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1-50 of 53
- Actress
- Producer
- Additional Crew
Janet Leigh was the only child of a couple who often moved from town to town. Living in apartments, Janet was a bright child who skipped several grades and finished high school when she was 15. A lonely child, she would spend much of her time at movie theaters. She was a student, studying music and psychology, at the University of the Pacific until she was "discovered" while visiting her parents in Northern California. Her father was working the desk at a ski resort where her mother worked as a maid. Retired MGM actress Norma Shearer saw a picture of Janet on the front desk and asked if she could borrow it. This led to a screen test at MGM and a starring role in The Romance of Rosy Ridge (1947). MGM was looking for a young naive country girl and Janet filled the bill perfectly. She would play the young ingénue in a number of films and work with such stars as Errol Flynn, Gary Cooper, James Stewart, Orson Welles and Judy Garland. She appeared in a number of successful films, including Little Women (1949), Angels in the Outfield (1951), Scaramouche (1952), Houdini (1953) and The Black Shield of Falworth (1954), among others. Janet would appear in a variety of films, from comedies to westerns to musicals to dramas. Of her more than 50 movies, she would be remembered for the 45 minutes that she was on the screen in the small-budget thriller Psycho (1960). Directed by Alfred Hitchcock, this 1960 classic would include the shower scene that would become a film landmark. Even though her character is killed off early in the picture, she would be nominated for an Academy Award and receive a Golden Globe. Her next film would be The Manchurian Candidate (1962), in which she starred with Frank Sinatra. For the rest of the decade, her appearances in films would be rare, but she worked with Paul Newman in Harper (1966). In the 1970s she appeared on the small screen in a number of made-for-TV movies. In 1980, she appeared alongside her daughter Jamie Lee Curtis in The Fog (1980), and later, in Halloween H20: 20 Years Later (1998). Janet Leigh died at age 77 in her home in Beverly Hills, California on October 3, 2004.- Actor
- Producer
Ray Allen was born at Castle Air Force Base, near Merced, California, to Flora (Day) and Walter Allen, Sr. He graduated from Hillcrest High school in Dalzell, South Carolina in 1993 after taking the varsity basketball team (the Wildcats) to the State Championships. He was the 1996 Big East Player of the Year. As a junior, he was a consensus All-American First Team selection by numerous writers and organizations. Ray was a unanimous choice for the All Big East First Team. He finished 3rd on the Huskies all-time scoring list with 1,922 points. In 1995-96, he hit 115 three pointers to set a UConn single season record. He was drafted by the Minnesota Timberwolves in 1996 with the 5th overall pick. He never played for Minnesota and was traded with Andrew Lang to the Milwaukee Bucks for Stephon Marbury. Ray was an immediate starter and played in all 82 games as a rookie. In his career he won Joe Dumars Sportsmanship Award in 2002-2003 season, played four times in All-Star game (2000-2005, won All-Star 3-point shootout) also won "Good Guy" award in 2000 and 2001.- Director
- Writer
Alan Seawright was born on 8 May 1981 in Merced, California, USA. Alan is a director and writer, known for CTU: Provo (2008), The Swordsman and 29: Day Two (2006).- Summer Bartholomew was born on 20 November 1951 in Merced, California, USA. She is an actress, known for Love Is Forever (1983), Family Feud (1976) and The Mike Douglas Show (1961).
- Producer
- Additional Crew
Katie Gallagher was born on 28 May 1975 in Merced, California, USA. She is a producer, known for Survivor (2000), Naked and Afraid XL (2015) and The Challenge (1998).- Cinematographer
- Camera and Electrical Department
- Actor
Philip H. Lathrop was born on 22 October 1912 in Merced, California, USA. He was a cinematographer and actor, known for Earthquake (1974), The Pink Panther (1963) and The Americanization of Emily (1964). He was married to Molly Lathrop and Betty Jo Lathrop. He died on 12 April 1995 in Los Angeles, California, USA.- Writer
- Producer
- Director
Rex Pickett is the critically-acclaimed author of the novel Sideways, upon which the Oscar-winning Alexander Payne film of the same title was adapted.
Rex was born in California and grew up in San Diego. He attended the University of California at San Diego where he graduated summa cum laude with a Special Projects major, his diploma reading: "Specializing in Contemporary Literary and Film Criticism and Creative Writing."
In the '80s Rex moved to Los Angeles to attend USC's graduate film school. Disappointed with their conservative approach to filmmaking, he and his then wife, Barbara Schock, spent the '80s making two independent feature films, California Without End and From Hollywood to Deadwood. Rex wrote, directed and edited both films. California Without End was a 1,000-mile road movie, made on the minuscule budget of $60,000. It sold to Bavarian Radio Television and played film festivals. From Hollywood to Deadwood was a 4,000 mile road movie, was produced for a cost of just under a million and sold to Island Pictures (now MGM) and was released in 1990.
Rex returned to writing and wrote numerous scripts, both on spec and for hire. He was the last writer on David Fincher's first feature, Alien III. His original screenplay The Road Back was bought by Joan Micklin Silver (Crossing Delancey), for whose company he also adapted the novel Striking it Rich. His first studio paying job was for Kevin Bacon's MixedBreed Films, a then Columbia/TriStar production company.
In the mid-'90s Barbara Schock enrolled in the American Film Institute as one of 25 directors in their prestigious graduate film school. Rex wrote all three of her first-year shorts. Barbara was one of only four directors to be asked back for a second year. Her thesis film, My Mother Dreams the Satan's Disciples in New York, written by Rex, won over 15 film festivals, then triumphantly captured the granddaddy of all short film recognition, the 2000 Academy Award for Best Live Action Short.
Around the same time Rex turned his prodigious talents to prose writing. Marrying his first love of film to the long-form style of the novel, he wrote a mystery titled La Purisima. It immediately attracted the attention of publishing agents and he signed with Curtis Brown, LTD. Though the novel didn't sell, it galvanized Rex to write what would become his signature work, the novel Sideways.
In 2003 Alexander Payne, along with his writing partner Jim Taylor, began their adaptation of Rex's novel. Payne was quoted in numerous interviews saying that "Rex's novel was our easiest adaptation because Rex thinks like a screenwriter." The film went into production in the fall of '03 and was released the following year. It captured every single Best Screenplay Adaptation award in the world including the 2005 Academy Award, the Golden Globe, and the prestigious Writers Guild of America award. The film went on to gross half a billion dollars in all ancillary markets.
In 2011 Rex came out with his Sideways sequel, titled Vertical. It won the Independent Publisher Book Award for Best Fiction. During the same time Rex wrote a pilot for HBO with Leverage Management (Entourage and Boardwalk Empire).
Also in 2011 Rex was asked to adapt his now iconic novel Sideways into a theatrical production. The play was first produced at the 50-seat Equity-waiver Ruskin Group Theater. It opened in May, 2012 with 3 performances a week. It sold out for over 6 months, breaking every record at Ruskin and winning a number of awards. In no time Rex signed with William Morris Endeavor's theatrical touring agent Susan Weaving, who got his play to 3-time Tony Award-winning director, Des McAnuff (Jersey Boys). In almost impossibly record time the play was produced at the august La Jolla Playhouse (50 plays sent to Broadway and over 80 Tony Awards) and opened July 21st, 2013. It was extended twice and broke all attendance records for a non-musical play in the La Jolla Playhouse's 30-year history. It is now headed to either Broadway or London with The Dodgers, a Broadway powerhouse theatrical production company.
In the fall of 2012 the government of Chile, in conjunction with Wines of Chile, invited Rex to travel the length and breadth of their country, focusing on their emerging wine regions, and researching the writing of a third book in the Sideways series. He is working on his Chilean novel.
In the summer of 2013, on the campus of his alma mater, UCSD -- coincidentally also where the La Jolla Playhouse is situated -- Rex's papers were accepted by the Mandeville Special Collections in the Theodore Geisel Library where they are now archived for posterity.
From two self-published books of poetry to two independent feature films, student shorts, screenplays -- both feature and TV -- to two published novels and now theater, Rex has written in practically every fictional form. (He has also won two travel journalism awards for articles written for Travel & Leisure Golf Magazine.) He is represented by WME in theater and publishing, and by APA in screen and TV. He is managed by the former co-president of Untitled Entertainment, Brian Young. He has been a member of the Writers Guild of America since 1990 and the Dramatists Guild since 2012.- Writer
- Director
- Editorial Department
David Odell was born on 12 February 1934 in Merced, California, USA. He is a writer and director, known for The Dark Crystal (1982), Masters of the Universe (1987) and The Muppet Show (1976).- Actor
Steven Stayner was born on 18 April 1965 in Merced, California, USA. He was an actor. He died on 16 September 1989 in Merced, California, USA.- Claudia Littmann was born on 28 August 1942 in Merced County, San Joaquin Valley, California, USA. She is an actress, known for Tana (1969), Express (1968) and Mein schönes kurzes Leben (1970).
- Actress
- Director
Shirley Jo Finney was born on 14 July 1949 in Merced, California, USA. She was an actress and director, known for Lou Grant (1977), Hey Good Lookin' (1982) and Nuts (1987). She died on 10 October 2023 in Bellingham, Washington, USA.- Actress
- Director
- Writer
Lacy Phillips was born on 15 February 1985 in Merced, California, USA. She is an actress and director, known for Discreet (2006), Maneater (2009) and Social Distortion: Machine Gun Blues (2011).- Ken King was born on 7 August 1933 in Merced, California, USA. He was an actor, known for Jade (1995) and Big Eden (2000). He died on 12 July 2005 in Whitefish, Montana, USA.
- Steve Martin was born on 21 March 1915 in Plainsburg, Merced County, California, USA. He was an actor, known for The Dude Martin Show (1949), The Dude Martin Show (1951) and Iron Man (1951). He died on 11 February 1991 in Orange, California, USA.
- Actor
- Writer
Tim Conner was born on 26 June 1949 in Merced, California. He is an actor and writer, known for Martin the Cobbler (1977), Rip Van Winkle (1978) and Claymation Christmas Celebration (1987).- Camera and Electrical Department
- Cinematographer
Christopher Roe was born on 21 December 1985 in Merced, California, USA. He is a cinematographer, known for Harvest, The Hostage and Lovers.- Actor
- Soundtrack
Coco Robicheaux was born on 25 October 1947 in Merced, California, USA. He was an actor, known for The Big Easy (1996), Treme (2010) and Chasing the Groove: A New Orleans Funkumentary (2006). He died on 25 November 2011 in New Orleans, Louisiana, USA.- Actress
- Producer
Bethany Mota was born on 7 November 1995 in Merced County, California, USA. She is an actress and producer, known for Asian Bachelorette 2 (2018), YouTube Rewind: The Shape of 2017 (2017) and Follow Me (2023).- Actor
- Director
Cory Williams is a film maker, actor, and YouTube star. He began his internet career in March 2005 when he started streaming videos on "New Grounds", and uploading music to his MySpace profile. By September 2005 Golden Palace Casino was sponsoring him in his blogging and video making. Cory Williams founded the very popular SMPFilms (SMP = Simple Minded People) Since 2005 Cory has been making videos gaining more and more popularity to this day. He made the infamous "Mean Kitty Song" and has produced numerous short films, and starred in many many online films and one feature film.
From 2006-2008 (when the show was canceled) Cory hosted a television show called The Fizz which featured numerous popular vloggers.- Art Department
- Animation Department
- Director
Jeremy Polgar was born in Merced, California, USA. Jeremy is a director, known for X-Men '97 (2024), Motorcity (2012) and Area21 (2021).- Production Manager
- Additional Crew
- Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Matthew Mucci was born on 6 May 1991 in Merced, California, USA. He is a production manager and assistant director, known for Chef's Table (2015), Cheer (2020) and We Need to Talk About Cosby (2022).- Lester Maxwell was born on 8 April 1949 in Merced, California, USA. He is an actor, known for Rescue 8 (1958), The Alfred Hitchcock Hour (1962) and The Dick Powell Theatre (1961).
- Cary Stayner was born on 13 August 1961 in Merced, California, USA.
- Born in Merced, California while her father was stationed at Castle A.F.B., Rene Marye Finkenkeller spent her entire childhood moving to various remote locations across the USA and Europe. She graduated from Incirlik American High School in Turkey and spent a semester at Pensacola Christian College as a vocal performance major with dreams of entering the contemporary Christian music industry. When her vocal performance professor told her she was just as much an actress as she was a vocalist, Rene transferred into the University of Oklahoma's musical theater program in 1995. Her first professional gig was working as an entertainer at Six Flags Over Texas on the now defunct "A Looney Tunes Christmas Show". She is a single mom of one son, stays active in regional live theater, and has worked as a country/folk singer for years, composing music. She has one brother,Shane Finkenkeller, who has spent years serving in the military and shares his sister's passion for acting.
- Jalen Green was born on 9 February 2002 in Merced, California, USA. He is an actor, known for Isaiah & Marlene: From Baltimore Streets to NBA Dreams (2021), Elite Youth (2020) and The NBA on TNT (1988).