Coney Island

Betty Grable (December 18, 1916 – July 2, 1973) was an American actress, pin-up girl, dancer, model, and singer. Grable was enrolled in Clark's Dancing School at the age of three. At age 13, Grable and her mother set out for Hollywood with the hopes of stardom. There she landed several minor parts in films such as Whoopee!, New Movietone Follies of 1930, Happy Days and Let's Go Places. In 1932, she signed with RKO Radio Pictures. The bit parts continued for the next three years until Grable was cast in By Your Leave. One of her big roles was in College Swing.. When she landed the role of Glenda Crawford in Down Argentine Way, the public finally took notice of her. Stardom came through comedies such as Coney Island and Sweet Rosie O'Grady. Her famous pin-up pose during World War II adorned barracks all around the world. With that pin-up and as the star of lavish musicals, Betty became the highest-paid star in Hollywood in 1947. Later her studio 20th Century-Fox insured her legs for a million dollars. Betty continued to be popular until the mid-1950s, when musicals went into a decline. Her last film was How to Be Very, Very Popular. She then concentrated on Broadway and nightclubs. She was married to actor Jackie Coogan (1937–1939) and musician Harry James (1943–1965). Betty Grable died at age 56 of lung cancer on July 2, 1973.

George Montgomery was boxing champion at the University of Montana, where he majored in architecture and interior design. Dropping out a year later, he decided to take up boxing more seriously, and moved to California, where he was coached by ex-heavyweight world champion James J. Jeffries. While in Hollywood, he came to the attention of the studios (not least, because he was an expert rider) and was hired as a stuntman in 1935. After doing this for four years, George was offered a contract at 20th Century Fox in 1939, but found himself largely confined to leads in B-westerns. He did not secure a part in anything even remotely like a prestige picture, until his co-starring role in Roxie Hart (1942), opposite Ginger Rogers. Next, in Orchestra Wives (1942), he played the perfunctory love interest for Ann Rutherford -- though both, inevitably, ended up playing second trombone to Glenn Miller and His Orchestra. In 1947, George got his first serious break, being cast as Raymond Chandler's private eye Philip Marlowe, in The Brasher Doubloon (1947). Reviewers, however, compared his performance unfavourably with that of Humphrey Bogart and found the film 'pallid' overall. So it was back to the saddle for George. Unable to shake his image as a cowboy actor, he starred in scores of films with titles like Belle Starr's Daughter (1948), Dakota Lil (1950), Jack McCall Desperado (1953) and Masterson of Kansas (1954) at Columbia, and for producer Edward Small at United Artists. When not cleaning up the Wild West with his six-shooter, he branched out into adventure films set in exotic locales (notably as Harry Quartermain in Watusi (1959)). During the 60's, he also wrote, directed and starred in several long-forgotten, low-budget wartime potboilers made in the Philippines. At the height of his popularity, George attracted as much publicity for his acting, as for his liaisons with glamorous stars, like Ginger Rogers, Hedy Lamarr (to whom he was briefly engaged) and singer Dinah Shore (whom he married in 1943). After his retirement from the film business, he devoted himself to his love of painting, furniture-making and sculpting bronze busts, including one of his close friend Ronald Reagan.

Cesar Julio Romero, Jr. (February 15, 1907 – January 1, 1994) was a Cuban-American film and television actor who was active in film, radio, and television for almost sixty years. His wide range of screen roles included Latin lovers, historical figures in costume dramas, characters in light domestic comedies, and as The Joker in television's Batman series.

Phil Silvers (1911–1985) was an American entertainer and comedy actor. He is best known for starring in The Phil Silvers Show.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Charles Winninger (May 26, 1884 – January 27, 1969) was an American stage and film actor, most often cast in comedies or musicals, but equally at home in dramas.

Phyllis Kennedy (June 16, 1914 - December 29, 1998) was an American actress.

Frank Orth was an American actor born in Philadelphia. He is probably best remembered for his portrayal of Inspector Faraday in the 1951-1953 television series “Boston Blackie”. By 1897, Orth was performing in vaudeville with his wife, Ann Codee, in an act called “Codee and Orth.” In 1909, he expanded into song writing, with songs such as “The Phone Bell Rang” and “Meet Me on the Boardwalk, Dearie.” His first contact with motion pictures was in 1928, when he was part of the first foreign-language shorts in sound produced by Warner Bros. He and his wife also appeared together in a series of two-reel comedies in the early 1930s. Orth's first major screen credit was in “Prairie Thunder,” a Dick Foran western, in 1937. From then on, he was often cast as bartenders, pharmacists, and grocery clerks, and always distinctly Irish. He had a recurring role in the Dr. Kildare series of films and also in the Nancy Drew series as the befuddled Officer Tweedy. Among his better roles were the newspaper man Cary Grant telephones early in “His Girl Friday,” one of the quartet singing “Gary Owen” in “They Died with Their Boots On” (thereby giving Errol Flynn as Gen. Custer the idea of associating the tune with the 7th Cavalry), and as the little man carrying the sign reading “The End Is Near” throughout Colonel Effingham's Raid. However, Orth is probably best remembered for his portrayal of Inspector Faraday in the 1951-1953 television series “Boston Blackie.” A short, plump, round-faced man, often smoking a cigar, Orth as Faraday wore his own dark-rimmed spectacles, though rarely in feature films. In 1959, Orth retired from show business after throat surgery. His wife died in 1961 after around fifty years of marriage. Orth died on March 17, 1962. He is buried in Forest Lawn Cemetery in the Hollywood Hills next to his wife.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Bess Flowers (November 23, 1898 – July 28, 1984) was an American actress. By some counts considered the most prolific actress in the history of Hollywood, she was known as "The Queen of the Hollywood Extras," appearing in over 700 movies in her 41 year career. Born in Sherman, Texas, Flowers's film debut came in 1923, when she appeared in Hollywood. She made three films that year, and then began working extensively. Many of her appearances are uncredited, as she generally played non-speaking roles. By the 1930s, Flowers was in constant demand. Her appearances ranged from Alfred Hitchcock and John Ford thrillers to comedic roles alongside of Charley Chase, the Three Stooges, Leon Errol, Edgar Kennedy, and Laurel and Hardy. She appeared in the following five films which won the Academy Award for Best Picture: It Happened One Night, You Can't Take it with You, All About Eve, The Greatest Show on Earth, and Around the World in Eighty Days. In each of these movies, Flowers was uncredited. Including these five movies, she had appeared in twenty-three Best Picture nominees in total, making her the record holder for most appearances in films nominated for the award. Her last movie was Good Neighbor Sam in 1964. Flowers's acting career was not confined to feature films. She was also seen in many episodic American TV series, such as I Love Lucy, notably in episodes, "Lucy Is Enceinte" (1952), "Ethel's Birthday" (1955), and "Lucy's Night in Town" (1957), where she is usually seen as a theatre patron. Outside her acting career, in 1945, Bess Flowers helped to found the Screen Extras Guild (active: 1946-1992, then merged with SAG), where she served as one of its first vice-presidents and recording secretaries.

An American character actor who over a 50-year career performed in hundreds of stage, film, and television productions.

Hermes Pan (born Hermes Joseph Panagiotopoulos; December 10, 1909 – September 19, 1990) was an American dancer and choreographer, principally remembered as Fred Astaire's choreographic collaborator on the famous 1930s movie musicals starring Astaire and Ginger Rogers.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Yakima Canutt (November 29, 1895 – May 24, 1986), also known as Yak Canutt, was an American rodeo rider, actor, stuntman and action director. Description above from the Wikipedia article Yakima Canutt, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia. ​

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Ruth Clifford (February 17, 1900 – November 30, 1998) was an American actress of leading roles in silent films, whose career lasted from silent days into the television era. Clifford got work as an extra and began her career at 15 at Universal, in fairly substantial roles. She received her first film credit for her work in Behind the Lines (1916). By her mid-twenties, she was playing leads and second leads, including the role of Abraham Lincoln's lost love, Ann Rutledge, in The Dramatic Life of Abraham Lincoln (1924). But sound pictures found her roles diminishing, and throughout the next three decades she played smaller and smaller parts. She was a favorite of director John Ford (they played bridge together), who used her in eight films, but rarely in substantial roles. She was also, for a time, the voice of Walt Disney's Minnie Mouse and Daisy Duck. Clifford's obituary in the Los Angeles Times noted that she "became a prime source for historians of the silent screen era".

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Alexander Younger Craig Craig (30 March 1884 – 25 June 1945), was a Scottish character actor, particularly known for his roles in Mutiny on the Bounty (1935) and National Velvet (1944). He was particularly known for portraying stereotypically tight-fisted Scotsmen. Alec Craig was born on 30 March 1884 in Dunfermline, Fife, Scotland, the son of James Chapman Craig and his wife Isabella, Craig died of tuberculosis on 25 June 1945, aged 61, in Glendale, California, US. He is buried there at Grand View Memorial Park Cemetery.

Jimmie Dundee was born on December 19, 1900 in Missouri, USA as James Reed Dundee. He is known for his work on At War with the Army (1950), Sullivan's Travels (1941) and Hail the Conquering Hero (1944). He died on November 20, 1953 in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, California, USA.

From New York Times Obituary, July 19, 1984: J. Delos Jewkes, a singer and actor who supplied the voice of God for Cecil B. De Mille's "Ten Commandments," died of a heart attack here Tuesday. He was 89 years old. Mr. Jewkes appeared in about 300 films, with Shirley Temple, John Wayne and others. He was featured in all of Jeanette MacDonald's and Nelson Eddy's films. He also appeared with Hoot Gibson and on the Orpheum-Keith Vaudeville Circuit. Mr. Jewkes started his singing career in 1925 with traveling opera and light opera companies. He sang in the bass section of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and with the Salt Lake Philharmonic Orchestra.

Gertrude Madeline "Trudy" Marshall was an American actress and model. A popular magazine cigarette girl during her modeling days for Harry Conover, Marshall was at different times "The Old Gold Girl", "The Chesterfield Girl", and "The Lucky Strike Girl". Marshall was signed by 20th Century-Fox in 1942 and groomed in bit parts. She played a featured role in the World War II war drama The Fighting Sullivans, the true story of a family that lost all five enlisted sons in the sinking of the USS Juneau off Guadalcanal in November 1942. Marshall played the surviving sister Genevieve. Taking roles as a decorative ingenue for a time, Marshall later played the "other woman" in a few features. Semi-retired by the 1960s, she returned very infrequently to Hollywood. She appeared in the movie Once Is Not Enough with her daughter Deborah Raffin. Marshall was the hostess of her own radio and TV show in the 1980s in which she interviewed stars who attended special Hollywood event.

Alphonse Martell (born March 27, 1890 in Strasbourg, German Empire, died March 18, 1976 in San Diego, California, United States) was a screen and television actor. Martell performed many French roles in American cinema and directed a film, Gigolettes of Paris. Description above from the Wikipedia article Alphonse Martell, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

Thomas Martin was born in 1892 in New York, USA. He is an actor, known for North by Northwest (1959), All About Eve (1950) and Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939).

Ed McNamara was mainly known for his work as a stage actor, but he also had a remarkable career in radio drama. In 1986, he received a nomination for the prestigious Genie Award for his outstanding performance as Philip Longlan in Bayo. Although he didn't win the award, the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television recognized his contributions by presenting him with the inaugural Earle Grey Award for Lifetime Achievement.

Francis Sayles was born on November 22, 1891 in Buffalo, New York, USA. He was an actor, known for Black Legion (1937), The Purple Vigilantes (1938) and Midnight Phantom (1935). He died on March 19, 1944 in Los Angeles, California, USA.