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1-8 of 8
- Actor
- Soundtrack
Wendell Corey was a hard-working American character actor who appeared in numerous movies and television productions in the 1940s, '50s and '60s. Born on March 20, 1914 in Dracut, Massachusetts, in the northeastern part of the Commonwealth near the New Hampshire border, Corey was the son of a Congregationalist clergyman. After receiving his education, Corey began his acting career in summer stock. During the Depression he worked with the Federal Theater Project, part of the Works Progress Administration that had been created by President Franklin D. Roosevelt to put the unemployed to work. It was while working with the Federal Theater Project in the late 1930s that he met his wife, Alice Wiley.
He made his Broadway debut in "Comes the Revelation" in 1942, a flop that lasted only two performances. His next play, "Strip for Action" (1942-43), was more successful, lasting 110 performances. He appeared in more plays in supporting roles from 1943-45, before making his reputation as the cynical newspaperman in Elmer Rice's hit comedy "Dream Girl," which ran for 341 performances in the 1945-46 season. He was discovered during the run of the play by producer Hal B. Wallis, the former head of production at Warner Bros. who was an independent producer affiliated with Paramount Pictures. Wallis, who discovered Burt Lancaster shortly after the war, signed Corey to a Paramount contract.
It was at Paramount that he made his movie debut in Desert Fury (1947). He went on to a career as a supporting player in the '40s and '50s in A-level productions with top Hollywood stars. He also carved a niche for himself in television and in the late 1950s starred in the TV series Peck's Bad Girl (1959). In the 1960s he worked mostly in television.
Like Ronald Reagan, who was then a Democrat, the Republican Corey was interested in politics. He was elected to membership on the board of directors of the Screen Actors Guild and served as president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences from 1961 to 1963. As a Republican, he was elected to the City Council in Santa Monica, California, in 1965. He made a bid for the Republican nomination to contest a seat in Congress in 1966, but was defeated in the primary.
Corey was still serving on the Santa Monica City Council when he died on November 8, 1968 at the Motion Picture & Television Hospital in Woodland Hills, California. He was 54 years old.- Actor
- Soundtrack
Cliff Dunstan was born on 18 July 1906 in McCLean, Texas, USA. He was an actor, known for Room Service (1938), Shadow of the Cloak (1951) and Rocky King, Detective (1950). He died on 8 November 1968 in Los Angeles County, California, USA.- Writer
- Actress
Juliane Kay was born on 9 January 1904 in Vienna, Austria-Hungary [now Austria]. She was a writer and actress, known for Vergiß die Liebe nicht (1953), Wenn abends die Heide träumt (1952) and Ihr erstes Erlebnis (1939). She died on 8 November 1968 in Vienna, Austria.- Ramón Díaz Sánchez was born on 14 August 1903 in Puerto Cabello, Carabobo, Venezuela. He was a writer, known for Borburata (1975). He died on 8 November 1968 in Caracas, Venezuela.
- Cinematographer
- Art Department
George Unholz was born on 29 October 1887 in Mannheim, Germany. He was a cinematographer, known for The Road to Hollywood (1947), Hypnotized (1932) and The Singing Plumber (1932). He was married to Violet Schofield. He died on 8 November 1968 in Los Angeles, California, USA.- Production Designer
Miklós Neogrády was born on 30 December 1903 in Budapest, Hungary. He was a production designer, known for Viharbrigád (1944). He died on 8 November 1968 in Budapest, Hungary.- Music Department
- Soundtrack
Born James Arnold in Georgia in 1901, blues guitarist Kokomo Arnold (he picked up the nickname "Kokomo" from the title of his song "Old Kokomo Blues") was an influence on such blues legends as Robert Johnson and Elmore James. His recordings in the 1930s are noted for his slide technique, over-the-top sense of timing and his proclivity for sliding the bottleneck up and down the guitar's neck as fast as he could.
When he was a young man in Georgia Arnold's main career was as a bootlegger (playing music and singing was basically a sideline), but he eventually left that "career field" and headed north. He traveled around Pennsylvania and upstate New York doing a variety of odd jobs, until he settled in Chicago in 1929 and, true to his old habits, set up a bootlegging operation. That didn't last too long, though--the Chicago mobs didn't appreciate outsiders cutting in on their business--and in 1930 Arnold journeyed to Memphis, TN. There he began singing full time, and eventually cut two records--using the pseudonym "Gitfiddle Jim"--for the Victor Label, "Rainy Night Blues" and "Paddlin' Blues". They weren't big hits, but did bring him some notice. In 1934 he recorded two tracks for Decca Records, "Old Kokomo Blues" (later reworked by Robert Johnson and called "Sweet Home Chicago") and "Milk Cow Blues" (later covered by Elvis Presley). They were hits, and he recorded several more tracks for Decca, but his career lost momentum and he faded from the music scene by the late 1930s. He was rediscovered by a younger generation of mostly white blues enthusiasts in the early 1960s during the resurgence of the genre, but unlike many of his contemporaries, he didn't take advantage of this new interest in the older music.
He died of a heart attack in Chicago in 1968.- Writer
- Director
- Actor
George Dewhurst was born on 21 September 1889 in Penwortham, Lancashire, England, UK. He was a writer and director, known for The Little Door Into the World (1923), The Uninvited Guest (1923) and What the Butler Saw (1924). He died on 8 November 1968 in Tooting, London, England, UK.