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1-50 of 81
- Actor
- Director
- Producer
Richard Treat Williams was born in Stamford, Connecticut, to Marian (Andrew), who dealt in antiques, and Richard Norman Williams, a corporate executive. At the age of three, his family moved to Rowayton, Connecticut. Educated at prep-school, he first made a serious commitment to his craft during his days at Pennsylvania's Franklin and Marshall College. Working summers with the nearby Fulton Repertory Theatre at Lancaster in the heart of Amish country, Williams performed the classics as well as contemporary dramas and musicals. After graduating, Williams--whose first name, incidentally, is a family surname on his mother's side--headed for Manhattan where he understudied the Danny Zuko role in "Grease." After working in the The Andrews Sisters musical "Over Here," he made his film debut as a cop in Deadly Hero (1975), then returned to "Grease," this time in the starring role. While he took leaves for two small film roles, in The Ritz (1976) and The Eagle Has Landed (1976), it was his stage work in "Grease" that led to his cinematic breakthrough in Hair (1979). Spotted by director Milos Forman, Williams was asked to read for the role of Berger, the hippie. It took 13 auditions to land the part, but the film's release catapulted Williams into stardom. He then portrayed a GI on the make in Steven Spielberg's 1941 (1979) and starred in the romantic comedy Why Would I Lie? (1980) before tackling the role of Danny Ciello, the disillusioned New York City cop who blew the whistle on his corrupt colleagues in Sidney Lumet's Prince of the City (1981). He followed that with The Pursuit of D.B. Cooper (1981), in which he played the legendary plane hijacker who successfully eluded capture (by Robert Duvall); Flashpoint (1984), in which he and Kris Kristofferson starred as a pair of maverick border patrolmen who come upon a large cache of stolen money; Sergio Leone's Once Upon a Time in America (1984), in which he played a Jimmy Hoffa-like labor organizer; and Smooth Talk (1985), a screen adaptation of Joyce Carol Oates' short story, "Where Are You Going?" Television viewers have seen Williams in a prestigious pair of dramas, Dempsey (1983), a three-hour story of the hard-living heavyweight champ, and John Erman's adaptation of Tennessee Williams' classic "A Streetcar Named Desire," which pitted Williams' Stanley Kowalski against Ann-Margret's Blanche Dubois. Williams has also returned to Broadway sporadically -- first to appear in "Once in a Lifetime" while filming "Hair," and in 1981 to play the role of the pirate king in "The Pirates of Penzance."- Robert LuPone was born on 29 July 1946 in Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA. He was an actor, known for Funny Games (2007), Jesus Christ Superstar (1973) and The Doors (1991). He was married to Virginia Rae Robinson and Kathryn M Duke. He died on 27 August 2022 in Albany, New York, USA.
- Producer
- Director
- Visual Effects
Legendary filmmaker and visual effects pioneer, Douglas Trumbull, was one of the Special Photographic Effects Supervisors for 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968). He went on to become the Visual Effects Supervisor for such classics as Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977), Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979), and Blade Runner (1982), each of which earned him an Academy Award nomination for Best Visual Effects.
Mr. Trumbull directed Silent Running (1972), Brainstorm (1983), Back to the Future... The Ride (1991) and numerous other special format films.
He is the recipient of an Academy Award in the area of Scientific and Technical Achievement, as well as the International Monitor Award and American Society of Cinematographers' Lifetime Achievement Award for his outstanding contributions in the field of filmmaking. Douglas is currently involved in the evolution of visual effects using virtual digital sets and electronic cinematography.- Ronnie McNutt was born on 23 May 1987. He died on 31 August 2020 in New Albany, Mississippi, USA.
- Actor
- Soundtrack
Large and hearty Monty Woolley was born to privilege on August 17, 1888, the son of a hotel proprietor who owned the Marie Antoinette Hotel on Broadway. A part of Manhattan's elite social circle at a young age, he studied at both Yale (Master's degree) and Harvard and returned to Yale as an English instructor and coach of graduate dramatics. Among his students were Thornton Wilder and Stephen Vincent Benet.
Directly involved in the theater arts via his close association with intimate Yale friend and confidante Cole Porter, Monty directed several Broadway musicals and reviews, many in collaboration with Porter, including "Fifty Million Frenchmen" (1929) (an early success for Porter), "The New Yorkers" and "Jubilee" (1935). In 1936, at age 47, the witty, erudite gent had a career renaissance and gave up his Ivy League professorship once and for all in order to pursue the stage professionally. He took his first Broadway bow in the hit musical "On Your Toes" alongside Ray Bolger. Hollywood soon took notice and he began receiving supporting credit as assorted judges and doctors for such MGM fare as Live, Love and Learn (1937), Everybody Sing (1938), the Margaret Sullavan tearjerker Three Comrades (1938), Lord Jeff (1938), the Jeanette MacDonald/Nelson Eddy musical The Girl of the Golden West (1938) and Young Dr. Kildare (1938).
Typically playing cunning character leads and support roles, he was affectionately nicknamed "The Beard" by friend Cole Porter for his distinguished, impeccably-trimmed white whiskers. It was Monty who introduced Porter into the famed New York theater circle. Known for his sartorial elegance, ribald sense of humor and snob appeal, he and Porter were highly prominent carousers in the New York gay social underground.
Monty came into his own in 40s films, earning a best actor Oscar nomination for his role in the WWII drama The Pied Piper (1942), a supporting actor nod in another war classic, Since You Went Away (1944), and portrayed himself in the absurdly fictionalized (and sanitized) "biography" of Cole Porter entitled Night and Day (1946) starring a woefully miscast but admittedly flattering Cary Grant in the lead. A flashy delight in other movie roles, Monty received top billing in Irish Eyes Are Smiling (1944) with June Haver and Dick Haymes, playing a twinkle-eyed con man; appeared opposite Brit comedienne Grace Field in the English-humored Molly and Me (1945) and Holy Matrimony (1943); again with Cary Grant along with Loretta Young and David Niven as a professor in the perennial Christmas classic The Bishop's Wife (1947); plots against his own retirement in the mild comedy As Young as You Feel (1951) opposite another scene-stealing favorite, Thelma Ritter; and ended his film career with the role of Omar Khayyam in the glossy MGM operetta Kismet (1955).
Above all, however, Monty will be forever and indelibly cherished as the irascible (and definitive) radio personality Sheridan Whiteside in the stage and film versions of Kaufman and Hart's screwball classic The Man Who Came to Dinner (1941). Playing the razor-tongued, wheelchair-bound celebrity who wreaks havoc for everyone within knife-throwing distance, this would be the hallmark of his never-too-late-to-try career. He played another uppity and bombastic celebrity, this time a washed-up classical actor, in the more sentimental Life Begins at Eight-Thirty (1942), another role dripping with crusty sarcasm.
Monty appeared sporadically on radio and TV before and after his last filming in 1955. He died of kidney/heart problems in 1963 at the age of 74.- Born in Cleveland, Ohio, Virginia Patton was raised in Portland, Oregon, where she graduated from Jefferson High School in 1942. Her high school goal was to "make it in Hollywood". She relocated to Los Angeles and attended the University of Southern California, where she starred in a play written by William C. de Mille. She appeared in several films throughout the early 1940s before landing a supporting part in It's a Wonderful Life (1946), which she considered a once in a lifetime movie role.
She retired from acting in the late 1940s to concentrate on raising a family with her husband, Cruse W. Moss, in Ann Arbor, Michigan. - Actor
- Soundtrack
Bert Sommer was a singer-songwriter and musician whose first live gig was Woodstock, 1969, where he sang the songs "America" and "Jennifer" as part of a 10-song set. He was also in the original production of "Hair" on Broadway and was on the poster for the LA program. Bert released four albums between 1968-1977, and had one hit single, "We're All Playing in the Same Band." His songs were on the soundtrack of Ultra Violet's "Hot Parts"(1972). He was in the Krofft Supershow Saturday-morning TV variety show as the character Flatbush of "Kaptain Kool and the Kongs" in 1976. He resumed his singing career in Albany in the 1980s and died of respiratory failure on July 23, 1990.- Ronald DeFeo was born on 26 September 1951 in Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA. He was married to Nissa Burkhalter, Tracey Defeo and Barbara Puco. He died on 12 March 2021 in Albany, New York, USA.
- Actor
- Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
- Producer
Kishan Mehta was born on 21 February 1941 in Delhi, India. He was an actor and assistant director, known for Courage (1992), Caravan (1971) and Apradh (1972). He was married to Katy Irani. He died on 22 December 2017 in Albany, New York, USA.- Richard Boes was born on 8 October 1949. He was an actor, known for Stranger Than Paradise (1984), Down by Law (1986) and Night on Earth (1991). He died on 21 February 2009 in Albany, New York, USA.
- According to narrator Gene Galusha, he may not be a crime-solver, but if he retains a fraction of the information he reads each week on The New Detectives: Case Studies in Forensic Science (1996), he may consider a career change. Gene began his announcing career when he graduated from high school and was hired as a summer replacement disc jockey at a local radio station in his hometown of Schenectady, N.Y. Then, while pursuing a philosophy degree at the College of William and Mary, he worked at several radio stations in Tidewater, Va., including one where he shared airtime with a nascent Wolfman Jack.
Gene then moved to New York, where he worked on several soap-opera sets as well as off- and off-off-Broadway stages. He concentrates now on commercials and documentary narration. He has recorded hundreds of commercials for major national advertisers. Among the documentary shows and series he has narrated for PBS, NFL Films, Court TV, National Geographic Explorer, TLC and others, none is more fascinating to him than "The New Detectives". - Molly Roden was born on 10 December 1924 in Warwickshire, England, UK. She was an actress, known for One Step Beyond (1959), Suspicion (1957) and Matinee Theatre (1955). She was married to Calvin Ward. She died on 16 August 2013 in Albany, Oregon, USA.
- Jon McAllister was born Jonathan Edward McAllister in Albany, New York. His first taste of acting came when he enrolled in a drama class as a college freshman, thinking it would be an easy "A". He caught the acting bug, and continued classes, as well as going on auditions in NYC.
- Director
- Additional Crew
- Producer
Jerry Foley is best known as the Director and Supervising Producer of The Late Show with David Letterman and Executive Producer/Director of the Live on Letterman concert series. As a network Technical Director, Foley moved from NBC to CBS with David Letterman in 1993. In June of 1995, he succeeded Hal Gurnee as Director of the Late Show. After leaving Late Show for about a month in 2003, Foley returned as Director and was named Supervising Producer. He produced and directed the America Salutes You benefit concert for the Tribune/Sinclair networks in November of 2016. In December of 2016, he directed the NBC prime time special Tony Bennett Celebrates 90-The Best Is Yet To Come. Jerry Foley has also directed episodes of The View and Jimmy Kimmel Live on ABC. After directing an off-Broadway presentation of Dorothy Dandridge-Hollywood's Sepia Goddess for The Amas Musical Theater group, Foley directed the ABC series Sundays With Alec Baldwin (fall 2018). Jerry Foley has received thirteen directing Emmy nominations.- William T. Anderson--aka "Bloody Bill Anderson"--was born in Hopkins County, KY, in 1840. His family moved to Kansas when he was a youngster. As a young man he made money by rustling horses and selling them to unsuspecting buyers. His father, a diehard Southerner, got into an argument with a judge who was a Union loyalist, resulting in his father being shot dead. Bill, fearing for his own life, took off for Missouri, where he made a living robbing travelers. Union soldiers pursued him, and he killed several of them. Shortly after the Civil War broke out Anderson joined up with a gang of Confederate guerrillas led by former schoolteacher William Quantrill. Anderson developed a useful skill as a guerrilla--setting up ambushes of Union soldiers and their civilian allies, which earned him the admiration and trust of the gang's leaders. It wasn't long before the authorities found out who Anderson was, and they arrested and imprisoned his sisters, one of whom died in custody, leading Anderson to vow bloody revenge. He played a vital part in what became known as the "Lawrence Massacre"--on August 21, 1863, Quantrill's gang attacked the small Kansas town of Lawrence, which had a reputation of being a center of abolitionists and pro-Union militias, known as Jayhawkers, and a particularly violent group of anti-slavery vigilantes known as Redlegs, who themselves were responsible for the killings of many pro-Confederate and/or pro-slavery civilians. Approximately 450 guerrillas attacked Lawrence shortly after 5:00 am, taking over a hotel for their headquarters and fanning out across town with lists of men to be killed. Many of those killed were unarmed, including approximately 20 young men who had just been recruited into the Union army, although they had not yet been sworn in. Altogether approximately 150 men and boys--some as young as 12--were executed, some of them shot or knifed, and others tied up and thrown into burning buildings. The guerrillas set fire to as many buildings as they could, and approximately one-quarter of the town eventually burned to the ground. Anderson himself was implicated in some of the most brutal murders committed during the incident, and it was estimated that he personally killed more than a dozen unarmed prisoners.
After the raid Quantrill and his band went to Texas to spend the winter, and it was here that Quantrill and Anderson had a falling out. Anderson accused Quantrill of the murder of one of the guerrillas, resulting in Quantrill's arrest by Confederate authorities. Anderson then formed his own band of guerrillas and returned to Kansas, becoming one of the most feared of the guerrilla bands infesting the area. On Sept. 27, 1864, Anderson led his band in an attack on the Kansas town of Centralia. He captured 24 Union soldiers, and after assuring them of good treatment, proceeded to execute them all. He then laid a trap for Union forces coming to relieve the town, which resulted in more than 100 militiamen being killed.
Approximately a month after that incident, Anderson was himself the victim of an ambush by Union troops. Caught by surprise, many of his men were killed, wounded or fled. Anderson was recognized by a pursuing Union officer, who fired several shots at him. He was hit behind the ear with at least one bullet and, apparently, died instantly. - Producer
- Actor
Michael Catt was born on 25 December 1952 in Pascagoula, Mississippi, USA. He was a producer and actor, known for Flywheel (2003), Fireproof (2008) and Facing the Giants (2006). He was married to Terri Catt. He died on 12 June 2023 in Albany, Georgia, USA.- Robert Carver was born on 22 July 1982 in Albany, Georgia, USA. He was an actor, known for Storm on the Horizon (2006). He died on 13 April 2024 in Albany, Georgia, USA.
- Navita Handa was born on 18 June 1965. She was an actress, known for Nudist Colony of the Dead (1991). She was married to David Wayne Vollmer. She died on 18 April 2002 in Albany, Oregon, USA.
- Producer
- Writer
John F. Roach was born on 5 June 1949 in Loudonville, New York, USA. He was a producer and writer, known for Paradise Alley (1978), Jake Speed (1986) and The in Crowd (1988). He was married to Elizabeth Karl-Roach. He died on 10 November 2018 in Albany, New York, USA.- Dick Bennard worked as a juggler and acrobat in traveling circuses; as a comedian and actor on the vaudeville stage; as an actor in silent films produced in Ithaca, New York; as a makeup man for Paramount Pictures, and as the manager of the Manhattan Theater in Ithaca before settling down as a barber in the town of Kingston, New York. A native of Germany, he emigrated to Albany, New York as a child, served in the U.S. Army during the Spanish-American War, and worked as an entertainer for over twenty years. He was active in the life of Kingston, being a member of the Elks, the Masons and the American Legion. He also put on a number of amateur theatricals, and was best known for his skill as a baton twirler--serving as the drum major in parades--as well as his stories of life on the road.
- Ruth Allen was born on 23 February 1884 in San Francisco, California, USA. She was an actress, known for Down to Earth (1917). She died in October 1969 in Albany, New York, USA.
- Actor
Martin H. Pawley was born on 18 November 1923 in Staten Island, New York, USA. He was an actor. He was married to Shirley Mae Christensen. He died on 12 May 2011 in Albany, Oregon, USA.- Bill Alden was born on 8 December 1947 in Prairie City, Oregon, USA. He was married to Cathi Alden. He died on 10 June 2016 in Albany, Oregon, USA.
- Actor
- Soundtrack
Allen Kearns was born on 14 August 1894 in Brockville, Ontario, Canada. He was an actor, known for Tanned Legs (1929), Lovin' the Ladies (1930) and The Very Idea (1929). He died on 20 April 1956 in Albany, New York, USA.- Joseph E. Persico was born on 19 July 1930 in Gloversville, New York, USA. He was a writer, known for Nuremberg (2000), About Face: The Story of the Jewish Refugee Soldiers of World War II (2020) and Timewatch (1982). He was married to Sylvia LaVista. He died on 30 August 2014 in Albany, New York, USA.