Cross Country Cruise

Lew Ayres was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota and raised in San Diego, California. A college dropout, he was found by a talent scout in the Coconut Grove nightclub in Los Angeles and entered Hollywood as a bit player. He was leading man to Greta Garbo in The Kiss (1929), but it was the role of Paul Baumer in All Quiet on the Western Front (1930) that was his big break. He was profoundly affected by the anti-war message of that film, and when, in 1942, the popular star of Young Dr. Kildare (1938) and subsequent Dr. Kildare films was drafted, he was a conscientious objector. America was outraged, and theaters vowed never to show his films again, but quietly he achieved the Medical Corps status he had requested, serving as a medic under fire in the South Pacific and as a chaplain's aid in New Guinea and the Phillipines. His return to film after the war was undistinguished until Johnny Belinda (1948) - his role as the sympathetic physician treating the deaf-mute Jane Wyman won him an Academy Award nomination as Best Actor. Subsequent movie roles were scarce; an opportunity to play Dr. Kildare in television was aborted when the network refused to honor his request for no cigarette sponsorship. He continued to act, but in the 1970s put his long experience into a project to bring to the west the philosophy of the East - the resulting film, Altars of the World (1976), while not a box-office success, won critical acclaim and a Golden Globe Award. Lew Ayres died in Los Angeles, California on December 30, 1996, just two days after his 88th birthday.

Mason Alan Dinehart Sr. (born Harold Alan Dinehart; October 3, 1889 – July 18, 1944) was an American actor, director, writer, and stage manager.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Minna Gombell (May 28, 1892 – April 14, 1973) was an American film actress of the 1930s and 1940s. She appeared in 50 Hollywood films including; Laurel and Hardy's Block-Heads, The Merry Widow, The First Year, Boom Town, High Sierra, Hoop-La, The Thin Man, and The Best Years of Our Lives. Her third husband was the film writer, producer and director Myron Coureval Fagan. Description above from the Wikipedia article Minna Gombell, licensed under CC-BY-SA,full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

Eugene William Pallette (July 8, 1889 – September 3, 1954) was an American actor. He appeared in over 240 silent era and sound era motion pictures between 1913 and 1946. An overweight man with large stomach and deep, gravelly voice, Pallette is probably best-remembered for comic character roles such as Alexander Bullock, Carole Lombard's father, in My Man Godfrey (1936), his role as Friar Tuck in The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938) starring Errol Flynn and his similar role as Fray Felipe in The Mark of Zorro (1940) starring Tyrone Power Description above from the Wikipedia article Eugene Pallette, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Henry Armetta (born Enrico Armetta, July 4, 1888 – October 21, 1945) was an Italian-born American character actor who appeared in at least 150 American films, starting in silents around 1915 to 1946, when his last film was released posthumously. Henry Armetta (born Enrico Armetta, July 4, 1888 – October 21, 1945) was an Italian-born American character actor who appeared in at least 150 American films, starting in silents around 1915 to 1946, when his last film was released posthumously.

Walter Andrew Brennan (July 25, 1894 – September 21, 1974) was an American actor and singer. He won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performances in Come and Get It (1936), Kentucky (1938), and The Westerner (1940), making him one of only three male actors to win three Academy Awards. Brennan was also nominated for his performance in Sergeant York (1941). Other noteworthy performances were in To Have and Have Not (1944), My Darling Clementine (1946), Red River (1948), and Rio Bravo (1959). Description above from the Wikipedia article Walter Brennan, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Eddy Chandler (March 12, 1894 – March 23, 1948) was an American actor who appeared, mostly uncredited, in more than 300 films. Three of these films won the Academy Award for Best Picture: It Happened One Night (1934), You Can't Take It with You (1938), and Gone with the Wind (1939). Chandler was born in the small Iowa city of Wilton Junction and died in Los Angeles, California.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jane Darwell (October 15, 1879 – August 13, 1967) was an American film and stage actress. With appearances in over 100 major motion pictures, Darwell is perhaps best-remembered for her portrayal of the matriarch and leader of the Joad family in the film adaptation of The Grapes of Wrath, for which she received the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, and her role as the Bird Woman in Mary Poppins. Description above from the Wikipedia article Jane Darwell, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Guy Edward Hearn (September 6, 1888 – April 15, 1963) was an American actor who, in a forty-year film career, starting in 1915, played hundreds of roles, starting with juvenile leads, then, briefly, as leading man, all during the silent era. With the arrival of sound, he became a character actor, appearing in scores of productions for virtually every studio, in which he was mostly unbilled, while those credits in which he was listed reflected at least nine stage names, most frequently Edward Hearn, but also Guy E. Hearn, Ed Hearn, Eddie Hearn, Eddie Hearne, and Edward Hearne.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Lee Phelps (May 15, 1893 – March 19, 1953) was an American film actor. He appeared in over 600 films between 1917 and 1953, mainly in uncredited roles. He also appeared in three films - Grand Hotel, You Can't Take It with You, and Gone with the Wind - that won the Academy Award for Best Picture. Phelps appeared in the 1952 episode "Outlaw's Paradise" as a judge in the syndicated western television series The Adventures of Kit Carson, starring Bill Williams in the title role. He also appeared in a 1952 TV episode (#90) of The Lone Ranger.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Rolfe Sedan (January 20, 1896 – September 15, 1982) was an American character actor, best known for appearing in bit parts, often uncredited, usually portraying clerks, train conductors, postmen, cooks, waiters etc. He began his career in show business as a nightclub and vaudeville performer and began acting in East Coast theatre. Sedan debuted on Broadway in 1916 and appeared in his first motion picture for Metro Pictures Corporation in 1921. He became a prolific character actor and is probably best remembered by movie buffs as the hotel manager in Ninotchka (1939) starring Greta Garbo. Around the same time, he appeared in an uncredited role as the Emerald City's Balloon Ascensionist in The Wizard of Oz (1939). He returned to Broadway, performing in several different shows during the first half of the 1940s and in the 1950s began a sequence of guest roles in television series such as The Jack Benny Show. His most frequent TV work came from recurring roles as put-upon mail carriers (25 episodes as Mr. Beasley on The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show; 4 episodes as Mr. Briggs on The Addams Family). He was also seen as the train conductor in the film Young Frankenstein (1974). Rolfe Sedan remained active throughout a career that spanned more than six decades.

Harry Strang was an American screen and television actor, his career active from 1929 to 1965.

Charles Cahill Wilson (July 29, 1894 – January 7, 1948) was an American screen and stage actor. He appeared in numerous films during the Golden Age of Hollywood from the late 1920s to late 1940s. Born in New York City in 1894, the white-haired, burly actor was often typecast as an earnest police officer, newspaper editor or principal. He appeared in over 250 films between 1928 and 1948, mostly playing small supporting roles with a few sentences. Charles Wilson began his acting career at the theatre, including roles in six Broadway plays between 1918 and 1931. In 1928, he directed the Hollywood comedy Lucky Boy (1928), where he also made his film debut. According to the Internet Movie Database, Lucky Boy was Wilson's only film as a director. His most notable role was probably Clark Gable's "wonderfully aggravated" newspaper boss in Frank Capra's comedy It Happened One Night, which won five Academy Awards in 1935. He was also cast in small roles in other Capra movies such as Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936) and It's a Wonderful Life (1946). Shortly before his death, Wilson appeared as the boss of the Three Stooges in the two-reel comedy Crime on Their Hands (1948).