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Distinguished U.S. actor and longtime civil rights campaigner Robert Bushnell Ryan was born in Chicago, Illinois, to Mable Arbutus (Bushnell), a secretary, and Timothy Aloysius Ryan, whose wealthy family owned a real estate firm. His father was of Irish ancestry, and his mother was of English and Irish descent. Ryan served in the United States Marines as a drill sergeant (winning a boxing championship) and went on to become a key figure in post WWII American Film Noir and western productions.

Ryan grabbed critical attention for his dynamic performances as an anti-Semitic bully in the superb Crossfire (1947),as an over-the-hill boxer who refuses to take a fall in The Set-Up (1949)and as a hostile & jaded cop in On Dangerous Ground (1951). Ryan's athletic physique, intense gaze and sharply delivered, authoritarian tones made him an ideal actor for the oily world of the Film Noir genre, and he contributed solid performances to many Film Noir features, usually as a vile villain. Ryan played a worthy opponent for bounty hunterJames Stewartin the Anthony Manndirected western The Naked Spur (1953),he locked horns with an intrepid investigator Spencer Tracyin the suspenseful Bad Day at Black Rock (1955) and starred alongsideHarry Belafontein the grimy, gangster flick Odds Against Tomorrow (1959). Plus, the inventive Ryan excelled as the ruthless "John Claggart" in Billy Budd (1962),and two different WWII US generals - first in the star-filled The Longest Day (1962)and then in Battle of the Bulge (1965).

For the next eight years prior to his untimely death in 1973, Ryan landed some tremendous roles in a mixture of productions each aided by his high-caliber acting skills leaving strong impressions on movie audiences. He was one of the hard men hired to pursue kidnapped Claudia Cardinalein the hard boiled action of The Professionals (1966),a by-the-book army colonel clashing with highly unorthodox army major Lee Marvinin The Dirty Dozen (1967),and an embittered bounty hunter (again) forced to hunt down old friend William Holdenin the violent Sam Peckinpahwestern classic The Wild Bunch (1969).Ryan's final on-screen performance was in the terrific production of The Iceman Cometh (1973)based on theEugene O'Neillplay and also starringLee Marvinand Fredric March.

Legend has it thatSam Peckinpahclashed very heatedly with Ryan during the making of The Wild Bunch (1969);however Peckinpah eventually backed down when a crew member reminded Sam of Robert Ryan's proficiency with his fists!

Primarily a man of pacifist beliefs, Ryan often found it a challenge playing sadistic and racist characters who very much were at odds with his own personal ideals. Additionally, Ryan actively campaigned for improved civil rights, restricting the growth of nuclear weapons, and he strongly opposed McCarthyism and its abuse of people who many believed were innocent. A gifted, intelligent and powerful actor, Robert Ryan passed away on July 11th, 1973 of lung cancer.

James Mason was born in Huddersfield and had a film career spanning over 50 years during which he appeared in over 100 films in England and America but never won an Oscar. Whatever role he played, from the wounded Belfast gunman in Odd Man Out to Rommel in The Desert Fox, his creamy velvet voice gave him away. Like Charlie Chaplin James left the screen to spend his later life living in Switzerland. His first marriage had been to Pamela Kellino, a Yorkshire mill owner's daughter and his second to Australian actress Clarissa Kaye.

Errol Flynn was born to adventuress Marrelle Young and respected biologistTheodore Flynn.Young Flynn was a rambunctious child who was always sure to find trouble, and he managed to get himself ejected from every school in which he was enrolled. In his late teens he set out to find gold, but instead found only a series of short-lived odd jobs.

Information is sketchy, however the positions of police constable, sanitation engineer, treasure hunter, sheep castrator, ship-master for hire, fisherman, and soldier seem to be among his more reputable career choices. The necessity to stay at least one jump ahead of the law--and jealous husbands--forced Flynn to flee to England, where he took up acting, into which he had previous stumbled when he was asked to play (ironically) Fletcher Christian in a film calledIn the Wake of the Bounty (1933).Flynn's natural athletic talent and good looks attracted the attention of Warner Brothers and soon he was off to America. His luck held when he replacedRobert Donatin the title role ofCaptain Blood (1935).He quickly rocketed to stardom as the undisputed king of adventure films, a title inherited fromDouglas Fairbanks,though which remains his to this day. Onscreen, he was the freedom loving rebel, a man of action who fought against injustice and won the hearts of damsels in the process. His off-screen passions; drinking, fighting, boating and sex, made his film escapades seem pale. His love life brought him considerable fame, three statutory rape trials, and a lasting memorial in the expression "In like Flynn". Serious roles eluded him, and as his lifestyle eroded his youthful good looks, his career declined. Trouble with lawsuits and the IRS plagued him at this time, eroding what little money he had saved. A few good roles did come his way late in life, however, these were usually that of aging alcoholic, almost mirror images of Flynn. Despite any perceived similarity, he was making a name as a serious actor before his death.

A beloved, twinkly blue-eyed doyenne of stage and screen, actress Jessica Tandy's career spanned nearly six and a half decades. In that span of time, she enjoyed an amazing film renaissance at age 80, something unheard of in a town that worships youth and nubile beauty. She was born Jessie Alice Tandy in London in 1909, the daughter of Jessie Helen (Horspool), the head of a school for mentally handicapped children, and Harry Tandy, a traveling salesman. Her parents enrolled her as a teenager at the Ben Greet Academy of Acting, where she showed immediate promise. She was 16 when she made her professional bow as Sara Manderson in the play "The Manderson Girls", and was subsequently invited to join the Birmingham Repertory Theatre. Within a couple of years, Jessica was making a number of other debuts as well. Her first West End play was in "The Rumour" at the Court Theatre in 1929, her Gotham bow was in "The Matriarch" at the Longacre Theatre in 1930, and her initial film role was as a maid in The Indiscretions of Eve (1932).

Jessica married British actor Jack Hawkinsin 1932 after the couple had met performing in the play "Autumn Crocus" the year before. They had one daughter, Susan, before parting ways after eight years of marriage. An unconventional beauty with slightly stern-eyed and sharp, hawkish features, she was passed over for leading lady roles in films, thereby focusing strongly on a transatlantic stage career throughout the 1930s and 1940s. She grew in stature while enacting a succession of Shakespeare's premiere ladies (Titania, Viola, Ophelia, Cordelia). At the same time, she enjoyed personal successes elsewhere in such plays as "French Without Tears", "Honour Thy Father", "Jupiter Laughs", "Anne of England" and "Portrait of a Madonna". And then she gave life to Blanche DuBois.

WhenTennessee Williams' masterpiece "A Streetcar Named Desire" opened on Broadway on December 3, 1947, Jessica's name became forever associated with this entrancing Southern belle character. One of the most complex, beautifully drawn, and still sought-after femme parts of all time, she went on to win the coveted Tony award. Aside from introducing Marlon Brandoto the general viewing public, "Streetcar" shot Jessica's marquee value up a thousandfold. But not in films.

While her esteemed co-stars Brando, Kim Hunterand Karl Maldenwere given the luxury of recreating their roles inElia Kazan's stark, black-and-white cinematic adaptation of A Streetcar Named Desire (1951), Jessica was devastatingly bypassed. Vivien Leigh,who played the role on stage in London and had already immortalized another coy, manipulative Southern belle on celluloid (Scarlett O'Hara), was a far more marketable film celebrity at the time and was signed on to play the delusional Blanche. To be fair, Leigh was nothing less than astounding in the role and went on to deservedly win the Academy Award (along with Malden and Hunter). Jessica would exact her revenge on Hollywood in later years.

In 1942, she entered into a second marriage, with actor/producer/directorHume Cronyn,a 52-year union that produced two children, Christopher and Tandy, the latter an actor in her own right. The couple not only enjoyed great solo success, they relished performing in each other's company. A few of their resounding theatre triumphs included the "The Fourposter" (1951), "Triple Play" (1959), "Big Fish, Little Fish (1962)," Hamlet " (he played Polonius; she played Gertrude) (1963)," The Three Sisters (1963) and "A Delicate Balance." They supported together in films too, their first being The Seventh Cross (1944).In the filmThe Green Years (1946), Jessica, who was two years older than Cronyn, actually played his daughter! Throughout the 1950s, they built up a sturdy reputation as "America's First Couple of the Theatre."

In 1963, Jessica made an isolated film appearance in Alfred Hitchcock's classic The Birds (1963).Low on the pecking order at the time (pun intended), Hitchcock gave Jessica a noticeable secondary role, and Jessica made the most of her brittle scenes as the high-strung, overbearing mother of Rod Taylor,who witnesses horror along the California coast. It was not until the 1980s that Jessica (and Hume, to a lesser degree) experienced a mammoth comeback in Hollywood.

Alongside Hume she delighted movie audiences in such enjoyable fare as Honky Tonk Freeway (1981), The World According to Garp (1982), Cocoon (1985)and *batteries not included (1987). In 1989, however, octogenarian Jessica was handed the senior citizen role of a lifetime as the prickly Southern Jewish widow who gradually forms a trusting bond with her black chauffeur in the genteel drama Driving Miss Daisy (1989). Jessica was presented with the Oscar, Golden Globe and British Film Awards, among others, for her exceptional work in the film that also won "Best Picture". Deemed Hollywood royalty now, she was handed the cream of the crop in elderly film parts and went on to win another Oscar nomination for Fried Green Tomatoes (1991) a couple of years later.

Jessica also enjoyed some of her biggest stage hits ( "Streetcar" notwithstanding) during her twilight years, earning two more Tony Awards for her exceptional work in "The Gin Game" (1977) and "Foxfire" (1982). Both co-starred her husband, Hume, and both were beautifully transferred by the couple to television. Diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 1990, Jessica bravely continued working with Emmy-winning distinction on television. She died of her illness on September 11, 1994. Her last two films, Nobody's Fool (1994)and Camilla (1994),were released posthumously.

American leading man of the 1940s and 1950s, Dana Andrews was born Carver Dana Andrews on New Years Day 1909 on a farmstead outside Collins, Covington County, Mississippi. One of thirteen children, including fellow actorSteve Forrest,he was a son of Annis (Speed) and Charles Forrest Andrews, a Baptist minister.

Andrews studied business administration at Sam Houston State Teachers College in Texas, but took a bookkeeping job with Gulf Oil in 1929, aged 20, prior to graduating. In 1931, he hitchhiked to California, hoping to get work as an actor. He drove a school bus, dug ditches, picked oranges, worked as a stock boy, and pumped gas while trying without luck to break into the movies. His employer at a Van Nuys gas station believed in him and agreed to invest in him, asking to be repaid if and when Andrews made it as an actor. Andrews studied opera and also entered the Pasadena Community Playhouse, the famed theatre company and drama school. He appeared in scores of plays there in the 1930s, becoming a favorite of the company. He played opposite future starRobert Prestonin a play about composers Gilbert and Sullivan, and soon thereafter was offered a contract bySamuel Goldwyn.

It was two years before Goldwyn and 20th Century-Fox (to whom Goldwyn had sold half of Andrews' contract) put him in a film, but the roles, though secondary, were mostly in top-quality pictures such asThe Westerner (1940)andThe Ox-Bow Incident (1942).A starring role in the hitLaura (1944),followed by one inThe Best Years of Our Lives (1946),made him a star, but no later film quite lived up to the quality of these. During his career, he had worked with with such directors asOtto Preminger,Fritz Lang,William Wyler,William A. Wellman,Jean Renoir,andElia Kazan.

Andrews slipped into a steady stream of unremarkable films in which he gave sturdy performances, until age and other interests resulted in fewer appearances. In addition, his increasing alcoholism caused him to lose the confidence of some producers. Andrews took steps to curb his addiction and in his later years was an outspoken member of the National Council on Alcoholism, who decried public refusal to face the problem. He was probably the first actor to do a public service announcement about alcoholism (in 1972 for the U.S. Department of Transportation), and did public speaking tours. Andrews was one of the first to speak out against the degradation of the acting profession, particularly actresses doing nude scenes just to get a role.

Andrews was elected president of the Screen Actors Guild in 1963, serving until 1965. He retired from films in the 1960s and made, he said, more money from real estate than he ever did in movies. Yet he and his second wife, actress Mary Todd, lived quietly in a modest home in Studio City, California. Andrews suffered from Alzheimer's disease in his later years and spent his final days in a nursing facility. He died of congestive heart failure and pneumonia in 1992, aged 83.

Tall, rangy Jim Davis spent much of his early career in westerns mainly at Republic Pictures. The Missouri-born and -raised Davis' relaxed, easygoing manner and Southern drawl easily fit most moviegoers' image of the cowboy and Republic put him in a ton of them over the years (the fact that, unlike a lot of movie cowboys, he looked right at home on a horse didn't hurt, either). He alternated between good-guy and villain roles, one of his better ones being that of the devious, murderous fur trapper working for Kirk Douglas' competition in The Big Sky (1952).He is best known, however, for his role as Ewing family patriarch Jock in the long-running TV seriesDallas (1978).

Robert Murray Helpmann was born in Mount Gambier, Australia, as the eldest of three children born to stock and station agent James Murray Helpman and Mary Gardiner.

After the family moved to Adelaide in 1914, Helpmann was educated at Prince Alfred's College, but he soon left school at the age of 14 to focus on dance, specifically ballet. He was taught ballet by Nora Stewart. Helpmann first danced solo at the Theatre Royal in Adelaide in "The Ugly Duckling" in 1922. In 1926, he was trained by Alexis Dolinoff, the leading male dancer forAnna Pavlova,whom Helpmann soon became an apprentice for. The next year, in 1927, he joined J. C. Williamson Ltd. as their star dancer.

Helpmann went on to become the principal dancer at Sadlers Wells Ballet from 1933 to 1950. World renowned as a dancer and choreographer, amongst his other achievements he was the director of the Australian Ballet Company. He directed the world tour ofMargot Fonteynin 1963.

Towards the end of his life, Helpmann was living in Balmoral, a suburb of Mosman, in Sydney, Australia. On September 28, 1986, Helpmann died in the Royal North Shore Hospital in Sydney, at the age of 77, from emphysema, having been a lifelong smoker.

The British actor Michael Rennie worked as a car salesman and factory manager before he turned to acting. A meeting with a Gaumont-British Studios casting director led to Rennie's first acting job - that of stand-in forRobert Youngin Secret Agent (1936)directed by Alfred Hitchcock.He put his film career on hold for a few years to get some acting experience on the stage, working in repertory in York and Windsor. Afterwards, he returned to films and achieved star status in I'll Be Your Sweetheart (1945). Brought to Hollywood in 1950 and signed to a contract by studio head Darryl F. Zanuck,Rennie was cast in arguably his most popular role as Klaatu in The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951), when directorRobert Wise's first choice,Claude Rains,was unavailable. After that he worked as a supporting actor for eight years until his return to England in 1959. At that time, he took the lead role of Harry Lime in the television series The Third Man (1959). Throughout his career, he made numerous guest appearances on television, particularly on American programs.

Beaumont began his career in show business by perfoming in theatres, nightclubs, and on the radio in 1931. He attended the University of Chattanooga, but left when his position on the football team was changed. He later attended the University of Southern California, and graduated with a Master of Theology degree in 1946. He was visiting his son Hunter, a Psychology Professor in Munich, at the time of his sudden death.

Burl Ives was one of six children born to a farming family in Hunt City, Jasper, Illinois, the son of Cordellia "Dellie" (White) and Levi Franklin Ives. He first sang in public for a soldiers' reunion when he was age 4. In high school, he learned the banjo and played fullback, intending to become a football coach when he enrolled at Eastern Illinois State Teacher's College in 1927. He dropped out in 1930 and wandered, hitching rides, doing odd jobs, street singing.

Summer stock in the late 1930s led to a job with CBS radio in 1940; through his "Wayfaring Stranger" he popularized many of the folk songs he had collected in his travels. By the 1960s, he had hits on both popular and country charts. He recorded over 30 albums for Decca and another dozen for Columbia. In 1964 he was singer-narrator ofRudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (1964),an often-repeated Christmas television special. His Broadway debut was in 1938, though he is best remembered for creating the role of Big Daddy in the 1950sCat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958)when it ran on Broadway through the early 1950s.

His four-decade, 30+ movie career began with Ives playing a singing cowboy inSmoky (1946)and reached its peak with (again) his role as Big Daddy role in the movie version ofCat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958)and winning an Oscar for best supporting actor inThe Big Country (1958),both in 1958. Ives officially retired from show business on his 80th birthday in 1989 and settled in Anacortes, Washington, although he continued to do frequent benefit performances at his own request. Burl Ives died in 1995.

Born as Vivian Roberta Jones in Cherryvale, Kansas, she had a brother and four sisters. Her family moved to Independence, Kansas, and later studied drama under Anna Ingleman andWilliam Inge.Their next move, to Albuquerque, New Mexico, brought her to that city's Little Theatre, which provided her the money she needed to study underEva Le Galliennein New York. After arriving in 1932 she had trouble finding stage work until she began a two-year stint inJerome KernandOscar Hammerstein's "Music in the Air".

She next understudiedEthel Mermanin the hit "Anything Goes." Her first starring role was asKay Thompson's last minute replacement in "Hooray for What!", starringEd Wynn.In 1945, while starring in a touring company of "Voice of the Turtle" she had a nervous breakdown. After undergoing psychotherapy and limited movie work, she returned to the play at the La Jolla (California) Playhouse, where she was seen byDesi Arnazwho decided she was perfect for the role of Ethel Mertz (Ball and Arnaz's first choice,Bea Benaderet,was unavailable) in theI Love Lucy (1951)television series.

At first she didn't want the part (too frumpy), and hated being cast as the wife ofWilliam Frawley(she was 42, he was 64, and the two never got along). Frawley, an alcoholic and on the professional skids had actively campaigned for the role of Fred Mertz after learning thatGale Gordonwas also unavailable. Desi Arnaz hired him, but only under strict conditions regarding alcohol consumption and professionalism. The runaway success of the series forced the two to work together but Frawley never forgave Vance for a comment she made about the disparity in their ages, which he overheard. AfterI Love Lucy (1951)ended she divorced her third husband, married again to John Dodds, and they moved to Stamford, Connecticut, the first time she had lived east of the Mississippi (aside from work) in many years.

In 1962, she began work onThe Lucy Show (1962),but the pressures of long-distance commuting didn't suit her, so after three years she limited her herself to guest appearances. In 1974, she and her husband moved to Belvedere, California (just north of San Francisco Bay) so she could be near her sister. She battled ill-health throughout much of the 1970s and died in 1979, aged 70, of breast and bone cancer.

Known for his creative stage direction, Elia Kazan was born Elias Kazantzoglou on September 7, 1909 in Constantinople, Ottoman Empire (now Istanbul, Turkey). Noted for drawing out the best dramatic performances from his actors, he directed 21 actors to Oscar nominations, resulting in nine wins. He directed a string of successful films, includingA Streetcar Named Desire (1951),On the Waterfront (1954),andEast of Eden (1955).During his career, he won two Oscars as Best Director and received an Honorary Oscar, won three Tony Awards, and four Golden Globe Awards.

His films were concerned with personal or social issues of special concern to him. Kazan writes, "I don't move unless I have some empathy with the basic theme." His first such "issue" film wasGentleman's Agreement (1947),withGregory Peck,which dealt with anti-Semitism in America. It received 8 Oscar nominations and three wins, including Kazan's first for Best Director. It was followed byPinky (1949),one of the first films in mainstream Hollywood to address racial prejudice against black people.A Streetcar Named Desire (1951),an adaptation of the stage play which he had also directed, received 12 Oscar nominations, winning four, and wasMarlon Brando's breakthrough role. In 1954, he directedOn the Waterfront (1954),a film about union corruption on the New York harbor waterfront. In 1955, he directed John Steinbeck'sEast of Eden (1955),which introducedJames Deanto movie audiences.

A turning point in Kazan's career came with his testimony as a witness before the House Committee on Un-American Activities in 1952 at the time of the Hollywood blacklist, which brought him strong negative reactions from many liberal friends and colleagues. His testimony helped end the careers of former acting colleaguesMorris CarnovskyandArt Smith,along with ending the work of playwrightClifford Odets.Kazan later justified his act by saying he took "only the more tolerable of two alternatives that were either way painful and wrong." Nearly a half-century later, his anti-Communist testimony continued to cause controversy. When Kazan was awarded an honorary Oscar in 1999, dozens of actors chose not to applaud as 250 demonstrators picketed the event.

Kazan influenced the films of the 1950s and 1960s with his provocative, issue-driven subjects. DirectorStanley Kubrickcalled him, "without question, the best director we have in America, and capable of performing miracles with the actors he uses." On September 28, 2003, Elia Kazan died at age 94 of natural causes at his apartment in Manhattan, New York City.Martin Scorseseco-directed the documentary filmA Letter to Elia (2010)as a personal tribute to Kazan.

Born in Norfolk, Virginia to wealthy stockbroker Cornelius Hancock Sullavan and heiress Garland Council Sullavan, Margaret Brooke overcame a muscle weakness in her childhood to go on to become a rebellious teenager at posh private schools. She went on to perform with the University Players at Harvard and made her Broadway debut in Hello, Lola in 1926. Her Christmas Day marriage in 1931 to Henry Fondalasted only 15 months, and her later marriages to directorWilliam Wyler and agentLeland Haywardwere also tempestuous. Two of her three children, Bridget and Bill, would spend some time in mental institutions, and commit suicide. Friends noted that the collapse of her family life led to her breakdown. Her condition worsened over time, until she was discovered unconscious from barbiturate poisoning in a hotel room. Her death was ruled accidental by the county coroner.

Ann Sothern's film career started as an extra in 1927. Originally a redhead, she began to bleach her hair blonde for comedy roles. After working at MGM and on Broadway, Ann was signed by Columbia Pictures forLet's Fall in Love (1933).The next year she would work withEddie Cantorin his hitKid Millions (1934).For the next two years, Ann would appear in a number of "B" pictures until she was dropped by Columbia in 1936. She then went to RKO, where the quality of her films did not improve. She appeared in a series of "B' pictures movies withGene Raymond,but her career was going nowhere. In 1938 she left RKO and played the tart inTrade Winds (1938),which got her a contract at MGM. She was given the lead in a "B" comedy about a brassy, energetic showgirl not salesgirl--originally intended for Jean Harlow--that wound up becoming a huge hit and spawned a series of sequels that ran until 1947:Maisie (1939).Ann also appeared in such well received features asBrother Orchid (1940),Cry 'Havoc' (1943)andA Letter to Three Wives (1949).After 1950 the roles dried up and Ann turned to television and another hit series, playing the meddlesome Susie in the 1953 seriesPrivate Secretary (1953).The series was canceled in 1957 and Ann came back inThe Ann Sothern Show (1958),which ran from 1958 to 1961. In 1965, she would be the voice of the 1928 Porter in the camp classicMy Mother the Car (1965).While the 1970s and 1980s were relatively quiet for Ann, she would be nominated for an Academy Award for her role as the neighbor ofLillian GishandBette DavisinThe Whales of August (1987).

Ruby Keelerstarted as a dancer on Broadway. After her marriage toAl Jolson she moved to Hollywood and become a star in Warners musicals opposite Dick Powell.After her divorce from Jolson she retired for almost 30 years, until she appeared in "No No Nanette" on Broadway in 1971 under the direction ofBusby Berkeley.

Whit Bissell came to Hollywood in the 1940s, and by the time he retired he had appeared in more than 200 movies and scores of TV series. He is best known for playing the evil scientist who turnedMichael Landoninto a half beast in the 1957 cult classic filmI Was a Teenage Werewolf (1957).Bissell specialized in playing doctors, military officers and other authority figures. On television he was a regular onBachelor Father (1957)andThe Time Tunnel (1966).He also served on the Screen Actors Guild board of directors for 18 years and represented the actors branch in the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences board of governors.

Dee was born in Los Angeles, where her Army officer father was stationed, and grew up in Chicago after her father was transferred there. In 1929, he was re-assigned to L.A., and, as a lark, the 19 year old Dee began working in motion pictures as an extra. Her debut was inWords and Music (1929)withLois Moran.After her breakthrough role inPlayboy of Paris (1930)oppositeMaurice Chevalier, she metJoel McCreaon the set of the 1933 filmThe Silver Cord (1933).

Following a whirlwind courtship, the two were married later that year in Rye, New York. Their 57-year marriage ended in 1990, when McCrea died. In the 70s, she and McCrea were rumored to be worth between fifty and one hundred million dollars. Dee hasn't acted since the mid-1950s, and said she didn't miss it. The nonagenarian actress was a huge hit at the 1998 Memphis Film Festival in Tunica, Mississippi. She died in 2004.

The memories are vague when it comes to recalling this London-born leading lady, but Muriel Angelus did have her moments. She managed to appear in a few classic Broadway musical shows and Hollywood films before her early retirement in the mid-1940s.

Of Scottish parentage and the daughter of a chemist, the former Muriel Findlay was born on March 10,1909. Developing a sweet-voiced soprano at an early, Muriel made her singing debut at 12, eventually changing her last name and becoming a popular music hall performer. She made her West End debut in the musical production of "The Vagabond King" in 1927.

Muriel entered films toward the end of the silent era withThe Ringer (1928),the first of three movie versions of theEdgar Wallaceplay. Her second filmSailors Don't Care (1928) (1928) was important only in that she met her first husband, Scots-born actorJohn Stuart.Her part was excised from the film. Other silents includedThe Infamous Lady (1928)and the German filmMascottchen (1929).

Muriel moved into leading femme parts in sound pictures withNight Birds (1930)in which she got to sing a number, but most of her films would not usurp her musical talents. The sweet-natured actress who played both ingenues and 'other woman' roles, went on to co-star with her husband in the romantic comedyNo Exit (1930),and appeared opposite others in the Edgar Wallace crimerRed Aces (1930),the comediesLet's Love and Laugh (1931)andMy Wife''s Family (1931),again with her husband inHindle Wakes (1931).After co-starring in the crime storiesDetective Lloyd (1932)andBlind Spot (1932)and the comedyDon't Be a Dummy (1932),she co-starred with British starMonty Banksin one of his farcical comediesSo You Won't Talk (1935).

Muriel received a career lift with the glossy musical London stage hit "Balalaika" and a chain of events happened with its success. It led to her securing the pivotal role of Adriana in "The Boys From Syracuse" and, in turn, a contract with Paramount Pictures. Divorced from Stuart by this time, Muriel settled in Hollywood and made her best known films while there. She was quite touching as girlfriend to blind painterRonald ColmaninThe Light That Failed (1939),a second remake of theRudyard Kiplingnovel, and appeared to great advantage as a con-artist inThe Way of All Flesh (1940).She was given the second lead in the romantic adventureSafari (1940)and appeared in her last film,Preston Sturges' classic satireThe Great McGinty (1940),asBrian Donlevy's secretary.

After scoring another long-running Broadway hit with "Early To Bed" in 1943, Muriel met Radio City Music Hall orchestra conductorPaul Lavallewhile appearing on radio in New York and married him in 1946. She retired to raise a family in New England. They had a daughter, Suzanne, who later worked for NBC. Muriel pretty much stayed out of the limelight for the remainder of her life.

Muriel died at age 95 in a Virginia nursing home in August 22, 2004, some seven years after her husband's death.

Everett Sloane, the actor most known for playing Mr. Bernstein in Orson WellesclassicCitizen Kane (1941)as a member of Welles' Mercury Players, was born in New York, New York on October 1, 1909. Sloane was bitten by the acting bug quite early, and first went on-stage when he was seven years old. After high school, he attended the University of Pennsylvania but soon dropped out to pursue an acting career, joining a theatrical stock company. However, he was discouraged by poor personal reviews and returned to New York City, where he worked as a runner on Wall Street.

After the Stock Market Crash of October 1929, Sloane turned to radio for employment as an actor. His voice won him steady work, and he even became the voice ofAdolf Hitleron "The March of Time" serials. He made his Broadway debut in 1935 as part ofGeorge Abbott's company, in "Boy Meets Girl," which was followed by another play for Abbott, "All That Glitters" in 1938. Eventually, he joined Welles' Mercury Theatre, appearing in the 1941 stage production ofRichard Wright's "Native Son," directed by Welles. However, before that Broadway landmark, Welles had cast Sloane as Mr. Bernstein in his first feature film, which ensured Sloane's immortality in the cinema. (Sloane would remain a Mercury Player until 1947, when he appeared as Bannister in Welles'The Lady from Shanghai (1947).)

Outside his two memorable supporting roles for Welles, Sloane's reputation rests on his portrayal Walter Ramsey, a ruthless corporate executive trying to crush another executive, in the TV and screen versions of Rod Serling'sPatterns (1956).According to Jack Gould's January 17, 1955, "New York Times" review of the TV program, which debuted on Kraft Television Theatre (1953):"In the role of Ramsey, Mr. Sloane was extraordinary. He made a part that easily might have been only a stereotyped 'menace' a figure of dimension, almost of stature. His interpretation of the closing confrontation speech was acting of rare insight and depth." Sloane was nominated for an Emmy in 1956 for the performance.

In addition to his movie work, Sloane appeared extensively on TV as an actor, directed several episodic-TV programs, and did voice over work for the cartoon seriesThe Dick Tracy Show (1961)andJonny Quest (1964).Plagued with failing eye sight, a depressed Sloane quit acting and eventually took his life at the age of 55.

Diminutive American actor Billy Curtis avoided the usual onus of freak-show employment as a youth, opting for a mainstream job as a shoe clerk. Encouraged by stock company actressShirley Boothto take a little person role in a stage production, Curtis soon became a professional actor, with numerous Broadway musical productions to his credit. Curtis' big movie season was 1938-39: he was cast inThe Wizard of Oz (1939)(albeit with voice dubbed byPinto Colvig) and as the cowboy hero of the all-dwarf westernThe Terror of Tiny Town (1938).This last epic was one of the few instances that Curtis was cast as a good guy; many of his screen characters were ill-tempered and pugnacious, willing to bite a kneecap if unable to punch out an opponent. Seldom accepting a role which demeaned or patronized little people, Curtis played an obnoxious vaudeville performer compelled to sit onGary Cooper's lap inMeet John Doe (1941),a suspicious circus star willing to turnRobert Cummingsover to the cops inSaboteur (1942),and one of the many fair-weather friends ofThe Incredible Shrinking Man (1957).Billy Curtis' career thrived into the 1970s, notably with solid parts in theClint EastwoodwesternHigh Plains Drifter (1973)and the crime-caper melodramaLittle Cigars (1973),in which he had second billing as a diminutive criminal mastermind. Billy Curtis retired in the 1980s, except for the occasional interview or Wizard of Oz cast reunion.

Delightful, sophisticated English actress, daughter of the distinguished thespian SirGuy Standing. Kay trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London and was taught elocution by Mrs. Patrick Campbell.She made her theatrical debut in "Tilly of Bloomsbury" in 1927. Within just a few years, she had established herself as a regular on the West End stage. In 1936, Kay made her first big splash as the flirtatious Diana Lake inTerence Rattigan's "French Without Tears" (1936) opposite Roland Culver.She then had several roles as leading lady in several minor British features, demonstrating a singular penchant for comedy. However, Kay decided early on to limit her screen appearances in order to further her theatrical career.

Her most celebrated role was that of Elvira Condomine in Noël Coward's supernatural comedy Blithe Spirit (1945),a part she originated in the 1941 stage version at London's Piccadilly Theatre to rave reviews. Kay was irresistibly alluring (even in ghostly make-up and green hair) and thoroughly likeable as the mischievous spirit of novelist Charles's (Rex Harrison's) deceased first wife, accidentally summoned during a seance by crusty medium Madame Arcati (Margaret Rutherford) and intent on wreaking havoc on her husband's second marriage.

There was precious little of Kay on screen after 'Blithe Spirit'. Following her marriage to the actorJohn Clements, she appeared for a while with the Chichester Festival Theatre, often partnering with her husband on stage. Their last joint performance was in "The Marriage Go-Round" in 1959 at the Piccadilly Theatre. Sadly, a deteriorating heart condition forced her premature retirement from acting and she spent the last few years of her life confined to a wheelchair.

Born in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, on February 11, 1909, Joseph Leo Mankiewicz first worked for the movies as a translator of intertitles, employed by Paramount in Berlin, the UFA's American distributor at the time (1928). He became a dialoguist, then a screenwriter on numerous Paramount productions in Hollywood, most of themJack Oakievehicles. Still in his 20s, he produced first-class MGM films, includingThe Philadelphia Story (1940). Having left Metro after a dispute with studio chiefLouis B. Mayerover Judy Garland,he then worked forDarryl F. Zanuckat 20th Century-Fox, producing The Keys of the Kingdom (1944),whenErnst Lubitsch's illness first brought him to the director's chair forDragonwyck (1946).Mankiewicz directed 20 films in a 26-year period, successfully attempted every kind of movie from Shakespeare adaptation to western, from urban sociological drama to musical, from epic film with thousands of extras to a two-character picture.A Letter to Three Wives (1949)and All About Eve (1950)brought him wide recognition along with two Academy Awards for each as a writer and a director, seven years after his elder brother Herman J. Mankiewiczwon Best Screenplay forCitizen Kane (1941).His more intimate films like The Ghost and Mrs. Muir (1947),The Barefoot Contessa (1954)--his only original screenplay--andThe Honey Pot (1967)are major artistic achievements as well, showing Mankiewicz as a witty dialoguist, a master in the use of flashback and a talented actors' director (he favored English actors and had inRex Harrisona kind of alter-ego on the screen).

Although he appeared in approximately 100 movies and TV shows, Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. never really intended to take up acting as a career. However, the environment into which he was born and the circumstances naturally led him to be a thespian. Noblesse oblige.

He was born Douglas Elton Fairbanks, Jr. in New York City, New York, to Anna Beth (Sully), daughter of a very wealthy cotton mogul, and actorDouglas Fairbanks(born Douglas Elton Thomas Ullman), then not yet established as the swashbuckling idol he would become. Fairbanks, Jr. had German Jewish (from his paternal grandfather), English, and Scottish ancestry.

He proved a gifted boy early in life. To the end of his life he remained a multi-talented, hyperactive man, not content to appear in the 100 films mentioned above. Handsome, distinguished and extremely bright, he excelled at sports (much like his father), notably during his stay at the Military Academy in 1919 (his role inClaude Autant-Lara's "L'athlète incomplete" illustrated these abilities). He also excelled academically, and attended the Lycéee Janson de Sailly in Paris, where he had followed his divorced mother. Very early in his life he developed a taste for the arts as well and became a painter and sculptor. Not content to limiting himself to just one field, he became involved in business, in fields as varied as mining, hotel management, owning a chain of bowling alleys and a firm that manufactured popcorn. During World War II he headed London's Douglas Voluntary Hospital (an establishment taking care of war refugees), was PresidentFranklin D. Roosevelt's special envoy for the Special Mission to South America in 1940 before becoming a lieutenant in the Navy (he was promoted to the rank of captain in 1954) and taking part in the Allies' landing in Sicily and Elba in 1943. A fervent Anglophile, was knighted in 1949 and often entertainedQueen Elizabeth IIand Prince Philipin his London mansion, "The Boltons".

His film career began at the age of 13 when he was signed by Paramount Pictures. He debuted inStephen Steps Out (1923)but the film flopped and his career stagnated despite a critically acclaimed role inStella Dallas (1925).Things really picked up when he married Lucille Le Sueur, a young starlet who was soon to become better known asJoan Crawford.The young couple became the toast of the town (one "Screen Snapshots" episode echoes this sudden glory) and good parts and success followed, such as the hapless partner ofEdward G. RobinsoninLittle Caesar (1931)a favorably reviewed turn as the villain inThe Prisoner of Zenda (1937)or more debonair characters in slapstick comedies or adventure yarns. The 1930s were a fruitful period for Fairbanks, his most memorable role probably being that of the British soldier inGunga Din (1939);although it was somewhat of a "swashbuckling" role, Fairbanks made a point of never imitating his father. After the World War II, his star waned and, despite a moving part inGhost Story (1981),he did not appear in a major movie. Now a legend himself, Douglas Fairbanks Jr. left this world with the satisfaction of having lived up to the Fairbanks name at the end of a life nobody could call "wasted".

Lovely Madge Evans was the perennial nice girl in films of the 1930s. By then, she had been in front of the camera for many years, starting with Fairy Soap commercials at the age of two (she sat on a bar of soap holding a bunch of violets with the tag line reading "have you a little fairy in your home?" ). 'Baby Madge' also lent her name to a children's hat company. In 1914, aged five, she was picked out by talent scouts to appear in theWilliam FarnummovieThe Sign of the Cross (1914),followed byThe Seven Sisters (1915)withMarguerite Clark.

By the end of the following year, she had amassed some twenty film credits, appearing with such noted contemporary stars asPauline FrederickorAlice Brady.All of her early films were made on the East Coast, at studios in Ft.Lee, New Jersey. In 1917 (aged eight), Madge made her Broadway debut in Peter Ibbetson withJohn BarrymoreandLionel Barrymore.She resumed her stage career in 1926 as an ingenue with Daisy Mayme and the following year appeared withBillie BurkeinNoël Coward's costume drama The Marquise (1927).

Her pleasing looks and personality soon attracted the attention of Hollywood and she was eventually signed by MGM in 1931. During the next decade, she appeared in several A-grade productions, notably as Lionel Barrymore's daughter in MGM'sDinner at Eight (1933)and as the dependable Agnes Wickfield in one of the best-ever filmed versions ofThe Personal History, Adventures, Experience, & Observation of David Copperfield the Younger (1935).She co-starred oppositeJames Cagneyin the gangster movieThe Mayor of Hell (1933),Spencer TracyinThe Show-Off (1934)and listened toBing Crosbycrooning the title song inPennies from Heaven (1936).Madge received praise for her performance as the star ofBeauty for Sale (1933)and The New York Times review of January 13 1934 described her acting inFugitive Lovers (1934)(oppositeRobert Montgomery) as 'spontaneous and captivating'. Many of her 'typical American girl' roles did not allow her to express aspects of the greater acting range she undoubtedly possessed. Too often she was cast as the 'nice girl' - and those rarely make much of a dramatic impact. On the few occasions she was assigned the role of 'other woman', such as theHelen Hayes-starrerWhat Every Woman Knows (1934),audiences found her character difficult to believe and disassociate from her all-round wholesome image. When her contract with MGM expired in 1937, Madge wound down her film career and, following her 1939 marriage, concentrated on being the wife of celebrated playwrightSidney Kingsley.She last appeared on stage in one of his plays, "The Patriots", in 1943.

The only child of a San Francisco couple, actor Phillip Terry was born Frederick Henry Kormann on March 7, 1909. His father, a chemical engineer in the oil fields, moved about in his work so Phillip was sent to live with relatives in New Jersey to achieve more stable schooling.

Following high school graduation, Phillip worked for a time in the oil fields, with the assist of his father, as a roustabout, a tool pusher and rig builder. He later studied at Sacred Heart College, then Stanford University where he became both a football and track star. It was at Stanford that he also developed an interest in acting.

After a brief, unsuccessful stay in New York, Phillip traveled to England and studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (1933). He grew homesick after a few years, however, and returned to America, landing a job in Los Angeles with CBS Radio as a dramatic player of Shakespeare and other classics. As luck would have it, an MGM agent caught one of his broadcasts and set up an interview.

Phillip was signed after a successful screen test and groomed in unbilled film bits; one of these movies wasMannequin (1937)starringJoan Crawford,who would figure prominently into his life down the road. Unable to improve his lot at MGM, he signed with Paramount and finally earned higher visibility in such films as The Monster and the Girl (1941),The Parson of Panamint (1941)(title role),Torpedo Boat (1942),andWake Island (1942).

Around this time, Philip, by chance, happened to hook up with actress Crawford. After a whirlwind romance of only six weeks, the pair married in July of 1942. The marriage would not last, however, divorcing a mere four years later. When Phillip left Paramount in the mid-40s, he signed up with RKO. His movies and no performances were no great shakes with such routine fodder asMusic in Manhattan (1944)andPan-Americana (1945)all he could find. His better work came when he was loaned out.

Despite the fact that he appeared in more than eighty movies and was a highly personable gent, most of Phillip's roles ended up unbilled or unmemorable. His better pictures, in which he served as a second lead, were the Oscar-winningThe Lost Weekend (1945) starringRay Milland,andTo Each His Own (1946)withOlivia de Havilland.

As his career waned, he started focusing on real estate and made himself a rich man with smart investments. From the 1950s on he was seen only sporadically in films and on TV. He retired completely in 1973 after suffering the first of what would be a series of strokes. His health steadily declined and he died of pneumonitis in 1993.