Keenan Wynn (July 27, 1916 – October 14, 1986)
The Twilight Zone
Character actor Keenan Wynn was the son of vaudeville comedian Ed Wynn. He appeared in Song of the Thin Man (1947), Desperate Search (Joseph H. Lewis, 1952), Code Two (1953), Running Wild (1955), Shack Out on 101 (1955), Touch of Evil (1958), Dr. Strangelove (1964), Warning Shot (1967), the western Welcome to Hard Times (1967), Point Blank (1967), and The Mechanic (1972).
Laird Cregar (July 28, 1913 – December 9, 1944)
Laird Cregar's tragically short career included I Wake Up Screaming (original title: Hot Spot) (1941), This Gun for Hire (1942), The Lodger (1944), and Hangover Square (1945).
Ann Doran (July 28, 1911 – September 19, 2000)
Reliable character actress Ann Doran was in a lot of films, including a number of noirs. She was in Homicide Bureau (1939), Blind Alley (1939), Forgotten Girls (1940), Murder Among Friends (1941), Ellery Queen's Penthouse Mystery (1941), Street of Chance (1942), Criminals Within (1943), The Strange Love of Martha Ivers (1946), Fear in the Night (1947), The Crimson Key (1947), Second Chance (1947), Road to the Big House (1947), The Return of the Whistler (1948), Pitfall (1948), He Walked by Night (1948), The Accused (1949), The Clay Pigeon (1949), Gambling House (1950), The People Against O'Hara (1951), and Rebel Without a Cause (1955), where she played mother to James Dean. Doran also did a lot of television.
Ann Doran and cast in Rebel Without a Cause (1955).
Stephen McNally (July 29, 1913 - June 4, 1994)
With Burt Lancaster in Criss Cross
When Stephen McNally started acting in the early 1940s it was under his real name, Horace McNally. His many films include Grand Central Murder (1942), Eyes in the Night (1942), Bewitched (1945), Johnny Belinda (1948), Rogues' Regiment (1948), City Across the River (1949), Criss Cross (1949), Woman in Hiding (1950), Winchester '73 (1950), No Way Out (1950), The Raging Tide (1951), Split Second (1953), Make Haste to Live(1954), Violent Saturday (1955), a western remake of Kiss of Death,The Fiend Who Walked the West (1958), Johnny Rocco (1958), and the The Lonely Profession (1969), a San Francisco set TV movie mystery. McNally worked a lot on television, where he starred as a reporter after the Mob in Target: The Corruptors (1961–1962).
With Linda Darnell in No Way Out
Thelma Todd (July 29, 1906 - December 16, 1935)
Actress Thelma Todd played Iva Archer in The Maltese Falcon (1931).
Todd's premature death is part of a real life mystery. She and her boyfriend, director Roland West owned a nightclub and the story goes that gangsters were trying to take over the establishment and they wouldn't sell. According to the IMDb, "Whether the stories were true or not, on December 16, 1935, Thelma was found dead in her car in her garage in Los Angeles. Her death was ruled a suicide owing to carbon monoxide poisoning. She was only 29 years old. At the time, as today, many felt that her death was actually a murder connected to the goings-on at her club, a theory that was lent credence by the fact that no one who knew her had ever seen her depressed or morose enough to worry about her committing suicide. Another factor that aroused suspicion was that her death was given a cursory investigation by the--at the time--notoriously corrupt Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office and the case was quickly and unceremoniously closed. Her death has remained a controversial one even to this day."
Richard Egan ( July 29, 1921--July 20, 1987)
In Undercover Girl with Alexis Smith
Actor Richard Egan's films include The Story of Molly X (1949), The Damned Don't Cry (1950), Undercover Girl (1950), Highway 301 (1950), The Killer That Stalked New York (1950), Hollywood Story (1951), Split Second (1953), Wicked Woman (1953), Violent Saturday (1955), and Slaughter on Tenth Avenue (1957).
With Beverly Michaels in Wicked Woman
With Julie London in Voice in the Mirror (1958)
William Powell (July 29, 1892 – March 5, 1984)
With screen wife Myrna Loy, and their screen pet, Asta.
The great William Powell became a star playing detective Philo Vance, and became a legend as another detective, Nick Charles, in the Thin Man series.
With Gloria Grahame in Song of the Thin Man (1947)
William Powell in Shadow of the Thin Man (1941)
Edd Byrnes (born 30 July 1933)
Happy birthday to Edd Byrnes, 79.
Here's Byrne's biography on the IMDb:
"Born Edward Byrne Breitenberger in New York City on July 30, 1933, Edd Byrnes shared an impoverished and unhappy childhood with brother Vincent and sister Jo-Ann. Their mother worked hard at various jobs to keep the family together because her alcoholic husband was often absent from the scene. When Edd was 13 his father was found dead in a basement. Edd then dropped his last name in favor of "Byrnes", based on the name of his maternal grandfather, a New York City fireman. Edd found escape from family problems at the movies and at the gym, where he developed an athletic body. At age 17 he was approached by a man who offered to take free "physique" photos of him. According to Edd's 1996 autobiography, "Kookie No More", this led to a few years of "hustling" older, well-to-do men, despite the fact that Edd was heterosexual. One of these men acted as Edd's mentor, introducing him to fashion and culture and encouraging his hopes for an acting career.
After doing some summer-stock work and a few bit parts on TV, Edd drove to California in 1955, arriving in Los Angeles on the day James Dean died in a car crash. He managed to get a few minor parts in films and then won a role in a new TV series called "77 Sunset Strip" (1958), which premiered in September of 1958. Efrem Zimbalist Jr. and Roger Smith starred as private eyes but Edd, playing a hip-talking parking-lot attendant named "Kookie", won the most attention. Viewers quoted his dialog, ("Baby, you're the ginchiest!"), and young males imitated the way he wielded his ever-present comb. His fan mail soon reached an astonishing 15,000 letters a week and his single with Connie Stevens, "Kookie, Kookie, Lend Me Your Comb", became a top-5 hit. Edd chafed, however, at the restrictions in his Warner Brothers contract, which forced him to turn down roles in Ocean's Eleven (1960), North to Alaska (1960) and Rio Bravo (1959). He walked off the "77 Sunset Strip" set and in the ensuing months began to drink heavily and visit a psychiatrist, who administered drugs to him. His contract dispute was eventually settled, though not much to his advantage, and when he returned to "77 Sunset Strip" his role was upgraded from "sidekick" to "partner" and he wore a suit and tie. Audience reaction was not good, ratings dropped, and the show was canceled. The hip-talking, hair-combing image clung to him, however, and Edd felt he lost the lead in PT 109 (1963) because President John F. Kennedy didn't want to be played by "Kookie." A few more movies and TV appearances followed, but his career had passed its peak before he turned 30.
In 1962 he married long-time girlfriend Asa Maynor. Their son, Logan, was born on September 13, 1965. Edd and Asa's marriage ended in divorce in 1971, partially because of his reliance on drugs and alcohol. In 1982 he succeeded in going "clean and sober." He never remarried, remains proud of his son, and has come to terms with his role as television's first teen idol."
Hmmm...Wasn't someone named Ricky Nelson, who landed the role in Rio Bravo, also a TV idol?
Last edited by Surly; 07-30-2012 at 09:34 AM.
Paul Anka (born July 30, 1941)
Happy birthday to singer and actor Paul Anka. Though Anka's music has been used in many films, he acted in just a few. These include Girls Town (1959), in which he sings, and Look in Any Window (1961), where he plays a peeing tom.
With Ruth Roman in Look in Any Window
Geraldine Chaplin (born 31 July 1944)
Happy Birthday to Geraldine Chaplin, 68, star of Remember My Name (1978).
Henry Jones (August 1, 1912 – May 17, 1999)
Vertigo
Character actor Henry Jones worked a lot on television, acting in such series as Danger, The Web and Alfred Hitchcock Presents. His films include The Bad Seed (1956), 3:10 to Yuma (1957), and he was the Coroner, in Vertigo (1958). He was in The Outfit (1973), Claude Chabrol's The Champagne Murders aka Le Scandale (1967), and The Grifters (1990).
Henry Jones in The Bad Seed.
Gary Merrill (August 2, 1915 – March 5, 1990)
With Dana Andrews in Where the Sidewalk Ends
Actor Gary Merrill appeared in Slattery's Hurricane (Andre de Toth, 1949), Where the Sidewalk Ends (1950), All About Eve (1950), Another Man's Poison (1952), Phone Call from a Stranger (1952), Night Without Sleep (1952), A Blueprint for Murder (1953), Witness to Murder (1954), The Human Jungle (1954), The Savage Eye (1960), Mysterious Island (1961), The Searching Eye (a short which was directed by Saul Bass, and shown during the 1964 New York World's Fair), and The Incident (1967). Merrill worked a lot on television, acting in a number of episodes of Alfred Hitchcock Presents. He was Married to Bette Davis during the 1950s.
Myrna Loy (August 2, 1905 – December 14, 1993)
No, the THIN MAN films aren't noir, but that's no reason not to post photos of the incomparably delightful Myrna Loy.
Marilyn Maxwell (August 3, 1921 – March 20, 1972)
In Champion with Kirk Douglas
Actress and singer Marilyn Maxwell toured with the USO and Bob Hope during WW2. She appeared in Dr. Gillespie's Criminal Case (1943), Race Street (1948), Champion (1949), Outside the Wall (1950), The Lemon Drop Kid (1951) (singing "Silver Bells")and New York Confidential (1955), then moved into television.
Dolores del Río (August 3, 1905 – April 11, 1983)
With Everett Sloane and Joseph Cotten in Journey into Fear
Dolores del Río was the most important star of the Golden age of Mexican cinema. She appeared in the mystery Accused (1936), Journey into Fear (1943), María Candelaria (1943), La Otra ("The Other", 1946), (a film which inspired Dead Ringer, starring Bette Davis), and The Fugitive (John Ford, 1947).
Jean Hagen (August 3, 1923 — August 29, 1977)
Actress Jean Hagen appeared in Adam's Rib (1949), The Asphalt Jungle (1950), Side Street (1950), The Big Knife (1955), and Dead Ringer (1964, a remake of the film starring Delores del Rio).
Wesley Addy (August 4, 1913 – December 31, 1996)
In Kiss Me Deadly with Ralph Meeker
Character actor Wesley Addy began his career on the classical stage before acting in films and on television. He was a favorite of director Robert Aldrich. Addy's filmography includes Kiss Me Deadly (1955), The Big Knife (1955), Time Table (1956), The Garment Jungle (1957), Seconds (1966), Network (1976), and The Verdict (1982).
With Maxine Cooper
There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote