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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Bob Hope (1903-2003) [Road to Morocco (1942), The Paleface (1948)]. No entertainer is more associated with the USO than Bob Hope, who first appeared with the USO in 1942 and spent the following decades entertaining U.S. servicemen and women around the globe. With the fundraising help of Prescott Bush -- father of the 41st president and grandfather of the 43rd president -- Hope was a vital morale booster for servicemen in WW II. An act of Congress in 1997 made Hope an "honorary veteran." Upon receiving the award, he said: "I've been given many awards in my lifetime, but to be numbered among the men and women I admire most is the greatest honor I have ever received."
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William Hopper (1915-1970) [Rebel Without a Cause (1955); The Bad Seed (1956); tv: Paul Drake in the Perry Mason series, 1957-66] was born William DeWolf Hopper, Jr. in New York, New York, the only child of actor/ matinee idol DeWolf Hopper and actress/gossip columnist Hedda Hopper. Prior to being a Navy frogman doing underwater demolition in the pacific during WWII his hair was dark blonde, the stress of the danger turned it permanently white.
Quote: "I didn't dislike movie people, but they were nothing special to me. I'd been around them all my life. My mother's [Hedda Hopper] the kind who could say "Howdeedo" to the king of England and feel perfectly at home. But I couldn't."
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John Howard (1913-1995) [Annapolis Farewell (1935); Love from a Stranger (1947)], born John Cox, was an American actor, usually a leading man in smaller-budgeted films and sometimes second lead in larger pictures. His greatest fame came as the brother of Ronald Colman's character in Frank Capra's Lost Horizon (1937) and as suave detective Bulldog Drummond in a series of films starting that same year. During World War II Howard served as Executive Officer of the USS YMS-24, a minesweeper. During the invasion of southern France the ship was severely damaged by a mine that killed her captain. Howard took command and fought valiantly to save his ship and crew, even jumping into the sea to rescue a wounded sailor. For his gallantry he was awarded the Navy Cross (the second highest military award of the U.S. Navy) and the French Croix de Guerre. His return to Hollywood after the war was welcomed, unfortunately, with diminishing opportunities. The quality of his films fell and he was one of the first screen actors to commit to working in the new field of television. He continued to make occasional film appearances after the '60s, but gradually moved into academia. He became headmaster of the prestigious Highland Hall, a private high school where he taught and administered for nearly 20 years. He also gave private lessons in celestial navigation. He died in 1995, survived by his actress-ballerina wife Eva Ralf and their four children.
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Leslie Howard (1893-1943) [The Petrified Forest (1936); "Ashley" in Gone With The Wind (1939)]. Howard and others died June 1, 1943, on a flight from Lisbon to London (KLM Royal Dutch Airlines/BOAC Flight 777) when their aircraft was shot down by a German Junkers Ju 88 over the Bay of Biscay. Howard had been engaged in secret war work and the Germans believed that Winston Churchill, who had been in Algiers, might also be on board. The Allies knew from Ultra that the plane was going to be shot down so Howard's life, as well as the others on board, were sacrificed to preserve the Allies' most important secret.
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Frankie Howerd (1917-1992) [That Was the Week That Was (1962); The House in Nightmare Park (1973)] was born Francis Alick Howerd and became a popular British comedian. At 19 he put together revues for music halls that included monologues, impressions, jokes and comic songs. This was not easy since he suffered from major stage fright, a life-long debilitation. Following service in World War II, Frankie refocused on his career with radio and theatre appearances. In the 1950s he finally earned his own TV variety shows, but his burgeoning reputation coupled with a lack of self-confidence led the painfully shy man to suffer severe emotional conflicts with this newlyfound success. Nevertheless, Frankie was awarded the OBE in 1977.
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Rock Hudson (1925-1985) [Winchester '73 (1950); A Gathering of Eagles (1963); Ice Station Zebra (1968)] was the son of an auto mechanic and a telephone operator who divorced when he was eight years old. He failed to obtain parts in school plays because he couldn't remember lines. After high school he was a postal employee and during WW II served as a Navy airplane mechanic. After the war he was a truck driver. His size and good looks got him into movies. His name was changed to Rock Hudson, his teeth were capped, he took lessons in acting, singing, fencing and riding. One line in his first picture, Fighter Squadron (1948), needed 38 takes. In 1956 he received an Oscar nomination for Giant (1956) and two years later Look magazine named him Star of the Year. He starred in a number of bedroom comedies, many with Doris Day, and had his own popular TV series "McMillan & Wife" (1971-1977). He had a recurring role in TV's "Dynasty" (1984-1985). He was the first major public figure to announce he had AIDS, and his worldwide search for a cure drew international attention. After his death his long-time lover Marc Christian successfully sued his estate, again calling attention to the homosexuality Rock had hidden from most throughout his career.
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Barnard Hughes (1915- ) [The Young Doctors (1961); The Fantasticks (1995)]. Born in Bedford Hills, N.Y., Hughes held jobs as a dock checker in New York harbor, a Macy's salesman and a Wall Street copyreader before auditioning for the stage on a dare from a friend. His career, which began in 1934 with one line in a repertory production of The Taming of the Shrew, has since spanned broadway, television and films. Hughes made his Broadway debut in 1935 in Herself Mrs. Patrick Crowley. Until 1942 he toured the eastern United States performing in stock theatrical shows until World War II side-tracked him. In 1945 he resumed the stage career which had been interrupted by the war. While on tour, he met actress Helen Stenborg, whom he married in 1950. In the 1950s, Barnard branched into television work with roles in Playhouse 90, Kraft Theater and Armstrong Circle Theater. His first feature film role was in the 1969 hit Midnight Cowboy. Subsequent screen credits include The Hospital, Oh, God! and First Monday in October.
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Jeffrey Hunter (1926-1969) [The Searchers (1956) scene above with Vera Miles; King of Kings (1961); The Longest Day (1962); Super Colt 38 (1969)] was born an only child in Louisiana as Henry Herman McKinnies Jr. His parents met at the University of Arkansas, and when he was almost four his family moved to Milwaukee, Wisconsin. In his teens he acted in productions of the North Shore Children's Theater, and from 1942 to 1944 performed in summer stock with the local Port Players, along with Eileen Heckart, Charlotte Rae and Morton DaCosta, and was a radio actor at WTMJ, getting his first professional paycheck in 1945 for the wartime series "Those Who Serve." While in Spain to film the Chicago Mafia story Viva America (1969), Hunter was injured in an on-set explosion, suffering facial lacerations from broken glass and powder burns. Later an old friend, a former British commando, accidentally hit him on the chin with a karate chop when Hunter, who knew judo, failed to defend himself in time, banging the back of his head against a door. Then, while on the plane with his wife returning to the United States, Hunter's right arm suddenly became semi-paralyzed and he lost the power of speech, two signs of a stroke. In 1969 he suffered another stroke, took a bad fall and underwent emergency surgery, but died from complications of both the fall and the surgery. He served in the U.S. Navy, under the service number 960 39 80, from May 28, 1945 to May 25, 1946; Received a Medical Discharge as a Seaman First Class and was awarded the World War II Victory Medal.
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Tab Hunter (1931- ) enlisted in the Coast Guard at age 15 (he lied about his age) and so served just after World War II. At 18 made his film debut in The Lawless (1950). He had no previous acting experience. Though his acting was stiff and unimaginative, 1950s teenagers adored his blond, boy-next-door appearance and physique. His best-known early film was Battle Cry (1955). The role most remembered today is the part of Joe Hardy in Damn Yankees! (1958). In 1960-1 he had his own TV series The Tab Hunter Show (1960), and he appeared regularly as George Shumway in TV's Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman (1976). He co-starred three times with female impersonator Divine: Polyester (1981), Out of the Dark (1989), and Lust in the Dust (1985). He wrote the story for his most recent (his 32nd) movie Dark Horse (1992), directed by David Hemmings.
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John Huston (1906-1987) [Wrote screenplay and directed The Maltese Falcon (1941); Wrote screenplay, directed and had cameo role in The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948)] was born in Neveda, Missouri. His father was Walter Houston. John was a man of many interests - painting, boxing, sculpture, gambling, fox-hunting, a licenced pilot and more. During World War II he served as a Signal Corps lieutenant and went on to helm a number of film documentaries for the U.S. government including the controversial Let There Be Light (1946), which was narrated by his father, Walter. A short excerpt like this can't do justice to his remarkable career. IMDB has more.

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Richard Jaeckel (1926-1997) was born Richard Hanley Jaeckel in Long Beach, New York. A short, but tough guy, he played a variety of characters in his 50 years in movies and television and became one of Hollywood's best known character actors. Jaeckel got his start in the business at the age of 17 while working as a mailboy at 20th Century Fox studios in Hollywood. A casting director audtioned him for a key role in the 1943 film Guadalcanal Diary, Jaeckel won the role and settled into a lengthy career in supporting parts. He served in the US Navy from 1944 to 1949, then starred in two of the most remembered war films of 1949, Battleground and Sands of Iwo Jima with John Wayne. Jaeckel's other films include The Gunfighter (1950); Come Back, Little Sheba (1952); 3:10 to Yuma (1957); The Gallant Hours (1960); Town Without Pity (1961); The Dirty Dozen (1967); Chisum (1970); Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid (1973); Grizzly (1976); Twilight's Last Gleaming (1977); The Dark (1979); Cold River (1982); Starman (1984); Black Moon Rising (1986) and The Delta Force 2 (1990). The highlight of Jaeckel's career was in 1971, when he recieved an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor for his role in Sometimes a Great Notion (1970). In his later years, Jaeckel was known to TV audiences as Lt. Ben Edwards on the series "Baywatch". Jaeckel died in 1997 after a three year battle with melanoma cancer at the Motion Picture and Television Hospital in Woodland Hills, California.
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Clifton James (1921- ). He perfected a convincing Southern drawl, however Clifton James was actually born in New York. He graduated from the Actors Studio and regularly appeared in guest roles on 1950's-60's TV shows including Gunsmoke (1955), Bonanza (1959) and The Virginian (1962). Blustery, stocky, loud although often genial character actor that created a niche for himself playing fast talking Southern characters, noticeably as "Sheriff J.W. Pepper" alongside Roger Moore in the James Bond spy adventure Live and Let Die (1973), plus his character returned to assist 007 again in The Man with the Golden Gun (1974). He graduated from the University of Oregon. He served five years with the U.S. Army during World War II.
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Sid James (1913-1976) [The Lavender Hill Mob (1951); The 39 Steps (1959)] was born Sidney Joel Cohen in Natal, South Africa. During World War II, he enlisted in an entertainment unit which led to acting as a career. He went to Britain in 1946 on the back of his service gratuity. Initially he worked in repertory theater where he was later discovered by the nascent British post-war film industry.
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Rick Jason (1923-2000) [This Is My Love (1954); Illegally Yours (1988)] was born Richard Jason in New York City, the only child of a stockbroker and well-to-do mother. Jason often described himself as "second-generation nouveau riche" and a born romantic. Friends say he was affable, charming, driven and a real Renaissance man. A good student, popular with classmates and teachers, Jason's hellish behavior got him expelled from eight prep schools before he managed to graduate from Rhodes School. His father bought him a seat on the New York Stock Exchange, but Rick sold the seat and enlisted in the Army Air Corps; serving 1943-1945. After the war he attended the American Academy of Dramatic Arts on the GI Bill. While attending a New York play actor-director Hume Cronyn spotted him and immediately cast him in Now I Lay me Down to Sleep. The role earned Rick a Theater World Award and a Hollywood contract with Columbia Pictures. In 1962 he exploded onto prime-time TV screens as the cool, calm and collected Lt. Gil Hanley in ABC's hit series Combat!. Five seasons and 152 episodes later, Jason was a household name. After Combat! Rick returned to the theater but he also made films in Japan and Israel. His TV career remained strong, and in the '70s and '80s he was guest star on numerous TV shows. He appeared as a regular on the soap opera The Young and the Restless (1973). After retirement he kept busy doing voice-overs for commercials and ran the Wine Locker, a 4,000-square-foot facility used to store fine wines under optimal conditions. Sadly, in October 2000 he died of a self-inflicted gunshot in Moorpark, California. [Excerpted and edited from IMDB]
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Roy Jenson (1927-2007) [Law of the Lawless (1964); Will Penny (1968); Paint Your Wagon (1969)] was born in Calgary, Alberta, Canada but moved to Los Angeles with his mother and brother, George, at age 7. He attended South Gate High School. He played football for UCLA, then professionally for the Calgary Stampeders and the Montreal Alouettes. He was the first man beaten up by Caine on "Kung Fu" (1972). He often doubled for Robert Mitchum. His first wife, Barbara Dionysius, was his college sweetheart. They had three children: Martin, Morgan and Sasha. He met his second wife, European actress Marina Petrova (aka Marina Petrowa), while filming The Great Escape (1963) in Germany. He had an affinity for the ocean -- fishing, camping, diving. In addition to his second wife, three sons and brother, he was survived by seven grandchildren and a great granddaughter. He played Roman Polanski's henchman in the famous knife-to-the-nose sequence with Jack Nicholson in Chinatown (1974). Joined the U.S. Navy at age 17 during World War II and served on a destroyer in the Pacific.
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Richard Johnson (1927- ) was born in Upminster, Essex, England. He attended the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London and then performed in John Gielgud's repertory company until joining the navy during World War II. After the war, he appeared successfully in the West End and made his film debut in the early 1950s. The debonair and handsome Johnson was a natural to portray playboy type characters, perhaps the most memorable being "Bulldog Drummond" in Deadlier Than the Male (1967) and Some Girls Do (1969). Later in his career, he turned to more serious roles, such as "Marc Antony" in Antony and Cleopatra (1974, TV), and also tried his hand at producing in the late 1980s. -- [Excerpted from IMDB]
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Russell Johnson (1924- ) [The Professor on Gilligan's Island]. Earned a Purple Heart for injuries during battle when his B-24 Liberator bomber was shot down during a bombing run against Japanese targets in the Philippine Islands in March 1945.

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Van Johnson (1916-2008) [A Guy Named Joe (1943); Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo (1944); Battleground (1949)] was born Charles Van Johnson. He was an American character actor that starred in such films as Command Decision (1948) and The Caine Mutiny (1954). He did guest appearances on such TV shows as Batman during the 1960s. He had a road accident which left him with a metal plate in his head and the injury exempted him from military service. His acting career began in earnest in 1942, just as the United States was fully entering World War II.
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Buck Jones (1891-1942) [A Rough Shod Fighter (1917); Dawn on the Great Divide (1942)], one of the greatest of the B-Western stars, was born in Indiana but reportedly (but disputedly) grew up on a ranch near Red Rock in Indian Territory (now Oklahoma), and there learned the riding and shooting skills that would stand him in good stead as a hero of Westerns. He joined the army as a teenager and served on US-Mexican border before seeing service in the Moro uprising in the Philippines. He was wounded but recuperated and reenlisted, hoping to become a pilot. He was not accepted for pilot training and left the army in 1913. He took a menial job with the Miller Brothers 101 Ranch Wild West Show and soon became champion bronco buster. He moved on to the Julia Allen Show, but with the beginning of the First World War, Jones took work training horses for the Allied armies. After the war, he and his wife, Odelle Osborne -- whom he had met in the Miller Brothers show -- toured with the Ringling Brothers circus, then settled in Hollywood, where Jones got work in a number of Westerns starring Tom Mix and Franklyn Farnum. William Fox put Jones under contract and promoted him as a new Western star. He used the name Charles Jones at first, then Charles Buck Jones, before settling on his permanent stage name. He quickly climbed to the upper ranks of Western stardom and at one point was receiving more fan mail than any actor in the world. Months after America's entry into World War II, Jones participated in a war-bond-selling tour. On November 28, 1942, he was a guest of local citizens in Boston at the famed Coconut Grove nightclub. Fire broke out and nearly five hundred people died in one of the worst fire disasters on record. Jones was horribly burned and died two days later before his wife Dell could arrive to comfort him.
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Dickie Jones (1927- ) [The Range Rider (1951); Buffalo Bill, Jr. (1955)] is an American actor with some success as a child and as a young adult, especially in B-Westerns and in television. Born in Snyder, Texas, the son of a newspaper editor, Jones was a prodigious horseman from infancy, billed at the age of four as the World's Youngest Trick Rider and Trick Roper. At age six, he was hired to perform riding and lariat tricks in the rodeo owned by western star Hoot Gibson. He served in the Army in Alaska during the final months of World War II.
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Henry Jones (1912-1999) [The Lady Says No (1952); The Grifters (1990)] was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; he graduated from St. Jospeh's College. His Broadway debut was in 1938 in Maurice Evans' Hamlet (Reynaldo and the second gravedigger). He served in the army in World War II. His highly reviewed stage appearances included the murdered handyman in The Bad Seed, which he reprised in the film version (The Bad Seed (1956)), and the part of Louis Howe, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's confidant in Sunrise at Campobello (1960). Though very ordinary in appearance ("The casting directors didn't know what to do with me. I was never tall enough or good looking enough to play juvenile leads"), he had a long and varied career on Broadway, in movies and television.
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