Advanced search
- TITLES
- NAMES
- COLLABORATIONS
Search filters
Enter full date
to
or just enter yyyy, or yyyy-mm below
to
Only includes names with the selected topics
to
or just enter yyyy, or yyyy-mm below
to
1-12 of 12
- Actress
- Writer
- Soundtrack
Diana Dors was born Diana Mary Fluck on October 23, 1931 in Swindon, Wiltshire, England. She and her mother both nearly died from the traumatic birth. Because of the trauma, her mother lavished on Diana anything and everything she wanted--clothes, toys and dance lessons were the order of the day. Diana's love of films began when her mother took her to the local movies theaters. The actresses on the screen caught Diana's attention and she said, herself, that from the age of three she wanted to be an actress. She was educated in the finest private schools, much to the chagrin of her father (apparently he thought private education was a waste of money). Physically, Diana grew up fast. At age 12, she looked and acted much older than what she was. Much of this was due to the actresses she studied on the silver screen and Diana trying to emulate them. She wanted nothing more than to go to the United States and Hollywood to have a chance to make her place in film history. After placing well in a local beauty contest, Diana was offered a role in a thespian group (she was 13).
The following year, Diana enrolled at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA) to hone her acting skills. She was the youngest in her class. Her first fling at the camera was in The Shop at Sly Corner (1947). She did not care that it was a small, uncredited role; she was on film and at age 16, that's all that mattered. That was quickly followed by Dancing with Crime (1947), which consisted of nothing more than a walk-on role. Up until this time, Diana had pretended to be 17 years old (if producers had known her true age, they probably would not have let her test for the role). However, since she looked and acted older, this was no problem. Diana's future dawned bright in 1948, and she appeared in no less than six films. Some were uncredited, but some had some meat to the roles. The best of the lot was the role of Charlotte in the classic Oliver Twist (1948). Throughout the 1950s, she appeared in more films and became more popular in Britain. Diana was a pleasant version of Marilyn Monroe, who had taken the United States by storm. Britain now had its own version.
Diana continued to play sexy sirens and kept seats in British theaters filled. She really came into her own as an actress. She was more than a woman who exuded her sexy side, she was a very fine actress as her films showed. As the 1960s turned into the 1970s, she began to play more mature roles with an effectiveness that was hard to match. Films such as Craze (1974), Swedish Wildcats (1972), The Amorous Milkman (1975) and Three for All (1975) helped fill out her resume. After filming Steaming (1985), Diana was diagnosed with cancer, which was too much for her to overcome. The British were saddened when word came of her death at age 52 on May 4, 1984 in Windsor, Berkshire, England.- Jack Barry was born on March 20, 1918 in Lindenhurst, New York, the son of Cecelia (Hepner) and Max Solomon Barasch. In his adult years, he did saloon work until Dan Enright said they should go into television game shows. He hosted Winky Dink and You, the first example of interactive TV. He later went on to host Juvenile Jury and Life Begins at 80. In 1956, he hosted Twenty-One, Tic Tac Dough and the first four episodes of Concentration. Barry was involved in the quiz show scandals which brought down Barry & Enright productions. During the 1960s, he hosted the unsuccessful Reel Game, and in 1972, he hosted The Joker's Wild. In 1976, he produced a revival of Break the Bank, with former You Don't Say! host Tom Kennedy as emcee. Even though the show was successful, it was canceled after only 15 weeks, after which Barry hosted a syndicated version which also was proven to be unsuccessful. In 1975, he created the short-lived game show Blank Check. In 1980, he created Play the Percentages, and in 1984, he made his final creation, Hot Potato, with game show king Bill Cullen as emcee. Barry died that same year in May from a cardiac arrest while morning jogging in Central Park and was laid to rest at Forest Lawn Memorial Park. After his death, Bill Cullen took over and Kline and Friends was formed by Richard Kline.
- Producer
- Director
- Writer
Alois Brummer was born on 12 May 1926 in Mainburg, Bavaria, Germany. He was a producer and director. He died on 4 May 1984 in Munich, Bavaria, Germany.- Rudy Lipp was born on 22 January 1915 in Yuryev, Governorate of Livonia, Russian Empire [now Tartu, Estonia]. He was an actor, known for Revolution's Orphans (1979), This Can't Happen Here (1950) and The New Avengers (1976). He was married to Riina Lipp. He died on 4 May 1984 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
- One of the very few actors to have spent more than a hundred years on this earth and to have performed his art until he was over 90, Roger Karl (1882-1984) was an exceptionally gifted person who could have become an artist ('Pablo Picasso' was a friend of his) or a writer (he was close to Guillaume Apollinaire and Paul Léautaud, eventually putting pen to paper with a book of memoirs, "Journal d'un homme de nulle part"). Bur Roger Karl finally opted for acting, studying drama at the Conservatoire de Paris first, then at the Odeon. Throughout his long career, he appeared in prestigious plays (Molière 's "L'amour médecin", Jules Romains's Le roi masqué, Albert Camus's "Le malentendu", William Shakespeare's "Henry IV and many many others), with prestigious partners (among whom the legendary Sarah Bernhardt) under the direction of prestigious directors (Jacques Copeau, Louis Jouvet, Jean Vilar ...) But although theater was a passion and despite the fact that he had always expressed his preference for theater over cinema, Roger Karl did not miss out on a film actor career, debuting on the silver screen as early as 1909, which was an exception among 'serious' theater actors of his kind only to say his professional goodbye 65 years later in a 1974 TV movie. A much more uneven career than his stage one, both in terms of quality and steadiness (he indeed made only brief and sparse appearances after 1946), it is not without high points though, notably the five films directed by famous avant-garde director director Marcel L'Herbier: Phantasmes (1917), Man of the Sea (1920),The Living Image, or the Lady of Petrograd (1926) and The Devil in the Heart (1927) and L'Argent (1928), two of which are eternal masterpieces (L'homme du large" and "L'argent"). As a tough Breton fisherman, the desperate but uncompromising father of a good-for-nothing, Roger Karl proved particularly convincing, which earned him a lot of authority figures such as bankers, police commissioners, bishops, nobles and other ministers. The trouble is that well as fine-looking with gravitas Roger Karl played them, it was often in conventional bourgeois dramas which have not stood the test of time, especially during the thirties. Nevertheless a few films have fared better and are still exciting to see today, like Misdeal (1928), directed by Jean Grémillon alongside 'Charles Dullin' and wife, Julien Duvivier's ,The Golem: The Legend of Prague (1936), Under Western Eyes (1936) Oddly enough, while the quality of the films Roger Karl improved in the early forties, the military types he continued playing were on the wrong side of history. He was indeed a German officer in Christian-Jaque's excellent adaptation of Maupassant Angel and Sinner (1945) and in Maurice de Canonge 's more indifferent resistance drama Mission spéciale (1946). After that, Roger Karl more or less vanished from the screens while going on with a remarkable theater career. For all that, it remains undeniable that, even if films were not Roger Karl's artistic priority, his contribution to the seventh art is not to be overlooked.
- Soundtrack
Larry Stock was born on 4 December 1896 in New York, New York, USA. He died on 4 May 1984 in Dover Township, New Jersey, USA.- Actor
- Director
Edward Kogan was born on 6 April 1912 in New York City, New York, USA. He was an actor and director, known for The Brighter Day (1954), First Love (1954) and Man Against Crime (1949). He died on 4 May 1984 in Weston, Connecticut, USA.- Willie Ormond was born on 23 February 1927 in Falkirk, Scotland, UK. He died on 4 May 1984.
- Elsie French was born on 28 October 1888 in Belfast, Ireland [now Northern Ireland], UK. She was an actress, known for The School for Scandal (1923), The Beggar's Opera (1948) and Lilies of the Field (1935). She was married to John Mott. She died on 4 May 1984 in Worthing, Sussex, England, UK.
- Terttu Soinvirta was born on 21 December 1921 in Leppävirta, Finland. She was an actress, known for Senni ja Savon sulttaani (1953), Menneisyyden varjo (1946) and Virtaset ja Lahtiset (1959). She was married to Väinö Rantanen. She died on 4 May 1984.
- Diana Dawson was an actress, known for Lux Video Theatre (1950), The First Time (1952) and Bad Company (1946). She died on 4 May 1984.
- Aleksandr Oganesyan was born on 4 December 1912. He was an actor, known for Tango of Our Childhood (1985). He died on 4 May 1984 in Yerevan, Armenian SSR, USSR [now Armenia].