Don Abney (1923-2000) [Pete Kelly's Blues (1955); Cindy (1978) (TV)] was born in Baltimore, Maryland and became a jazz pianist accompanist to Ella Fitzgerald, Carmen McRae, Thelma Carpenter, and the Billy Williams Quartet
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- Tommys career was interrupted by a stint in the Navy during World War II, but returned to it following his discharge
- After returning from his wartime service with the Army Air Force in World War II
- He was the Heavyweight Boxing Champion of the Pacific Fleet during World War I
- During World War II, he hung up his spurs, and re-enlisted in the Navy where he fought in the Pacific and was decorated many times
- After a stint with the Marine Corps in World War II
- He served toward the end of World War II with the Air Force and, in his late teens, was assigned to direct training shorts for the Signal Corps
- His career was interrupted by military service in World War II with the Royal Army Ordinance Corps and was injured in an explosion during battle training course
- After serving in World War II
- Jack Palance
- He served as a corporal in the Royal Marines in World War II
- During World War II he served in the Australian Army in the SWPA unit. He was later seconded to the 1st Australian Army Amenities Entertainment Unit--The Islanders--in various combat areas.
- Pat joined the U.S. Marine Corps during the waning days of World War II
- He served as a pilot in the Army Air Corps during World War II.
- Sam served in the Marine Corps during World War II but - to his disappointment - did not see combat
Tommy Noonan (1921-1968) [Boys Town (1938); Cottonpickin' Chickenpickers (1967)] was born Thomas Patrick Noone in Bellingham, Delaware. Slim, often bespectacled comedy performer started off in experimental theater alongside his half-brother, actor John Ireland, who went on to have an enviable career of his own. Tommy's career was interrupted by a stint in the Navy during World War II, but returned to it following his discharge. Tommy wound up in New York and briefly displayed his budding talents on Broadway before RKO signed him up for post-war films and he relocated out West. By this time, brother John, who was already a well-known film commodity, had met and married movie actress Joanne Dru, whose brother was a singer/actor named Pete Marshall. With a solid background in comedy and burlesque, Noonan hooked up with straight man Marshall to form the 1950s comedy duo of "Noonan and Marshall." They appeared with a modicum of success in clubs and on TV, including "The Ed Sullivan Show." 
Louis Nye (1913 or 1922-2005) [The Facts of Life (1960); Cannonball Run II (1984)] (first name pronounced Louie) was a master at sketch comedy, foreign accents and the quicksilver adlib. He broke into the big time when he earned a regular gig on Steve Allen's comedy show during the mid-50's Golden Age. His best known character, hands down, was the droll, effete country-club braggart Gordon Hathaway with the forlorn-looking eyebrows whose off-the-cuff catchphrase salutation to Allen, "Hi, ho, Steverino!," continues to have life in various shapes and forms even today. Destiny led Louis to meet Carl Reiner while entertaining troops in World War II. Both had entered the Army as regular soldiers, but due to their talents were soon assigned to Special Services, performing in shows across the Pacific. 
Hugh O'Brian (1923- ) [Red Ball Express (1952); The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp (1955) on TV; Wyatt Earp: Return to Tombstone (1994)] was born in Rochester, New York, and had the term "beefcake" written about him during his nascent film years in the early 1950s, but he chose to avoid the obvious typecast as he set up his career. He first attended school at New Trier High School in Winnetka, Illinois, then Kemper Military School in Booneville, Missouri. Moving from place to place growing up, he managed to show off his athletic prowess quite early. By the time he graduated from high school, he had lettered in football, basketball, wrestling and track. Originally pursuing law, he dropped out of the University of Cincinnati in 1942 (age 19) and enlisted in the Marine Corps for the duration of World War II. Upon his discharge he ended up in Los Angeles. 
Edmond O'Brien (1915–1985) [The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1939); D.O.A. (1950)] was an American film actor born in New York, New York. After returning from his wartime service with the Army Air Force in World War II, O'Brien built a distinguished career as a supporting actor in A-list films. He won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role in The Barefoot Contessa (1954), and was also nominated for his role in Seven Days in May (1964). Other notable films include White Heat (1949), The Girl Can't Help It (1956), The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962), The Birdman of Alcatraz (1962), The Longest Day (1964), and The Wild Bunch (1969). He also appeared extensively in television. He died in Inglewood, California of Alzheimer's Disease. O'Brien has two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, for his contribution to motion pictures at 1719 Vine Street, and television at 6523 Hollywood Boulevard. 
George O'Brien (1899-1985) [Woman-Proof (1923); Cheyenne Autumn (1964)] was the son of the San Francisco Chief of Police who became a college athlete. He was the Heavyweight Boxing Champion of the Pacific Fleet during World War I. In the early 1920s, George wound up in Hollywood where he worked as a stuntman and part time actor. In 1924, Director John Ford picked virtually unknown George to star in his first picture, The Iron Horse (1924). Over the next two years, he appeared in four more Ford films and co-starred with Janet Gaynor in The Blue Eagle (1926) and Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans (1927). "Sunrise," a winner of two Academy Awards, was the story of a simple farmer who lets another woman talk him into murdering his wife. George remained popular until sound came along. By that time, his popularity was sliding, but he did make the transition to sound. With his rugged looks and physical size, he was soon a Western Cowboy Star. He was in some of the best stories ever written, Riders of the Purple Sage (1931), and in some of the worst. But he was consistently in the Top Ten money-making Western Stars. He appeared in a few films outside the horse set, such as Ever Since Eve (1934), but those roles were few. By the end of the 1930s, George was still a popular 'B' movie Cowboy Star, but he would not take the parts as seriously as he did a decade before. During World War II, he hung up his spurs, and re-enlisted in the Navy where he fought in the Pacific and was decorated many times. He couldn't find work after the war but his old director, John Ford, gave him parts with the cavalry in three of his films. 
Carroll O'Connor (1924-2001) [In Harm's Way (1965); Kelly's Heroes (1970)] was born in Manhattan and raised in Forest Hills, a community of Queens, New York. After high school in 1942, he joined the Merchant Marines and worked on ships in the Atlantic. In 1946, he enrolled at the University of Montana to study English. While there, he became interested in theater. During one of the amateur productions, he met his future wife, Nancy Fields, whom he married in 1951. He moved to Ireland where he continued his theatrical studies at the National University of Ireland. He was discovered during one of his college productions and was signed to appear at the Dublin Gate Theater. He worked in theater in Europe until 1954 when he returned to New York. His attempts to land on Broadway failed and he taught high school until 1958. Finally in 1958, he landed an Off-Broadway production, Ulysses In Downtown. He followed that with a production that was directed by Peter Bogdanovich. At the same time, he was getting attention on TV. He worked in a great many character roles throughout the 1960s. A pilot for Those Were The Days was first shot in 1968 based on the English hit, Till Death Do Us Part, but was rejected by the networks. In 1971, it was re-shot and re-cast as All in the Family (1971-1979) and the rest is history. 
Gerald S. O'Loughlin (1921- ) [A Hatful of Rain (1957); The Secret Kingdom (1998)]. Short, dark, but tough-talking and rough-looking American character actor he received his start on the stage after pondering a career in law. After a stint with the Marine Corps in World War II, he used his GI bill income to train in New York at the Neighborhood Playhouse. Throughout the early 50s, he was frequently seen on TV drama and highlighted his stage career with a national tour of A Streetcar Named Desire as Stanley Kowalski with the incomparable Tallulah Bankhead starring as Blanche DuBois, and with the role of mental patient Cheswick opposite Kirk Douglas' Randle McMurphy in 1963's One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest on Broadway. 
Patrick O'Neal (1927-1994) [The Mad Magician (1954); Under Siege (1992)] was born in Ocala, Florida, of Irish descent. He served toward the end of World War II with the Air Force and, in his late teens, was assigned to direct training shorts for the Signal Corps. A graduate of the University of Florida at Gainesville, he subsequently moved to New York and continued his dramatic studies at the Actor's Studio and Neighborhood Playhouse. 
Peter Ortiz (1913-1988) [Rio Grande (1950); The Wings of Eagles (1957)] was born of French-Spanish parentage. Colonel Ortiz spoke 5 languages fluently and was the most decorated Marine officer in World War II. He served in the O.S.S. and, before that, was the youngest Sergeant in the French Foreign Legion. In 1940, he was wounded and captured by the German invading army, he escaped and joined the U.S. Marines. Parachuting into France, he became a Maquis (French underground) leader in 1944. He frequented a Lyons nightclub to gain information from the German officers who also frequented the popular club. One night, a German officer damned President Roosevelt, then the USA, and finally the Marine Corps. Ortiz then excused himself, went to his apartment and changed into his Marine Corps uniform. Returning to the club, he ordered a round then removed his raincoat and stood there resplendent in full greens and decorations yelling, "A toast to President Roosevelt!" Pointing his pistol at one German officer then another, they emptied their glasses as he ordered another round to toast the USA then the Marine Corps! The Germans again drained their glasses as he backed out leaving his astonished hosts and disappeared into the night. After the war, Colonel Ortiz worked with director John Ford, also a former OSS member. The films 13 Rue Madeleine (1947) and Operation Secret (1952) were based on his exploits. 
Bill Owen (1914-1999) [The Way to the Stars (1945); On the Fiddle (1961)] was born in Acton, Middlesex, England, UK and became well-known for playing the same kind of blokes on both film and TV. Born William Rowbotham, he was the son of a tram driver and laundress. He knew early on that entertaining was the life for him. He worked in odd jobs as a printer's apprentice and band vocalist to make do and, when he became of legal age, started playing drums in London nightclubs and toured music halls with his own cabaret act to pay for acting classes. He entertained at Butlin's holiday camps and performed in repertory, joining the Unity Theatre where he attained respect as a stage producer. His career was interrupted by military service in World War II with the Royal Army Ordinance Corps and was injured in an explosion during battle training course. Returning to acting, he was taken to post-war films after notice in a play. 
Jack Paar (1918-2004) [Easy Living (1949); Down Among the Sheltering Palms (1953)] was an American radio and television talk show host. Paar began his broadcasting career in radio, working first in Cleveland, Ohio and later, throughout the Midwest. After serving in World War II, Paar tried his hand at acting and comedy, frequently appearing on the Ed Sullivan Show. It was during an impressive stint as a guest host on Jack Benny's radio show that he caught the attention of NBC officials who eventually offered him his most well known role, host of The Tonight Show. Paar was the program's host from 1957 to 1962; after 1959 it was known as The Jack Paar Show. 
Jack Palance (1919-2006) [Shane (1953), Attack! (1956)]. Enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Forces (later the U.S. Air Force) with the outbreak of World War II. His already rugged face was disfigured and he suffered severe head injuries when he bailed out of a burning B-24 Liberator bomber while on a training flight over southern Arizona where he was a student pilot. Plastic surgeons repaired the damage as best they could but he was left with a distinctive, somewhat gaunt look. After much reconstructive surgery he was discharged in 1944. He later said of the crash: "There are some moments you never get over. That was one of them." 
Byron Palmer (1920-2009) [Tonight We Sing (1953); Emergency Hospital (1956)] was born in Los Angeles, the second of four children of Etheleyn and Judge Harlan G. Palmer. His father was publisher of the then-Hollywood Citizen News. Following high school, Byron attended Occidental College in the L.A. area and earned money writing up obituaries for his father's newspaper before being hired as a CBS page. Blessed with a fine speaking voice he eventually found work on both NBC and CBS radio as an announcer and actor. His career was interrupted by World War II in which he served in the Army Air Force and operated a radio station on one of the islands in the Pacific. He also performed with the Music Mates singing quartet as its tenor. 
Geoffrey Palmer (1927- ) [A Prize of Arms (1962); Ring of Spies (1964)] was born in London. He worked in an imports office and then as an accountant before his girlfriend persuaded him to join the local amateur dramatics society. Eventually he became assistant stage manager at Croydon's Grand Theatre, and then spent several years touring with rep. His first roles on TV came in comedy series such as those of Harry Worth and Arthur Askey. He is now a familiar face on British television. He served as a corporal in the Royal Marines in World War II. He was awarded the O.B.E. (Officer of the order of the British Empire) in the 2005 Queen's New Years Honours List for his services to Drama. 
Jerry Paris (1925-1986) [The Caine Mutiny (1954); Police Academy 3: Back in Training (1986)] was born William Gerald Paris in San Francisco, California. His father was a Russian immigrant; his mother, the former Esther Mohr, remarried when Jerry was a small child. Jerry's new stepfather, Milton Grossman, eventually adopted the boy and Jerry thereafter used the name William Gerald Grossman while growing up. He reverted back to his real name when he became an actor. Glimpsed here and there throughout the 1950s in amiable acting supports on film, it was as a TV produer amd director that Jerry Paris found his true calling. In front of the camera, however, most fans will remember him quite fondly as the neighborhood dentist to Dick Van Dyke and Mary Tyler Moore on Van Dyke's treasured TV comedy sitcom of the 60s. Jerry graduated from both New York University and UCLA and studied at the Actor's Studio after serving in the Navy during World War II. 
Michael Pate (1920-2008) [The Rugged O'Riordans (1950); Hondo (1953); Mad Dog Morgan (1976)] was born Edward John Pate in Drummoyne, a suburb of Sydney in New South Wales, Australia. He got his career start as an interviewer on the government's radio station. Pate also worked on the Australian stage and in Down Under movies before relocating to th e U.S. in the early 1950s to appear in Universal's Thunder on the Hill, the film version of a Charlotte Hastings play (Bonaventure) in which he had appeared. Pate acted in many American films and TV series, then returned to Australia in the late '60s and worked (again) in that country's film industry; he co-starred in his own Aussie TV series, Matlock Police. Pate also began working behind the camera; one of his best-known writing-producing-directing credits is Tim, the story of the relationship between an older woman (Piper Laurie) and a retarded young man (Mel Gibson). During World War II he served in the Australian Army in the SWPA unit. He was later seconded to the 1st Australian Army Amenities Entertainment Unit--The Islanders--in various combat areas. 
Nigel Patrick (1913-1981) was a British actor, born Nigel Dennis Wemyss in London, England. He made his stage debut in 1932 but didn't make a major impact in films until after his service in World War II. In the 1950s he became a popular, debonair leading man in British films, including Pandora and the Flying Dutchman (1950), The Pickwick Papers (1952), The Sound Barrier (1952), Sapphire (1959) and The League of Gentlemen (1959). He was later successful on stage and television (in the series Zero One) in the 1960s, and still occasionally returned to films for major productions like Battle of Britain (1969). He also starred in and directed two films, How to Murder a Rich Uncle (1957) and Johnny Nobody (1960). He was married to the actress Beatrice Campbell until her death in 1979. 
Pat Paulsen (1927-1997) [Where Were You When the Lights Went Out? (1968); Auntie Lee's Meat Pies (1992)] was born to a Norwegian-American family that lived in a small fishing town in Washington State. The family moved to California when he was 10, and after graduating from high school, Pat joined the U.S. Marine Corps during the waning days of World War II. Demobilized after the war, Paulsen worked a variety of jobs, including postal clerk, truck driver, hod carrier, and miner. He attended San Francisco City College on the G.I. bill. After college, Paulsen joined an acting company before forming a comedy trio that included his brother Lorin, who continues to entertain with a one man show as Abraham Lincoln. 
John Payne (1912-1989) [Dodsworth (1936) Miracle on 34th Street (1947); They Ran for Their Lives (1968)] was born John Howard Payne, 28 May 1912, Roanoke, Virginia, and died 6 December 1989, Malibu, California, of congestive heart failure. Graduated from Roanoke College. Studied singing at the Juilliard School of Music and acting at Columbia University. Supplemented his studies by making money as a professional wrestler, before landing his first acting job as understudy to Beatrice Lillie in the 1935 revue At Home Abroad. He served as a pilot in the Army Air Corps during World War II. Was a singer in 20th Century-Fox musicals during his early career. He was the first person in Hollywood interested in making the James Bond novels into a film series. In 1955 he paid a $1,000-a-month option for 9 months on the Bond novel Moonraker (he eventually gave up the option when he learned he couldn't retain the rights for the entire 007 series). He was a direct descendant of John Howard Payne (1791-1852), composer of the classic song Home, Sweet Home ("Be it ever so humble, there's no place like home."). The gap in his career from 1962 to 1968 was the result of a terrible automobile wreck, in which he suffered extensive, life-threatening injuries. In his later roles, facial scars can be detected in close-ups. 
Sam Peckinpah (1925-1984) was born and grew up in Fresno, CA, when it was still a sleepy town. Sam served in the Marine Corps during World War II but - to his disappointment - did not see combat. After drifting through several jobs he got a gofer job with director Don Siegel who took a shine to him and used him on several of his pictures. Peckinpah eventually became a scriptwriter for such TV programs as "Gunsmoke" (1955) and "The Rifleman" (1958) and was the creator of the critically acclaimed western series "The Westerner" (1960). In 1961 he directed his first film, the nondescript western The Deadly Companions (1961). The next year things got better, however. His four-star Ride the High Country (1962) featured the final screen appearance of Randolph Scott. Then came major problems with Major Dundee (1965), the film that brought to light his volatile reputation. On location in Mexico Peckinpah's abrasive manner, exacerbated by booze and marijuana, provoked usually even-keeled Charlton Heston to threaten to run him through with a cavalry saber. Post-production conflicts led to a bitter and ultimately losing battle with the film's producer, Jerry Bresler, and Columbia Pictures over the final cut and, as a result, the disjointed effort fizzled at the box office. His second marriage now failing, Peckinpah did not begin his next project for two years, but it was the one for which he will always be remembered. The success of The Wild Bunch (1969) rejuvenated his career and propelled him through highs and lows in the 1970s. 
Leo Penn (1921-1998) was born in Lawrence, Massachusetts and died of lung cancer in Los Angeles, California. He was married to actress Eileen Ryan and is the father of actors Sean Penn and Chris Penn, and musician Michael Penn. He studied drama and subsequently acted in campus plays at the U. of Calif. and was signed to a contract by Paramount in 1945 after serving as a bombardier with the 8th Air Force during World War II. His contract with Paramount was not renewed and he was blacklisted in Hollywood after his activism in the Communist Party was revealed by the HUAC (House Un-American Activities Committee). He was mostly a television director, producer, writer, and actor of the 1950s through 1990s although he had a little work in motion pictures before being blacklisted. It's interesting that his son, Sean, has continued the same un-American activities (cuddling up to Fidel Castro and Hugo Chavez) as his father while enjoying a full measure of capitalism. 
Directory: cms -> lib -> PA09000087 -> Centricity -> Domain Domain -> The ap history Timeline 8000bce-the Present Domain -> Objectives: Identify economic and social problems Americans faced after World War II Domain -> Chapter 6, Problem Set #5 – More Work with Comparative Advantage and Trade Domain -> Image: Die cut of the Knight Helmet Domain -> Active voice example Domain -> Weak Syllable Deletion Domain -> American Civil War and Reconstruction Timeline Download 0.78 Mb. Share with your friends:
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