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- Actress
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Zoe Perry is an American actress. She is best known for portraying Mary Cooper in Young Sheldon.
Her first television role was two appearances as the character Jackie Harris (as seen in flashback) on the ABC sitcom Roseanne, the character portrayed by her mother.
In 2017 she was cast as a younger version of Sheldon Cooper's mother Mary on Young Sheldon, a spin-off of the CBS sitcom The Big Bang Theory, again portraying a younger version of her mother's role. Despite her family link to the character, she received the role through an audition.- Actress
- Soundtrack
Alisha Weir was born on 26 September 2009 in Dublin, Ireland. She is an actress, known for Matilda: The Musical (2022), Abigail (2024) and Wicked Little Letters (2023).- Actor
- Producer
James Patrick Caviezel was born on September 26, 1968 in Mount Vernon, Washington. He was one of five children born to Margaret (Lavery), a former stage actress, and James Caviezel, a chiropractor. The Caviezels are a closely knit Catholic family. He is of Irish (mother) and Swiss-Romansh and Slovak (father) descent; the surname, "Caviezel", is Romansh. As a boy, Jim was described as being "very intense." His two main interests growing up were sports and religion. He was athletically gifted on the basketball court and dreamed of someday playing in the N.B.A. He was also instilled with Christianity at a very young age, attending Church regularly with his family. In 1984, he went to Mount Vernon High School but transferred to O'Dea High School after two years. The following spring, he transferred again to Burien Kennedy High School in Burien, Washington where he was a star on the basketball team and graduated in 1987. While at O'Dea and Kennedy, he stayed with family friends. Following high school Jim enrolled at Bellevue Community College where he again played on the basketball team. A foot injury in his sophomore season put an end to Jim's basketball career and his dreams of playing in the N.B.A. Shortly after this, he turned his focus toward acting. In 1990, he auditioned for a part in the independent film My Own Private Idaho (1991). He won a very small role as a foreign airline clerk after he told casting agents that he was a recent Italian immigrant. The following year, Jim moved to Los Angeles where he worked as a waiter between auditions. He landed small roles in Diggstown (1992) and Wyatt Earp (1994) and guest starring roles on The Wonder Years (1988) and Murder, She Wrote (1984). He continued to go relatively unnoticed in small roles and even thought about quitting acting until 1998 when he received critical recognition for his role as idealist Private Witt in The Thin Red Line (1998). The following year, he gained further recognition with roles in Ride with the Devil (1999) and Frequency (2000). In 2001, his role as Jennifer Lopez's love interest in Angel Eyes (2001) helped to establish him as a versatile actor and leading man. It wasn't until 2002 that Jim made his strong religious beliefs known. While filming High Crimes (2002), he refused to do any love scenes with on-screen wife Ashley Judd because it conflicted with his strong Catholic faith. It was also around this time when he was chosen by Mel Gibson to star as Jesus Christ in The Passion of the Christ (2004). The movie made headlines and broke box-office records around the world, becoming one of the highest grossing films of all time. Although the movie dealt with controversial matters, Caviezel's performance was acclaimed by both critics and viewers. Jim's next big role would be on the small screen. In 2011, he landed the lead role in the CBS crime drama Person of Interest (2011). The show instantly clicked with audiences, becoming one of the highest rated shows on television. From an outcast actor to a respected film star to a television star, James Caviezel is continuing to give his best to play challenging roles. Off screen, Jim lives with his wife, Kerri, a school teacher whom he met on a blind date in 1993 and married in 1996, and their adopted children.- Actress
- Soundtrack
Born in Salisbury, Maryland, USA, following high school Linda studied for two years at Washington College in Chestertown, Maryland, before moving on to acting studies in New York. In New York she attended acting workshops given by Lee Strasberg. Her first parts were small parts in TV series, with her biggest break coming with her role in The Terminator (1984). Most known to public at large from her part in the TV series Beauty and the Beast (1987) (before Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991), at least).- Actress
- Director
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Talulah Riley is an English actress. She has appeared in films such as Pride & Prejudice (2005), St. Trinian's (2007), The Boat That Rocked (2009) and Inception (2010).
She made her stage debut in The Philadelphia Story at the Old Vic in 2005. Her television credits include episodes of Poirot (Five Little Pigs (2003)), Marple (The Moving Finger (2006)), Doctor Who (Silence in the Library (2008) and Forest of the Dead (2008)) and the HBO television series Westworld (2016).- Manny Montana was born in Long Beach, California, USA. He is an actor, known for Ironheart (2024), Mayans M.C. (2018) and The Mule (2018). He has been married to Adelfa Marr since 2016. They have one child.
- Actress
- Soundtrack
An honest-to-goodness Southern Belle, similar to her most famous character role, "Elly May Clampett" on The Beverly Hillbillies (1962), Donna Douglas grew up in the Baton Rouge, Louisiana area, loving "critters". She got married soon after high school, had a son, divorced and won a couple of beauty contests, all within the span of a few years. She moved to New York and soon appeared on television series, including a well-remembered guest-star shot on The Twilight Zone (1959) in one of the series' most famous episodes, Eye of the Beholder (1960), in which she plays a woman who tries to undergo a series of experimental treatments to make her beautiful, only for the treatments to fail. The twist was she was beautiful, at least to the viewers, but considered hideous to the pig people of the planet, she was on. She immediately won the character role of "Elly May Clampett" on one of the greatest situation comedies of all time, The Beverly Hillbillies (1962). This extremely comical series debuted with The Clampetts Strike Oil (1962), on her 30th birthday, Wednesday, September 26th, 1962, which is among the narrowest & sheerest coincidences, that are hardest to believe.- Actress
- Producer
- Soundtrack
Melissa Sue Anderson was very much like her most famous character role, of eldest child & sister, Mary Ingalls -- a quiet, slightly shy girl who would rather read a book than climb a tree. Her show business career got started, when a dance teacher urged her parents to find an agent for her. She began doing television commercials, and the blonde, blue-eyed beauty was in great demand for roles; she was a guest-actress once in weekly & family TV series, Never Too Young (1973) and theatrical movie, Shaft (1973). During the production of Little House on the Prairie (1974) & after leaving the show, she has guest-starred in several films and made-for-TV movies. She continues to pursue an active acting career and published her autobiography, titled "The Way I See It", in 2009.- Actress
- Producer
Lysette Anthony was born on 26 September 1963 in Fulham, London, England, UK. She is an actress and producer, known for Dracula: Dead and Loving It (1995), Krull (1983) and Husbands and Wives (1992). She was previously married to David Price and Luc Leestemaker.- Music Artist
- Actress
- Music Department
Olivia Newton-John was an English singer and actress who was born on September 26, 1948, in Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, England, UK. In 1954, her family relocated to Australia when her father was offered a job as the dean of a Presbyterian college in Melbourne. After winning a singing talent contest, she returned to England with her mother, where she resided until 1975. Her many hit singles include, "You're The One That I Want" from the movie Grease (1978), which she starred in with John Travolta. She appeared on the TV series, It's Cliff Richard (1970), as well as in the film Toomorrow (1970). For several years, she was engaged to Bruce Welch, a founding member of The Shadows, which included Cliff Richard. Welch was one of the producers of her first international hit, "If Not For You".- Actress
- Producer
- Writer
Lilly Singh is a successful, famous Canadian YouTuber, known as Superwoman. She is also known for her role in the movie "Dr. Cabbie" (2014) and the YouTube series "Giving Back Glam" (2014) ; "The Tube's Hautest" (2014) and "Lana Steele : Make Up Spy" (2015). She is also known for her rapping skills and has a few songs : #LEH feat. Humble The Poet (2014); IVIVI feat. Humble The Poet (2015) and she is featured in Jassi Sidhu's song "Hipshaker" (2013).- Emma Rigby (@emmarealrigby) is an award-winning actress who rose to prominence in Hollyoaks. She has since starred in popular television series both sides of the pond including 'Prisoners Wives' for BBC One, and 'Once Upon a Time in Wonderland' for the US network ABC. Her filmography includes 'The Councillor' directed by Ridley Scott, ''The Festival' for Lionsgate and Film 4, 'Plastic' for Gateway Films, 'The Power' from Altitude Films and more recently Make Me Famous alongside Amanda Abbington and Nina Sosanya. Other notable TV appearances Bulletproof for Sky One, Death in Paradise and Ripper Street for BBC.
- Actress
- Producer
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Sheri Moon Zombie was born Sheri Lyn Skurkis. She is the daughter of Carol A. and William B. Skurkis, and has Lithuanian and Polish ancestry. She was raised in Torrington, Connecticut, from a young age. In her late teens, Sheri moved to California, but continued to spend a great deal of time in the New England state, due to education and work commitments. Throughout her twenties, Sheri was a model and a dancer, appearing in many music videos. These were mostly for her then-musician boyfriend, Rob Zombie, whom she later married in 2002 on Halloween. Sheri didn't start acting until 2002, when she landed the role of "Baby" in the horror, House of 1000 Corpses (2003), which was directed by her now-husband, Rob Zombie. This was her first role in a number of commercially successful horror flicks that he directed, including The Devil's Rejects (2005), Halloween (2007) and Halloween II (2009), as well as a brief film segment for Grindhouse (2007) called "Werewolf Women of the SS". She also had an additional role in Tobe Hooper's Toolbox Murders (2004). Her next film role is The Lords of Salem (2012), which is to be directed by Rob Zombie. Further to her movie roles, she has starred in one episode, each, of Californication (2007) and CSI: Miami (2002), the latter being directed by her husband. She has also lent her voice to a character in the animated film, The Haunted World of El Superbeasto (2009), again directed by her husband. Her early roles led to USA Today describing her, in 2007, as one of the modern era's "Scream Queens", with this colourful image still persisting in 2011. Unlike many "Scream Queens", Sheri has acquired a large male fanbase, due to certain roles allowing her to exhibit her natural beauty and shapely figure. Finally, in addition to her acting success, she has ventured into the world of clothing design, with her obvious talent finally bursting through. The range is known as "Total Skull" and includes a variety of short sleeve and long sleeve T-shirts for both men and women, as well as hats, hoodies, masks, bandanas and scarfs.- Leo can currently be seen as the leading role of Harald Hardrada in the Netflix series VALHALLA, created by Jeb Stuart. The series has been a global success and holds the Number 1 worldwide position on Netflix.
Prior to this, he played the leading role of James Stringer in the Andrew Davies' series SANDITON for ITV and Masterpiece PBS opposite Theo James and Rose Williams.
Leo also played the co-lead in the BIFA-nominated THE DEVIL'S HARMONY which also won the award for Best Short Film at the Sundance Film Festival 2020.
He recently starred as a guest lead in INTELLIGENCE opposite David Schwimmer and Nick Mohammed for Sky and can be seen in the WW2 limited series THE LIBERATOR for Netflix.
Previously, he was seen as the co-lead in the second series of CLIQUE opposite Synnove Karlsen for Balloon Entertainment and BBC Studios which broadcast on BBC1, BBC3 and POP in the US. He also played the leading role of Daniel Beecham in Gurinder Chadha's ITV and Masterpiece PBS series BEECHAM HOUSE opposite Tom Bateman, Lesley Nichol and Dakota Blue Richards.
Leo is well-known for his portrayal of Sir Edward Drummond in ITV and Masterpiece PBS's VICTORIA alongside Jenna Coleman, Tom Hughes and Rufus Sewell.
He also filmed RANSOM for CBS produced by Frank Spotnitz.
Previously, Leo starred as the lead role in the feature I'LL FIND YOU produced by Oscar-winning Fred Roos and directed by Martha Coolidge - other cast includes Stellan Skarsgard, Connie Nielson and Adelaide Clemens.
Earlier feature credits include MALEFICENT with Angelina Jolie and FALLEN opposite Jeremy Irvine, directed by Scott Hicks. - Actress
- Music Department
- Soundtrack
Julie London recorded 32 albums during her career. Forced to give up band singing when her true age was discovered, she was primarily a torch singer. Her vocal range was described by "sultry" and "low-keyed". Her own favorite singers were Barbra Streisand and Roberta Flack.
She was known in some circles as "The Liberty Girl" for helping establish Liberty Records, where she began singing in 1955, as a successful label. Her many hit albums on that label include "Julie Is Her Name", "Calendar Girl" with some borderline erotic (for the time) cover photography by Gene Lester, "About the Blues", "Your Number, Please", "Send For Me", "Love Letters", "The End of the World", "In Person at the Americana", "The Wonderful World of Julie London" and the provocatively titled "Nice Girls Don't Stay for Breakfast".
Her most popular song, "Cry Me a River", was written by her former classmate/boyfriend Arthur Hamilton and produced by Bobby Troup. Her four most-sought-after and successful albums are "About the Blues (1957), "Feeling Good" (1965), "Easy Does It" (1968) and "Yummy, Yummy, Yummy" (1969). (Her version of "Yummy Yummy Yummy" was featured on the HBO television series Six Feet Under (2001).) Billboard Magazine named her the most popular female vocalist for 1955, 1956 and 1957".- Actress
- Music Department
- Producer
Christina Milian was born Christine Flores on September 26, 1981 in Jersey City, New Jersey & raised in Waldorf, Maryland. At the age of 19, Milian signed a contract with Def Jam. In 2001, Milian released her self-titled debut album, which featured the singles "AM to PM" and "When You Look at Me"; "AM to PM" charted within the Top 40 of the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 and both peaked in the top three on the UK Singles Chart. In 2004, Milian released her second studio album It's About Time, which provided her first major U.S. hit, "Dip It Low", which reached number five on the U.S. Billboard chart. "Whatever U Want" was released as the album's second single. Both singles charted within the Top 10 of the UK chart.- Actress
- Producer
- Director
Fola is a British actress. She trained at the National Youth Theatre of Great Britain (NYT) and Identity Drama School in London. Most recently she starred in Netflix's No.1 show The Night Agent. Following her role in BAFTA winner John Morton's show, Ten Percent (Amazon), Fola was named as one of The Guardian's new TV stars to watch. She has also worked on internationally acclaimed shows such as the BAFTA and Emmy Award winning Black Mirror (Netflix), Siren (Disney+/Freeform), and the Emmy award winning Game of Thrones (HBO).- Actor
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The son of Bert and Laura McWhirter, Kent Franklin McWhirter was born in Los Angeles on September 26, 1942. Planning to become a physical education instructor and football coach, he transferred from Citrus Junior College to the University of Southern California in 1961. There he met Ricky Nelson during a football game and they became good friends. This led to small guest spots on The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet (1952) as one of Ricky's fraternity brothers. In 1965 McCord signed a contract with Universal Pictures, and three years later he got his big break when Jack Webb picked him to co-star in Adam-12 (1968). During the series' run he became actively involved in the Screen Actors Guild, and is still involved today. He also keeps busy by acting, doing voiceovers for commercials and documentaries, and working on his website.- Ashley Leggat, a twice Gemini nominated actress, was born into a large family in Hamilton, Ontario. She joined her parents, Roy (a car dealer) and Patty (a former Secondary School teacher) and four older brothers -Rob, Brett, and twins Todd and Bram.
Ashley's four brothers, all very athletic, played hockey in the winters and baseball in the summers, meaning she basically grew up in arenas and baseball parks.
Ashley never actually walked -she danced, so when she was two and a half she started Baby Ballet -and she fell in love. This was the beginning of Ashley's passion for dance. Until she graduated from high school, Ashley danced competitively in the top divisions in tap, jazz, ballet, pointe, acrobatics, lyrical, musical theatre and hip hop. She was crowned the top soloist awards at all of the major dance competitions including, International Dance Challenge, Showstoppers, 5-6-7-8 Showtime, Flash Dance, and Dance, Dance, Dance to name a few.
Ashley excelled in all aspects of her dance career, but another passion had already taken her heart. When Ashley was just eight she heard about a summer school acting program at Theatre Aquarius in Hamilton and insisted that she had to attend. Theatre became Ashley's second passion and without hesitation, she auditioned and won the coveted role in her first professional theatrical role of Marta in "The Sound of Music".
Over the next four years, she managed to combine her school work, 30 hours a week of dancing, and continued her acting career by starring in the following plays: "Jekyll and Hyde", "Jacob Two-Two Meets the Hooded Fang", "The Wizard of Oz", "Anne of Green Gables", "Cinderella", and "The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe".
When she was age 13, she won the role of Clara in "The Nutcracker". That same year, the young theatre veteran began to work in television and movies, and quickly discovered this was her third passion. Her first TV role was to star in "Real Kids, Real Adventures". She shone on set and there was no looking back.
By the time she was just age 18, she had recurring roles on: "I was a Sixth Grade Alien", "Ace Lightning", and guest starred in "The Zack Files", and "In A Heartbeat" (Shawn Ashmore).
She appeared in Disney's "Cadet Kelly" (Hilary Duff), "What Girls Learn", (Elizabeth Perkins), ABC's MOW "The Music Man" (Matthew Broderick), and "A Very Married Christmas" (Joe Mategna). Next, she hit the big screen with a lead role in "Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen" (Lindsay Lohan and Megan Fox).
On her 18th birthday she decided she would put her acting career on hold to attend University in pursuit of a teaching degree, but fate had other plans for her. One week after classes began, she got an offer she couldn't refuse. Ashley had won the sought after lead role of Casey in "Life With Derek" and she made the decision to put school on hold. The next four years were an exciting adventure, collaborating with Shaftesbury Productions on this incredibly successful show. "Life with Derek" was ultimately sold to Disney and shown in over 100 countries around the world, breaking records on many networks.
The success of this show led to a movie called "Vacation with Derek"which opened to the highest ratings ever recorded by Family Channel and earned her second Gemini nomination for Best Actress. During breaks from shooting "Life with Derek",
Ashley was a recurring character on "Darcy's Wild Life" (Sara Paxton), a regular on the new genre TV series "11 Cameras", and guest starred on "The Latest Buzz", "Aaron Stone", and "Unnatural History". In 2008, a rare opportunity came to this rising star's lap.
She was asked to play Baby in "Dirty Dancing" at the Royal Alexandra Theatre in Toronto. Although she hadn't been on stage in nearly ten years, she returned with a vengeance and won critical acclaim for her dead on portrayal of Baby.
Following a year back in the spotlight of the theatre, she returned to the small screen guest-starring in the popular TV show "Murdoch Mysteries". Ashley had a lead role in MTV's "Made, The Movie", the feature film "My Dog's Christmas Miracle" (Cynthia Gibb) and "The Perfect Roommate".
She most recently guest starred on one of her favorite prime time shows "Criminal Minds". She then went on to join the popular Hallmark movie series "The Good Witch's Charm" and the upcoming "The Good Witch's Destiny". Next up, Ashley is very excited for the premiere "The Perfect Boss" which airs on May 24th on Lifetime.
In her personal life, Ashley is heavily involved with children's hospitals, spending her spare time fundraising for McMaster Sick Kids Hospital, Toronto Sick Kids and Manitoba Hospital for Children. Ashley is also best friends with her fellow Life With Derek co-star Michael Seater.
She is also a huge advocate for anti-bullying, and has been advocating it with along with her best friend Michael Seater, and has toured across Canada to help the cause. She most enjoys spending time with her family and close friends, and her "fur-baby" Teacup Yorkie, Rambo -who has also had cameos in many of her TV shows and movies.
As for her love life, Ashley married her long time boyfriend Jeremy Williams in August 2011. Jeremy is a successful hockey player, formerly with the Toronto Maple Leafs, Detroit Red Wings organization, and New York Rangers organization. Most recently he played in Austria and Germany, and this year he will play in Sweden, where Ashley will join him in her off time. They have three daughters together. - Director
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Frederick E.O. Toye was born on 26 September 1967 in Los Angeles, California, USA. Frederick E.O. is a director and producer, known for The Boys (2019), Watchmen (2019) and The Terminal List (2022).- Actress
- Soundtrack
Charlotte Spencer was born on 26 September 1991 in Harlow, Essex, England, UK. She is an actress, known for Glue (2014), The Living and the Dead (2016) and Les Misérables (2012).- Actor
- Soundtrack
Ben Shenkman was born on 26 September 1968 in New York City, New York, USA. He is an actor, known for Pi (1998), The Trial of the Chicago 7 (2020) and Blue Valentine (2010). He has been married to Lauren Greilsheimer since 17 September 2005. They have one child.- Actress
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Tricia O'Kelley began her acting career in Chicago, where she appeared in numerous television commercials, including spots for McDonald's, Budweiser and Sears. After graduating from the University of Wisconsin, Madison (where she studied TV and film production), she returned to Chicago to continue acting. While in Chicago, Tricia founded a full-service resource center for actors which provided many resources for the local acting community, including classes, workshops, resume services, career consultations and seminars. Through her company, Tricia published the first complete resource book for actors in the Midwest. She was also honored as one of the "100 Women Making a Difference in Chicago" by Today's Chicago Woman magazine. Since moving to Los Angeles, Tricia has appeared in dozens of television roles, including guest spots on Two and a Half Men (2003), CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (2000), Frasier (1993), Everybody Loves Raymond (1996), and recurring roles on The Secret Life of the American Teenager (2008), Gilmore Girls (2000) and Malcolm in the Middle (2000). In addition, she was a series regular on Emeril (2000) (NBC) and That Was Then (2002) (ABC), and played Marly on the hit CBS sitcom The New Adventures of Old Christine (2006). She can currently be seen on "Devious Maids" (2013). Her film work includes Outside Sales (2006) and Weather Girl (2009), for which she also served as a producer. Tricia also designs a line of greeting cards called "Heartsongs", and selected cards can be found wherever Recycled Paper Greetings cards are sold or at independent retailers nationwide. She currently lives in Los Angeles with her two daughters.- Actress
- Soundtrack
Well-endowed, attractive Joyce Jameson was typecast as "broads," "dames," and dizzy blondes -- somewhat in the vein of Barbara Nichols. In real life, she was said, like such other ditzy blondes as Judy Holliday and Jayne Mansfield, to have been the antithesis of her screen personae, a graduate in theatre arts from UCLA, highly intelligent and well-read.
Born in Chicago in 1927 (not 1932 as has been misreported) as Joyce Kingsley as per the Cook County, Illinois Birth Index, 1916-1935 (File Number 6045258), she began acting in films from 1951, after being 'spotted' at the small Cabaret Club by Steve Allen. At that time, she was already a seasoned performer on stage in musical revue, featured playing multiple parts in shows staged by her then-husband and mentor, Billy Barnes, initially at the Cabaret Club, then at the Las Palmas Theatre in Hollywood, and finally on Broadway.
After several small supporting bits on the big screen and the odd ghost-written TV script, Jameson's career gained momentum from the late 1950s. She was seen in better productions, such as Billy Wilder's The Apartment (1960). Adept at dialects and mimicry, Jameson made a name for herself on The Tonight Show Starring Jack Paar (1957) with a ventriloquist act, featuring her 'alter ego,' an imaginary dummy, unsurprisingly named "Marilyn." Jameson was said to have derived the idea of being subsumed by this 'other personality' from the British horror classic Dead of Night (1945). Reputedly still more uproarious, were her biting impersonations of Judy Garland, Grace Kelly, and, above all, Marlene Dietrich.
She may be most-fondly remembered for her first two cult Gothic horrors she made for Roger Corman, loosely based on stories by Edgar Allan Poe. Tales of Terror (1962), finds her (in story number two, 'The Black Cat') as perpetually inebriated Peter Lorre's philandering wife Annabel, who suffers the ignominious fate of being entombed alive in a wine cellar, alongside paramour Vincent Price. Her performance on the way to that demise -- at once funny and tragic -- amply demonstrated her ability to hold her own in a leading role opposite such dominant personalities as Lorre and Price. She was quite good (and certainly very decorative) in her second outing for Corman, The Comedy of Terrors (1963) albeit in a more typical role as decrepit Boris Karloff's ditzy daughter, Amaryllis Trumbull.
On television, she had a recurring spot on The Andy Griffith Show (1960) and guested in many classic series, including westerns and science fiction, though her forte was almost certainly comedy. Unable to escape her typecasting, she rarely got roles her acting talent would have justified. Jameson once commented acerbically in an interview, "Everyone expects to cast me as the dumb or victimized blonde. After they interview me, I can just hear them say, 'Hey! She's intelligent, but what do you do with it?'" (The Pittsburgh Press, July 27,1958).- Born Victoria Vetri (but also known as Angela Dorian) to Italian parents (her mother was from Rome, her father Sicily) and grew up in Los Angeles. She studied art at Los Angeles City College in the 60s before embarking on her movie-television career. Thanks to her beautiful, exotic looks she was cast in parts that required ethnic beauties or scantily clad lovelies. She then posed for Playboy, becoming Miss September, 1967; and was later honored as the 1968 Playmate of the Year, becoming one of the most popular Playmates of the Vietnam War era.
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Bill Heck is an American actor who has appeared on Broadway and in television shows, such as The Leftovers and The Alienist, and films, including in the role of Billy Knapp in the Coen Brothers' western The Ballad of Buster Scruggs. Heck was born in Phoenix, Arizona, but moved to Libertyville, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago, as a child. He graduated from the University of Evansville in Indiana and went to N.Y.U. to gain a graduate degree in acting.- Jillian Barberie is a former TV news anchor for Good Day L.A. She was born on September 26, 1966 in Burlington, Ontario, Canada as Jillian Marie Warry. Since her being let go from the FOX network, she has branched out as an actress, more notably in Project X (2012), V.I.P. (1998) and Volcano (1997). She was previously married to Grant Reynolds and Bret Barberie.
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Jacob Daniel Tierney (Born On September 26, 1979 In Montréal Québec, Canada) Is a Canadian-American Actor, Voice Actor, Voice Casting, Voice Director, Singer, Loop Group Actor, Producer And Director. He Was Born On September 26, 1979 In Montréal Québec, Canada. To The Family Terry Tierney And His Dad Kevin Tierney And His Sister Bridget.
in 1970's and 1980's, Jacob Also Attended To a High School In Little Rock Arkansas, Montréal Québec, Canada And New York City, New York, USA. Jacob Tierney Also Quickly Started To Do An Auditions When He Was 1 and 8 Years Old in 1970's and 1980's.
Jacob Tierney Provided A Notable Characters As Eric From the Award Winner or Nominated TV Anthology Children Series Masterpiece, Cinar's Are You Afraid of the Dark? (1990) Along With All The Canadian And American Actors And Actress Back in 1990's. In Many Years In 1980's, 1990's and 2000's, His recent animation And Live Action Credits include All Movies, TV Shows And Video Games and He Provided A Character As Max (Max, Please. Just Max.) From Dracula: The Series (1990) And Especially A Producer And Director And Each Characters And Guest Star On Kids Like You (1984).
Jacob's Voice Work can be heard in films as He Especially Provided The Loop Group For The Movies, TV Shows And Video Games as Long As Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (2001) Along With His Current Friend Cathie Dorsch (Actress, Voice Casting, Singer, Producer, Director, Miss Cathie The Current Host , Penelope Turtle, The Puppet Characters Daisy And All Puppet Characters And Dixie From Kids Like You (Since 1983 or 1984) And All Actors And Actress and his Current Friend Nathaniel Moreau (David From Cinar's Are You Afraid Of The Dark?) And More. The Upcoming Movie Gran Turismo (2023) And More Film, TV Show And Video Games Including PlayStation Games, Rockstar Games And Nintendo Games.
Jacob began his career with His first commercial in the first, second, third, fourth and fifth grade and has been hooked ever since Including PBS, PBS Kids, Warner Bros Pictures, Nintendo Games, Bandai Company, Bandai Namco Games And PlayStation Games. Especially HBO, HBO Family, Columbia Pictures, Cinar, Agape Church, The Christian Children's Movies, TV Shows And Video Games Company And Much More.
Jacob performed professionally with a School And House And Apartment in Canada And USA. Also Jacob performs with The Family And Kids, a professional child and teen troop. Jacob's passions also include singing, dancing, guitar, and writing and Directing music. He studies acting, directing and musical theater at a performing arts high school in Little Rock Arkansas, Montréal Québec, Canada And New York City, New York, USA. Just Before 1980's, 1990's, 2000's, 2010's and 2020's, He Also Wanted To Get Along With Canadian and American Kids And Family And Actors And Actress. Including All Canadian and American Actors And Actress.- Actor
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Utilitarian character actor Richard Herd was one of those stern familiar faces you saw countless times on film and TV but couldn't quite place the name. The stage-trained actor, who shared a striking resemblance to actor Karl Malden, never found the one role that would make him a household name, but did make up for it with a number of rich and rewarding stage, film and TV assignments bolstered by his trademark authoritarian look and stance.
Born on September 26, 1932 in Boston, Massachusetts, he was the son of Katherine (Lydon) and Richard Herd, a railroad engineer and WWII vet, who died when the boy was quite young. The younger Herd suffered from bone marrow cancer which affected the growth of his legs as a child. As a result, he was educated at the Industrial School for Crippled Children during his formative years. Luckily, loving care and several operations saved his legs from deformity.
It was his mother Katherine's love of music that ignited Richard's initial desire to perform. Trained on the drums, he received early acting training on radio and in summer stock (Liberty Mutual Theatre in Boston) during his high school years and, in the late 1940s, studied Shakespeare under veteran Claude Rains at one point. Other plays such as "Our Town" and "Sing Out Sweet Land," and the children's theatre productions of "Penrod" and "Robin Hood" helped to beef up his early resume.
Richard enlisted in the Army during the Korean War but injured a knee in basic training, which led to an honorable discharge within 90 days of his enlistment. He did, however, go on to work for the Army Signal Corps in a host of training films.
Richard continued to gather experience in such classical plays as "The Miser" and "A Month in the Country". With several summer stock runs, Shakespearean bus-and-truck tours and industrial films under his belt, he finally made his New York debut in the minor role of an usher in The Dress Circle" at Carnegie Hall. He also became a member of the Player's Club.
Making a highly inauspicious film debut in the minor role of a coach in the film, Hercules in New York (1970), which was the showcase debut for the massively-muscled Arnold Schwarzenegger, Richard didn't settle in Hollywood, until the mid 1970s, after replacing actor Richard Long (who died before filming began) in the role of Watergate figure James McCord in All the President's Men (1976). Although Richard made a handful of other movies throughout the rest of the decade (I Never Promised You a Rose Garden (1977), F.I.S.T. (1978), The China Syndrome (1979), The Onion Field (1979)), he appeared with much more frequency on TV, playing stern, authoritarian types on episodes of Kojak (1973), The Rockford Files (1974), The Streets of San Francisco (1972) (starring the similar-looking Karl Malden), Rafferty (1977), Eight Is Enough (1977) and Starsky and Hutch (1975), as well as in the TV movies Pueblo (1973), Captains and the Kings (1976), The Hunted Lady (1977), Dr. Scorpion (1978), Kate Bliss and the Ticker Tape Kid (1978), Terror Out of the Sky (1978), Marciano (1979) and, most notably, Ike: The War Years (1979), in which he portrayed General Omar Bradley.
Never finding the one support role that might have made him a character star, Richard nevertheless was featured impressively on all three mediums for over four decades. On stage, he appeared in a pre-Broadway tryout of "On the Waterfront" and played, to great applause, in productions of "Other People's Money" and "The Big Knife". His finest hour on stage, however, would come with his portrayal of the epic film producer in the one-man show "Cecil B. DeMille Presents", which he has toured throughout the country. On TV, Richard has guested on most of the popular TV programs of late, including Desperate Housewives (2004) and CSI: Miami (2002) and is probably best remembered for his recurring roles as "Admiral Noyce" on SeaQuest 2032 (1993), as Jason Alexander's boss "Wilhelm" in the sitcom classic, Seinfeld (1989), and as "Admiral Owen Paris" in Star Trek: Voyager (1995). A few of his lightweight cinematic crowd-pleasers include Private Benjamin (1980), Deal of the Century (1983), Planes, Trains & Automobiles (1987) and Sgt. Bilko (1996). More recently, he also had a memorable bit in the Oscar-winning horror film Get Out (2017).
On occasion, Richard moved into the director/producer/writer's chair. He directed the play, "Idle Wheels", for the Road Theatre Company in North Hollywood, was a producer of the N.Y. play, "Agamemnon", and co-producer (and performer) of the play, "The Couch with the Six Insides", and, as a playwright, had a presentation of his play, "Prisoner of the Crown", produced at Dublin's Abbey Theatre.
Married briefly at the age of 19, Richard remarried and had two children (Richard Jr. and Erica) by his second wife. That marriage also ended in divorce, but his third (in 1980), to actress Patricia Herd (Patricia Crowder Ruskin), lasted. Patricia has a daughter from an earlier marriage. Making his final film appearances in the Clint Eastwood vehicle The Mule (2018) and the baseball biopic The Silent Natural (2019), Richard was diagnosed with cancer and died on May 26, 2020, at age 87.- Actress
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Elizabeth Saunders. Born is England and raised in Calgary, Liz lives and works out of Toronto. A highly versatile actress, she is known for her work on Clarice (2021), Surrealestate (2021), Girl (2020), Mary Kills People (2020) When Hope Calls (2019) IT (2017), Alias Grace ( 2017), Orphan Black (2013), Slings and Arrows (2005), The Boondock Saints (1999) and Nurse.Fighter.Boy (2008). She also voiced and performed the mo-cap for the role of Emma Child in Ubisoft's Watchdog's Legion (2020). Her voice work includes voicing Mrs. Turtle on the long running Franklin the Turtle cartoon series. Liz has also appeared in leading roles in theatre productions throughout Canada as well as being a theatre director, teacher and writer, who holds a BFA in acting and an MA in Theatre Performance and Drama. She is married to actor Cliff Saunders, with whom she has two daughters.- Actress
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Brunette bombshell and second-string goddess Jamaican actress Martine Beswick(e) was born on September 26, 1941, to a British father and Portuguese/Jamaican mother in Port Antonio, Jamaica. Some brief modeling and pageant entering came to be before seeking a career in films. She allegedly once won a "Miss Autoville" contest and won a car only to sell it in order to move to and study acting in London.
While finding roles on such British TV series as "Secret Agent," "Love Story" and "Court Martial," a minor break occurred for Martine in the James Bond "007" film series. Director Terence Young cast her twice -- as the gypsy girl Zora in From Russia with Love (1963) and then as the doomed spy Paula in Thunderball (1965). After playing in the well-tanned minority ranks for years, Martine finally got noticed after cat-fighting with Raquel Welch in the cult prehistoric saga One Million Years B.C. (1966), which also starred handsome caveman John Richardson. She also starred in her own back-in-time Neanderthal low-budget Prehistoric Women (1967).
Transporting herself to Hollywood in the late 1960's, Martine guested on such shows as "It Takes a Thief," "Mannix," "The Name of the Game" and "Longstreet." She then made an infamous mark as the distaff evil incarnate in the Hammer Studio horror cult hit Dr Jekyll & Sister Hyde (1971). Other films during that time usually had her in various stages of sexy undress, including Ultimo tango a Zagarol (1973), The Kiss of Death (1974) and Seizure (1974).
She later focused on TV with such mini-movie entries as Crime Club (1975), Strange New World (1975), Devil Dog: The Hound of Hell (1978), My Husband Is Missing (1978) and The Tenth Month (1979), plus the mini-series Aspen (1977) and episodes of "The Six Million Dollar Man," "Baretta," "Quincy," "The Fall Guy," "Fantasy Island," "Hart to Hart," "Buffalo Bill" and "Sledge Hammer." In the mid-1980's, Martine also found back-to-back daytime work on the soap operas Days of Our Lives (1965) and Santa Barbara (1984).
On film, she would quicken pulses as Xaviera Hollander as The Happy Hooker Goes Hollywood (1980), but not return until the early 1990's with the horror films Evil Spirits (1991) and Trancers II (1991), the comedy Life on the Edge (1992) and the drama Wide Sargasso Sea (1993). After filming Night of the Scarecrow (1995), Martine retired from films.
Since then, she has mainly participated in film documentaries, providing commentary and relating her experiences on the many films in which she has appeared. She owned a removals business in London and is semiretired except for guest appearances at James Bond conventions. She did, however, more recently return (after 25 years) to star with fellow Hammer actors Caroline Munro and Veronica Carlson in a horror "tribute" to Hammer entitled House of the Gorgon (2019).- Dark, dashing and coldly handsome with intense, penetrating eyes, Patrick O'Neal was known for walking a fine line between elegant heroics and equally elegant villainy during a five-decade career. Born in 1927 in Ocala, Florida, and of Irish descent, he served toward the end of WWII with the United States Army Air Force and, in his late teens, was assigned to direct training shorts for the Signal Corps. A graduate of the University of Florida at Gainesville, O'Neal subsequently moved to New York City and continued his dramatic studies at the Actors Studio and Neighborhood Playhouse.
O'Neal made an initial impact in the early 1950s when he replaced Tony Randall in the hit comedy "Oh, Men! Oh, Women!" Following a strong role in the Broadway play "The Far Country" (1961), he gave a superlative stage portrayal of the defrocked Reverend Shannon opposite Bette Davis in "The Night of the Iguana." He also appeared in a number of anthology TV series in the 1950's including "Robert Montgomery Presents," "Kraft Theatre," "Chevron Theatre," "Schlitz Playhouse," "Studio One in Hollywood," "Pepsi-Cola Playhouse" and "Goodyear Playhouse." He made his film debut as a lieutenant in the horror film The Mad Magician (1954) starring Vincent Price but appeared in only one other film that decade -- the costumed drama The Black Shield of Falworth (1954).
O'Neal earned more attention in the next decade with both lead and supporting roles. A capable player used regularly in 1960s films, he was usually cast as rugged trooper types in action-adventures such as King Rat (1965) and Assignment to Kill (1968), serious-minded personnel in war pictures like In Harm's Way (1965), or flashy murderers in gruesome yarns like Chamber of Horrors (1966), the latter being his best-remembered film. Subsequent films included featured roles in Silent Night, Bloody Night (1972), The Way We Were (1973), The Stepford Wives (1975), The Stuff (1985), Like Father Like Son (1987), Q&A (1990), Alice (1990), For the Boys (1991) and Under Siege (1992).
Portraying a pathologist in his own short-lived medical series Diagnosis: Unknown (1960), he proved a much steadier player on the smaller screen. Typically the cultivated lover or slick, shady villain on TV, he guest-starred on such popular shows as "The Naked City," "Dr. Kildare," "The Twilight Zone," "Route 66," "The Outer Limits," "Coronet Blue," "Alias Smith & Jones," "Cannon," "McCloud," "The F.B.I.," "The Doris Day Show," "The Streets of San Francisco," "Columbo" and "Murder, She Wrote." He also appeared regularly with the cast of the crime drama series Kaz (1978) and had a recurring part on Emerald Point N.A.S. (1983).
His wife, actress Cynthia O'Neal (née Baxter), and brother owned several restaurants with him. He died in 1994 from respiratory failure as a complication of tuberculosis. - Actor
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Alaa Safi is a French actor, director, and producer. He was the world champion in Tae Kwon Do at 18, then began his TV/Film career as an action actor and landed his first major role when he partnered with Jackie Chan in the movie Chinese Zodiac (2012). Since then, Alaa has worked with multiple major studios such as Marvel's Doctor Strange (2016), The Mauritanian (2021), and most recently, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (2023).
In addition to Alaa's film roles, he is also a series regular on the groundbreaking TV series The Chosen (2017). Alaa began directing in 2020 with the short film Chrysalis (2020), followed by Coming Home (2023), both of which have earned awards in American film festivals.- Actress
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Serena Williams is one of the greatest female tennis players of all time. She earned her first Grand Slam singles title at the U.S. Open in 1999, and won a string of five Grand Slam singles title wins: the 2002 French Open, Wimbledon, and U.S. Open titles and the 2003 Australian Open and her second Wimbledon title in 2003, all by defeating her older sister, Venus Williams in the finals. To date, she has won 23 Grand Slam singles titles, the most by any player in the Open Era, and the second-most of all time. Serena has appeared in guest roles on The Simpsons (1989) and My Wife and Kids (2000). She was born in Saginaw, Michigan in 1981, to Richard and Oracene Williams. The youngest of five girls, Serena grew up with Venus and older sisters Lyndrea, Isha & Yetunde. She and sister Venus were coached in tennis from an early age by their father, Richard.- Mary Beth Hurt was born on 26 September 1946 in Marshalltown, Iowa, USA. She is an actress, known for The World According to Garp (1982), Lady in the Water (2006) and Interiors (1978). She has been married to Paul Schrader since 6 August 1983. They have two children. She was previously married to William Hurt.
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Matthew Rauch was born in the USA. Matthew is an actor and writer, known for Partner Track (2022), The Terminal List (2022) and Banshee (2013).- Emily Barber was born on 26 September 1991 in Peterborough, England, UK. She is an actress, known for Bridgerton (2020) and The Alienist (2018).
- Jonathan Goldsmith was born on 26 September 1938 in New York City, New York, USA. He is an actor, known for Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again (2018), Hang 'Em High (1968) and The Streets of San Francisco (1972). He has been married to Barbara Jacobson Buky since 2006. He was previously married to Betty Miller.
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Caitlin Keats was born on 26 September 1972 in New York City, New York, USA. She is an actress and writer, known for Kill Bill: Vol. 2 (2004), Somewhere (2010) and She Loves Me Not (2013).- Actress
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Julienne Davis was born in Los Angeles. She left home at seventeen and moved to New York to pursue a career in classical ballet. When she grew too tall to audition for the corps de ballet, she made the tough decision to quit dance and began a modeling career. As a successful international model, Julienne's career led to her living and working in many cities, including Los Angeles, New York, London, Paris, Milan, Athens, Munich, Barcelona, Madrid, Tokyo, and Bangkok. Because London's vibrant cosmopolitan culture held a special allure for her, she made that her main home base for many years and during that time also became a British citizen. Whilst in the city, she became involved in other ventures, including fashion stylist, club promoter, singer/songwriter, and producer. In 1998, she auditioned as an extra in Stanley Kubrick's Eyes Wide Shut, but instead landed the pivotal role of Mandy Curran in the film. From that point on, her life changed drastically, and she consequently became an "It" girl in London, leading the celebrity lifestyle, with parties, press, and paparazzi. Her acting, voiceover, and music careers continued to flourish. Highlights include major roles in the films House of 9 starring Dennis Hopper and Come Together starring James D'Arcy. As for TV, she was a series regular for the BBC comedy Too Much Sun starring Mark Addy and Lee Majors, as well as various guest star roles, the most notable being The Bill--which was practically a UK institution. During this time, her band Sophisticated Savage was busy recording and performing live. She sang, wrote and co-produced the band's album "Strange Paradise," now on iTunes. Based mainly in Los Angeles, she is with her new band: The Midnight Candy, and she continues to work as an actor, vo artist, writer and producer.- Nancy Dolman was born on 26 September 1951 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. She was an actress, known for Soap (1977), Royal Suite (1976) and Landon Landon & Landon (1980). She was married to Martin Short. She died on 21 August 2010 in Pacific Palisades, Los Angeles, California, USA.
- Melanie Paxson was born in Champaign, Illinois, and received her B.A. degree in theater from the University of Missouri. Relocating to Chicago, she received more training at the famed Second City and performed with another renowned theater troupe, Steppenwolf Theatre. Moving into the television arena, Paxson worked on two TV series filmed entirely in Chicago: Early Edition (1996) (her first professional film/TV role), then in the recurring role of "Jaclyn" on the Jeremy Piven series, Cupid (1998). "Cupid's" arrow led Melanie straight to Los Angeles, where her love affair with the industry continued and audiences came to know her from a string of guest-starring roles, on such series as The Drew Carey Show (1995), Rules of Engagement (2007), CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (2000), Joey (2004), Medium (2005) and the new Tim Allen sitcom, Last Man Standing (2011).
Although Paxson's national profile grew with her work in the Gladware & other commercial campaigns, she also became a regular cast member on shows like NBC's sitcom, Happy Family (2003) (as "Sara Brennan", the daughter of John Larroquette and Christine Baranski), as well as the harried new mom, "Julie", in ABC's series, Notes from the Underbelly (2007).
In December 2013, Melanie, in her role of "Dolly", can be seen in the Disney feature, Saving Mr. Banks (2013). Other credits include the telefilm, Behind the Camera: The Unauthorized Story of 'Three's Company' (2003) (playing actress Joyce DeWitt in the unauthorized story of the 1970s sitcom, Three's Company (1976)) and roles in the feature films, Ready to Rumble (2000) and Slackers (2002). - Actor
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Patrick Bristow was born on 26 September 1962 in Los Angeles County, California, USA. He is an actor and director, known for Showgirls (1995), The Longest Yard (2005) and So I Married an Axe Murderer (1993).- Actor
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George Raft was born and grew up in a poor family in Hell's Kitchen, at the time one of the roughest, meanest areas of New York City. He was born George Ranft, and was the son of Eva (Glockner) and Conrad Ranft, a department store deliveryman. His parents were both of German descent. In his youth, he showed a great interest in, and aptitude for, dancing. That, combined with his dark good looks and sharp dressing, made him a local favorite at such spots as the El Fey Club with Texas Guinan. In 1928, Raft went to Hollywood to try his luck at acting. His first big role was as the coin-tossing henchman in Scarface (1932). His career was marked by numerous tough-guy roles, often a gangster or convict. The believability with which he played these, together with his lifelong associations with such real-life gangsters as Owney Madden and Bugsy Siegel, added to persistent rumors that he was also a gangster. The slightly shady reputation may have helped his popularity early on, but it made him somewhat undesirable to movie executives later in his career. He somewhat parodied his gangster reputation in Billy Wilder's Some Like It Hot (1959).- Actor
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Mark Famiglietti was born on 26 September 1979 in Providence, Rhode Island, USA. He is an actor and writer, known for Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003), Aquarius (2015) and Mad Men (2007).- Actress
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Natja Brunckhorst was born on 26 September 1966 in Berlin, Germany. She is an actress and writer, known for Christiane F. (1981), Wie Feuer und Flamme (2001) and La mer (2006).- Director
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David Slade was born on 26 September 1969 in the UK. He is a director and producer, known for Hard Candy (2005), The Twilight Saga: Eclipse (2010) and 30 Days of Night (2007).- Maria Bonnevie was born on 26 September 1973 in Västerås, Västmanlands län, Sweden. She is an actress, known for I Am Dina (2002), Another Round (2020) and The 13th Warrior (1999).
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Philip Michael Bosco was born in Jersey City, New Jersey, to Margaret Raymond (Thek), a policewoman, and Philip Lupo Bosco, a carnival worker. He was of Italian and German descent. Bosco graduated from Saint Peter's Prep School, 1948, and from the Catholic University of America, A.B. 1957. He served as a private in the U.S. Army Signal Corps, 1951-53. Bosco worked in a carnival and as a trailer truck driver before becoming an actor. He received the Shakespeare Society of Washington, D.C. Award (1957), won the Variety NY Drama Critics' Poll for his performance as Heracles in "The Rape of the Belt" (1961), and received a Tony nomination for "The Rape of the Belt". In 2007, he had a big role as Lenny Savage, the father of Laura Linney and Philip Seymour Hoffman's characters, in the drama-comedy The Savages (2007).- Actor
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There are very few character actors from the 1930s, '40s or '50s who rose to the rank of stardom. Only a rare man or woman reached the level of renown and admiration, and had enough audience appeal, to be the first name in a cast's billing, a name that got marquee posting. Charles Coburn comes to mind, but there aren't many others. However, one who made it was Edmund Gwenn.
Gwenn was born Edmund Kellaway in Wandsworth, London, on September 26, 1877. He was the oldest boy in the family, which at that time meant he was the only one who really mattered. His father was a British civil servant, and he groomed Edmund to take a position of power in the Empire. However, early on, the boy had a mind of his own. For a while, his inclination was to go to sea, but that ended when one of his forebear's in the Queen's Navy was court-martialed for exceeding his "wine bill". In addition to that, Edmund had poor eyesight and perhaps most importantly, he was his mother's darling, and she kept having visions of shipwrecks and desert island strandings. As for the civil service, to the boy it seemed like a "continent of unexplored boredom".
He attended St. Olaf's College and would attend King's College in London as well. Surprisingly, he excelled at rugby and amateur boxing. Meanwhile, he developed a strong inclination to the stage, partly because of his admiration for the great English actor, Henry Irving. A major roadblock to that ambition, however, was his father, who, at that time, was stationed in Ireland. When Edmund broke the news to his father that he had chosen acting as a career, there followed "a scene without parallel in Victorian melodrama." His father called the theatre "that sink of iniquity." He predicted that, if Edmund went into theatre, he would end up in the gutter, and then literally "showed him the door." Years later his father would admit he had been wrong, but that didn't help the young man during an all-night crossing from Dublin to England during which he had time to reflect. He was penniless. His experience consisted of a few performances in amateur productions, and he knew that if he failed, there was no going back home.
However, in 1895, at the age of eighteen, he made his first appearance on the English stage with a group of amateurs just turned professional, playing two roles, "Dodo Twinkle" and "Damper", in "Rogue and Vagabond". For a long time afterward, he refused to go on stage without a false beard or some other disguise, fearing someone would recognize him and tell his father (it's a bit ironic, by the way, that Edmund's younger brother Arthur would also become an actor using the name of Arthur Chesney). During the next few years, roles were hard to come by but, by 1899, he made his first appearance on the West End in London in "A Jealous Mistake". This was followed by ten years in the hinterlands acting with stock and touring companies, gradually working his way up from small parts to juicier roles. While with Edmund Tearle's Repertory Company, which toured the provinces, he played a different role each night. It was excellent training, in that he acted in everything from William Shakespeare to old melodrama.
About this time, he married Minnie Terry, niece of the more famous actress Ellen Terry, a marriage that evidently was short-lived. Most sources list it as beginning and ending in 1901, perhaps only for a matter of days or even hours. From that point, Gwenn would remain a bachelor for the rest of his life. He seems to have preferred not going into any details about the marriage and divorce, and Minnie Terry, who outlived Gwenn, apparently never mentioned what happened, at least not publicly. That same year, however, he went to Australia and acted there for three years, not returning to London until 1904. There, he took a small part in "In the Hospital", which led to his receiving a postcard from George Bernard Shaw, offering him a leading role as "Straker", the Cockney chauffeur, in "Man and Superman". Gwenn accepted (by this time he was Edmund Gwenn) and the play was a success. Shaw became a sort of professional godfather for him. He appeared in "John Bull's Island", "Major Barbara", "You Never Can Tell", "Captain Brassbound's Conversion" and "The Devil's Disciple", all by Shaw. He spent three years in Shaw's company, years which he called "the happiest I've ever had in the theatre".
From 1908 until 1915, he performed in new plays by noted playwrights of the time, including John Masefield's "The Campden Wonder", 'John Galsworthy''s "Justice" and "The Skin Game", J.M. Barrie's "What Every Woman Knows" and "The Twelve Pound Look", as well as Henrik Ibsen's "The Wild Duck" and Harley Granville-Barker's "The Voysey Inheritance". By this time, World War I had started and Gwenn, despite his poor eyesight, was conscripted into the British Army. Most of his time during "The Great War" was spent drawing supplies up to the front lines, while under fire. He was so successful at this task that, after a year as a private, he received a steady stream of promotions until eventually becoming a captain.
After the War, he returned to the stage and, in 1921, made his first appearance in the US in "A Voice from the Minaret" and "Fedora". He would return to America in 1928 to replace his friend, Dennis Eadie, who had died while in rehearsal for "The House of Arrows", but for most of this time, he was in England doing more stage roles and two dozen British films.
His first appearance on screen was in a British short, The Real Thing at Last (1916) in 1916, while he was still in the army. His next film roles were in Shaw's How He Lied to Her Husband (1931) and J.B. Priestley's The Good Companions (1933). He was also in Unmarried (1920) in 1920 and a silent version of "The Skin Game" (The Skin Game (1921)) as "Hornblower", a role he would reprise in 1931 for a talking version (The Skin Game (1931)) directed by Alfred Hitchcock. From then on, Gwenn was to work steadily until the end of his life. He appeared in English stage plays and films, eventually doing more and more on Broadway and in Hollywood. For example, he played the amiable counterfeiter in "Laburnum Grove" in 1933 (later to become the film Laburnum Grove (1936) in which he would star) and then with the entire British company brought it to New York. He was also a huge success in "The Wookey" in 1942, playing a Cockney tugboat captain. That same year, he appeared as "Chebutykin" in Anton Chekhov's "The Three Sisters", with Katharine Cornell, Ruth Gordon and Judith Anderson. In such illustrious company, Gwenn was hailed by critics as "magnificent" and "superlatively good".
In 1935, RKO summoned him to Hollywood to portray Katharine Hepburn's father in Sylvia Scarlett (1935). From then on, he was much in demand, appearing in Anthony Adverse (1936), All American Chump (1936), Parnell (1937), and A Yank at Oxford (1938). In 1940, he was the delightful "Mr. Bennet" in Pride and Prejudice (1940), then made a 180-degree turn by playing a folksy assassin in Alfred Hitchcock's Foreign Correspondent (1940). The year 1941 brought Cheers for Miss Bishop (1941), One Night in Lisbon (1941), The Devil and Miss Jones (1941) and Scotland Yard (1941). Then came Charley's Aunt (1941), in which he romanced Jack Benny, masquerading as a woman. Other important films included A Yank at Eton (1942), The Meanest Man in the World (1943), The Keys of the Kingdom (1944) and Between Two Worlds (1944).
In 1945, he played villain "Albert Richard Kingby" in Dangerous Partners (1945). There is a peculiar scene in this film, which makes one wonder what director Edward L. Cahn was thinking. James Craig and Signe Hasso, the hero and heroine, are being held by the villainous Gwenn in a room, when Gwenn comes in to interrogate them. In the midst of this, the 33-year-old, 6'2" Craig punches the 68-year-old, 5'5" Gwenn in the belly and then forces the doubled-over Gwenn to release them. Admittedly, Craig and Hasso must escape, and Gwenn's character is pretty evil, but knocking the wind out of the old man makes Craig seem like a bully and far less sympathetic.
After "Dangerous Partners", Gwenn was in Bewitched (1945), She Went to the Races (1945), Of Human Bondage (1946), Undercurrent (1946), Life with Father (1947), Green Dolphin Street (1947) and Apartment for Peggy (1948). In Thunder in the Valley (1947), he played one of his most unlikable characters, a father who beats his son, smashes his violin and shoots his dog.
Then in 1947, he struck it rich. Twentieth Century-Fox was planning Miracle on 34th Street (1947). It had offered the role of "Kris Kringle" to Gwenn's cousin, the well-known character actor Cecil Kellaway, but he had turned it down with the observation that "Americans don't like whimsy". Fox then offered it to Gwenn, who pounced on it. His performance was to earn him an Academy Award as Best Supporting Actor (at age 71) and, because it is rerun every Christmas season, he would become for many their all-time favorite screen Santa. Accepting the award, Gwenn said, "Now I know there is a Santa Claus". He beat out some stiff competition: Charles Bickford (The Farmer's Daughter (1947)), Thomas Gomez (Ride the Pink Horse (1947)), Robert Ryan (Crossfire (1947)) and Richard Widmark (Kiss of Death (1947)). As soon as he got the part, Gwenn went to work turning himself into Santa Claus. Though rotund, Gwenn didn't feel he was rotund enough to look like the jolly old elf most people expected after having read Clement Moore's "The Night before Christmas", in which Santa "had a broad face and a little round belly / That shook when he laughed like a bowlful of jelly." He could of course wear padding, but he resisted that as too artificial. So he put on almost 30 pounds for the role, a fair amount for a man of his short stature, and added nearly five inches to his waistline. The problem was that after the film was finished, Gwenn found it hard to lose the extra weight. "I've been stocky all my adult life," he said, "but now I must accept the fact that I'm fat." As was his nature, he didn't get upset, and instead was able to laugh about it. Six years later, when playing an elderly professor in The Student Prince (1954), he had a scene in which he entered the Prince's chamber, struggling with the buttons of a ceremonial uniform. The line he was given was, "I'm too old to wear a uniform," but Gwenn suggested a change which stayed in the finished film, "I'm too old and fat to wear a uniform."
Gwenn had lost his hair early on, and had no more concern about it than he did about his portliness. In a fair number of films, such as Pride and Prejudice (1940), he appears bald, but he also played many roles with a toupee if he felt that worked better for the character. He would select a hairpiece that helped achieve the look he was after for the role. As regards the rest of his appearance, Gwenn is commonly listed as 5'6" tall, which may have been accurate when he was a younger man, but by the time he was a Hollywood regular he appears to be at least two inches shorter. Plagued by weak eyesight since his youth, Gwenn wore a pince-nez for a while, and then glasses, off-screen and sometimes on. Though he enjoyed fine clothes, he does not seem to have been in the least bit vain about any physical shortcomings he may have had. He looked a bit like a benign clergyman, perhaps of the Anglican faith, an image enhanced by his soft, almost soothing voice. He once said he was "always short and stocky, and not a particularly handsome thing. I could never play romantic leads." After "Miracle on 34th Street," however, Gwenn was a star and constantly in demand, especially when the role called for a kindly eccentric.
Gwenn remained a British subject all his life. When he first moved to Hollywood, he lived at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel in Beverly Hills. His home in London had been reduced to rubble during the bombings by the Luftwaffe in World War II. Only the fireplace survived. What Gwenn regretted most was the loss of the memorabilia he had collected of the famous actor Henry Irving. Eventually Gwenn bought a house at 617 North Bedford Drive in Beverly Hills, which he was to share with his secretary and "confidential man", Ernest C. Bach, and later with former Olympic athlete Rodney Soher.
The year 1950 brought a pair of interesting films. In Louisa (1950) he and Charles Coburn were romantic rivals for the hand of Spring Byington. In one scene Gwenn socks Coburn in the jaw, though Coburn later bests him in arm wrestling. Gwenn wins Byington's hand in the end. He was also delightful in Mister 880 (1950) as a kindly counterfeiter. Gwenn received his second Oscar nomination for his performance, though this time he lost out to George Sanders in All About Eve (1950) He did, however, win the Golden Globe Award.
In 1952 he appeared in Sally and Saint Anne (1952) as Grandpa Patrick Ryan, affecting an Irish brogue for the role. He played football coach Pop Doyle, teamed up with a chimpanzee, in Bonzo Goes to College (1952). "The Student Prince" followed in 1954, as did the science-fiction classic Them! (1954). This film raises an interesting observation. The year before, Cecil Kellaway had appeared in another sci-fi classic, The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms (1953). Watch the two films together and you'll see that the two cousins are playing essentially the same role, that of an elderly scientist with a lovely daughter who is able to provide the hero, and the audience, with some scholarly background on the dangers they face. The two actors could easily have switched roles. "Them!" is noteworthy, too, in that it was a particularly physically painful part for Gwenn. By this time he was 77 and suffering from advanced arthritis. Several scenes in the movie were filmed in the desert, where the temperature often reached 110 degrees. The costumer had outfitted him in a wool suit for some of the early scenes. Joan Weldon, who played his daughter, has noted that Gwenn was in great discomfort and almost certainly could not have continued without the help of his valet, Ernest.
The next year Gwenn was in It's a Dog's Life (1955) and The Trouble with Harry (1955). His film work has some interesting patterns. "Dog's Life" was at least the third time Gwenn made a film centered on a dog. He had already co-starred with Pal as Lassie in Lassie Come Home (1943) and Challenge to Lassie (1949). "Harry" was Gwenn's fourth picture directed by Alfred Hitchcock, the others being "The Skin Game", Strauss' Great Waltz (1934) and "Foreign Correspondent". Gwenn's last feature film was The Rocket from Calabuch (1956), shot in Spain and released in 1958, when he was 81. As for TV, his most memorable role may have been as a snowman that comes to life in a Christmas night telecast on The Ford Television Theatre (1952) from a story by Nathaniel Hawthorne, "Heart of Gold".
Gwenn's final days were spent at the Motion Picture Home in Woodland Hills, California. Having endured terrible arthritis for many years, he had suffered a stroke, and then contracted pneumonia, from which he died at age 81 on September 6, 1959. His body was cremated, and his ashes were originally stored in a private vault at the Chapel of the Pines Crematory in Los Angeles. In March 2023, Gwenn's misplaced urn was found in the vault by Hollywood Graveyard creator Arthur Dark and researcher Jessical Wahl. Dark and Wahl created a GoFundMe campaign to fund moving Gwenn's urn to a publicly accessible location and, on December 3, 2023, Gwenn's urn was reinurned in the Cathedral Mausoleum at Hollywood Forever Cemetery.
Gwenn had appointed Rodney Soher as the executor of his will, in which he had left Minnie Terry one-third of his estate, his sister Elsie Kellaway a third, and Ernest Bach a third, in addition to his clothes, shoes, linens, ties and luggage. However, for some reason, while he was spending his last days at the Motion Picture Home, Gwenn signed a codicil to his will, in which he said he had given Bach the lump sum of $5000, and that was all he was to receive. After Gwenn's death, Bach challenged the codicil, claiming that Gwenn was not of sound mind while in the Home and that some unnamed person--possibly referring to Soher--had unduly influenced Gwenn to change his will. The outcome is not known. There is a story that has been around for years that shortly before he died a visitor observed, "It must be hard [to die]", to which Gwenn replied, "Dying is easy. Comedy is hard". The story and the wording vary somewhat from teller to teller. Gwenn may indeed have said it, but he may have been repeating someone else. The quotation has also been ascribed to several earlier wits, including his mentor George Bernard Shaw and the famous actor Edward Keane. Gwenn's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame can be found at 1751 Vine Street.