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A graduate of Boston College, Fred F. Sears got his show-business start in regional theater, where he was an actor, director and producer. He started "little theater" groups and was a drama instructor at Southwestern University when Columbia Pictures hired him as a dialogue director. He also worked in front of the cameras, mostly as a sidekick in the studio's low-budget westerns. He made the leap to director on the studio's "Durango Kid" series of westerns starring Charles Starrett. He spent his entire career at Columbia and was a favorite of quickie producer Sam Katzman because he knew how to bring in films on time and under budget. Those were two major considerations for a low-buck producer like Katzman, who released through Columbia, and for him Sears made juvenile-delinquent crime films, rock musicals, action thrillers and sci-fi "epics". His best film is generally considered to be the sci-fi classic Earth vs. the Flying Saucers (1956), which--in addition to containing spectacular special effects by the legendary Ray Harryhausen--is a well-paced, tightly made effort without the chintzy, rushed look so common in much of Sears' output. It's somewhat ironic that a sci-fi picture is also considered to be Sears' worst--The Giant Claw (1957), a clunky mishmash with hilariously awful special effects (the "giant claw" turns out to be a spectacularly inept marionette that looks like a mutant turkey and sounds like a crow choking to death).
Fred Sears died of a heart attack on November 30, 1957, at the young age of 44. His last five films were released after his death.- Actress
- Soundtrack
Simone Silva was born Martha Simone de Bouillard in Cairo, Egypt. Her parents were French and Italian. At the age of eighteen she married Cecil Silver, a wealthy businessman, and moved to England. Simone started her career modeling for sexy pin-up photos. In 1950 she made her film debut in the French movie "Le Tampon du Capiston". Then she had bit parts in the British films "Bikini Baby" and "Bachelor In Paris". The voluptuous redhead struggled with her weight so she began crash dieting. She was cast in the big budget adventure "Hajji Baba" but was replaced before filming began. Her marriage to Cecil ended in 1954. That same year she costarred with Diana Dors in the drama "The Weak And The Wicked". Simone desperately wanted to become famous and claimed she would "do anything" to get in the papers. At the 1954 Cannes film festival she was awarded the honorary title of "Miss Festival 1954" and asked to pose for photos with actor Robert Mitchum. When the photographers started taking pictures she shocked them by stripping her top off.
The nude publicity stunt turned into a major scandal and she was asked to leave the festival. In an interview she said "I thought it would help my career. I wanted to go to Hollywood - and after all Marilyn Monroe became famous after she posed nude for a calendar. What was the harm in it?" She was signed by independent producer Al Petker and moved to Hollywood. Unfortunately she had trouble obtaining a work visa and began feuding with Petker over her salary. Simone was hospitalized in November 1954 due to stress and her eating disorder. Soon after she was forced to return to England. She landed a role in the 1956 low-budget crime picture "The Dynamiters". Then she appeared in two episodes of the television show "The Gay Cavalier". Tragically on November 30, 1957 she was found dead in her London apartment. Simone had died from a stroke caused by her rigorous crash-dieting. She was only twenty-nine years old.- Actor
- Soundtrack
Beniamino Gigli was born in Recanati, Italy, on March 20, 1890, into a poor family. He possessed a fine singing voice and, after struggling to make a living for many years, he eventually made his operatic debut as a tenor on October 15, 1914, appearing in "La Giaconda" in Rovigo, Italy. Over the following years his reputation and stature grew. His first recordings were issued in 1918, and he was invited to sing at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York in 1920, where the greatest singers of the time performed. He appeared there every year for the next 12 seasons until 1932; he got into a wage dispute with the management and, even though it was in the middle of the Great Depression, he quit and left to return to Europe. During the 1920s and 1930s he was often called the World's Greatest Tenor and Enrico Caruso's successor. He began touring and performing all around the world, on the way becoming an especial favorite of Nazi leader Adolf Hitler, Italian dictator Benito Mussolini and their cliques. His autobiography, like many, can touch around subjects that are very sensitive to its author, and his was somewhat reticent regarding his ties to Hitler and Mussolini, but overall it showed him to be human and as capable of making mistakes as anyone else.
He had a short film career, much to his surprise, but he did reach new audiences. For a while after the war he was labeled a traitor by many Italians because of the Hitler-Mussolini connection, but eventually he cleared his name and resumed his career to critical success. However, when he felt his powers were starting to wane he decided to retire; his last performance was in Washington, DC, on May 25, 1955, after a professional career of nearly 41 years. He returned to Recanati and died at 67 years old in Rome on November 30, 1957.- Marija Juric-Zagorka was born on 2 March 1873 in Negovec kraj Vrbovca, Croatia. She was a writer, known for Gricka vjestica (1920) and Matija Gubec (1919). She was married to Lajos Nadj. She died on 30 November 1957 in Zagreb, Croatia, Yugoslavia.
- Editor
Earl Ritter was born on 21 September 1877 in Ohio, USA. Earl was an editor. Earl died on 30 November 1957 in Los Angeles, California, USA.