Hollywood Actors
Janice Rule was born in 1930 in Norwood, Ohio. She came to fame initially in the early 1950’s on Broadway in “Picnic” with Paul Newman. Her movies include “Bell, Book and Candle” with Kim Novak and James Stewart in 1958, “The Chase” with Marlon Brando in 1966 and “The Swimmer” with Burt Lancaster in 1969. She also starred with Sissy Spacek and Shelley Duval in “3 Women” in 1977. Janice Rule died in 2003.
Tom Vallance’s “Independent” obituary:
Janice Rule, actress and psychoanalyst: born Norwood, Ohio 15 August 1931; married first Robert Thom (one daughter; marriage dissolved), second N. Richard Nash (marriage dissolved), third 1961 Ben Gazzara (one daughter; marriage dissolved 1979); died New York 17 October 2003.
The actress, singer and dancer Janice Rule was a tawny-haired beauty who had an active career on stage, screen and television before putting her actor’s insight to use as a psychoanalyst. On Broadway she created the character of Madge in William Inge’s Picnic and bewitched critics with her song and dance skills in The Happiest Girl in the World, and on screen she graduated from ingénues to such complex roles as the mute artist in Robert Altman’s intriguing Three Women.
Born in Ohio in 1931, she studied ballet, and began her career as a dancer at the age of 15 in the Chicago night-club Chez Paree. She was in the chorus of two Broadway musicals, Miss Liberty (1949) and Great to Be Alive! (1950) and made her screen début with an uncredited bit role in Fourteen Hours (1951).
Signed to a contract by Warners, she was given the choice role of a rebellious college student in Vincent Sherman’s Goodbye, My Fancy(1951). Based on Fay Kanin’s play, the film suffered by having both its political and sexual aspects softened for the screen and is best known for the on-set feud that developed between Rule and the film’s star Joan Crawford. Crawford wrote in her 1962 autobiography,Portrait of Joan,
The cast included a young girl named Janice Rule whose personality definitely clashed with mine. I felt she was non-professional in her attitude, that she regarded film work as something less than slumming and one day I told her so. “Miss Rule,” I said, “you’d better enjoy making films while you can, I doubt that you’ll be with us long!”
Rule later said that the tense atmosphere on the set caused her to muff take after take. Though she was pictured on the cover of Lifemagazine on 8 January 1951 as a rising young actress, Warners quickly dropped their new player after just one more film, Starlift(1951), an all-star morale-booster about Hollywood’s valiant work entertaining Korean War troops. The film seemed too self-serving to gain great approval, though Rule shone as a movie star who falls in love with an airman, displaying her dancing skill in two duets with Gene Nelson.
After starring in two minor MGM movies, Holiday for Sinners(1952) and Rogue’s March (1953), Rule returned to the stage, where she had a great personal success in William Inge’s Picnic, originating the role of Madge, the restless small-town beauty played in the film version by Kim Novak. Ralph Meeker played the drifter with whom she falls in love, and Paul Newman had one of his first notable roles as her executive boyfriend. Meeker became a good friend of Rule, and it was at his suggestion that she was cast opposite him in the film A Woman’s Devotion (with the UK title War Shock, 1956), as the wife of a disturbed war veteran.
In Abner Biberman’s superior western Gun for a Coward (1957), she was the heroine torn between two brothers (Fred MacMurray and Jeffrey Hunter) and in Bell, Book and Candle (1958) she played the snooty fiancée of a publisher (James Stewart) who falls in love with a witch (Kim Novak). Her finest opportunities continued, though, to come from the theatre. In 1959 she was acclaimed for her performance as a neurotic beauty ruining several lives in Michael V. Gazzo’s short-lived drama The Night Circus.
Her co-star in The Night Circus was Ben Gazzara, and in 1961 he became Rule’s third husband. Her first two were the writer-director Robert Thom and the playwright N. Richard Nash, and she was once engaged to Farley Granger, a liaison described as the briefest engagement in show business. Her marriage to Gazzara lasted until 1979.
In 1961 Rule had another personal triumph in the musical The Happiest Girl in the World, based on Aristophanes’ Lysistrata, with the music of Offenbach given wittily fanciful lyrics by E.Y. Harburg. She played Diana, goddess of the moon, who inspires Lysistrata with the idea that women must refuse their favours until men agree to keep the peace. Still recalled affectionately by theatregoers is the show-stopping duet she shared with her uncle Pluto (Cyril Richard), “Vive la Virtue!”, a lilting gavotte in which he points out, “This is man’s ambivalent taste, whatever is chaste has got to be chased.”
The New York Herald-Tribune critic Walter Kerr wrote,
I suppose Cyril Ritchard and Janice Rule could have danced all night; they link arms, lift their ears for a beat, and take off – to the lightest of Offenbach – as though they’d quite forgotten which Palace they’re supposed to have come from. Lovely work.
Howard Taubman in The New York Times lauded her “personal magic” and John Chapman in the New York News called her “a beautiful and bewitching dancer and an all-round musical comedy player.”
The previous year Rule had starred as a man-hating beatnik in a screen version of Jack Kerouac’s “beat” novel The Subterraneans, a film that caused Joan Crawford graciously to admit her error. In 1962 she wrote,
On board a ship last summer I sat watching The Subterraneans, absolutely rapt over the performance of an actress who dances brilliantly, who has a flair for drama, for comedy. “Who is this girl? She’s fantastic!” I said. Well, the girl was Janice Rule. I’ve since
seen her on TV and I can only add superlatives. Miss Rule, my apologies, I think you’re going to be with us a long long time.
Rule’s film career continued to be sporadic. She co-starred with Yul Brynner in a Freudian western, Invitation to a Gunfighter (1964), and was one of a fine cast (Marlon Brando, Robert Redford, Angie Dickinson, Miriam Hopkins, Robert Duvall) in Arthur Penn’s muddled melodrama The Chase (1966), which gave her one of her first neurotic roles as Duvall’s slatternly wife who drunkenly swallows a string of pearls. She was a loose woman dallying with both Richard Widmark and William Holden in the western Alvarez Kelly (1966), was splendid as a rugged frontierswoman in the bleak western Welcome to Hard Times (1967) and had a rare chance to display her sense of humour in the spy spoof The Ambushers (1967).
In Frank Perry’s hauntingly enigmatic drama The Swimmer (1968), Rule was powerfully biting as Burt Lancaster’s vitriolic ex-mistress who claims never to have loved him. Her scene with Lancaster was directed, uncredited, by Sydney Pollack. Rule’s screen work, though impressive, had never made her a box-office name, and much of her later work was on television.
In 1972 she appeared in Stephen Frears’s British film Gumshoe, which starred Albert Finney as a bingo-caller with aspirations to be a Bogart-like private detective. Rule was a duplicitous client who is actually a gunrunner and dope smuggler. In 1977 she had one of her most memorable roles as a mute and pregnant artist, painter of weird and vaguely sexual murals which reflect her fear of men, in Robert Altman’s audacious, strange but compelling movie Three Women, co-starring Shelley Duvall and Sissy Spacek.
Among her last film roles was that in John Badham’s American Flyers (1985) as the dysfunctional mother of two brothers, one of whom is dying, who enter a bicycle marathon. For several years she had been working as a psychoanalyst, having gained a doctorate from the Southern California Psychoanalytic Institute in Los Angeles in 1983.
Tom Vallance
The above “Independent” obituary can also be accessed online here.
TCM overview:
An attractive leading lady who worked constantly during the 1950s and 60s in theater, features and TV, Janice Rule began her career as a nightclub dancer in Chicago and NYC. Her first film was “Goodbye My Fancy” (1951) and she went on to appear in mostly forgettable fare. An exception was 1968’s “The Swimmer”, in which she was Burt Lancaster’s mistress. Perhaps her best screen role was as one of the title characters, a mysterious embittered muralist, in Robert Altman’s “3 Women” (1977). By this time, Rule had begun to concentrate on a second career as a psychoanalyst, although she continued to make occasional film and TV appearances through the 80s.From 1961 to 1979, Rule was married to actor Ben Gazzara.
Article on Janice Rule from Tina Aumont’s Eyes website:
A classy and attractive lady with Broadway experience, Janice Rule was a multitalented actress who could easily switch from playing strong or emotional ladies to wayward women, and even showed a knack for comedy. A force to be reckoned with she always had strict control of her career, even if it meant upsetting the studios.
Born in Ohio on August 15th 1931, Janice’s early years were spent as a dancer before she made her screen debut in the 1951 Joan Crawford drama ‘Goodbye, My Fancy’. Supporting parts followed with the minor Doris Day musical ‘Starlift’ (’51) and the watchable war picture ‘Rogue’s March’ (’53), playing Peter Lawford’s British girlfriend.
Never taking the easy route, Rule always preferred to take on interesting projects, even turning down Eve Marie Saint’s role in ‘On the Waterfront’ (’54), preferring stage work, and was enjoying great success in ‘Picnic’ on Broadway at the time. Back on screen Janice was Jeffrey Hunter’s girlfriend in the western ‘Gun for a Coward’ (’57) and then James Stewart’s fiancée in ‘Bell, Book and Candle’ (’58), having a spell cast on her by Kim Novak’s old college rival.
During this time Janice appeared in a handful of westerns of varying quality. First was the box-office flop ‘Invitation to a Gunfighter’ (’64) as the girl who deserts George Segal’s confederate soldier while he’s off fighting in the Civil War. Better was the William Holden starrer ‘Alvarez Kelly’ (’66) as Richard Widmark’s fiancée, and then the wonderful sleeper ‘Welcome to Hard Times’ (’67) as Henry Fonda’s tragic girlfriend. Another movie of note during this time was the Marlon Brando drama ‘The Chase’ (’66) playing Robert Duvall’s flirtatious wife Emily. After a fun part as Dean Martin’s partner in the Matt Helm adventure ‘The Ambushers’ (’67), a good role came in the cult suburban drama ‘The Swimmer’ (’68) as Burt Lancaster’s bitter ex. Replacing first choice Barbara Loden, it was a one-scene part but she was terrific in it, showing real emotion as the ‘other woman’ unable to forgive Lancaster for his mistreatment of her.
In the UK Janice had a nice little role in the under-rated homage ‘Gumshoe’ (’71) as the object of wannabe detective Albert Finney’s missing person case. After playing Dennis Hopper’s old flame in the comedy-western ‘Kid Blue’ (’73), Rule had one of her most memorable roles in Robert Altman’s wonderfully dreamy drama ‘3 Women’ (’77) as a pregnant artist and owner of the motel where Sissy Spacek and Shelley Duvall take refuge in. It was a nicely understated performance and won Janice many plaudits. After a five year cinematic break Rule came back with a winner, playing sympathetic journalist Kate Newman in Costa-Gavras’ excellent political thriller ‘Missing’ (’82), a festival favourite starring Jack Lemmon and Sissy Spacek as relatives searching for John Shea’s missing writer.
Rule’s final movie appearances were as aspiring cyclist Kevin Costner’s mother in ‘American Flyers’ and the sentimental drama ‘Rainy Day Friends’ (both ’85) as a psychotherapist, something that she had qualified for in real-life. Retiring from acting, Rule ran a practice in New York and would only return to the screen for a handful of television spots until 1992.
Married three times, most notably to actor Ben Gazzara, Janice Rule died from a cerebral haemorrhage on October 17th 2003. A rebel who crossed many genres, Janice was able to run the gamut of emotions, it’s just a shame she didn’t have more memorable roles on the big screen.
Favourite Movie: The Swimmer
Favourite Performance: 3 Women
The above “Tina Aumont’s Eyes” website:
A classy and attractive lady with Broadway experience, Janice Rule was a multitalented actress who could easily switch from playing strong or emotional ladies to wayward women, and even showed a knack for comedy. A force to be reckoned with she always had strict control of her career, even if it meant upsetting the studios.
Born in Ohio on August 15th 1931, Janice’s early years were spent as a dancer before she made her screen debut in the 1951 Joan Crawford drama ‘Goodbye, My Fancy’. Supporting parts followed with the minor Doris Day musical ‘Starlift’ (’51) and the watchable war picture ‘Rogue’s March’ (’53), playing Peter Lawford’s British girlfriend.
Never taking the easy route, Rule always preferred to take on interesting projects, even turning down Eve Marie Saint’s role in ‘On the Waterfront’ (’54), preferring stage work, and was enjoying great success in ‘Picnic’ on Broadway at the time. Back on screen Janice was Jeffrey Hunter’s girlfriend in the western ‘Gun for a Coward’ (’57) and then James Stewart’s fiancée in ‘Bell, Book and Candle’ (’58), having a spell cast on her by Kim Novak’s old college rival.
During this time Janice appeared in a handful of westerns of varying quality. First was the box-office flop ‘Invitation to a Gunfighter’ (’64) as the girl who deserts George Segal’s confederate soldier while he’s off fighting in the Civil War. Better was the William Holden starrer ‘Alvarez Kelly’ (’66) as Richard Widmark’s fiancée, and then the wonderful sleeper ‘Welcome to Hard Times’ (’67) as Henry Fonda’s tragic girlfriend. Another movie of note during this time was the Marlon Brando drama ‘The Chase’ (’66) playing Robert Duvall’s flirtatious wife Emily. After a fun part as Dean Martin’s partner in the Matt Helm adventure ‘The Ambushers’ (’67), a good role came in the cult suburban drama ‘The Swimmer’ (’68) as Burt Lancaster’s bitter ex. Replacing first choice Barbara Loden, it was a one-scene part but she was terrific in it, showing real emotion as the ‘other woman’ unable to forgive Lancaster for his mistreatment of her.
In the UK Janice had a nice little role in the under-rated homage ‘Gumshoe’ (’71) as the object of wannabe detective Albert Finney’s missing person case. After playing Dennis Hopper’s old flame in the comedy-western ‘Kid Blue’ (’73), Rule had one of her most memorable roles in Robert Altman’s wonderfully dreamy drama ‘3 Women’ (’77) as a pregnant artist and owner of the motel where Sissy Spacek and Shelley Duvall take refuge in. It was a nicely understated performance and won Janice many plaudits. After a five year cinematic break Rule came back with a winner, playing sympathetic journalist Kate Newman in Costa-Gavras’ excellent political thriller ‘Missing’ (’82), a festival favourite starring Jack Lemmon and Sissy Spacek as relatives searching for John Shea’s missing writer.
Rule’s final movie appearances were as aspiring cyclist Kevin Costner’s mother in ‘American Flyers’ and the sentimental drama ‘Rainy Day Friends’ (both ’85) as a psychotherapist, something that she had qualified for in real-life. Retiring from acting, Rule ran a practice in New York and would only return to the screen for a handful of television spots until 1992.
Married three times, most notably to actor Ben Gazzara, Janice Rule died from a cerebral haemorrhage on October 17th 2003. A rebel who crossed many genres, Janice was able to run the gamut of emotions, it’s just a shame she didn’t have more memorable roles on the big screen.
Favourite Movie: The Swimmer
Favourite Performance: 3 Women
The above article can also be accessed online here.
Amy Davis Irving (born September 10, 1953) is an American actress, who appeared in the films Crossing Delancey, The Fury, Carrie, and Yentl as well as on Broadway and Off-Broadway. She has been nominated for an Academy Award, two Golden Globes, and has won an Obie award. She was married to director Steven Spielberg; they divorced in 1989 after four years of marriage,
TCM overview:
A classically trained actress from an early age, Amy Irving was a soulful ingénue and leading lady in the 1970s and 1980s, moving effortlessly from dramas like “Carrie” (1976) and “Yentl” (1983) to comedies like “Micki + Maude” (1984) and “Crossing Delancey” (1988). Though an Oscar and Golden Globe nominee, her marriage to Steven Spielberg and its 1989 dissolution, which resulted in a massive settlement, overshadowed much of her film work. She moved into indies in the 1990s before returning to play more mature and complex roles in “Traffic” (2001) and “Hide and Seek” (2005). Though her talents rarely received the showcase they deserved, Irving remained a well-respected presence in films and on stage and television for over four decades.
Born Sept. 10, 1953 in Palo Alto, CA, Amy Davis Irving was the daughter of television and stage director Jules Irving and actress Priscilla Pointer. Her childhood was steeped in the theater; at nine months, she made her acting debut in a production starring her mother and directed by her father, and would continue to appear in his plays throughout her adolescence. After graduating from the Professional Children’s School in New York, she studied at the High School of Music and Art in New York while making her Broadway debut in 1965 with a walk-on in “The Country Wife.” The play was directed by Robert Symonds, who would later become her stepfather after Irving’s death in 1979.
After furthering her studies at the American Conservatory Theatre in San Francisco and London’s Academy of Music and Dramatic Art, Irving made her off-Broadway debut in the play “And Chocolate on Her Chin.” Upon her return to Los Angeles, she began landing guest roles on television series and in TV movies, most notably as one of the romantic leads in the Emmy-winning miniseries “Once an Eagle” (NBC, 1976). That same year, she made her feature debut in “Carrie” (1976), Brian De Palma’s terrifying adaptation of Stephen King’s novel about a high school student (Sissy Spacek) who uses telekinesis to wreak revenge on her tormentors. Irving played the sole survivor of Carrie’s rampage, while Pointer played her onscreen mother. The film’s runaway success led to other features, including a reunion with De Palma in the similarly themed “The Fury” (1978) and the country music drama “Honeysuckle Rose” (1980), where she served as temptation for an already wayward singer (Willie Nelson). That same year, she starred in “The Competition” as a classical pianist who finds herself both in love with and competing against fellow musical talent Richard Dreyfuss in an international contest.
During this period, Irving became involved with director Steven Spielberg, who was beginning to emerge as a major talent on the strength of “Jaws” (1976) and “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” (1978). However, the relationship crumbled when Irving reportedly had an affair with Willie Nelson during the shooting of “Honeysuckle Rose.” The break-up cost her many things, not the least of which was the female lead in “Raiders of the Lost Ark” (1981), which Spielberg had offered to her before the part eventually went to Karen Allen. It was Irving’s second major loss in terms of starring roles in blockbusters, as she had also auditioned for and failed to land the role of Princess Leia in “Star Wars” (1977). Despite these setbacks, Irving settled into a steady string of film and stage appearances, the most successful of which was Barbra Streisand’s “Yentl” (1983), in which she played the fiancée of Mandy Patinkin, who falls in love with his best friend, Yentl (Streisand), unaware that he is dressed in male drag in order to study the Talmud. Irving received an Oscar nomination for her performance, as well as a Razzie Award nomination for Worst Supporting Actress, which rather ignominiously made her the first woman to earn nods from both ends of the acting spectrum for the same role.
The 1980s proved to be a fruitful period for Irving, both personally and professional. She worked steadily in features and on television and stage in a wide variety of roles that displayed her exceptional versatility. She was the Indian princess who broke from tradition to fall in love with a British soldier (Ben Cross) in the HBO miniseries “The Far Pavilions” (1984), then played a concert cellist who becomes entangled in a bigamous relationship with Dudley Moore and Ann Reinking in Blake Edwards’ comedy “Micki + Maude” (1984). The charming romantic comedy “Crossing Delancey” (1988) brought Irving a Golden Globe nomination as a single Jewish woman contending with a meddling grandmother (Reizl Bozyk) and matchmaker (Sylvia Miles) while navigating the dating scene, while “Anastasia: The Mystery of Anna” (NBC, 1986) earned her a second Golden Globe nod as Anna Anderson, who claimed to be the lost daughter of Russia’s Czar Nicholas II. Irving also wowed audiences by providing the singing voice for Jessica Rabbit in “Who Framed Roger Rabbit?” (1988). During this time, she was also a fixture on Broadway, most notably in “Amadeus” as Mozart’s wife and “Heartbreak House” opposite her “Anastasia” co-star, Rex Harrison.
Irving had also reconciled with Spielberg during the 1980s, and the couple was married in 1985, with a son, Max, arriving that same year. However, the personal and societal pressures of being married to one of the world’s most popular filmmakers soon undermined the relationship; in interviews, Irving said that she felt like a “politician’s wife” and unable to speak her mind during their marriage. Their union finally collapsed in 1989 when Irving began a relationship with Bruno Barreto, the Brazilian filmmaker who cast her as the lead in his political thriller, “A Show of Force” (1990). Irving earned headlines when a judge awarded her a $100 million settlement based on a controversial prenuptial agreement written on a napkin.
New love Baretto would provide Irving with her most substantive film roles in the 1990s, as well as a second son, Gabriel, born in 1990. She played the wife of a schoolteacher (Dennis Hopper) who becomes embroiled in an affair with a student in Barreto’s “Carried Away” (1996), and later shifted gears to play an FBI agent in “One Tough Cop” (1998) and woman who rediscovered her sensuality in “Bossa Nova” (2000). Her screen work in the 1990s moved along these independent-minded lines, though there were occasional forays back to Hollywood. She had a minor role in Woody Allen’s “Deconstructing Harry” (1997) and reprised her role as Sue Snell in “The Rage: Carrie 2” (1999), which failed to match the intensity of the original.
By the end of the decade, Irving’s film career was making something of a rebound, thanks to major roles in Steven Soderbergh’s Oscar-winning “Traffic” (2000) as drug czar Michael Douglas’ wife, which earned her a Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Ensemble. She later reunited with Sissy Spacek for “Tuck Everlasting” (2002) as Alexis Bledel’s strict mother, and played Robert De Niro’s wife, whose death by suicide hid a complicated psychological tangle in the hit thriller “Hide and Seek” (2005). For four years she played Emily Sloane, the wife of international terrorist Arvin Sloane (Ron Rifkin), on the hit spy series “Alias” (ABC, 2001-05). Irving also remained a staple of the New York theater scene, with appearances in acclaimed productions of “The Coast of Utopia” at Lincoln Center in 2007, and a debut with the Opera Theatre of St. Louis in “A Little Night Music,” directed by designer Isaac Mizrahi.
IMDB entry:
Buster Crabbe graduated from the University of Southern California. In 1931, while working on That’s My Boy (1932) for Columbia Pictures, he was tested by MGM for Tarzan and rejected. Paramount Pictures put him in King of the Jungle (1933) as Kaspa, the Lion Man (after a book of that title but clearly a copy of the Tarzan stories). Publicity for this film emphasized his having won the 1932 Olympic 400-meter freestyle swimming championship and suggested a rivalry with Johnny Weissmuller.
Producer Sol Lesserwanted Crabbe for an independent Tarzan the Fearless (1933), though he first had to getJames Pierce to waive rights to the part already promised to him by his father-in-law,Edgar Rice Burroughs. The film was released as both a feature and a serial; most houses showed only the first serial episode, which critics panned as a badly organized feature. Just prior to the film’s release, Crabbe married his college sweetheart and gave himself one year to either make it as an actor or start law school at USC.
Paramount put him in a number of Zane Grey westerns, then Universal Pictures gave him the lead him in very successful sci-fi serials (Flash Gordon, Buck Rogers) from 1936-40. In 1940, he began a string of Billy the Kid westerns for low-budget (very low-budget) studio PRC.
After World War II, he had devoted much of his time to his swimming pool corporation and operation of a boys’ camp in New York. In 1950, he made the serials Pirates of the High Seas(1950) and King of the Congo (1952). In addition, he was very active on television in the 1950s. In 1953, he hosted a local show in New York City that featured his serials.
He played the title role of the adventure series, Captain Gallant of the Foreign Legion(1955). During television’s “Golden Age”, he had several “meaty” lead roles on such weekly anthology series as “Kraft Theater” (“Million Dollar Rookie”) and “Philco Television Playhouse” (“Cowboy for Chris”) He later returned to western features to play Wyatt Earp in Badman’s Country (1958) and gave a stellar performance. Buster Crabbe died at age 75 of a heart attack on April 23, 1983.
– IMDb Mini Biography By: Ed Stephan <stephan@cc.wwu.edu
The above IMDB entry can also be accessed online here.
In 1943, a 12-year-old boy actor stunned Broadway audiences with his portrayal of a German youth indoctrinated into nazism. Brought to the US by an unsuspecting uncle, he soon threatens the family, then the whole community.
The play was Tomorrow, the World!; the actor, Skip (then Skippy) Homeier, whom I admired from a young age, and who has died aged 86. In 1944, he revisited the role for the Hollywood film version. It would define much of his subsequent career, with villains and neurotics filling his early CV.
Born George Vincent Homeier in Chicago, he was still a child when his parents, Ruth Francher and George Homeier, moved to New York. There, aged six, young Skippy began working in radio.
In his 20s he lacked the boy next door appeal of a Tab Hunter, but shone in meaty character roles – the town bully in The Gunfighter (1950), the edgy marine in Halls of Montezuma (1951), the albino hitman of Cry Vengeance (1954).
Westerns, in particular, became his stock in trade. Among them, Ten Wanted Men with Randolph Scott (1955); Stranger at My Door; Thunder Over Arizona; and The Burning Hills (all 1956); two more with Scott – The Tall T (1957) and Comanche Station (1960); and two with America’s war hero Audie Murphy – Showdown (1960) and Bullet for a Badman (1964).
By now a regular face on TV, Skip featured in hit shows including Wanted: Dead or Alive, The Virginian and Rawhide. In 1960, he took the lead in the detective series Dan Raven. Set on West Hollywood’s Sunset Strip, the show was abandoned after 13 episodes owing to competition from the more famous 77 Sunset Strip and Rawhide, both playing on the same night.
Unexpected cult status came, following roles in the original Star Trek series as the Nazi-like Melakon in Patterns of Force (1968), then the insane Dr Sevrin in The Way to Eden (1969). Another significant role was as Judge Charles Older in Helter Skelter, a 1976 TV movie about the Charles Manson murders.
Later cinema films included The Greatest (1977), with Muhammad Ali, and Quell & Co (1982), after which Skip retired, aged only 50. For years Trekkies urged him to appear at conventions, but Skip declined all offers.
I met him several times in 1956 when he was filming in London, and was impressed by his modest, friendly manner, so unlike the roles for which he was best known to film fans.
His wife Della Sharman, whom he married in 1963, survives him, as do his two sons, Peter and Michael, from his marriage in 1951 to Nancy Van Noorden Field, which ended in divorce.
IMDB entry:
Donal Logue’s versatility and talent makes him one of the most well respected and beloved actors today. Born in Ottawa, Canada, Logue moved all over the United States, from the Boston area as an infant to various towns on the Mexican border. He returned to Boston to attend Harvard University, where he majored in Intellectual History and discovered his love for the performing arts. While in college, he appeared in over thirty plays, worked for two summers in the American Repertory Theatre’s Harvard/Radcliffe Summer Stock Company, and spent a short time doing theatre in England. After graduating, Logue joined the Cornerstone Theatre Company which developed community theatre in rural parts of the United States. From then on Logue dedicated himself to pursuing his passion for acting. In his 20 plus years in the industry, Logue has starred in films such as, The Tao of Steve, the story of a larger-than-life, philosophizing lothario, which debuted at the Sundance Film Festival, and won him a Special Jury Prize for Outstanding Performance. His other film credits include Sneakers, Gettysburg, Blade, Runaway Bride, Reindeer Games, The Million Dollar Hotel, Comic Book Villains with Michael Rapaport, Confidence, Just Like Heaven, and The Groomsmen with Ed Burns. Recently, Donal co-starred in Max Payne with Mark Wahlberg, as well as Charlie St. Cloud with Zac Ephron. He also appeared in Zodiac, directed by David Fincher, based on the Robert Graysmith books about the notorious Zodiac serial killer. Following the US release of Zodiac, he co-starred in Mark Steven Johnson’s Ghost Rider with Nicolas Cage and Eva Mendes. Logue made his directorial debut with the independent film Tennis, Anyone?, which appeared at the US Comedy Arts Festival. He wrote, starred, and directed the film about two Hollywood has-beens who try and find meaning in their lives through a series of celebrity tennis tournaments. In television, Logue joined the cast of the NBC series “LIFE” about a former police officer who returns to the force after having been wrongly imprisoned for years. In 2007, he headlined the critically lauded ABC comedy “The Knights of Prosperity” in which a group of blue collar guys band together to plan a heist of Mick Jagger’s New York City apartment. Prior to “The Knights of Prosperity” Logue starred in the Carsey-Warner produced show, “Grounded for Life” which aired for five seasons. He was also featured in a recurring role on “ER” as Sherry Stringfield’s love interest. In 2010, Logue finished a critically acclaimed season on “Terriers,” a television series created by Ted Griffin and Shawn Ryan for FX. He begins production on the Marc Cherry pilot “Hallelujah” for ABC in March of 2011. Logue lives in Los Angeles and has two children.
– IMDb Mini Biography By: Peggy Ryan <rryan@mail.sdsu.edu>
The above IMDB entry can also be accessed online here.
TCM overview:
Though he engaged audiences in a variety of onscreen roles, actor Billy Campbell won his biggest acclaim on the small screen, particularly as the divorced father Rick Sammler on the drama “Once & Again” (ABC, 1999-2002). Prior to that role, Campbell earned a small degree of notoriety for being only one of two characters killed off in the infamous “Moldavian Massacre” cliffhanger during the season five finale of “Dynasty” (ABC, 1981-1989). He went on to play a rookie cop on the gritty, but short-lived “Crime Story” NBC, 1986-88) before making the jump to features with the titular role in “The Rocketeer” (1991). Following supporting parts in Francis Ford Coppola adaptation of “Bram Stoker’s Dracula” (1992) and the Civil War epic “Gettysburg” (1993), Campbell went returned to the stage for a variety of acclaimed roles before appearing on “Once & Again.” Once that show left the air, he went back to features to play the heavy in the revenge drama “Enough” (2002) and General George Pickett in “Gods and Generals” (2003). Returning to television in 2004, Campbell appeared on the sci-fi series “The 4400” (USA Network, 2004-07) and the teen-angst drama “The OC” (Fox, 2003-07), before earning more critical adulation for his role on “The Killing” (AMC, 2011- ), once again proving the actor’s versatility in just about any medium.
Born on July 7, 1959 in Charlottesville, VA, Campbell grew up in the Southern city, attending Western Albemarle High School as a teenager. The youngster also happened to be an heir to the Champion spark plug fortune, which sounded better than the reality, since the small inheritance he received at age 18 was gone almost immediately. Meanwhile, he graduated from high school in 1979, where he had played football and performed in a student production of “The Man Who Came to Dinner.” Relocating to Chicago, IL to be near his father, Campbell attended the American Academy of Art with the intention of becoming a comic book artist. But his passion switched to acting after taking classes at the suggestion of a friend. Deciding to pursue the craft seriously, he studied at the Ted Liss Studio for the Performing Arts, as well as at the Players Workshop of Second City in Chicago. After appearing in local regional theater, Campbell left the Windy City and headed to Los Angeles to pursue acting as a professional, while continuing his training at Howard Fine.
Campbell soon made his television debut with guest starring roles in episodes of “Family Ties” (NBC, 1982-89) and “Hotel” (ABC, 1983-88), before landing his first series regular role that same year, playing the gay lover of Steven Carrington (Jack Coleman) on the popular primetime soap “Dynasty” (ABC, 1981-89) during the 1984-85 season. While his character failed to survive the infamous “Moldavian massacre” cliffhanger, Campbell went on to distinguish himself as a stalwart player capable of projecting heroic qualities. For two seasons, he played rookie Chicago detective Joey Indelli on the stylish cop drama “Crime Story” (NBC, 1986-88) and soon made the leap to the big screen in the role of a mysterious man who seemingly survived from prehistoric times in “Call from Space” (1989). Campbell next landed a starring role as reluctant superhero Cliff Secord in Disney’s “The Rocketeer” (1991). Cast opposite a young Jennifer Connelly, Campbell began to date the actress offscreen for five years until the pair ended their relationship in 1995. Campbell went on to work with Francis Ford Coppola in the film adaptation of Bram Stoker’s “Dracula” (1992) and appeared as Lieutenant Pitzer in the lavish Civil War epic “Gettysburg” (1993).
Returning to stage work, Campbell appeared as Laertes in Stephen Lang’s 1993 production of “Hamlet.” That same year, he landed a starring role on the short-lived romantic detective series “Moon over Miami” (ABC, 1993) and received critical acclaim for his role as a gay gynecologist in Armistead Maupin’s “Tales of the City” (PBS, 1993). Alternating between stage work and the small screen, Campbell went on to star in the Los Angeles production of “Fortinbras,” for which he won a 1997 Ovation Award for Best Lead Actor, and reprised his “City” role in “More Tales of the City” (PBS, 1998) and “Further Tales of the City” (PBS, 2001). He next nabbed the lead role of Rick Sammler on the drama “Once & Again” (ABC, 1999-2002), for which he received considerable critical acclaim. Campbell’s earnest and touching performance as a divorced father trying to find love earned him a People’s Choice Award for Favorite Male Performer in a Television Series, as well as a Golden Globe nomination in 2000. Though the show struggled with ratings, it did manage to find a loyal audience, with Campbell appearing for three seasons, providing him with some much deserved exposure and dependable paycheck.
A diverse actor, Campbell went on to appear as an abusive husband opposite Jennifer Lopez in the thriller “Enough” (2002) and landed a supporting role in another Civil War-era epic, “Gods & Generals” (2003). Returning to series television the following year, Campbell joined the cast of the sci-fi series “The 4400” (USA Network, 2004-07), a drama that centered on the stories of 4,400 people who mysteriously disappeared over a period of 50 years. The following year, Campbell added to his varied résumé by appearing in a multi-episode arc on the popular drama “The OC” (Fox, 2003-07), portraying magazine editor Carter Buckley. Because Campbell decided to spend 13 months circumnavigating the globe on a sailboat in 2005, his character on “The 4400,” Jordan Collier, was killed off, though he did manage to return for the show’s fourth and final season. Meanwhile, Campbell had a recurring stint on the short-lived “Shark” (CBS, 2006-08) before playing a detective desperately looking for his partner (Michael Rooker) before a meteor crashes into Earth in the aptly-named miniseries “Meteor” (NBC, 2009). Returning to series television, Campbell starred as a politician running for mayor in the acclaimed crime drama, “The Killing” (AMC, 2011- ), which explored the murder investigation of a young girl from the perspectives of various people connected to the event.
IMDB entry:
Linden Chiles was born on March 22, 1933 in St. Louis, Missouri, USA as Truman Linden Chiles. He was an actor, known for Santa Barbara (1984), James at 16 (1977) and Fly Away Home (1996). He was married to Cynthia J. Coles and Mona Lee Schussman. He died on May 15, 2013 in Topanga, California, USA. Support actor from the stage who contributed to many ’60s and ’70s TV dramas, both daytime and prime time, as professional men (executives, doctors, professors, etc.). Frequently works with director Ansel Faraj. Broke into screen acting after being spotted by director Ted Post in a UCLA directing class and assigned a small part in Rawhide (1959). Claimed that his character of Stephen DeRossilini in Mr. Twistedface (2011) was his favorite role in his career.
Marie Dressler was one of the great Hollywood stars of the 1930’s. She was in her sixties when she came to fame and had a very short period at the top before her death. She was one of the U.S’s most beloved movie stars, especially for her roles opposite Wallace Beery in films made by MGM. In 1930 she won the Oscar for “Min and Bill”. Her other major roles were in “Tugboat Annie”, “Anna Christie” with Greta Garbo, “Dinner At Eight” with Jean Harlow and John Barrymore and “Emma”. She died in 1934 at the age of 65.
TCM overview:
Measuring 5’8″ and sporting a hefty frame, Marie Dressler was an imposing lady, but her remarkably expressive face and superb comedic timing made her a beloved figure during Hollywood’s Golden Age. Playing equally larger-than-life women, Dressler’s rise started with years of acting in repertory theatre before moving to Broadway in her twenties and biding her time in vaudeville. She finally achieved recognition in “Tillie’s Nightmare” (1910-11). The popularity of that humorous musical presentation led to an invitation to take her Tillie to the silver screen in “Tillie’s Punctured Romance” (1914), where she starred with a young Charlie Chaplin. Motion picture roles continued through the teens and twenties, but it was at the beginning of the sound era where this veteran character player finally found herself a star, thanks to her supporting work in Greta Garbo’s “Anna Christie” (1930) and her own Academy Award-winning turn in the tragicomedy “Min and Bill” (1930). Perfectly paired in the latter with the similarly craggy and uncouth Wallace Beery, Dressler joined him again in “Tugboat Annie” (1933) and she enjoyed much attention for her performance as a faded stage actress in “Dinner at Eight” (1933) who delivered one of Hollywood’s most memorable lines. Sadly, right at the height of her fame, she discovered she had cancer and died within a year. Proof that movie stars need not be picture-perfect, Dressler’s determination was as immense as her skills and the status she earned made for a most unique success story.
Marie Dressler was born Leila Marie Koerber on Nov. 9, 1868 in Cobourg, Ontario, Canada, but the Koerber family moved a number of times during her childhood. Her stage debut came at age five in a local performance put on by her mother, leading the outgoing child to discover that she possessed a knack for winning people over. Tired of attending school, Dressler pretended to be 18 and was accepted into Nevada Travelling Stock Company. She soon grew accustomed to performing on the road under less than lavish circumstances, but eventually worked her way up to a lead role in a different company when the star was unable to take the stage. Dressler went where parts were available, and after gaining additional experience with a pair of opera companies, she finally made her way to New York City. After barely making ends meet as a singer, she was offered her chance on Broadway in a production of “The Robber of the Rhine” (1892). The comedic talent she displayed soon earned her another performing gig in “Princess Nicotine” (1893), which scored well enough with local audiences for it to be taken on the road.
Her fame increased further thanks to the success of “The Lady Slavey” (1896), a two act operetta that enjoyed a lengthy engagement and further performances on tour. She next appeared in the farce “Courted into Court” (1897) as the memorably monikered Dottie Dimple. The play had a short run, but Dressler continued to find assignments in other Broadway productions, including “The Man in the Moon” (1899), “The King’s Carnival” (1901), and “Higgledy-Piggledy” (1904-05) as the incomparable Philopena Schnitz. While those shows drew crowds of variable size, Dressler was all but guaranteed to help fill seats on the vaudeville circuit and enjoyed a warm reception from British audiences when she played there. One of the primary draws of vaudeville was the promise of sexy girls, but the portly 5’8″ Dressler never worried about her figure. In fact, nothing about this lady would ever have been considered petite or demure. Nonetheless, Dressler’s face was a major component of her appeal and it caught patrons’ fancies for its incredible range of comedic expression. Dressler wed George Hoppert, a union that produced a daughter, who reportedly died at a young age. Their union ended sometime early in the 20th century and in 1908, she married her manager, J.H. Dalton.
While she had more than made a name for herself on vaudeville, even greater popularity awaited Dressler on Broadway in “Tillie’s Nightmare” (1910-11), where she made audiences keel over with laughter and knocked them out with the song “Heaven Will Protect the Working Girl.” Dressler next starred in the two-act production “Roly Poly/Without the Law” (1912-13) and wore a number of hats for “Marie Dressler’s ‘All Star Gambol'” (1913), serving as star, stager, book author, and both scenic and costume designer. The Ontario native was in her mid-forties when she was convinced to bring Tillie to the silver screen in “Tillie’s Punctured Romance” (1914). Co-starring with an up-and-coming Charlie Chaplin, it was not only Dressler’s first feature, but also the very first feature-length comedy. A hit with audiences, it spawned the follow-ups “Tillie’s Tomato Surprise” (1915) and “Tillie Wakes Up” (1917), but Chaplin’s presence in the original ensured that it would be her most widely seen silent credit among later generations.
Although movies offered another medium for her talents, Dressler kept her options open. She returned to Broadway for director and star duties on “A Mix-up” (1914-15), but went back to just performing on “The Century Girl” (1916-17), which enjoyed a considerably longer run. After appearing in a handful more features, “The Red Cross Nurse” (1918) proved to be Dressler’s last for almost a decade. Back on the New York stage, she graced “The Passing Show of 1921” (1920-21) and what turned out to be her final Broadway engagement, “The Dancing Girl” (1923). In the interim, Dressler became a widow and never remarried. She resumed film work with such productions as “Breakfast at Sunrise” (1927), but major technological changes were soon in motion for the industry. The introduction of sound brought about the end of some careers, while Dressler would find her greatest success.
Movie audiences finally became acquainted with her voice in the early musicals “The Vagabond Lover” (1929) and “Chasing Rainbows” (1930), the allure of the latter enhanced by sequences presented in the early two-strip Technicolor process. By that point, Dressler had been signed by MGM and it was in their releases that she found her greatest exposure and most worthwhile cinema roles. After supporting Greta Garbo in the Swedish bombshell’s first talkie, the company’s adaptation of Eugene O’Neill’s “Anna Christie” (1930), Dressler graced several more features that year, most notably “Min and Bill” (1930). Paired with Wallace Beery – whose appearance and comedic skills almost made him her male equivalent – Dressler was able to elicit both laughs and sympathy in her turn as a woman running a low-class dive on the waterfront. During the course of the film, she willingly pays a terrible price to help a young woman she loves like a daughter escape to a better life. While the film occasionally descended into hoary melodrama, Dressler’s casting was spot on and earned her the Best Actress Academy Award.
At age 62, Marie Dressler was a bona fide movie star. MGM quickly toplined her in other vehicles that mixed comedy and drama, including “Reducing” (1931), “Prosperity” (1932), and “Emma” (1932), the latter resulting in an Oscar nomination for Best Actress. The incomparable team of Dressler and Beery were back for “Tugboat Annie” (1933) and Dressler was honored with top billing over such leading lights as Jean Harlow and John and Lionel Barrymore in the star-laden classic “Dinner at Eight” (1933), where she impressed as Carlotta Vance, a former stage diva whose career has faded. In the film’s final scene, after the shapely, sexy Harlow wonders aloud if “machinery will take the place of every profession, Dressler does not miss a beat with “My dear, that is something you need never worry about.” In the wake of these successes, Dressler was named the top box office star of 1933 by the Motion Picture Herald, an amazing feat for a character actress-comedienne. She also earned the distinction of being the first woman ever featured on the cover of TIME magazine. Sadly, it proved to be her final year as an entertainer. Afflicted with cancer, Dressler could no longer perform following “Christopher Bean” (1933) and succumbed to the disease on July 28, 1934. She was posthumously honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
By John Charles
Anyone who knows me are aware that I am a bit of a movie buff. Over the past few years I have been collecting signed photographs of my favourite actors. Since I like movies so much there are many actors whose work I like.
