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1-50 of 114
- Actor
- Writer
Born by the Atlantic Ocean, Jeremy Slate also had a Pacific Ocean view when he lived in Malibu, California. In between oceans he has traveled the world.
He attended a military academy, joined the US Navy at 16 and was barely 18 when his destroyer joined the invasion of Normandy on D-Day (June 6, 1944). Aboard that destroyer at Omaha Beach that day, he vowed if he survived the attack he would make his life a never-ending series of adventures. He has lived up to that promise with adventures as a lifeguard, a swimming instructor, the first person to swim across the Long Island Sound after the war, college graduate with honors in English, writer, songwriter, screenwriter, a radio announcer, actor and director.
After the war he attended St. Lawrence University, graduating with honors. He was president of the student body, editor of the college literary magazine, a football player and backfield coach of the only undefeated freshman team in the school's history. A campus radio personality in his senior year, he married the queen of his fraternity's ball. Chosen for the school's honor society, he was a big man on campus. After graduating, he became a professional radio sportscaster and DJ for CBS and ABC affiliates while beginning a family that ultimately included three sons and two daughters, but unfortunately the marriage ended in divorce.
As a young man with a growing family, he had a promising career as a public relations executive with W.R. Grace and Co. For six years he worked for Grace as travel manager for its president, Peter Grace. He then joined the Grace Steamship Line and moved with his family to Lima, Peru.
While in Peru he joined a professional theater group and became involved with the production of "The Rainmaker" at the Professional English Language Theater in Lima. He was awarded the Tiahuanacothe, the Peruvian equivalent of the Tony award, for his portrayal of the character Starbuck. After a year of training, he left W.R. Grace to pursue a theatrical career and was cast in a small, significant role in the Pulitzer Prize-winning play, "Look Homeward, Angel" on Broadway and did 254 performances.
Known as one of the more talented members of Hollywood's beach boy set of the 1960s, Slate sent feminine hearts aflutter as the star of the 1960 TV series The Aquanauts (1960). His career included numerous guest-starring roles in popular television programs of the 1950s and 1960s. He guest-starred in nearly 100 television shows as well as appearing in 20 feature films.
While about half of his portrayals have been heavies, Jeremy is equally adept at comedy and has worked with some of Hollywood's best. He was punched out by Elvis Presley in Girls! Girls! Girls! (1962), Frankie Avalon broke a guitar over his head in I'll Take Sweden (1965), he was knocked silly by Van Johnson in Wives and Lovers (1963), was shot by John Wayne in True Grit (1969), died spectacularly while trying to save the Duke's life in The Sons of Katie Elder (1965), was shot between the eyes by Billy Jack (Tom Laughlin in The Born Losers (1967) and went up in flames in The Lawnmower Man (1992). Jeremy wrote the screen story for Hell's Angels '69 (1969). During the filming of this biker film (which he described as a "western on wheels") he broke his leg, and never rode a motorcycle again.
An accomplished country-and-western songwriter and a BMI member, Jeremy wrote the lyrics to the Tex Ritter top-ten song "Just Beyond the Moon" and also wrote the lyrics for "Every Time I Itch (I Wind Up Scratchin' You)" recorded by Glen Campbell on Capitol Records.
Jeremy Slate died on November 19, 2006, from complications following surgery for esophageal cancer.- Actor
- Soundtrack
Henry Burk Jones was born in New Jersey and raised in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He was the son of Helen (Burk) and John Francis Xavier Jones, and the grandson of Pennsylvania Representative Henry Burk, a Prussian immigrant. He graduated from St. Joseph's College. His Broadway debut was in 1938 in Maurice Evans' "Hamlet" (Reynaldo and the second gravedigger). He served in the army in World War II. His highly-reviewed stage appearances included the murdered handyman in "The Bad Seed," which he reprised in the film version (The Bad Seed (1956)), and the part of Louis Howe, President Franklin D. Roosevelt's confidant in Sunrise at Campobello (1960). Though very ordinary in appearance ("The casting directors didn't know what to do with me. I was never tall enough or good looking enough to play juvenile leads"), he had a long and varied career on Broadway, in movies and television. His parts included a wide range of second-string roles (ministers, judges, janitors), often with a dark and even frightening underside. His television career, which included over 150 appearances, began early, in 1950. Though his movies included such well-known titles as Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? (1957), 3:10 to Yuma (1957), Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969), The Grifters (1990), and Dick Tracy (1990) no doubt his most recognizable screen performance was in the brief role of the methodical, nearly cruel coroner in Alfred Hitchcock's Vertigo (1958). He lived in Santa Monica, CA, and died 17 May 1999, aged 86, at the UCLA Medical Center.- Rosalind Cash was an actress whose career endured and flourished on stage, screen, and television, despite her staunch refusal to portray stereotypical Black roles. Ms. Cash was nominated for an Emmy for her work on the Public Broadcasting Service production of Go Tell It on the Mountain (1985). She was popular in other highly rated television productions, including the special King Lear (1983) and Guyana Tragedy: The Story of Jim Jones (1980). She also guest starred on such popular television series as Barney Miller (1975), Police Story (1973), Kojak (1973), The Mary Tyler Moore Show (1970), China Beach (1988), Thirtysomething (1987), Cagney & Lacey (1981), and Hill Street Blues (1981).
- King Kong Bundy was riding a win streak of 300 consecutive victories when he challenged Terry "Hulk" Hogan to the World Wrestling Federation World's Heavyweight Championship. Budy's streak was snapped when Hogan defeated him in a wild brawl.
- Anne Francine was best known for her stage portrayal of the flamboyant Vera Charles in "Mame". She played the role--her favorite--both on Broadway and in touring productions.
Her long and successful career began in the nightclubs. She made her professional debut in New York at the elegant Coq Rouge, where a one-night booking turned into a celebrated three-year engagement. Early in her career she made a successful transition from nightclubs to the legitimate stage, performing in both drama and musical comedy. She was featured on Broadway with Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne in "The Great Sebastions", with Shirley Booth in "By The Beautiful Sea" and with Maurice Evans in "Tenderloin". She spent two seasons as a member of Ellis Rabb's acclaimed APA Repertory Company, alternating with Helen Hayes as "Mrs. Candor" in "School For Scandal", joining Rabb and Rosemary Harris in "You Can't Take It With You" as the "Grand Duchess Olga Katrina", and appearing in Jean Anouilh's "The Flies" under the direction of Vinnette Carroll. In regional theatre she had starred in "Mother Courage", "The Importance Of Being Earnest", "The Skin Of Our Teeth", "Twelfth Night" and "Company". She appeared in films including Federico Fellini's Juliet of the Spirits (1965), Mike Frankovich's Stand Up and Be Counted (1972) and Savages (1972). - Actress
- Writer
- Producer
Lotus Long's father was Japanese and her mother was an ethnic Hawaiian. The family came to California in the 1920s and, because of her exotic beauty, Lotus didn't find it difficult to get into the movies and portrayed a succession of various Asian women. She took the stage name "Lotus Long", and was generally assumed to be Chinese--something she later relied on to avoid internment with others of Japanese ancestry during WWII.
She met cameraman James Knott while in the Arctic with W.S. Van Dyke filming Eskimo (1933) in the early 1930s. They soon married. They lived 40 years on Beverly Glen, near Westwood Village in Los Angeles, before moving to Orange County.- Actor
- Additional Crew
- Soundtrack
Eddie Collins was born on 30 January 1883 in Atlantic City, New Jersey, USA. He was an actor, known for The Blue Bird (1940), Charlie Chan in Honolulu (1938) and Quick Millions (1939). He was married to Florence Wilmot (actress). He died on 2 September 1940 in Arcadia, California, USA.- Producer
- Director
- Writer
Albert Zugsmith was born on 24 April 1910 in Atlantic City, New Jersey, USA. He was a producer and director, known for Touch of Evil (1958), Sappho Darling (1968) and The Cult (1971). He died on 26 October 1993 in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, California, USA.- Actor
- Stunts
- Additional Crew
Cap Somers was a bit actor and stuntman. He came to be known as Cap after returning from France during WWI as a captain in the U.S. Marine Corps. As a child who grew up around the New Jersey fisheries, he was nicknamed "Fimp" for his lispy pronunciation of shrimp. Fredrick was a descendant of the Somers Family of Somers Point, New Jersey, near Atlantic City. He was a hometown hero athlete and lifeguard who excelled in baseball, football, and basketball. He played professional baseball with the New York Giants in 1914. He was a scout for Connie Mack's Philadelphia Athletics. He did sports reporting for the New York Times in 1926. His prosperity earned in the real estate and insurance business crashed in 1929. In 1930 a late night brawl with a friend result in his friend's death. Somers was cleared of charges. Somers headed to the west coast in 1931. In addition to his many small roles in film, Somers was declared the "Bravest Man in Hollywood" in 1940 as the result of his work, "Follow the Arrow." In this MGM short, archer Pete Smith attempted to hit an apple on Somers' head at a distance of fifty feet. Somers died on September 18, 1970 in Los Angeles from a heart attack and stroke, leaving a daughter from his first marriage, Evelyn S. Offutt.- Actress
- Writer
Valerie Solanas, born in 1936, had a childhood of abuse. While taking Biology at the University of Maryland in 1957, she studied human chromosomes (there are 23 pairs). She noticed the male sex chromosomes are XY, and the female are XX. Since the Y chromosome is like the X, but with a part missing, males are more susceptible to deficiencies like baldness, hemophilia, and colorblindness. Solanas determined males are just plain genetically inferior. She would write her SCUM Manifesto, in which she blamed men for everything that is wrong in the world, including war. Since the Vietnam war was raging in the 1960s, she got some followers. She panhandled in New York City around 1966-1968, living in a $25 a week room. A voracious writer, she felt she had been ripped off by publisher named Maurice, when she sold him the rights to her work "Scum Manifesto." She also felt Andy Warhol ripped her off, because he took her script for a play she'd written, but he never produced it. On June 3, 1968, Solanas shot Andy Warhol, earning herself a place in history. Andy recovered; Solanas spent 3 years in an Institute for the Criminally Insane. After being released in 1971, Solanas would never achieve such fame again. The rest of her life, she had some followers, but lived comparatively low profile. She died in relative obscurity in San Francisco in 1988.- Born during the Depression to a dirt-poor single mother in Atlantic City. New Jersey, Dave Thomas was adopted as an infant by a traveling construction worker and his wife. Moving out on his own at age 15, Thomas held a succession of jobs in the food industry, starting out as a busboy and working his way up. A fateful meeting in 1956 with Col. Harland Sanders, founder of the Kentucky Fried Chicken chain, led to Thomas' investing money in one of Sanders' KFC franchises, which paid off handsomely and made him a millionaire by the time he was 35. In 1969 Thomas decided to strike out on his own and left KFC to start his own chain of fast-food restaurants, Wendy's (named after his daughter, whose name was actually Melinda but whose nickname was Wendy) Hamburgers, in Ohio. Eventually the chain grew to more than 6000 restaurants, with annual sales revenue topping $6 billion. As successful as his business career was, however, Thomas was even more famous for his appearances in the company's commercials, where he came across as just a regular guy next door who got along with everybody and was the kind of grandfather that everyone wished they'd had--which, according to many who knew and worked with him, was exactly how he was in real life. He never forgot how tough it was to be an adopted kid, and founded the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption to help both adopted children and the families who adopt them. He died of liver cancer in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, in 2002.
- Producer
- Actor
- Additional Crew
Norman Twain was born on 13 September 1930 in Atlantic City, New Jersey, USA. He was a producer and actor, known for Lean on Me (1989), Standing Room Only (1976) and Scar (2007). He was married to Deanna Deignan and Sandra Church. He died on 6 August 2016 in Los Angeles, USA.- Patsy Garrett was born on 4 May 1921 in Atlantic City, New Jersey, USA. She was an actress, known for Benji (1974), Nanny and the Professor (1970) and The Parallax View (1974). She was married to Alexander Kokinacis. She died on 8 January 2015 in Indio, California, USA.
- Actor
- Stunts
Paul-Michael Thoma was born on February 27, 1989 in Atlantic City, NJ and raised in Port St. Lucie, FL. He is an American actor best known for his work on features and shows such as Top Gun: Maverick, Stranger Things, Reno 911!, Michael Bay's Ambulance, Bosch: Legacy, and Amazon's Jack Ryan.- Actor
- Cinematographer
- Camera and Electrical Department
Born in the Frank Sinatra Wing of the Atlantic City Hospital in New Jersey - Edward McGinty developed an early interest in photography & film from his father, an early pioneer in Cable TV. He later took his camera on the road during his tenure as Stage Manager/MC/Roadie, with the Lollapalooza Music Festival, and soon became a trigger-man for many music legends of the era, such as The Beastie Boys, The Red Hot Chilli Peppers and The Distillers. Taking a break from the road, he attended the prestigious American Conservatory Theatre to train as an Actor & Director. Following A.C.T. he was accepted to Columbia University where he received an M.F.A. in Film (Directing & Screenwriting) at Columbia's School of the Arts. At Columbia he received the James Bridges Development Award for Excellence in Directing Actors. His thesis film, "Morning Fall" has been awarded Faculty Honors at the Columbia University Film Festival, was a Finalist for the Student Academy Awards & Winner of the Jury Prize for Best Short Film at the Malibu International Film Festival. Edward also directs Music Videos & develops Screenplays. His Photography is featured in the book, "Mondo Lucha a Go-Go: The Bizarre & Honorable World of Wild Mexican Wrestling" recently released by Harper Collins.- Producer
- Writer
Jack Abramoff is an American lobbyist, businessman, movie producer and writer.
Jack Abramoff was College Republican National Committee National Chairman from 1981 to 1985, a founding member of the International Freedom Foundation, and served on the board of directors of the National Center for Public Policy Research. From 1994 to 2001 he was a top lobbyist for the firm of Preston Gates & Ellis, and then for Greenberg Traurig until March 2004.
Abramoff's lobbying and the surrounding scandals and investigation are the subject of two 2010 films: the documentary Casino Jack and the United States of Money (2010), released in May 2010, and the feature film Casino Jack (2010), released on December 17, 2010, starring Kevin Spacey as Abramoff.- Writer
- Script and Continuity Department
- Producer
Laurence Marks was born on 23 August 1915 in Atlantic City, New Jersey, USA. Laurence was a writer and producer, known for M*A*S*H (1972), Doc (1975) and How to Marry a Millionaire (1957). Laurence was married to Nora. Laurence died on 1 January 1993 in Van Nuys, California, USA.- Animation Department
- Art Department
- Art Director
Al Dempster was born on 23 July 1911 in Atlantic City, New Jersey, USA. He was an art director, known for Lady and the Tramp (1955), Mary Poppins (1964) and Dumbo (1941). He died on 28 June 2001 in Ventura, California, USA.- Cavada Humphrey was born on 17 June 1919 in Atlantic City, New Jersey, USA. She was an actress, known for Thoroughly Modern Millie (1967), Dark Shadows (1966) and Robert Montgomery Presents (1950). She was married to Jerome Kilty. She died on 11 July 2007 in London, England, UK.
- Actress
- Soundtrack
Brunette Helen Forrest was born Helen Fogel in Atlantic City, New Jersey. She loved singing from early childhood and keenly listened to recordings by all the major female jazz and blues vocalists of the day. At the age of ten, Helen competed in a dance marathon and sang with her brother's band in Washington, D.C. By the time she reached her mid-teens, was a salaried employee of CBS radio and WNEW (New York), singing under the pseudonyms Bonnie Blue, Blue Lady and Marlene. In 1937, she was invited for a guest spot with the orchestra of Bunny Berigan. Clarinettist and bandleader Artie Shaw witnessed her performance and was so impressed that he promptly hired her as main female vocalist to perform alongside the great Billie Holiday.
Though their styles and repertoire differed considerably, Billie was very supportive and became a powerful (though sadly short-lived) influence on young Helen. When Billie was forced to leave the band in October 1938 due to race-related issues (much to Shaw's disgust), Helen was thrust into the limelight as the band's sole vocal star. Performing out of the Blue Room of New York's Hotel Lincoln, she recorded the first of some 40 sides with Shaw, including two tracks that made it to Number 1 in the U.S. charts: "They Say" and "Thanks for Everything". Though Helen was not, perhaps, a jazz singer in the truest sense, she brought to her songs a wistful 'girl-next-door' quality that no other singer of the time possessed in equal measure. The femininity and warmth of her voice and the clear, emotional phrasing of her lyrics were never more effectively expressed than in the Tin Pan Alley ballads showcased by the Shaw orchestra, notably Rodgers & Hart's "I Didn't Know What Time It Was", "What's New", Jimmy Van Heusen's "Deep In A Dream" (which reached Number 3 in the charts) and "Melancholy Mood" (from the Broadway musical 'Very Warm For May').
Helen's vocals contributed in no small measure to the success and popularity of the Artie Shaw orchestra and she herself became a national favorite. However, when Shaw impulsively disbanded the organisation in November 1939, Helen found herself momentarily unemployed. Benny Goodman, who was notorious for his off-hand attitude towards his singers, seized the opportunity for a bargain and hired her at half her previous salary. Thus began the second phase of Helen's career which lasted until 1941. She made 54 recordings with the Goodman band, many of them arranged by the brilliant Eddie Sauter who tailored many songs specifically for her voice, including "How High The Moon", Gershwin's "The Man I Love" and , another Number 1 hit, "Taking A Chance On Love", by Vernon Duke. After two years, Helen felt herself unable to cope any further with Goodman's abuse and left to join trumpet playing bandleader Harry James in what became a very productive collaboration.
Unlike her previous employers, James didn't merely utilize Helen as a band vocalist, but as jazz critic George T. Simon put it, he built "the arrangements around his horn and Helen's voice, establishing warmer moods by slowing down the tempo so that two, instead of the usual three or more choruses, would fill a record ...many an arrangement would build to a closing climax during Helen's vocal, so that she would emerge as its star" (p.270, "The Big Bands", 1968). Helen recorded several top hits with the band, notably "Skylark", "I Don't Want To Walk Without You" and "I've Heard That Song Before". She was frequently paired with the band's main male vocalist, Buenos Aires-born crooner Dick Haymes, performing duets such as "Long Ago And Far Away". At this time, Helen was also showcased in several colourful motion pictures as part of 'Harry James and His Music Makers' , singing one of her most enduring numbers (and the title of her autobiography, co-written with Bill Libby) "I Had The Craziest Dream" in Springtime in the Rockies (1942). The film starred Betty Grable, who eventually became Mrs. Harry James. Helen, who had been romantically involved with James, left the band in late 1943 to pursue a solo career.
During the next few years, Helen free-lanced, playing in clubs and theatres and teaming up with Haymes for a popular radio show. As the big band era drew to a close, she became less active as a recording artist, though, in 1955, Helen briefly rejoined the James orchestra to record some of their earlier hits together on a new compendium LP, entitled 'Harry James in Hi Fi'. In the early 60's, she went on tour with the Sam Donahue-led orchestra of Tommy Dorsey, then, in 1964, with Frank Sinatra. Helen had a stroke in 1980, but still went on to work on her final album, 'Now and Forever', which was released in 1983. Rheumatoid arthritis eventually necessitated her retirement and she died in July 1999 at the age of 82. To this day, Helen Forrest is regarded by many as the most outstanding female vocalist of the swing era.- Actress
- Producer
- Podcaster
Melanie Waldman was born on 21 March 1991 in Atlantic City, New Jersey, USA. She is an actress and producer, known for Goliath (2016), Clerks III (2022) and The Zombie Wedding (2023).- Dawn Nickerson, also known as Dawn Nickerson Fox, began singing and acting professionally at 13 years old. She appeared in Jerome Kern's off broadway production "Leave It To Jane" in 1960, playing the role of "Cori". Garson Kanin and Ruth Gordon saw her in this show and asked me to come and audition for "Do Re Mi". She began as the understudy to the ingenue lead but finally took over the part at the 54th Street Theatre. Another Broadway production Dawn starred in was "Subways Are For Sleeping", as a standby for Carol Lawrence. She went on many times and received rave reviews, including one from Dorothy Killgallen. Dawn also appeared in off Broadway shows such as "Light As A Feather" and "Riverwind" in the starring role of Jenny in 1962. She was doing "Riverwind" when she was asked to screen test for a new TV series named Harry's Girls (1963). Hundreds of girls auditioned on both coasts, and Dawn won the role of Lois. It was during her guest appearance on "Route 66" that Dawn met her future husband and decided to retire from show business, devoting her time to her family. In the 1970's she did return to local TV and did some regional theatre but did not want to travel so she did not pursue anything on a big scale.
- Actor
- Soundtrack
Philip Arthur Ross began his career on Broadway at age 13 in the 1983 Tony award- winning musical, "On Your Toes". His understudy in the show was his twin brother Steven Robert Ross, who performed several times during the run. After the show closed in 1984, the twins moved to Los Angeles to pursue television and film, and almost always worked together. In addition to his film and television credits, Philip also received a Bachelor's Degree in Theatre Arts from California State University, Northridge in 1995, and a Master's Degree from California Institute of the Arts in 2004.- Actress
- Additional Crew
At the tender age of 5, Kerri began her acting career. She performed with the Atlantic City Children's Theater under the tutelage of Mrs. Joanna LaSane. Several of her most notable performances were in; The Wiz, KY and The Curb and Scrooge. As a child actor and model Kerri was featured in several print ads and commercials. In the early 90's she was 2nd runner-up in The Miss New Jersey Teen All-American pageant and later went on to graduate from The University of Maryland, College Park with a BA in Communications/Journalism and a minor in Spanish.
After deciding to take the Sports Journalism route, she went to work in NYC at NBC Network as a freelance sports reporter ( covering the NY Knicks), an NBC Page ( Saturday Night Live) and as a production assistant ( The Nightly News with Tom Brokaw). She later landed a gig with the Olympics ( Salt Lake City Winter Games NBC) and Comcast Sports Southeast in Atlanta as a host for "Sportsnite".
Kerri has since returned to her other love as an actress after a 15 year hiatus and can now be seen in several SAG and Indie projects. Most notably known for being the Spokesperson for the Harvey's Supermarkets commercial and VO spots, her role as the rude aunt in the TV One feature film, "Skinned" in which she starred alongside Lisa Raye McCoy, and in her comedic role as the nurse on "Still the King" with executive producer, Billy Ray Cyrus. You can also catch Kerri J. In both Seasons of Prank Encounters streaming on Netflix alongside Gaten Matarazzo, on BET as Shanice in Rolling Into Christmas and recurring as Dr. Serena on ALLBLK's #1 Show, HUSH.
Kerri was honored in March of 2016 for her achievements in Television and Film by The City Council of Atlantic City, New Jersey. And in 2022 she was the recipient of The (Inaugural) Achiever's Award by The Department of Communication at her Alma Mater for her outstanding working in TV & Film.
By: KJB Media Networks, LLC- IMDb Mini Biography By: KJB Media Networks
- Writer
- Music Department
- Composer
Bob Merrill was born on 17 May 1921 in Atlantic City, New Jersey, USA. He was a writer and composer, known for Funny Girl (1968), What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962) and Ocean's Eight (2018). He died on 17 February 1998 in Beverly Hills, Los Angeles, California, USA.