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1-50 of 118
- Actor
- Additional Crew
- Writer
Rob Garrison was born on 23 January 1960 in Wheeling, West Virginia, USA. He was an actor and writer, known for The Karate Kid (1984), The Karate Kid Part II (1986) and Iron Eagle (1986). He died on 27 September 2019 in Wheeling, West Virginia, USA.- Lou Myers was born on 26 September 1935 in Cabin Creek, West Virginia, USA. He was an actor, known for The Wedding Planner (2001), Volcano (1997) and Tin Cup (1996). He died on 19 February 2013 in Charleston, West Virginia, USA.
- Actor
- Producer
Michael B. Miller was born on September 1, 1931 in Los Angeles, California as Michael Borden Miller.
He was an actor, best known for The Anderson Tapes (1971), Three Days of the Condor (1975), Have a Nice Weekend (1975) and The Front (1976). He also acted in several nationally broadcast commercials, made-for-TV movies, and always kept busy on the stage.
He was married to actress Eliza Miller (I). Michael and Eliza lived in New York City and raised three sons until his sudden death on May 4, 1983 in Harpers Ferry, West Virginia, USA, from heart failure while filming on location.- Journalist Adela Rogers St. Johns once dubbed Lina Basquette "The Screen Tragedy Girl." In retrospect, Lina's private life bore a similar description. While six of her eight marriages ended up "I Don'ts" (she was widowed twice), she would also have to contend with a flurry of legal confrontations, stormy affairs and suicide attempts. Once she gave a fond farewell to her entertainment career in the late 1930s, her life literally went to the dogs.
The full-faced, raven-haired California-born actress was christened Lena Baskette, the daughter of Frank Baskette, a drug store owner. Lina trained in dance while very young and at the San Francisco World's Fair of 1915, the eight-year-old was featured as a baby ballerina for the Victor Talking Machine Company's exhibition. Movie maker Carl Laemmle saw her perform and signed her to a long-term contract with his Universal Pictures company at $50 a week. Lina headlined her very own short programs, the "Lena Baskette Featurettes," between 1916-1917, and also garnered young leads in a number of full-length features including What Love Can Do (1916), Shoes (1916), A Prince for a Day (1917), The Weaker Vessel (1919) and, more notably, Penrod (1922).
In 1916, Lena's father died and mother Gladys remarried. Gladys and her new husband, dance director Ernest Belcher, had a daughter together who became Lena's half-sister and future dancing star Marge Champion. Lena's mother was an avid stage mother and eventually, with Belcher's help, managed to prod Lena into the Ziegfeld Follies of 1923. She stayed with the Follies for a couple of years. Billed third as "America's Prima Ballerina," Lena's marquee name was changed to the more exotic spelling of "Lina Basquette." Her act was caught by the legendary Russian ballerina Anna Pavlova, who offered to take on Lina as her protégée. Lina's mother nixed the offer, wishing to make bigger bucks for her daughter with the Follies and other shows, Texas Guinan's notorious speakeasies notwithstanding.
At age 18, Lina married 38-year-old Warner Bros. mogul Sam Warner. Lina greatly influenced Warner to pursue sound pictures and even encouraged him to star Al Jolson in The Jazz Singer (1927). Sam died unexpectedly at age 40 of a brain hemorrhage the night before the film's premiere. This heartbreak jump-started an avalanche of problems for Lina. She not only became embroiled in a series of legal battles with her in-laws over her husband's estate, she lost custody of her daughter Lita in the process. She would not see her daughter for another 30 years. This crisis led to Lina's first attempt at suicide.
Lina valiantly returned to films and made such silents as Ranger of the North (1927), The Noose (1928) and Wheel of Chance (1928), while scoring two noteworthy roles in Frank Capra's The Younger Generation (1929) and Cecil B. DeMille's The Godless Girl (1928). In the latter she played an avowed atheist. This powerful film should have made Lina a sultry star had it not been released as a silent film right at the advent of talkies.
Within a very short time Lina married twice more -- a quickie union to cameraman J. Peverell Marley, and in 1931 the widow (once again) of third husband, actor Ray Hallam, who suddenly died at the age of 26 after only a few months of wedded bliss. Lina subsequently started up a highly publicized affair with famed boxer Jack Dempsey. Their stormy breakup led to her second suicide try and a rebound marriage to his personal trainer Theodore Hayes in December of 1931. This fourth marriage was not valid as it was discovered that Hayes was already married. The couple remarried in 1933 and had a son, Edward Alvin, in 1934 before divorcing the following year.
At this juncture Lina's private life received more interest from the public than her films. Her career had down-sized to "B" westerns opposite such stars as Buck Jones and Hoot Gibson and a few mellers here and there. After touring the stages of Australia, New Zealand and various South African cities in the plays "Private Lives," "Black Limelight" and "Idiot's Delight" in 1938 and 1939, and after appearing in the films Rose of the Rio Grande (1938), Four Men and a Prayer (1938) and A Night for Crime (1943), she called it quits.
Misfortune, however, continued to follow her. In August of 1943 she brought up assault and rape charges against a 22-year-old Army GI. The soldier was found guilty and sentenced to 20 years in the brig. Completely retired, she found emotional solace with her new post-war profession -- the breeding and handling of Great Danes. In 1949, she became the owner of Honey Hollow Kennels, a 25 acre estate in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. There she bred and raised champion dogs for best-in-shows and also became a respected judge. More marriages came and fell by the wasteside and at least one of her later unions lost out to an either/or ultimatum with her Great Danes. Lina also wrote the non-fiction book "Your Great Dane" in 1972. She moved to Wheeling, West Virginia, in 1975 and lived there until her death of lymphoma at age 87 on September 30, 1994.
Out of nowhere, the octogenarian grandmother had one last chance to bask in the limelight when she was touchingly cast as Nada in Daniel Boyd's independent feature Paradise Park (1992) playing an Appalachian trailer park granny who dreams that God is coming and granting a wish on all its residents. The film also featured country music stars Porter Wagoner and Johnny PayCheck. Boyd had met the actress at a West Virginia film festival. - Music Artist
- Music Department
- Composer
Hank Williams was born in September 1923 in a small Alabama farming community about 70 miles south of Montgomery. His father was a railroad engineer who was also a victim of shell shock after a year of fighting in France in 1918 during World War I and spent many years in veterans hospitals. Hank's mother, Lillian Skipper Williams, played the organ in their local church and taught him gospel songs when he was six. When Hank turned 10 he taught himself to play the guitar, mostly by watching other guitarists.
In his teens Hank learned to play and sing country songs that he heard on the family radio, and picked up some blues chords from a black friend who was a street musician named Tee-Tot (Rufe Payne). At the age of 14 Hank put together his own band, playing at hoedowns and other get-together, where he won a local talent contest competition with his composition "WPA Blues." At 17, Hank put together a group called 'Hank Williams' Original Drifting Cowboys' and they successfully auditioned for the manager of WSFS Radio in Montgomery, where they played regularly on the air. Hank met his first wife Audrey Williams during a traveling medicine show and they were married in December 1944 at an Alabama gas station. Audrey was a strong-willed woman who became Hank's booking agent, road manager and promoter. It was she who encouraged the stage-frightened Hank to perform on stage and helped book gigs outside of Alabama.
In 1946 Hank and Audrey traveled to Nashville to secure a music publishing contract with producer Fred Rose, head of the Acuff-Rose publishing firm, who asked Hank to write a song on the spot. The song, "Mansion on the Hill", landed Hank a publishing contract with Acuff-Rose. During the late 1940s Hank--a tall, thin man who alway wore a short-brimmed, white cowboy hat--had his peak years when MGM Records signed him for a recording contract and he became a regular on "Louisiana Hayride", a KWKH radio show in Shreveport, Louisiana. In 1949, after the birth of Hank and Audrey's son Hank Williams Jr., Hank was asked to join the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, where he made his stage debut on June 11, 1949.
From 1949 to 1950, Hank became country music's top artist, with hits like "Lovesick Blues," "My Bucket's Got a Hole in It," "Moanin' the Blues" and "Why Don't You Love Me." His 1951 hits included "Hey, Good Lookin'" "Cold, Cold Heart" and "I Can't Help It (If I'm Still in Love with You)." Hits of 1952 were "Honky Tonk Blues," "Jambalaya," and "I'll Never Get Out of This World Alive."
However, Hank's unprecedented success came with a price. A heavy drinker since his late teens, Hank proved to be an undependable performer when be began showing up for concerts drunk, and sometimes didn't show up at all. When Audrey divorced him in 1951 due to their constant fights over his drinking, his band began to become disillusioned with him, too, and the Grand Ole Opry suspended him from appearing at live shows. In October 1952 Hank married his second wife, 19-year-old Billie Jean Jones, who was no more successful than Audrey in protecting Hank from himself. Also, the Drifting Cowboys departed that same month due to Hank's violent mood swings and unpredictability. He was still in demand for live performances, though.
On the early morning hours on New Year's Day 1953, while traveling through West Virginia on the way to a show in Canton, Ohio, Hank Williams died in his sleep in the back seat of his Cadillac limousine at the age of 29.- Actor
- Producer
- Director
Conrad Brooks was born as Conrad Biedrzycki on January 3, 1931 in Baltimore, Maryland. He was the son of Polish immigrants, with a baker father, and had seven brothers and sisters. At seventeen, along with his brothers Henry and Ted, he went to Hollywood, California. Brooks first encountered legendary Grade-Z filmmaker Ed Wood in a donut shop. Conrad first collaborated with Wood on the fifteen minute short movie "Range Revenge." Brooks had three roles in Wood's "Glen or Glenda." He achieved his greatest enduring cult popularity as Patrolman Jamie in "Plan 9 from Outer Space." Conrad briefly popped up in the uproariously awful cheapie clunker "The Beast of Yucca Flats."
Brooks took a hiatus from acting in the 1960s and 1970s. He came back with a vengeance in the 1980s and went on to work profusely in a slew of enjoyably tacky low-budget independent fright features. Conrad acted in three amusingly crude comedies for director Mark Pirro: "A Polish Vampire in Burbank," "Deathrow Gameshow," and "Curse of the Queerwolf." Brooks has a small role as a bartender in Tim Burton's wonderful "Ed Wood." Conrad gave a really funny and engaging performance as flaky, good-natured projectionist Oscar in Fred Olen Ray's delightful "Bikini Drive-In." Brooks appeared in a bunch of pictures for director Donald G. Jackson; he's especially memorable as the amiable Swamp Farmer in "Rollergator," "Toad Warrior," and "Max Hell Comes to Frogtown." Conrad also wrote, produced, and directed a few films that include "Gypsy Vampire" and all three "Jan-Gel" movies.
Brooks was interviewed in a handful of documentaries about Ed Wood. Moreover, Conrad was also a regular guest at horror movie conventions held all over the country and lived in northeast West Virginia. Brooks died at age 86 on December 6, 2017.- Actor
- Stunts
Russ McCubbin was born on January 16, 1935 in Charleston, West Virginia. One in a family of six children, Russ excelled at sports at Charleston High School as well as was the captain of both the track team and football team at Hargrave Military Academy in Chatham, Virginia. McCubbin volunteered for the draft in 1954 and served for three years in the U.S. Army before he was honorably discharged in 1957. In 1958 Russ hitchhiked his way to Hollywood, California in order to pursue a career as an actor and worked at night parking cars while making the rounds of agents during the day. McCubbin scored his big show business break as both a stand-in and stunt double for Clint Walker on the Western TV series Cheyenne (1955). Russ went on to act in a handful of films and make guest appearances on various television shows. Among the stage plays that he acted in productions of are "Bus Stop," "Tea and Sympathy," "The Noble Caveman," "The Sea Horse," "Post Meridian," "Send Me No Flowers," and "A Spring to Remember." Moreover, McCubbin not only appeared in TV commercials for Burger King, Miller Beer, Davis Chrysler, Carnation Milk, Montgomery Ward, and Chiffon Liquid Soap, but also performed as a stand-up comic at assorted venues in such states as Ohio, Texas, Kentucky, Tennessee, and West Virginia. He died at age 83 on June 28, 2018 in Charleston, West Virginia.- Actress
- Art Department
Patricia DeCou was born on 14 January 1934 in New Orleans, Louisiana, USA. She was an actress, known for The Blair Witch Project (1999). She died on 28 December 2007 in West Virginia, USA.- Trapper John Tice was born on 24 May 1947 in Saint Marys, West Virginia, USA. He died on 16 December 2019 in Saint Mary's, West Virginia, USA.
- Harold Edward Doss was born in Lynchburg, Lynchburg City, Virginia, USA to Bertha Edward Oliver and William Thomas Doss; being one of three children (Audrey Doss and Desmond T. Doss).
Doss was a veteran of World War II, serving with the U. S. Navy aboard the USS Lindsey.
He was owner and operator of Doss Enterprises, and was a member of the Martinsburg Seventh Day Adventist Church.
He was married to Hilda E. Doss (nee Huff) until his death in 2007. They had two children - Jeannie and Carol Ann. They also had five grandchildren, (Jodi, Jill and Brittany Foss, Jeff Jackson and Lisa Jackson Haberthur) and two great-grandchildren, (Braden and Kaylie Harberthur).
Doss appeared in the 1959 episode Desmond Doss (1959), about the life of his brother Desmond T. Doss; as well as in archive footage shown at the end of the 2016 Mel Gibson movie Hacksaw Ridge (2016) in which he provided a personal prospective on his brother Desmond T. Doss, on whom the movie was based.
Doss passed away on 13 March 2007 in Kearneysville, Jefferson County, West Virginia, USA. - Shain Gandee was born on 1 November 1991 in Sissonville, West Virginia, USA. He died on 1 April 2013 in Sissonville, West Virginia, USA.
- Actress
- Writer
- Soundtrack
Legendary stripper and burlesque dancer Blaze Starr was born Fannie Belle Fleming in 1932 in Wilsondale, West Virginia. Her parents were Lora Evans and Goodlow Mullins. She had ten siblings. Blaze left home and moved to Washington, DC while only in her mid-teens. She was discovered by her first manager Red Snyder working as either a hat-check girl or at a donut shop. Starr got her stage name from Snyder, but, nonetheless, still left him after he attempted to rape her. With her fiery red hair, shapely and voluptuous 38D-24-37 figure, and sultry, energetic, and captivating stage presence (her stage routines included a comedic exploding coach gag and having a large trained black panther untie a ribbon on her costume, which made it fall to the floor), Blaze became a major headliner at the Two O'Clock Club in Baltimore, Maryland, and earned the nicknames "Miss Spontaneous Combustion" and "The Hottest Blaze in Burlesque." Starr made $1,500 dollars per week at the peak of her stripping career. Among the men's magazines she appeared in at the height of her fame are "Sizzle," "Ace," "Scamp," "Sir!," "Best for Men," "Rogue," and "Modern Man." Moreover, Starr posed for pictures for noted fetish photographer Irving Klaw. Blaze achieved her greatest notoriety in the late 1950s as the paramour for Louisiana state governor Earl Kemp Long (Earl Long); this affair inspired the 1989 feature film Blaze (1989), which even has a cameo from Ms. Starr as a stripper. She portrayed herself in the immensely popular Doris Wishman nudie cutie romp Blaze Starr Goes Nudist (1962). In 1974, Starr wrote the autobiographical book "Blaze Starr: My Life as Told to Huey Perry." Blaze retired from stripping in 1983. In 1989, Starr had become a gemologist who spent several holiday seasons selling hand-crafted jewelry at the Carrolltowne Mall in Eldersburg, Maryland. Blaze also owned and operated the Two O'Clock Club in Baltimore, Maryland. Starr died at age 83 on June 15, 2015 at her home in Wilsondale, West Virginia.- Actress
- Soundtrack
Dagmar was born on 29 November 1921 in Huntington, West Virginia, USA. She was an actress, known for The Dagmar Story (1951), Dagmar's Canteen (1951) and Broadway Open House (1950). She was married to Dick Hinds, Danny Dayton and Angelo Lewis. She died on 9 October 2001 in Ceredo, West Virginia, USA.- James 'Whitey' Bulger was born on 3 September 1929 in Dorchester, Massachusetts, USA. He died on 30 October 2018 in Bruceton Mills, West Virginia, USA.
- Earl Lynn Nelson was born on 8 March 1942 in Pikeville, Kentucky. He was an actor, known for Land Ho! (2014), Passenger Pigeons (2010) and Pilgrim Song (2012). He died on 23 August 2018 in Barboursville, West Virginia, USA.
- John Humphries was an actor, known for Teenage Strangler (1964). He died on 28 June 2022 in Huntington, West Virginia, USA.
- Alexis Eddy was born on 28 March 1996 in Morgantown, West Virginia, USA. She died on 9 January 2020 in Mannington, West Virginia, USA.
- Danny Casolaro was born on 16 June 1947 in McLean, Virginia, USA. He died on 10 August 1991 in Martinsburg, West Virginia, USA.
- Actor
- Composer
- Soundtrack
Hasil Adkins was born on 29 April 1937 in Boone County, West Virginia, USA. He was an actor and composer, known for White Lightnin' (2009), Tomorrow You're Gone (2012) and Grand Theft Auto V (2013). He died on 26 April 2005 in Charleston, West Virginia, USA.- With his amazing and quintessential American charisma, Derek Keeling is poised to be one of his generation's most memorable performers and songwriters. After receiving his musical training and degree at the University of Kentucky he has performed all over America and across the world. Derek has now moved to Nashville to devote his time fully to his song writing. Earlier this year he recorded his Live EP, of which he was the sole writer, at the infamous Sun Studio in Memphis, TN.
Keeling is best known for his run on NBC's Grease: You're the One That I Want, in which he placed third in Broadway's largest national casting call. Keeling made his Broadway debut in the summer of 2008 as Danny Zuko in Grease. He and the musical have an illustrious, 6-year history; excluding his NBC Grease experience, Keeling estimates he has brought his own James Dean-style swagger to the classic musical for nearly 1000 performances -- across nearly every state in the nation, and always in a professional-level production. He has even taken the All-American story across the border to Canadian and European audiences. After two high-energy years on the musical's national tour -- performing along with pop icons Frankie Avalon and Chubby Checker -- Keeling feels Broadway was the "cherry on top" of his Grease experience.
After his successful Broadway run Derek took on a challenging off-Broadway production called Connect-Disconnect in which he had to stretch himself as an actor playing two very different roles in the two person musical spanning comedy and drama. For his efforts he was awarded the Midtown International Theatre Festival Award for Best Leading Actor in a Musical.
His experience covers a wide range of dramas and musicals, touching every genre and audience. Keeling has been a part of many new and upcoming projects, and played the iconic role of Arthur "The Fonz" Fonzarelli in Happy Days the Musical in Los Angeles and a prestigious, pre-Broadway run of A Tale of Two Cities, starring as Charles Darnay. Keeling was seen in the starring role of the regional premiere of All Shook Up at Musical Theatre West. The performance was hailed by critics at top publications such as the Los Angeles Times, which calls Keeling "that rarity seldom seen since the days of Cary Grant -- namely, a hunky guy who can play comedy."
Derek returned to NYC in the summer to bring his duet concert Sunday Kind of Love to the infamous Feinstein's Night Club. Keeling also recently finished a run of the new Roger Bean musical Life Could Be A Dream at the Hudson Theatre in downtown Hollywood. In the summer of 2011 he starred in a concert featuring the music of Rodgers and Hammerstein backed by California Philharmonic. - Jack Germond was born on 30 January 1930 in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. He was an actor, known for Independence Day (1996), Independent Lens (1999) and Frontline (1983). He was married to Alice Germond and Barbara Wipple. He died on 14 August 2013 in Charles Town, West Virginia, USA.
- William L. Pierce was born on 11 September 1933 in Atlanta, Georgia, USA. He was a writer, known for The Turner Film Diaries (2012), Blood in the Face (1991) and 60 Minutes (1968). He died on 23 July 2002 in Hillsboro, West Virginia, USA.
- Herbert Morrison was born on 14 May 1905 in Connellsville, Pennsylvania, USA. He is known for Hindenburg Disaster Newsreel Footage (1937), Her Majesty's Prime Ministers: Winston Churchill (2022) and We, the People (1948). He was married to Mary Jane. He died on 10 January 1989 in Morgantown, West Virginia, USA.
- John Ensign was born on 6 April 1917 in Huntington, West Virginia, USA. He was an actor, known for Teenage Strangler (1964). He died on 2 February 2004 in Huntington, West Virginia, USA.
- Sid Hatfield grew up in poverty in Blackberry, Kentucky, one of Jacob and Rebecca Hatfield's 9 surviving (of 12) children. A miner in his teens, he then became a blacksmith. He was nicknamed 'Smilin' Sid' because of his distinctive grin, showing gold-capped teeth. Despite his boyish appearance - he was small and slight, but wiry - he had a tough reputation. However, in 1919, when the mining community of Matewan came under threat from the Baldwin-Felts Agency, the mayor, Cabell Cornelis Testerman, appointed him police chief.
Hatfield was an effective lawman, keeping order in the mining town and standing up to the coal companies and the Baldwin-Felts agents as the miners fought for their right to organise. The Baldwin-Felts Agency offered him substantial bribes if he would permit them to station machine-guns in the town. He refused. On 19 May 1920, he and Testerman resisted the Baldwin-Felts agents' forcible evictions of unionised miners. In the gun battle, known as the battle of Matewan or the Matewan Massacre, 7 of the 13 Baldwin-Felts men were killed, included Albert and Lee Felts, brothers of the agency's head. Two miners were killed, and Mayor Testerman was mortally wounded, apparently by Albert Felts. Several more men, on both sides, were wounded.
Sid Hatfield married Testerman's widow, Jessie, only a couple of weeks after her first husband's death. Tom Felts (and, later, the agency spy Charles Everett Lively) claimed that this proved that he, not Albert Felts, had shot her husband in order to marry her. However, they had been friends for a long time: according to Jessie, the Mayor had asked Sid to look after her and their young son if anything were to befall him, given the dangers they knew they faced. The trial over the Matewan gunfight took place in spring 1921, with the acquittal of Hatfield and the miners.
Hatfield was filmed, playing himself, in 'Smilin' Sid' (1920), a short film re-enactment of the battle made by and for the United Mine Workers of America, and became a local celebrity: the miners' hero. But he knew himself to be a marked man. As the struggle continued, the new local authorities in Matewan were less supportive of the union. Martial law was declared in the summer of 1921. Hatfield lost his post as Chief of Police in Matewan, but was elected Constable for Magnolia District.
He was unarmed and accompanied by Jessie when he arrived in Welch on 1 August 1921 for trial for his alleged involvement in other mining-related disturbances. His friend and deputy Edward Chambers, and his wife, Sallie, were with them, too, as Ed was also charged. As they began to climb the steps to the courthouse, the two young men were gunned down by Baldwin-Felts agents, including Charlie Lively. Sid Hatfield died almost instantly from three or four chest wounds; Lively finished off Chambers with a shot in the head, despite his wife's protestations. Although the killers were charged, none was ever convicted of the murders.
For the second time in 14 months, Jessie was a widow. Sid Hatfield and Ed Chambers were buried as heroes. Outrage at their murder fuelled the miners' uprising, culminating in the battle of Blair Mountain. - Joshua Billings was born on 31 August 1947 in Charleston, West Virginia, USA. He was an actor, known for Broadcast News (1987), Hearts in Atlantis (2001) and Cecil B. Demented (2000). He died on 25 March 2020 in Bridgeport, West Virginia, USA.
- Additional Crew
- Writer
Peter Tompkins was born on 19 April 1919 in Athens, Georgia, USA. He was a writer, known for Timewatch (1982), Secrets of the Bermuda Triangle (1978) and The Secret Life of Plants (1978). He died on 24 January 2007 in Shepherdstown, West Virginia, USA.- John Kidner was born on 5 August 1923 in West Virginia, USA. He was married to Alexa Smith and Muriel Hesse. He died on 30 July 2001 in Keyser, West Virginia, USA.
- Actor
- Soundtrack
Curtis Womack was born on 22 October 1942 in Cleveland, Ohio, USA. He was an actor, known for City Rhythms (1989), Unsung (2008) and Dancin' in the Street (1987). He was married to Sharon Donice Mosley. He died on 21 May 2017 in Bluefield, West Virginia, USA.- American writer Melville Davisson Post was born in Romine Mills, WV, in 1871. His father was a farmer, and Melville worked on his family's farm while attending local schools. He received his B.A. from West Virginia University in 1891, and his law degree the next year. He practiced criminal defense and corporate law in West Virginia for several years, but in 1896 he began his writing career. He used his experience as a lawyer as background for "The Strange Schemes of Randolph Mason" (1896), a volume of short stories about a crooked lawyer. The stories were received favorably by both critics and readers, and though Post later tried writing novels, he found his greatest success in writing short stories. He wrote another series of short stories centered around Uncle Abner, a Virginia squire in colonial times whose duty to protect his mountain community resulted in his turning detective. Originally published in various magazines, the stories were so successful they were ultimately published in book form in a collection called "Uncle Abner: Master of Mysteries" (1918).
Post's knack for detective fiction resulted in a series of short stories featuring at least five other detectives, and although successful, they didn't meet with the success of his Uncle Abner series. Several reviewers compared Post's talents as a short-story writer to that of Edgar Allan Poe,
Post died in Clarksburg, West Virginia, in 1930 from injuries he received when he was thrown from a horse. - Harry Whisner was born on 15 April 1903 in Maryland, USA. He was an actor, known for Johnny Staccato (1959), The Dick Powell Theatre (1961) and The Rebel (1959). He was married to Norma Randolph. He died on 7 April 1963 in Clarksburg, West Virginia, USA.
- Actor
- Soundtrack
John Bradford was born on 14 August 1905 in Pratt, West Virginia, USA. He was an actor, known for Undersea Kingdom (1936), 365 Nights in Hollywood (1934) and Life Begins at 40 (1935). He died on 29 June 1983 in Charleston, West Virginia, USA.- Director
- Cinematographer
- Editor
Ellis Dungan was born on 28 April 1908 in Ohio, USA. He was a director and cinematographer, known for Meera (1949), The Jungle (1952) and Shakuntala (1940). He died on 1 December 2001 in Wheeling, West Virginia, USA.- Ashley McNeely died on 4 May 2017 in Beckley, West Virginia, USA.
- Costume Designer
- Costume and Wardrobe Department
Leah Rhodes started her working life rather modestly as a window dresser in her home town and in San Antonio. After moving from Texas to California in 1926 she gained on-the-job experience in the Warner Brothers wardrobe department, eventually becoming apprenticed to the legendary Orry-Kelly. By 1939, she was officially signed under contract as a fully-fledged costume designer and began to work on A-grade features, effectively replacing Orry-Kelly who had been drafted for wartime military service. Rhodes remained at Warners until 1950, then headed the costume department at Universal, followed by a spell at Paramount. She also designed for television and for specialty shows in Las Vegas. On Broadway, she collaborated with Edith Head on the costumes for "Edwin Booth" (1959), directed by José Ferrer.
Many of her designs played an important part in creating screen history, as, for example, Lauren Bacall's gowns for The Big Sleep (1946) which set the standard for the Bacall 'look' in subsequent films. Leah's rich, colourful costumes also added immensely to the lavish Technicolor swashbuckler Adventures of Don Juan (1948), for which she, and co-designers Marjorie Best and Travilla, deservedly shared an Academy Award.- Norma Jean White was born in 1939 in the USA. She died on 22 October 2009 in Charleston, West Virginia, USA.
- Marty Sullivan was born in Detroit, Wayne County, Michigan, USA. Sullivan hosted the Mad Theater as the character Superhost that aired monster movies on Saturday afternoons from 1969-1989 on our sister station Channel 43. During breaks in the movies, Superhost would star in skits playing memorable characters such as "The Moronic Woman" and "Fat Whitman." In addition to playing Superhost, Sullivan was a longtime floor director and staff announcer for WUAB. Also, he occasionally hosted the Prize Movie, when host John Lanigan was off. Sullivan passed away in 2020 in Berkeley Springs, Morgan County, West Virginia, USA.
- Julian Robert Huffman (Jule) was born in Cincinnati, Hamilton County, Ohio, USA on 31 March 1924 to Leroy Huffman and Ceilia Silverman.
Prior to joining WSAZ, he served in the US Air Force during World War II. He worked as an aircraft repair and maintenance technician on a carrier in the South Pacific.
Jule was hired by WSAZ in 1953 as a vocalist for the WSAZ variety daytime show Coffee Time. He did commercials, and was a director, a voice-over announcer, and a weatherman. He starred in two kid shows (Steamboat Bill as Merlin the Sea Monster, prior to becoming Mr. Cartoon in 1969, and remained until his retirement in 1995.
Huffman was preceded in death by his loving wife, daughter, Julie Huffman and son-in-law, Lindsay Joel Cogar. He is survived by daughters and son-in-law, Nancy Lynn and Bob Palmer and Cynthia Ann Cogar, and son Marvin Scott Huffman, and grandson Jeremy Robert Huffman. - Joe Stydahar was born on 17 March 1912 in Kaylor, Pennsylvania, USA. He was married to Yolanda Monet Margowski. He died on 23 March 1977 in Beckley, West Virginia, USA.
- Additional Crew
Ruth C. Sullivan was born on 20 April 1924 in Port Arthur, Texas, USA. She is known for Rain Man (1988) and Autism in America (2015). She was married to William P. Sullivan. She died on 16 September 2021 in Huntington, West Virginia, USA.- Art Simmons was born on 5 February 1926 in Glenn White, West Virginia, USA. He was an actor, known for Two Men in Manhattan (1959), Three Rooms in Manhattan (1965) and Six-Five Special (1957). He died on 23 April 2018 in Beckley, West Virginia, USA.
- Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Julian Silberstein was born on 23 November 1895 in Pochantas County, West Virginia, USA. He was an assistant director, known for Dangerous Partners (1945). He died on 29 June 1968 in Cabell, West Virginia, USA.- Writer
- Additional Crew
- Sound Department
John Davis Hart was born on 2 July 1921 in West Virginia, USA. He was a writer, known for Argoman the Fantastic Superman (1967), The Conqueror of the Orient (1960) and Gladiator of Rome (1962). He died on 6 May 1991 in Charleston, West Virginia, USA.- George Bradshaw was born on 21 January 1909 in Union, West Virginia, USA. He was a writer, known for How to Steal a Million (1966), New Faces of 1937 (1937) and The Lady and the Mob (1939). He died on 15 June 1973 in Cabell, West Virginia, USA.
- Cinematographer
- Camera and Electrical Department
Marcus Smith was born on 4 March 1956 in Chicago, Illinois, USA. Marcus was a cinematographer, known for Anita Baker: One Night of Rapture (1987) and Don't Copy That Floppy (1992). Marcus died on 1 September 2022 in Charles Town, West Virginia, USA.- Actor
- Writer
Jeff McCoy was an actor and writer, known for Tales from the Grave (2003) and Double Edge (1992). He died in 1886 in Banks of the Tug Fork River, West Virginia, USA.- Wayne Hays was born on 13 May 1911 in Bannock, Ohio, USA. He died on 10 February 1989 in Wheeling, West Virginia, USA.
- Actor
- Additional Crew
Jon Lindbergh was born on 16 August 1932 in Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA. He was an actor, known for Sea Hunt (1958), Underwater Warrior (1958) and Land of the Sea (1969). He was married to Maura Jansen, Karen Pryor and Barbara Robbins. He died on 29 July 2021 in Lewisburg, West Virginia, USA.- Arlena Bashnett was born on 4 February 1919 in West Virginia, USA. She died on 28 September 2022 in West Virginia, USA.
- Camera and Electrical Department
Gus Douglass was born on 22 February 1927 in Mason County, West Virginia, USA. Gus is known for Sumpa (2009). Gus died on 19 March 2015 in Mason County, West Virginia, USA.