved to Nice, France, where, in his own studios, he directed films of his own choosing, often with his then-wife Alice Terry. In his later career he acted as a mentor to the young Michael Powell.- Producer
- Director
- Writer
John Stahl was the final executive in charge of Tiffany Pictures (located on the Talisman lot, later owned by Monogram Pictures), once a big fish in the pond of "Poverty Row", which in those days also included Columbia Pictures. With a B-movie history dating back to the silent era and after making 70 talkies, Tiffany imploded in 1932 in the midst of the deepening Depression and ended its days grinding out the "Chimp Comedies" series of shorts, in which chimps "lip-synched"--by means of having them chew bubble gum--to dubbed actors' voices scripted to corny plots. These simian shorts were popular as filler in second-run movie houses until the freakish novelty wore thin. A sad end to a studio once notable for a roster of stars that included Rex Lease, Ken Maynard, Conway Tearle, Bob Steele and Mae Murray.
Stahl moved over to MGM, producing and directing the notable flop Parnell (1937), widely considered the studio's worst effort to date. Despite this, he would continue in the business as a producer and director of some note until his death in 1950.- Writer
- Editor
- Editorial Department
George Hively was born on 6 September 1889 in Springfield, Missouri, USA (some sources say Arkansas). He was a writer and editor, known for Bringing Up Baby (1938), The Great Air Robbery (1919) and The Informer (1935). He died on 2 March 1950 in Los Angeles, California, USA.- Although many people are under the impression that Pedro de Cordoba was Mexican, his mother was French and his father was Cuban, and he was born in New York City. De Cordoba's career began in silent films, where he established himself as a solid character actor, and his career carried over into talkies. A tall, somewhat frail-looking man, he often played wealthy, aristocratic Latins, usually (but not always) kind-hearted and benevolent.
- Actor
- Additional Crew
- Stunts
Steve Clemente was born on 22 November 1882 in Tonichi, Sonora, Mexico. He was an actor, known for King Kong (1933), The Most Dangerous Game (1932) and The Sideshow (1928). He was married to Cuca Arebalo. He died on 7 May 1950 in Los Angeles, California, USA.- Dewey Robinson was born on 17 August 1898 in New Haven, Connecticut, USA. He was an actor, known for A Midsummer Night's Dream (1935), The Return of Jimmy Valentine (1936) and 6 Hours to Live (1932). He was married to Louise Arlene Woolner. He died on 11 December 1950 in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA.
- Actress
- Writer
- Director
Though the circumstances of Helen Holmes' birth are somewhat hazy (sources place it in either Chicago or Louisville, KY, in mid-June or early July of 1893), what isn't hazy is that she was, with Pearl White, the queen of the railroad serials of the mid-teens and early '20s. Holmes always played a strong-willed, independent and resourceful heroine, just as capable of running after, jumping on and stopping a runaway train as she was batting her eyes at the male "hero". Although she was convent-educated, her parents were poor and could barely afford her education, so as she got older she became a photographer's model to help pay the family bills.
Her brother's ill health necessitated a family move from cold, damp Chicago to the hot, dry climate of California's Death Valley. It was there that her taste for adventure was given full rein. In that desolate, sparsely populated country she prospected for gold and for a short time lived among a local Indian tribe. Her brother soon died, though, and in 1910 Helen moved to New York and began appearing in local plays. She had become friends with film star Mabel Normand, and after a short correspondence Normand invited her to Hollywood, where she got her friend some modeling and movie work. Holmes soon achieved success, and by 1913 was starring in her own films. She met her husband, director J.P. McGowan, at Kalem Studios while she was acting in, and he was directing, The Hazards of Helen (1914) serial. The two soon formed their own production company, and their films, both serials and features, achieved great success. By 1919, though, Mutual Films, the company that distributed their movies, had gone under. Without Mutual's financial backing the budgets on their films shrank precipitously, and not being able to afford to make railroad serials anymore, Helen was now turned into a newspaperwoman, a switch that did not sit well with her fans. Although she continued to make films and serials, many of them weren't starring roles anymore, and the fact that a good percentage of them were for the cheap independent market meant that relatively few audiences actually saw them.
Her marriage to McGowan broke up in 1925. She subsequently married a movie stuntman, and basically retired from the screen in 1926, although she made a few appearances in small parts over the next 20 years.
She kept her hand in the business by becoming a trainer for animals used in the movies, but that lasted until her husband died in 1946. Her health had been deteriorating for several years by that time, and she died of a heart attack in 1950.- Director
- Actor
- Writer
Christy Cabanne was, along with Sam Newfield and William Beaudine, one of the most prolific directors in the history of American films.
Cabanne spent several years in the navy, leaving the service in 1908. He decided on a career in the theater, and became a director as well as an actor. Although acting was his primary profession, when he finally broke into the film business it was as a director. He joined the Fine Arts Co., then was employed as an assistant to D.W. Griffith. Being a published author, he found himself hired by Metro Pictures to write a serial. After that he formed his own production company, but shut it down a few years later and became a director for hire, mainly of low- to medium-budget films for such studios as FBO, Associated Exhibitors, Tiffany and Pathe. Although he worked in the rarefied atmosphere at MGM on a few occasions, he was usually to be found toiling away at the lower end of lower-level studios. In the 1930s his fortunes picked up a bit and he did quite a bit of work at Universal, but from there his career nosedived and he ended up cranking out cheap westerns, shoddy jungle pictures and limp horror films for the likes of Monogram, PRC and Screen Guild.- Actor
- Director
- Writer
Maurice Costello was born on 22 February 1877 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA. He was an actor and director, known for The Man Who Couldn't Beat God (1915), The Golden Pathway (1913) and Iron and Steel (1914). He was married to Ruth Reeves and Mae Costello. He died on 28 October 1950 in Hollywood, California, USA.- Actor
- Writer
- Soundtrack
Frank Graham was born on 22 November 1914 in Detroit, Michigan, USA. He was an actor and writer, known for Cosmo Jones in the Crime Smasher (1943), The Three Caballeros (1944) and Horton Hatches the Egg (1942). He died on 2 September 1950 in Hollywood, California, USA.- Actor
- Soundtrack
Joe Yule was born on 30 April 1892 in Glasgow, Scotland, UK. He was an actor, known for Jiggs and Maggie Out West (1950), Jiggs and Maggie in Court (1948) and Jiggs and Maggie in Society (1947). He was married to Leota Hullinger and Nell Ruth Waite "Nellie W." Carter. He died on 30 March 1950 in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA.- Douglas Gilmore was born on 25 June 1903 in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. He was an actor, known for Cameo Kirby (1930), The Girl Habit (1931) and The Naughty Flirt (1930). He was married to Ruth Mix, Gladys Frazin and Kay Kenny. He died on 26 July 1950 in New York City, New York, USA.
- Director
- Actor
- Writer
Friedrich Feher was born on 16 March 1889 in Vienna, Austria-Hungary [now Austria]. He was a director and actor, known for The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920), The Robber Symphony (1936) and William Tell (1913). He was married to Magda Sonja. He died on 30 September 1950 in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, Germany.- Actress
- Soundtrack
Jessie Busley was born on 10 March 1869 in Albany, New York, USA. She was an actress, known for Brother Rat (1938), It All Came True (1940) and Brother Rat and a Baby (1940). She was married to Ernest Joy and John McFedries (aka Jack Ferris). She died on 20 April 1950 in New York City, New York, USA.- Actor
- Soundtrack
His obituary in the The Monroe News-Star:
Georges Metaxa, d. 8 Dec. 1950, Monroe, Louisiana. Georges Metaxa Hollywood star dies suddenly in Monroe. The body of Georges Metaxa, 51, prominent actor and comedy singer of Hollywood who died suddenly in a local hotel over the weekend, was sent by Hixson Brothers Funeral home on Sunday to Dallas, Tex., where it will be cremated today. Metaxa and his wife had been on a seven-month trip to Europe and were now en route in their auto to their home in Beverly Hills. His health had been impaired to such an extent that he had been forced to refuse to take the leading role in "South Pacific," which is to be shown early in January in London. . . . His present wife, his third, was married to him in 1946. His second wife was the former Bernice MacFadden, daughter of publisher Bernarr MacFadden.- Actor
- Director
- Producer
Monty Banks was a short, stocky but somehow debonair Italian-born comic actor, later also writer and director. In the US from 1914, he first appeared on stage in musical comedy and cabaret. By 1917 he was working as a dancer in New York's Dominguez Cafe. After this he turned to films, acting and doing stunt work at Keystone, Universal and for Al Christie. Changing his name from Mario Bianchi to Monty Banks may have been prompted by Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle as a passing reference to his playing '"montebanks". By 1919 Banks had moved to Vitagraph to play a villain in The Grocery Clerk (1919), foil to star comic Larry Semon.
Banks first came to the fore in his own right as star of the "Welcome Comedies" made by Warner Brothers. He spent the early 1920s at Fox and Grand Asher, graduating to writing and directing two-reel comedies with himself as the star. Most noteworthy entries in regard to inventive sight gags and Mack Sennett--style madcap plots are Pay or Move (1924) and The Golf Bug (1924). The success of this series prompted Banks to create an independent production company, the Monty Banks Pictures Corporation, in conjunction with writer/director Howard Estabrook. He made several feature-length films for Pathe, including Play Safe (1927)) (generally considered his best work), which featured a climactic runaway train sequence. This style of fast-action slapstick made it inevitable that Banks suffered more than his fair share of injuries, especially since he continued to do many of his own stunts.
From the late 1920s Banks worked in England and made several appearances in sound films. However, his accent proved to be something of an obstacle. He therefore decided, after 1930, to concentrate on directing and producing. He helmed four features starring the popular entertainer Gracie Fields, who became his second wife in 1940. In 1935 he directed a well-received George Formby comedy, No Limit (1935), about the TT motorcycle races on the Isle of Man, which were shot on location there.
With the outbreak of World War II Banks--being an Italian citizen--would have faced internment in England as an enemy alien. He therefore deemed it necessary to flee to Canada, and from there to the neutral United States. He eventually obtained American citizenship, for which he had applied years earlier, but had forgotten to submit the necessary paperwork. Back in Hollywood he ended up at 20th Century-Fox, directing Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy in Great Guns (1941), arguably one of their lesser efforts.
Banks died of a heart attack during a trip through Italy in January 1950, aged just 52. Sadly, the majority of his one- and two-reelers are now considered lost films. As a result, his status as a leading comic of the silent screen may have somewhat diminished--except, perhaps, in his home town of Cesena, where a foundation was established in his honor (the "Aula Didattica Monty Banks"), offering students "practical courses on experimental aspects of video production".- Bibhutibhushan Bandyopadhyay was born on 12 September 1894 in Ghoshpada-Muraripur, Kanchrapara, Bengal Presidency, British India. He was a writer, known for Pather Panchali (1955), Fuleswari (1974) and Amar Prem (1972). He died on 1 November 1950 in Ghatshila, Bihar, India.
- Marguerite de la Motte was trained as a dancer, reputedly by the great ballerina Anna Pavlova, and entered films in 1918. She played opposite Douglas Fairbanks in many of his productions. Like many performers of the silent era, however, she was not able to sustain her career with the coming of talkies, and was soon relegated to smaller roles in minor productions.
- William Wadsworth was born on 7 June 1874 in Pigeon Cove, Massachusetts, USA. He was an actor, known for Kidnapped (1917), Chris and His Wonderful Lamp (1917) and Vanity Fair (1915). He died on 6 June 1950 in Brooklyn, New York, USA.
- Max Davidson was born on 23 May 1875 in Berlin, Germany. He was an actor, known for A Daughter of the Poor (1917), Don Quixote (1915) and The Johnstown Flood (1926). He was married to Alice Marti. He died on 4 September 1950 in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, California, USA.
- Dink Trout was born on 18 June 1898 in Beardstown, Illinois, USA. He was an actor, known for Alice in Wonderland (1951), Scattergood Baines (1941) and Cinderella Swings It (1943). He died on 26 March 1950 in Hollywood, California, USA.
- Florence Nash was born on 2 October 1888 in Troy, New York, USA. She was an actress, known for The Women (1939), Springtime (1914) and It's a Great Life (1935). She died on 2 April 1950 in Hollywood, California, USA.
- Camelia was born on 13 December 1919 in Alexandria, Egypt. She was an actress, known for Shari al-bahlawan (1949), Akher kedba (1950) and Waladi (1949). She died on 31 August 1950 in El Buhayra, Egypt.
- Actress
- Soundtrack
Pauline Lord was born on 8 August 1890 in Hanford, California, USA. She was an actress, known for Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch (1934) and A Feather in Her Hat (1935). She was married to Owen B. Winter. She died on 10 October 1950 in Alamogordo, New Mexico, USA.- Jim Corey was born on 22 March 1889 in Buffalo, New York, USA. He was an actor, known for The Border Legion (1924), Gold Mine in the Sky (1938) and The Lost Jungle (1934). He was married to Sylvia Frey. He died on 26 March 1950 in Burbank, California, USA.
- Actor
- Soundtrack
Bull Montana was born on 16 May 1887 in Voghera, Lombardy, Italy. He was an actor, known for Victory (1919), Laughing at Danger (1924) and The Lost World (1925). He was married to Mary Mathews. He died on 24 January 1950 in Los Angeles, California, USA.- Music Department
- Composer
- Writer
Kurt Weill was born on 2 March 1900 in Dessau, Germany. He was a composer and writer, known for Three Penny Opera (1963), Knickerbocker Holiday (1944) and The Thomas Crown Affair (1999). He was married to Lotte Lenya. He died on 3 April 1950 in New York City, New York, USA.- Actor
- Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Bill Bambridge was born on 18 August 1892 in Papeete, Tahiti, French Polynesia. He was an actor and assistant director, known for Mutiny on the Bounty (1935) and Tabu: A Story of the South Seas (1931). He was married to Alice Vaituatini Varney and Doris Hyacinthe Laidlaw. He died on 12 January 1950 in Papeete, Tahiti.- Actor
- Music Department
- Writer
Harry Lauder was born on 4 August 1870 in Portobello, Edinburgh, Scotland, UK. He was an actor and writer, known for Huntingtower (1927), Ali G Indahouse (2002) and Auld Lang Syne (1929). He was married to Annie Vallance. He died on 26 February 1950 in Strathaven, Lanarkshire, Scotland, UK.- Jack Evans was born on 5 March 1893 in Neills Creek, North Carolina, USA. He was an actor, known for The Hidden Woman (1922), Lightning Range (1933) and The Fighting Deputy (1937). He was married to Fannie. He died on 14 March 1950 in Hollywood, California, USA.
- Rafael Sabatini was born near the Adriatic seaport of Ancona, Italy to Anna Trafford, an Englishwoman, and Italian Vincenzo Sabatini, both of whom were well known opera singers. With their careers still in full swing and included much traveling, so baby Rafael was sent to her parents near Liverpool for a stable home life. After seven years they retired from opera and turned to being voice teachers and the boy rejoined them, first in Portugal where they set up their first music school, then back to Italy, where they settled in Milan.
By early adolescence Rafael had already been a voracious reader, with a particular fondness for romantic historical novels. He was schooled at Zug, Switzerland, but by 17 years of age he was well versed in some six languages and decided it was time to make his way in the world. His father stepped in and determined that Rafael's linguistic skill was best served in international commerce, so he was sent back to Liverpool in 1892--a logical decision, since he had family there and the city was Great Britain's largest commercial port. His knowledge of Portuguese came in especially useful in his company's dealings in Brazil, but after four years of business, Rafael's interest in writing was bubbling to the top. He was writing his own romance stories, which he believed to be more interesting than just reading the works of others. All of this work was in English, as he considered the best literature of the world to be in that language. Some of his work was submitted by an acquaintance to an editor and, and wound up being accepted and published by a Liverpool publisher. By 1899 he was selling short stories regularly to prominent magazines: Person's, London, and Royal. He also had a translation job as well, and by 1905 with two novels published, he decided to devote full time to writing. That same year he married Ruth Goad Dixon, the daughter of a Liverpool paper merchant. At that point Sabatini moved to London, the publishing hub of Britain.
Rafael produced, in addition to about a novel a year, a steady stream of short stories. By the time he published his first really interesting swashbuckler, "The Sea Hawk", in 1915 he had completed 12 novels and, although comfortable in his new living, he was not the success he had envisioned. Though he had a modest and loyal following and his historical research was of a high degree, Sabatini's earlier work could be rather uneven in subject matter, of special interest to him but not the public. For instance, his supposed illegitimacy may have led to his half-dozen books dealing with the illegitimate despot Cesare Borgia of early 16th-century Italy. He also sometimes hampered himself with heavy-handed historical constraints, dragged out with extraneous philosophizing, as well as stilted dialog--but some of these faults were characteristic of 19th- and early 20th-century novel writing style. He managed another novel for 1917, but through most of World War I he was working in as a translator for the British intelligence service--evidently of great import to the war effort (he had finally become a British citizen, due in no small part to Italy's continued threats to conscript him into the army).
Sabatini returned to his writing after the war but nothing was forthcoming until 1921. He had been writing professionally for nearly 25 years when he finished "Scaramouche" and tried, but failed, to interest several American publishers in it. It was, however, picked up in England for publishing, and then in America as well. The story of Andre Moreau in the period of the French Revolution became a runaway best-seller internationally. After the success of "Scaramouche", Sabatini was ready with a second to his 1-2 punch. In 1922 "Captain Blood" was published, to even greater success. Suddenly his earlier works were being rushed into reprints, the most popular being "The Sea Hawk". Although the growing silent-film industry had already used six of his stories for films, they quickly started optioning the new best sellers for production. "Scaramouche" was turned into Scaramouche (1923) and followed by The Sea Hawk (1924) which hewed to the book's many turns, something the 1940 Errol Flynn version didn't do, opting for pretty much an entirely new screenplay, but was nonetheless extremely popular. The 1935 remake of "Captain Blood", also starring Flynn (Captain Blood (1935)), stuck the novel's story and was just as popular. The "Scaramouche" remake (Scaramouche (1952)) starred Stewart Granger and was a big hit.
By 1925 Sabatini had achieved his dream of success--he was rich and still filled with ideas and the will to write still more novels. There was time to rest, especially in his much beloved Wales--fishing was one of his favorite pastimes--but he also loved to ski. There was tragedy ahead, however. The Sabatinis' only son Rafael-Angelo (born in 1909 and nicknamed Binkie), busy with college, was given a new car by his parents in 1927. They were all due to go north to Scotland for a vacation, when the son and his mother went for a drive and the car was involved in an accident. Ruth Sabatini was thrown from the vehicle and knocked unconscious and was unable to remember what had happened, but Rafael-Angelo was fatally injured. Sabatini, returning from taking a friend to the railway station in Gloucester, happened on the accident and found his wife and son lying by the side of the road. The son died after arrival back at their rented estate of Brockweir House. The parents were devastated, and Sabatini went into a depression that stopped all writing. He started again a year later, and it would provide him enough to enable him to complete another novel, "The Hounds of God". Thereafter the novel-a-year work ethic would continue until 1941. However, his relationship with his wife was already strained by the time of their son's death, and they divorced in 1931. That year he also did a sequel to "Scaramouche"--"Scaramouche the Kingmaker". Sabatini turned to a new domesticated tranquility, having finally moved to Wales near Hay-on-Wye and refurbishing a fine old home called Clock Mill, complete with its own stream and stocked with trout.
In 1935 he married the sculptress Christine Goad, the wife of his first wife's brother. They were a happy couple, spending each January in Adelboden, Switzerland, for skiing. He finished a two-volume set of stories centering on his Captain Blood character called "Chivalry" in 1935. By the late 1930s the clouds of war in Europe especially disturbed Sabatini. He suffered through yet another tragedy when his new wife's son, Lancelot, flew over their house the day he received his RAF pilot's wings. The plane went out of control and crashed in flames across the Wye in a field right before their eyes. Sabatini wrote no more novels until 1944, for by this time he was developing what appeared to be stomach cancer. He managed one more novel in 1949, his 31st. He died on one last trip to Adelboden in 1950 and was buried there. On his headstone his wife had written the first lines from Scaramouche: "He was born with a gift of laughter and a sense that the world was mad." It made a very fitting epitaph. There have been 21 adaptations of his works for the screen, both in film and on TV. His writings also included eight collections of short novels/stories, six non-fiction books and many short stories, some of which are lost. - Actor
- Soundtrack
Russ Powell was born on 16 September 1875 in Indianapolis, Indiana, USA. He was an actor, known for Vamping Venus (1928), Check and Double Check (1930) and Heaven Will Protect a Woiking Goil (1916). He died on 28 November 1950 in Los Angeles, California, USA.- George M. Carleton was born on 28 October 1885 in Brooklyn, New York, USA. He was an actor, known for Just Off Broadway (1942), The Purple Monster Strikes (1945) and Raiders of the Desert (1941). He was married to Marie Zeiner. He died on 23 September 1950 in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA.
- Actress
- Soundtrack
Eleanor Counts was born in 1912 in Little Rock, Arkansas, USA. She was an actress, known for Border Buckaroos (1943), So's Your Aunt Emma! (1942) and Moron Than Off (1946). She was married to Robert Gauldin. She died on 12 September 1950 in New York City, New York, USA.- Director
- Writer
- Actor
Igor Savchenko was born on 11 October 1906 in Vinnitsa, Vinnitsa uyezd, Podolsk Governorate, Russian Empire [now Vinnytsia, Vinnytsia Oblast, Ukraine]. He was a director and writer, known for Bogdan Khmelnitskiy (1941), Taras Shevchenko (1951) and Tretiy udar (1948). He died on 14 December 1950 in Moscow, RSFSR, USSR [now Russia].- Music Department
- Producer
- Writer
Prolific songwriter ("April Showers", "Button Up Your Overcoat", "Look for the Silver Lining", "California, Here I Come"), composer, producer, publisher and author, educated at USC. He wrote songs for the Broadway musicals "Sinbad", "Sally", "The Perfect Fool", "The French Doll", and the 1918 and 1921 editions of the Ziegfeld Follies. In 1925, he joined Lew Brown and Ray Henderson as a songwriting and music publishing team.
His Broadway stage scores include "La La Lucille", "Bombo", "Orange Blossoms", "The Yankee Princess", and "George White's Scandals" (1922 through 1926, and 1928), "Big Boy", "Sweet Little Devil", "Tell Me More", "Captain Jinks", and "Manhattan Mary". He also was co-librettist for "Good News", "Hold Everything", "Three Cheers", "Follow Through", "Flying High", and "Take A Chance" (the latter of which he also co-produced). He also was producer and co-librettist for the Broadway musicals "DuBarry Was a Lady" and "Panama Hattie", and produced "Louisiana Purchase".
In 1929, he sold the publishing firm and went to Hollywood under contract to Fox, eventually becoming a co-producer at Paramount (1941-1944). His film biography was given the title of his song "The Best Things in Life Are Free". Joining ASCAP in 1920 (he served as an ASCAP director between 1922 and 1930), he collaborated musically with Gus Kahn, Al Jolson, George Gershwin, Jerome Kern, Vincent Rose, Louis Silvers, Joseph Meyer, Victor Herbert, Emmerich Kálmán, Ira Gershwin, Ballard MacDonald, Lewis E. Gensler, James F. Hanley, Nacio Herb Brown, Richard A. Whiting, and Vincent Youmans.
His other popular-song compositions include:- "'N' Everything",
- "I'll Say She Does",
- "You Ain't Heard Nothin' Yet",
- "Yoo-Hoo",
- "Memory Lane",
- "Why Do I Love You?",
- "Whip-poor-will",
- "Avalon",
- "In Arcady",
- "A Kiss in the Dark",
- "I'll Build a Stairway to Paradise",
- "Do It Again",
- "I Won't Say I Will but I Won't Say I Won't",
- "Somebody Loves Me",
- "Keep Smiling at Trouble",
- "Hello, 'Tucky",
- "If You Knew Susie",
- "Just a Cottage Small by a Waterfall",
- "Alabamy Bound",
- "Tell Me More",
- "Kickin' the Clouds Away",
- "My Fair Lady",
- "When Day is Done",
- "Lucky Day",
- "Birth of the Blues",
- "Black Bottom",
- "It All Depends on You",
- "The Best Things in Life Are Free",
- "Good News",
- "The Varsity Drag",
- "Just Imagine",
- "Lucky In Love",
- "Broken Hearted",
- "Just a Memory",
- "So Blue",
- "I'm on the Crest of a Wave",
- "You're the Cream in My Coffee",
- "You Wouldn't Fool Me, Would You?",
- "Sonny Boy",
- "Together",
- "My Sin",
- "I'm A Dreamer, Aren't We All?",
- "Sunny Side Up",
- "If I Had a Talking Picture of You",
- "Little Pal",
- "Without Love",
- "Thank Your Father",
- "Red Hot Chicago",
- "You Try Somebody Else",
- "Eadie Was a Lady",
- "My Lover",
- "I Want to Be With You",
- "Oh, How I Long to Belong to You",
- "Rise 'n Shine",
- "You're an Old Smoothie",
- "Should I Be Sweet?",
- "Gather Lip Rouge While You May",
- "Polly Wolly Doodle",
- "Wishing".