1-50 of 1,283
names.
| Sort by: STARmeter▲ | A-Z | Height | Birth Date | Death Date | |||
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Alfred Hitchcock Director, Psycho He was born Alfred Joseph Hitchcock. His father was a green grocer called William Hitchcock (1862 - 1914); his mother was Emma Jane Whelan (1863 - 1942), and he had two older siblings, William Hitchcock (born 1890) and Eileen Hitchcock(born 1892). He grew up in a very strict Roman Catholic family. He attended St... | |
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Humphrey Bogart Actor, Casablanca The son of a moderately wealthy Manhattan surgeon (who was secretly addicted to opium) and a famed magazine illustrator, Humphrey Bogart was educated at Trinity School, New York City, sent to Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts, in preparation for medical studies at Yale. He was expelled from Phillips and joined the U.S... | |
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Fred Astaire Soundtrack, Top Hat Fred Astaire was born in Omaha, Nebraska, to Johanna (Geilus) and Fritz Austerlitz, a brewer. Fred entered show business at age 5. He was successful both in vaudeville and on Broadway in partnership with his sister, Adele Astaire. After Adele retired to marry in 1932, Astaire headed to Hollywood. Signed to RKO... | |
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Gloria Swanson Actress, Sunset Blvd. Gloria Swanson went to public schools in Chicago; Key West, Florida; and San Juan, Puerto Rico. Her film debut was as an extra in The Fable of Elvira and Farina and the Meal Ticket. From the following year on, she had leading roles in pictures for Keystone, then a year with Triangle, and, in 1919, a contract with Cecil B. DeMille. DeMille transformed her from a typical Mack Sennett comedienne into a lively... | |
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James Cagney Actor, White Heat One of Hollywood's preeminent male stars of all time (eclipsed, perhaps, only by "King" Clark Gable and arguably by Gary Cooper or Spencer Tracy), and the cinema's quintessential "tough guy", James Cagney was also an accomplished--if rather stiff--hoofer and easily played light comedy. Ending three decades on the screen... | |
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Charles Laughton Actor, Spartacus Son of Robert Laughton and Elizabeth Conlon. Educated at Stonyhurst, Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (received gold medal). First appearance on stage, 1926. Formed own film company, Mayflower Pictures Corp., with Erich Pommer in 1937. Became American citizen 1950. A consummate artist, Laughton achieved great success on stage and film... | |
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Neil Hamilton Actor, General Hospital Neil Hamilton's show business career began when he secured a job as a shirt model in magazine ads. He became interested in acting and joined several stock companies. He got his first film role in 1918, but received his big break from D.W. Griffith in The White Rose. After performing in several more Griffith films... | |
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Ernest Hemingway Writer, To Have and Have Not Ernest Hemingway was an American writer who won the Pulitzer Prize (1953) and the Nobel Prize in Literature (1954) for his novel The Old Man and the Sea, which was made into a 1958 film The Old Man and the Sea. He was born into the hands of his physician father. He was the second of six children of Dr. Clarence Hemingway and Grace Hemingway (the daughter of English immigrants)... | |
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Hoagy Carmichael Soundtrack, Goodfellas Award-winning songwriter ("Stardust", "Ole Buttermilk Sky", "Georgia on My Mind"), composer, pianist, actor and singer, educated at Indiana University (LL.B). He played piano in the college bands, and later gave up a law practise for a career in songwriting. He joined ASCAP in 1931, and his chief musical collaborators included Mitchell Parish... | |
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Charles Boyer Actor, Gaslight Charles Boyer studied philosophy before he went to the theater where he gave his debut in 1920. Although he had at first no intentions to pursue a career at the movies (his first movie was L'homme du large by Marcel L'Herbier) he used his chance in Hollywood after several filming stations all over Europe... | |
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John Qualen Actor, Casablanca One of the best and most familiar character actors of the first four decades of sound films, although few who knew his face also knew his name. John Qualen was born in Canada to Norwegian parents. His father was a minister. The family moved to the United States and Qualen (whose real name was Kvalen) grew up in Elgin... | |
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Noel Coward Writer, Easy Virtue Noel Coward virtually invented the concept of Englishness for the 20th century. An astounding polymath - dramatist, actor, writer, composer, lyricist, painter, and wit -- he was defined by his Englishness as much as he defined it. He was indeed the first Brit pop star, the first ambassador of "cool Britannia." Even before his 1924 drugs-and-sex scandal of The Vortex... | |
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P.L. Travers Writer, Mary Poppins | |
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George Cukor Director, My Fair Lady | |
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Glenn Strange Actor, Bud Abbott Lou Costello Meet Frankenstein At various times in his life a rancher, deputy sheriff and rodeo performer, this huge, towering (6' 5") beast of a man was born George Glenn Strange in Weed, New Mexico, on August 16, 1899, but grew up a real-life cowboy in Cross Cut, Texas. Of Irish and Cherokee Indian descent, he taught himself (by ear) the fiddle and guitar at a young age and started performing at local functions as a teen... | |
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Ramon Novarro Actor, Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ The son of a prosperous Mexican dentist, Ramon Novarro moved to Los Angeles with his family as refugees from the Mexican revolution of 1916. After stints as a ballet dancer, piano teacher and singing waiter, he became a film extra in 1917. For five years he remained an extra until director Rex Ingram cast him as Rupert in The Prisoner of Zenda... | |
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Madge Blake Actress, Batman: The Movie | |
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George Macready Actor, Paths of Glory George Macready--the name probably doesn't ring any bells for most but the voice would be unmistakable. He attended and graduated from Brown University and had a short stint as a New York newspaperman, but became interested in acting on the advice of colorful Polish émigré classical stage director Richard Boleslawski... | |
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Stringer Davis Actor, Murder at the Gallop Gentle-mannered English character player in small parts. He played 'Mr. Stringer' opposite his wife, Margaret Rutherford, in her cinema outings as the Agatha Christie character 'Miss Jane Marple'. Appeared in other Rutherford films as well. | |
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Guinn 'Big Boy' Williams Actor, A Star Is Born The son of a rancher-turned-politician, Guinn Williams was given the nickname "Big Boy" (and he was, too - 6' 2" of mostly solid muscle from years of working on ranches and playing semi-pro and pro baseball) by Will Rogers, with whom he made one of his first films, in 1919. Although his father wanted him to attend West Point (he had been an officer in the Army during World War I)... | |
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Pat O'Brien Actor, Some Like It Hot Although he came to be called "Hollywood's Irishman in Residence"--and, along with good friends James Cagney, Allen Jenkins, Frank McHugh and a few others were called "The Irish Mafia"--and he often played Irish immigrants, Pat O'Brien was US-born and -bred. As a young boy the devoutly Roman Catholic O'Brien considered entering the seminary to study for the priesthood... | |
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Akim Tamiroff Actor, Touch of Evil Though born in Russia and having a Russian-sounding name, Akim Tamiroff is actually of Armenian descent. At 19 he decided to pursue acting as a career and was chosen from among 500 applicants to the Moscow Art Theater School. There he studied under the great Konstantin Stanislavski, and launched a stage career... | |
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Charlotte Wynters Actress, The Struggle After retiring from acting, Charlotte Wynters MacLane, divided her time between her home in LA and her cattle ranch in the Sierra Nevada foothills of Madera County, which she continued to own until her death in 1991. | |
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George Brent Actor, Dark Victory The favorite leading man of star actress Bette Davis, was born George Brendan Nolan, near Dublin, and became an orphan at the tender age of eleven. For a while, he stayed with an aunt in New York, but returned to Ireland to study at the University of Dublin. After leaving university in 1919, George became a courier for Sinn Fein leader Michael Collins... | |
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Chief Dan George Actor, The Outlaw Josey Wales Chief Dan George was born with the names Geswanouth Slahoot (which was anglicized as Dan Slaholt) to a tribal chief on Burrard Indian Reserve No. 3 in North Vancouver. His last name was changed to George when he entered a mission boarding school at the age of 5, where the use of his native language was discouraged, if not forbidden... | |
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Al Capone Uncategorised Infamous Chicago gangster Al Capone was born in the tough Williamsburgh section of Brooklyn, NY, the fourth of nine children of Italian immigrants from Naples. Capone was a born sociopath. In the sixth grade he beat up a teacher and promptly quit school. He picked up his education from the streets, "making his bones" when he joined the notorious James Street gang... | |
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Norma Lee Actress, Wise Girls | |
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Aline MacMahon Actress, The Search Aline MacMahon was born of Irish/Russian ancestry on May 3 1899, the daughter of William Marcus MacMahon and Jennie Simon MacMahon. Her father went on to become editor-in-chief of Munsey's Magazine, while her mother pursued a theatrical acting career from middle-age and lived to the ripe old age of 107... | |
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Alma Reville Writer, Shadow of a Doubt | |
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Jay C. Flippen Actor, The Killing Jay C. Flippen could probably be characterized these days as one of those distinctive faces you know but whose name escapes you while viewing old 50s and 60s movies and TV. His distinctive bulldog mug, beetle brows, bulky features, and silver-white hair were ideally suited for roles as criminals and rugged adventurers... | |
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Paul Kelly Actor, Crossfire Child and juvenile actor from silent films who would become a Broadway star and major supporting player in Hollywood films of the 30s, 40s and 50s. | |
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George O'Brien Actor, Sunrise Handsome American leading man of classic silent films who became a different kind of star in B-Western talkies. The son of a policeman who later became police chief of San Francisco and then California Director of Penology, O'Brien was raised around police stables and quickly became adept at horsemanship... | |
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Harold Bennett Actor, Are You Being Served? | |
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Dwight Frye Actor, Dracula An extremely versatile character actor and originator of several memorable characterizations in the horror film genre, Dwight Frye had a notable theatrical career in the 1920s, moving from juvenile parts to leads before entering film. A favorite actor of Broadway theatrical producer-director Brock Pemberton... | |
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Gale Sondergaard Actress, The Life of Emile Zola Sly, manipulative, dangerously cunning and sinister were the key words that best described the roles that Gale Sondergaard played in motion pictures, making her one of the most talented character actresses ever seen on the screen. She was educated at the University of Minnesota and later married director Herbert J. Biberman... | |
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Martita Hunt Actress, Becket Popular British character actress known for her rich cluster of queens, dowagers, shrews and evildoers, Martita Hunt was born on a ranch in Argentina to British parents, but moved with her family to England at age 10 for her formal education. On stage at age 21 with the Liverpool Repertory Theatre,... | |
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Colleen Moore Actress, Ella Cinders Her father was an irrigation engineer. She was convent-educated and studied piano at the Detroit Conservatory. D.W. Griffith brought her to Hollywood in 1917, returning a favor to her uncle, 'Walter C. Howey , the Chicago Examiner editor who helped him clear The Birth of a Nation and Intolerance: Love's Struggle Throughout the Ages through the censors... | |
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Richard Arlen Actor, Wings During World War I, Richard Arlen served in the Royal Canadian Flying Corps as a pilot, but he never saw combat. After the war he drifted round and eventually wound up in Los Angeles, where he got a job as a motorcycle messenger at a film laboratory. When he crashed into the gates of Paramount Pictures and suffered a broken leg... | |
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Renie Riano Actress, The Family Jewels As the daughter of British stage actress Irene Riano (1871-1940), character player Renie Riano had all the earmarks of a show biz career. She loved an audience, she loved singing, and she loved to make people laugh. She began things off toplining in vaudeville shows and music halls as "Baby Irene" in a mother/daughter act... | |
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Jobyna Ralston Actress, Wings Curly-locked, cherubic knockabout comedienne of the silent cinema. Her mother, portrait photographer Mrs. Kemp Raulston, named her after her favorite actress, Jobyna Howland, and harboured ambitions for her daughter to achieve similar fame. After a failed teenage marriage to a local farmer, Jobyna left Tennessee and went to New York in 1919 to join the Ned Wayburn dancing academy... | |
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Irving Thalberg Producer, Laugh, Clown, Laugh Thalberg was born in New York City of German immigrant parents. He had a bad heart, having contracted rheumatic fever as a teenager and was plagued with other ailments all of his life. He was quite intelligent with a thirst for knowledge but, convinced that he would never see thirty, he skipped college and became... | |
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James Wong Howe Cinematographer, Hud Master cinematographer James Wong Howe, whose career stretched from silent pictures through the mid-'70s, was born Wong Tung Jim in Canton (now Guangzhou), China, on August 28, 1899, the son of Wong How. His father emigrated to America the year James was born, settling in Pasco, Washington, where he worked for the Northern Pacific Railroad... | |
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Benny Rubin Actor, Here Comes Mr. Jordan | |
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Alice Terry Actress, The Conquering Power Alice started as an extra in films at age 15. She worked in "Inceville" and would appear as several characters in 'Civilization (1916)'. In 1917, she would meet director Rex Ingram and they would marry in 1921. It was also in 1921 that Alice would gain acclaim as Marguerite in 'The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (1921)'... | |
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Hal B. Wallis Producer, Casablanca Legendary producer Hal B. Wallis was born in Chicago and moved to Los Angeles when he was in his early 20s. He got a job managing a theater owned by Warner Bros., and his success at the job caught the eye of studio head Jack L. Warner, who gave him a job in the studio's publicity department. Within a few months Wallis had worked his way up to head of the department... | |
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Ned Wever Actor, Anatomy of a Murder | |
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Byron Haskin Director, The War of the Worlds After graduation from the University of California at Berkeley, Byron Haskin worked for a time as a newspaper cartoonist. He began his career in the film industry, in 1920, as a commercial-industrial movie photographer, and then as a cameraman for Pathe and International Newsreel. Later he became an assistant director at Selznick Productions... | |
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Mervyn Johns Actor, Dead of Night | |
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Madge Bellamy Actress, White Zombie Madge got her start in theater working with a stock company in Denver. Put under a personal contract by a Broadway producer, Madge got her big break when she replaced Helen Hayes in the Broadway play "Dear Brutus". Her success as a stage actress led to her being signed by Fox Pictures. After appearing in a number of movies in the early 20's... | |
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Lillian Disney Self, Episode #5.36 | |
1-50 of 1,283
names.