Born Keith Ross on 27 February 1899 in Boston, Massachusetts, USA,  Ian Keith became a well regarded fixture on the Broadway stage during the 1920s, but from 1924 through the remainder of the decade he expanded his acting into a string of silent movies as well. To begin the next decade he appeared in the cast of Abraham Lincoln 1930, one of the later movies of 'D W Griffith' . His forte was perhaps already becoming obvious-his role was that of John Wilkes Booth. Keith had a sly look, and there was an irritated but deadpan demeanour and a side-of-the-mouth delivery to his speech that marked him as a great villain. And he played many -including a surprising number in historic costume. There was never any emotional nuance, but his straight delivery was always completely effective. He figured prominently in some of the most ambitious of the early sound epics: The Sign of the Cross 1932, Cleopatra 1934, and The Crusades 1935 of Cecil B. DeMille, and in the latter Keith was - a sort of good guy - the great Sultan Saladin (surely a strange miscast but DeMille obviously liked him - he showed up in the much later Ten Commandments as well). He was the nemesis of 'John Gilbert' in Queen Christina 1933 and of a similar cast in Mary of Scotland 1936, the early 'John Ford' classic with 'Katherine Hepburn' . He also portrayed an odd twist in the first sound The Three Musketeers 1935. Counter to the book, his Rochefort is the plotting genius, not Cardinal Richelieu, as it should be. Incidentally, he reprised Rochefort, but more in keeping with the original character, in The Three Musketeers 1948 version for 'Gene Kelly'. Ian appeared in two movies with John, Ian passed away on 26 March 1960 in New York, New York, USA.
Helen Parrish born on 23 March 1923 in Columbus, Georgia, USA,  The daughter of stage and bit film actress Laura Parrish, she started in movies at the ripe old age of five, playing Babe Ruth's daughter in the silent Babe Comes Home 1927. She also was featured in "Our Gang" comedy shorts and sometimes played the lead character as a child opposite some of the great femme stars of the day. In her teens she made herself known as a kid sister but is probably most notable as the bane of sweet Deanna Durbin's existence in several of her vehicles, playing a jealous, spiteful teen rival of some sort. Their first film together, Three Smart Girls 1936, worked so well that they formed a sort of Shirley Temple/Jane Withers standoff in a couple of other movie confections for Universal. Most of her films were pleasant but unexceptional and in the "B" calibre, including X Marks the Spot 1931, When a Feller Needs a Friend 1932 , A Dog of Flanders 1935, I'm Nobody's Sweetheart Now 1940, Too Many Blondes 1941, X Marks the Spot 1942 and The Wolf Hunters 1949, by her mid-20s she finished in pictures and turned to TV. Helen appeared in two movies with John, Helen passed away on 22 February 1959 in Hollywood, California, USA.

Born  William Phillips on 10 April 1864 in Nevada City, California, USA, Cadaverous character actor Tully Marshall attended the University of Santa Clara in the 1880s. Drifting into acting, Marshall first appeared onstage at the age of 26, turning professional shortly thereafter. He had nearly a quarter century of theatrical experience behind him when he made his first film in 1914. Like his fellow actors Charles Coburn and Donald Crisp, Marshall was one of those performers who seemed to have been born at the age of 60. Throughout the silent era, he played a vast array of drunken trail scouts, lovable grandpas, unforgiving fathers, sinister attorneys and lecherous aristocrats. In films until his death at the age of 78, one of the best of Tully Marshall's last performances was as the wheelchair-bound criminal mastermind in This Gun For Hire 1942, Tully appeared in four movies with John, Tully passed away on 10 March 1943 in Encino, California, USA.

Born on 23 May 1882, in New York, New York, USA, Character actor James Gleason usually played tough-talking, world-weary guys with a secret heart-of-gold. He is easily recognized for his tendency to talk out of the side of his mouth. after serving in the Spanish-American War, Gleason joined their stock company in Oakland, California. His career was interrupted by service in World War 1, following which he began to appear on Broadway. He debuted onscreen in 1922, but didn't begin to appear regularly in films until 1928. Meanwhile, during the '20s he also wrote a number of plays and musicals, several of which were later made into films. In the early sound era, Gleason collaborated on numerous scripts as a screenwriter or dialogue specialist; he also directed one film, Hot Tip 1935. As an actor, he appeared in character roles in over 150 films, playing a wide range of hard-boiled and often semi-comic urban characters, including detectives, reporters, marine sergeants, gamblers, fight managers, and heroes' pals. In a series of films in the '30s, he had a recurring lead role as slow-witted police inspector Oscar Piper, James appeared in three movies with John, James passed away on 12 April 1959, in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, California, USA.

Born on 11 January 1904 in New York, New York, USA,  Supporting actor Murray Alper's earliest screen credit was 1930's The Royal Family of Broadway. For the next 35 years, Alper was an inescapable movie presence, playing dozens of cab drivers, bookies, cops and GIs. One of his few credited appearances in an "A" picture was in The Maltese Falcon; he plays the friendly cabbie who drives Sam Spade (Humphrey Bogart) on a mid-film wild goose chase. Frequently seen in comedies, Alper showed up in eight Bowery Boys farces of the 1940s and 1950s, and was prominently featured in the Three Stooges' Trick Dicks 1953 and The Outlaws is Coming 1965, as Chief Crazy Horse!). One of Murray Alper's least characteristic roles was the judo instructor in Jerry Lewis' The Nutty Professor 1963. Murray appeared in two movies with John, Murray passed away on 16 November 1984 in Los Angeles, California, USA.

Born Edward Albert Heimberger on 22 April 1906 in Rock Island, Illinois, USA,  Eddie attended the University of Minnesota. After working as everything from soda jerk to a circus acrobat (with a short stint as a nightclub and radio singer), Albert headed for New York City, where he scored a hit in the play Brother Rat, portraying military cadet Bing Edwards. He also starred in Room Service on-stage before heading to Hollywood, where he was signed by Warner Bros. to recreate his stage role in the 1938 film Brother Rat. Albert was known for his comedic work during the early years of his career  The outbreak of World War II sent Albert into the U.S. Navy as a junior officer, and he distinguished himself during 1943 in the fighting on Tarawa. Assigned as the salvage officer in the shore party of the second landing wave (which engaged in heavy fighting with the Japanese), his job was to examine military equipment abandoned on the battlefield to see if it should be retrieved; but what he found were wounded men who had been left behind under heavy fire. Albert took them off the beach in a small launch not designed for that task, earning commendations for his bravery. A bona fide hero, he was sent home to support a War Bond drive The movie business had changed by the time Albert re-entered films in 1971, but he still snagged an Oscar nomination for his work (in a difficult anti-Semitic role) in Elaine May's The Heartbreak Kid 1972. He appeared in two movies with John, Eddie passed away on 26 May 2005 in Pacific Palisades, California, USA.

Born Frederick Tyrone Edmond Power on 2 May 1869, in London, England, UK,  The grandson of famed Irish actor Tyrone Power 1795-1841 and son of concert pianist Harold Power, Frederick Tyrone Power was raised and educated at Dulwich College in England. His family emigrated to the U.S. and he was sent to Florida to work as a citrus farmer. However, he hated farming, having always wanted to be an actor, so he abandoned the citrus ranch and made his stage debut in 'The Private Secretary' in 1886. He toured the U.S., Britain, and Australia in theatrical tours, becoming a famed matinee idol and calling himself Tyrone Power II and Tyrone Power the Younger. In 1912, he was acclaimed for his Brutus in 'Julius Caesar'. In 1914, he entered films and played leading roles until age moved him into often villainous character roles. At home one night after shooting on the film 'The Miracle Man' in 1931. Tyrone appeared in only one movie with John, Power suffered a massive heart attack and died literally in the arms of his 17-year-old son.

Born Leon Waycoff on 20 January 1902 in Portland, Indiana, USA,  Hollywood's favorite "dear old dad," Leon Ames began his stage career as a sleek, dreamy-eyed matinee idol in 1925. He was still billing himself under his real name, when he entered films in 1931. His best early leading role was as the poet-hero of the stylish terror piece Murders in the Rue Morgue 1932. In 1933, Ames was one of the founding members of the Screen Actors Guild, (Ironically, when Ames was president of the SAG, his conservatism and willingness to meet management halfway incurred the wrath of the union's more liberal wing). Ames played many a murderer and caddish "other man" before he was felicitously cast as the kindly, slightly befuddled patriarch in Meet Me in St. Louis 1944. He would play essentially this same character throughout the rest of his career, starring on such TV series as Life With Father.1952-54 and Father of the Bride 1961. When, in 1963, he replaced the late Larry Keating in the role of Alan Young's neighbour on Mr. Ed, Ames' fans were astounded: his character had no children at all! Off screen, the actor was the owner of a successful, high profile Los Angeles automobile dealership. In 1963, he was the unwilling focus of newspaper headlines when his wife was kidnapped and held for ransom. In one of his last films, 1983's Testament, Leon Ames was reunited with his Life With Father co-star Lurene Tuttle. Leon appeared in two movies with John, Leon passed away on 12 October 1993 in Laguna Beach, California, USA.

Born  Mary Gilmour on 16 May 1882, in Glasgow, Scotland, UK,  Diminutive Scottish stage and screen actress Mary Gordon was seemingly placed on this earth to play care-worn mothers, charwomen and housekeepers. In films from the silent area (watch for her towards the end of the 1928 Joan Crawford feature Our Dancing Daughters), Gordon played roles ranging from silent one-scene bits to full-featured support. She frequently acted with Laurel and Hardy, most prominently as the stern Scots innkeeper Mrs. Bickerdyke in 1935's Bonnie Scotland. Gordon was also a favorite of director John Ford, portraying Irish, Scottish, Welsh and Englishwomen with equal aplomb (and sometimes with the same accent). She was the screen mother of actors as diverse as Jimmy Cagney, Leo Gorcey and Lou Costello; she parodied this grey-haired matriarch image in Olsen and Johnson's See My Lawyer (1945), wherein her tearful court testimony on behalf of her son (Ed Brophy) is accompanied by a live violinist. Mary Gordon is most fondly remembered by film buffs for her recurring role as housekeeper Mrs. Hudson in the Sherlock Holmes films of 1939-46 starring Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce, a role she carried over to the Holmes radio series of the '40s. Mary appeared in five movies with John, Mary passed away on 23 August 1963, in Pasadena, California, USA.

Born Henry Olaf Hansen on 9 October 1887, in Oslo, Norway, A film actor from 1925, Norway native Harry Tenbrook usually played such functionary roles as shore patrolmen, sailors, gangsters, and bartenders. The names of Tenbrook's screen characters ran along the lines of Limpy, Spike, and Squarehead. With his supporting appearance in The Informer 1935, the actor became a member of director John Ford's stock company. Harry Tenbrook's association with Ford ended with 1958's The Last Hurrah. Harry appeared in twelve movies with John, Harry passed away on 14 September 1960, in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, California, USA.