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Born Louis
Jean Heydt on 17 April 1905 in Montclair, New Jersey, USA, American character
actor who specialized in "Average Joe's", often timid or
down-on-their-luck. He was educated at Worcester Academy and Dartmouth College.
He intended a career in journalism and worked as a reporter for the old New York
World. he developed an interest in acting and landed a number of roles on the
New York stage active there from 1927-48. In the mid-Thirties, he came to
Hollywood and quickly established himself as a reliable supporting player.
Although he played dozens of roles in many fine films including Gone with the
Wind 1939, They Were Expendable 1945, and The Big Sleep 1946, and though his
face is exceptionally familiar to viewers of that period's films, his name never
quite broke through. He remained a pleasant presence in scores of films of
Forties and Fifties, while continuing to work on the stage and on television.
Louis appeared in three movies with John Wayne, Louis passed away on 29 January
1960 in Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
Born Sam Edwards
on 26 May 1915 in Macon, Georgia, USA, Sam grew up in a show business
family, having made his debut on stage while he was just a baby (his mother, the
actress Edna Park, was holding him). With his family, he acted on radio in "The
Adventures of Sunny and Buddy," and on his family's show, "The Edwards Family."
Sam appeared in two movies with John Wayne, Sam passed away on 28 July 2004 in
Durango, Colorado, USA.
Born William Harrigan
on 27 March 1886 in New York, New York, USA, He was the son of
playwright/actor Edward Harrigan, one-half of the legendary Harrigan and Hart
musical comedy team. Beginning his own acting career in the pre-WW I era, the
younger Harrigan made his film debut in 1917. Most of his screen characters
seemed destined for an early and unpleasant demise, as witness the duplicitous
Dr. Kemp in The Invisible Man 1933 and retired gangster McKay in G-Men 1935. In
1947, Harrigan scored a personal triumph in the role of the irascible Captain in
the original Broadway production of Mister Roberts; the play was co-written and
staged by Joshua Logan, the husband of Harrigan's actress sister Nedda. William
Harrigan's final screen assignments included the ghostly baseball great Red
O'Malley in the risible Roogie's Bump 1954. William appeared in two movies with
John Wayne, William passed away on 1 February 1966 in New York, New York, USA.
Born Martin
Milner on December 28, 1931, in Detroit, Michigan. His father, Sam, was a
film distributor. His mother, Jerre Martin, was a dancer with the Paramount
Theatre circuit. The Milners moved to Seattle when Martin was a baby and to Los
Angeles soon after. At age 15 Martin's father got him an agent and he was chosen
to play the role of "John Day" in Life with Father 1947, Warner Bros.' version
of C'larence Day, Jr.' 's popular Broadway play. Milner contracted polio shortly
after filming was completed and his career was put on hold for a year as he
recovered from the illness. After graduating from North Hollywood High School
and studying for one year at the University of Southern California, Milner
worked steadily in films during the years 1949-1960. He appeared in films such
as Sands of Iwo Jima 1949, Gunfight at the O.K. Corral 1957, Marjorie
Morningstar 1958 and Sweet Smell of Success 1957. He put his career on hold
again when he was inducted into the Army in 1952 for two years. Shortly after
joining the Army, he was assigned to the Human Research Division, where he
directed military training films and served as Master of Ceremonies for a
touring show based at Fort Ord, California. Martin appeared in two movies with
John Wayne plus "Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In" 1968.
Born
Richard Farnsworth on 1 September 1920, American stuntman who,
after more than thirty years in the business, moved into acting and became an
acclaimed and respected character actor. A native of Los Angeles, Farnsworth
grew up around horses and as a teenager was offered an opportunity to ride in
films. He appeared in horse-racing scenes and cavalry charges Anonymously, first
as a general equestrian and later as a stuntman. His riding and stunting skills
gained him regular work doubling stars ranging from Roy Rogers to Gary Cooper,
and he often doubled the bad guy as well. Although like most stuntmen, he was
occasionally given a line or two of dialogue, it was not until Farnsworth was
over fifty that his natural talent for acting and his ease and warmth before the
camera became apparent. When he won an Academy Award nomination for his role in
Comes a Horseman 1978, it came as a surprise to many in the industry that this
"newcomer" had been around since the Thirties. Farnsworth followed his Oscar
nomination with a number of finely wrought performance. Richard appeared in
three movies with John Wayne, Richard passed away on 6 October 2000 in Lincoln,
New Mexico, USA
Born Cliff Clark on
10 June 1889 in New York, New York, USA, After a substantial stage career,
American actor Cliff Clark entered films in 1937. His movie credits ranged from
Mountain Music to the 1953 Burt Lancaster/Virginia Mayo affair South Sea Woman.
The weather-beaten Clark usually played surly city detectives, most frequently
in RKO's Falcon series of the 1940s. In 1944, Clark briefly ascended from "B"s
to "A"s in the role of his namesake, famed politico Champ Clark, in the 20th
Century-Fox biopic Wilson. And in the 1956 TV series Combat Sergeant, Cliff
Clark was second-billed as General Harrison. Cliff appeared in two movies with
John Wayne, Cliff passed away on 8 February 1953 in Hollywood, California,
USA.
Born
Marguerite Churchill on 25
December 1910 in Kansas City, Missouri, USA, Actress Marguerite journeyed from her native Kansas City to New York as a child. She was trained
for a theatrical career at Professional Children's School and Theatre Guild
Drama School, and was on Broadway before reaching the age of 14. In 1929, she
was signed to a Fox Studios contract; her first film was The Valiant 1929, in
which she co-starred with Paul Muni. Dissatisfied with the sort of roles
assigned her at Fox, Marguerite returned to Broadway, where she appeared in
Kaufman and Ferber's Dinner at Eight 1933. She gave Hollywood a second chance in
1935, but except for her intriguing damsel-in-distress portrayal in Dracula's
Daughter 1936, most of her film roles were eminently forgettable. She left films
again in 1936 to spend more time with her husband, cowboy star George O'Brien;
after the break up of their marriage in 1948, Ms. Churchill made one final screen
appearance in the RKO "B" Bunco Squad 1950. Marguerite appeared in three
movies with John Wayne, Marguerite passed away on 9 January 2000 in Broken
Arrow, Oklahoma, USA.
Born Ann Doran on 28
July 1911 in Amarillo, Texas, USA, Ann appeared in over 500 motion
pictures and 1000 television shows, by one count. Starting at the age of four,
she appeared in hundreds of silent films under assumed names so her father's
family wouldn't find out. Rarely a featured player although Charles Starrett's
Rio Grande 1938 is a notable exception), she provided many a wonderful
performance in support of the leads. Ann appeared in two movies with John Wayne,
Ann passed away on 19 September 2000 in Carmichael, California, USA.
Born on
16 August 1924 in Fort Worth, Texas, USA, A former college athlete at the
University of Texas, Fess studied Drama in the early fifties and debuted in
'Springfield Rifle' 1952. He made only a handful of movies until he was signed
by Walt Disney to star in the Davy Crockett series. When Walt was looking for an
actor to play the part of Davy, he screened the Sci-fi movie 'Them!' 1954 with
James Arness. When he saw Fess in a scene, he chose him over Arness and Fess
became an instant celebrity when 'Davy Crockett, King of the Wild Frontier'
debuted in 1955. His appeal with children was enormous with the coon-skinned hat
and the hit song "Davey Crockett". But the craze ended almost as fast as it
started in 1956, and Fess was typecast. Fess appeared in other Disney movies
dealing with the early years of Davey and also in non-Crockett parts such as
'Old Yeller' 1957. By 1959, unable to achieve the success that he had gained as
Crockett, his career had leveled off. He made guest appearances on a number of
television shows, but his attempted return to television in the series "Mr.
Smith Goes to Washington" 1962 was not successful. Unable to procure the rights
to play Crockett from Disney, Fess tried the frontiersman role once again with
the TV series "Daniel Boone" 1964. He played this role for six years and the
fact that he had a beautiful red-headed wife in a colour series did not hurt him
at all. After "Daniel Boone", Fess retired from the screen and went into real
estate, which was profitable. Fess appeared in only one movie with John
Wayne.
Born Oliver
Norvell Hardy on 18 January 1892 in Harlem, Georgia, USA, His Scottish-English
parents were never in show business. As a young boy, he was a gifted singer and,
by age eight, was performing with minstrel shows. In 1910, he ran a movie
theatre, which he preferred to studying law. In 1913, he became a comedy actor
with the Lubin Company in Florida and began appearing in a long series of
shorts; his debut film was Outwitting Dad 1914; 1914-5 was the "Pokes and Jabbs"
series; 1916-8 saw the "Plump and Runt" series, 1919-21 the "Jimmy Aubrey"
series, and from 1921-5 he worked as an actor and co-director of comedy shorts
for Larry Semon. In 1917, he had played a bit part in A Lucky Dog 1921, starring
Stan Laurel. His first two-reeler with Laurel was Forty-five Minutes from
Hollywood 1926. Their first release through MGM was Sugar Daddies 1927 and the
first with star billing was From Soup to Nuts 1928. Their first feature-length
starring roles were in Pardon Us 1931. Their work became more production-line
and less popular during the war years, mostly working for Twentieth Century-Fox.
Their last movie together was The Bullfighters 1945 except for a French failure
(Atoll K 1951). He appeared without Laurel in The Fighting Kentuckian 1949 and
Riding High 1950, Oliver appeared in one movie with John Wayne, Oliver passed
away passed on 7 August 1957 in North Hollywood, California, USA.
Born John
R. Cox Jnr. on 14 April 1913 in Cleveland, Ohio, USA, A native Ohioan,
John Howard had no interest in working in theatre until schoolmates at
Cleveland's Western Reserve University turned him on to acting. After some work
on his college stage, he made his movie debut in a bit part in Paramount's _One
Hour Late 1935 before moving up the Hollywood ladder to featured parts and
ultimately landing his own series (the "Bulldog Drummond" mysteries). Decades
later, when offers of work began to slow down, Howard went into teaching.
Best-known for his role as Ronald Colman's brother in director Frank Capra's
classic Lost Horizon 1937, Howard later said he felt he did a bad job of playing
the character: "Damn it, I thought I was too brash, too uncontrolled, too
unbelievable. And I've wished always that I could go back and do it again." John
appeared in two movies with John Wayne, John passed away on 19 February 1995 in
Santa Rosa, California, USA.
Born James Dobson on
2 October 1920 in Greenville, Tennessee, USA, While appearing on Broadway
in such 1930s productions as Life with Father, James Dobson launched a lengthy
career in radio. He was one of several adolescent-sounding performers to essay
the role of comic-book favorite Archie Andrews. Dobson's first film, filmed in
New England, was Boomerang 1947; his last efforts included The Undefeated 1969
and What's the Matter With Helen? 1970. Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, James
Dobson was frequently employed by television series like Hawaii 5-0 as a utility
actor and dialogue director. James also appeared in Flying Leathernecks, James
passed away on 6 December 1987 in Hollywood, California, USA.