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1-50 of 466
- Actress
- Producer
- Additional Crew
Nichelle Nichols was one of 10 children born to parents Lishia and Samuel Nichols in Robbins, Illinois, a Chicago suburb. She was a singer and dancer before turning to acting and finding fame in her groundbreaking role of Lt. Nyota Uhura in the Star Trek (1966) series.
As long as she could remember, she wanted to do nothing but sing, dance, act and write despite no one else in her family following any of those tracks; although her father could tap dance. He not only became mayor of their town, Robbins, IL, but also a magistrate. On stage, Nichelle was twice nominated for the Sarah Siddons Award as Best Actress of the Year; while on film she danced with Sammy Davis, Jr. in Porgy and Bess, and opposite James Garner in Mister Budwing (1965). In a complete changearound soon after the Star Trek television series came to an end, she played a blousey madam, then co-starred with Lynn Redgrave n Antony and Cleopatra. She was been married twice and had a son, Kyle Johnson, from her first marriage to a tap dancer.- Actress
- Writer
- Soundtrack
Martha Hyer was born on August 10, 1924 in Fort Worth, Texas. Once she finished her formal schooling, Martha played a bit role in 1946's The Locket (1946). Slowly, Martha began picking up roles with more and more substance. The best years for the beautiful actress began in 1954 when she played in films such as Down Three Dark Streets (1954), Showdown at Abilene (1956) and Battle Hymn (1957). Perhaps the best role of her long career was as "Gwen French" in 1958's Some Came Running (1958) in which she starred opposite Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Shirley MacLaine. As a result of her stellar role, Martha received an Academy Award nomination as Best Supporting Actress, but she lost out to Wendy Hiller in Separate Tables (1958). Afterwards, Martha's stint on the US silver screen's trailed off some. She did make a handful of foreign films, returning to appear in the US from time to time, but nothing compared to the pace she had in the fifties. Her last film was in 1973 in the film The Day of the Wolves (1971). In 1966, she married producer Hal B. Wallis and remained with him until his death in 1986.- Actor
- Stunts
- Soundtrack
An American stuntman who, after more than 30 years in the business, moved into acting and became an acclaimed and respected character actor, Richard Farnsworth was a native of Los Angeles. He 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 unbilled, first as a general rider 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 50 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 1930s. Farnsworth followed his Oscar nomination with a number of finely wrought performances, including The Grey Fox (1982) and The Natural (1984). In 1999 he came out of semi-retirement for a tour-de-force portrayal in The Straight Story (1999).- Actor
- Producer
- Director
David Huddleston was born on 17 September 1930 in Vinton, Virginia, USA. He was an actor and producer, known for The Big Lebowski (1998), Blazing Saddles (1974) and The Producers (2005). He was married to Sarah C. Koeppe and Carole Ann Swart. He died on 2 August 2016 in Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA.- Actor
- Writer
- Soundtrack
Congenial, unassuming and always ingratiating comic actor Bill Daily came to fame as the bumbling, jittery playboy astronaut Roger Healy, best buddy and sidekick to Larry Hagman's accident-prone Tony Nelson in the perennial sitcom favourite I Dream of Jeannie (1965). Though his role had initially been earmarked for Don Dubbins, the show's creator and executive producer Sidney Sheldon (with possible input from Hagman) made the impromptu decision to cast the relatively unknown Iowa native instead.
Daily had started his professional life as a musician playing bass with a local jazz combo called 'Jack and the Beanstalks'. Having completed compulsory military service during the Korean War he took on acting studies at the Goodman Theater College in Chicago. After graduating, he worked briefly as an announcer and staff director for NBC and subsequently developed his own stand-up comedy act which he took to nightclubs across the mid-west. By 1960, Daily contributed material for comedic sketches to Westinghouse Broadcasting for use in popular variety shows hosted by Mike Douglas, Merv Griffin and Steve Allen. Douglas also occasionally featured him in sketches. Daily was well on his way to accumulating the credentials to becoming a top comedy writer when Sheldon noticed him in a small supporting role in Bewitched (1964) (his TV debut). While now happily employed at Columbia/NBC as the affable Major Healy, Daily continued to moonlight as a writer for assorted food commercials. In the wake of 'Jeanie', he enjoyed an even longer run (six seasons) as the star's annoying neighbour and clueless comic foil on The Bob Newhart Show (1972).
During his later career he made numerous guest appearances, frequently as a panellist on TV shows like Match Game (1973) (which inspired the later UK franchise Blankety Blank (1978)). He also tried his hand hosting several youth-oriented specials on magic ('Bill Daily's Hocus-Pocus Gang') and appeared at conventions with his former co-stars for nostalgic reunions.- Ericson was born in Düsseldorf, the son of a German chemist and a Swedish actress and opera singer. Escaping from the Nazi regime, his family emigrated to the U.S. when he was three. At first living in Detroit, they eventually settled in New York where his dad (according to a 1955 newspaper article) found lucrative employment as president of a food extract company. After graduating from Newton High School, John enrolled at the Academy of Dramatic Arts, financially supporting his studies working at a Walgreen drug store.
Most sources incorrectly cite his acting debut as being Stalag 17 on Broadway, but Ericson himself stated (in a 1989 interview with Skip E. Lowe) that his career kick-started with the romantic wartime drama Teresa (1951), filmed in Italy by Metro Goldwyn Mayer. Afterwards, he made the decision not to sign a studio contract for fear of being typecast as 'boy-next-door' types. On the strength of his performance in Teresa, producer/director José Ferrer offered Ericson not only what amounted to being the nominal lead in Stalag 17, but the opportunity to play an initially unsympathetic part as the slick, cynical gambler J. J. Sefton (the coveted motion picture role was eventually assigned to William Holden and won the star an Academy Award).
Between 1954 and 1955, Ericson was under contract at MGM and made for four films for the studio: Rhapsody (1954) (opposite Elizabeth Taylor), Green Fire (1954) (co-starring Grace Kelly who had been in his class at the Academy) and the seminal Spencer Tracy western Bad Day at Black Rock (1955) (as a nervy hotel clerk). During the next three decades, he worked as a free-lance actor, his wavy-haired good looks and athletic build not lost on the industry. He co-starred with Anne Francis in Honey West (1965), a short-lived series -- apparently modelled on The Avengers (1961) -- which featured a crime-solving, judo savvy lady detective (even wearing Diana Rigg-style jumpsuits) and her right hand man. The show only lasted for 30 episodes but has since gained a minor cult following.
Ericson's frequent TV guest appearances included Rawhide (1959), Burke's Law (1963), Bonanza (1959), The Invaders (1967) and The F.B.I. (1965). For the big screen, he starred in several James Bond pastiches and spaghetti westerns, produced in Italy and Spain. In the U.S., he had leads in thrillers (The Money Jungle (1967) ), westerns (notably, The Return of Jack Slade (1955) and the High Noon (1952)-lookalike Day of the Bad Man (1958) ) and science fiction B-graders (The Destructors (1968) and Dan Duryea's last film, The Bamboo Saucer (1968)). He also starred as the titular 1930s depression-era gangster in Pretty Boy Floyd (1960). On the stage, he played King Arthur to Kathryn Grayson's Guinevere in a 1967 production of the musical Camelot. A reviewer commented that what Ericson lacked in the vocal department he more than made up for by a 'masterful performance'. His dramatic theatrical credits included Richard III, Mr. Roberts and A Streetcar Named Desire.
In his spare time, John Ericson sidelined as a painter of landscapes and still life, a sculptor and a keen amateur photographer. Until his death on May 3 2020, he resided in New Mexico with his second wife Karen Huston whom he married in 1974. He has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. - Actor
- Writer
- Composer
Severn Darden was born on 9 November 1929 in New Orleans, Louisiana, USA. He was an actor and writer, known for Battle for the Planet of the Apes (1973), Real Genius (1985) and Saturday the 14th (1981). He was married to Heather I Bleackley and Cynthia Jane Williams. He died on 27 May 1995 in Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA.- Actor
- Soundtrack
David Macklin was born on 24 March 1941 in Greenhills, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA. He was an actor, known for Welcome to Arrow Beach (1973), The Virginian (1962) and Perry Mason (1957). He was married to Lee A Duff Jr.. He died on 6 April 2017 in Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA.- Kim Stanley's movie roles were few and far between; she is perhaps best known for her stellar performances on stage, including successes on Broadway. But when she did step in front of the camera, nothing short of memorable resulted. Her repertoire in movies and on stage covered such diversity from the sensitive glamour-girl Rita Shawn character in the 1958 "Goddess" to the crusty, somewhat salty and sunbaked Pancho Barnes in 1983's The Right Stuff (1983). Her abilities to play such diverse roles and play them well garnered her two Academy Award nominations: one for her portrayal of the slightly unhinged medium in the 1964 Seance on a Wet Afternoon (1964) and another for her characterization of the domineering and wrathful mother of Frances Farmer in 1982's Frances (1982). Stanley was born Patricia Reid in Tularosa, New Mexico. When her parents divorced, her mother moved the family, sans father, to Texas where her mother found work as an interior decorator. Drawn to both Texas and New Mexico, Stanley often found herself lonely and unsure of what she wanted. As a child, she wrote poetry and had many a daydream about becoming an artist or, on the other hand, a May Queen. In school, she found she liked acting in plays. At 16, in San Antonio she attended a touring production of "The Philadelphia Story", which starred Katharine Hepburn. recreating her role from the movie. Overwhelmed by the performance to the point of tears (she didn't want the play to end), Stanley aspired to do what she had seen Hepburn do. In college, she received a degree in psychology after attending first the University of New Mexico and subsequently, the University of Texas. But acting was still what she aspired to. So pursuing a career connected neither to her college major nor to the states where she grew up, Stanley eventually landed an acting apprenticeship in California with the Pasadena Playhouse. Her stay there was brief and she soon moved on to a winter stock company in Louisville, Kentucky. From there, with $21 to her name, she traveled to Manhattan. The year was 1947 and her Texas accent was still very much a part of her persona -- so much so that many in the New York theatre scene advised she go home to Texas. Persevering, however, Stanley made ends meet as a dress model and as a cocktail waitress, all the while honing her skills in off-Broadway productions of the Gertrude Stein ilk. It was in Stein's "Yes Is for a Very Young Man," that New York Times theatre critic Books Atkinson singled out Stanley as an actress with promise (incidentally, he did not care much for the play she was in). Stanley was also developing her craft under the tutelage of Elia Kazan and Lee Strasberg at the Actors Studio in New York City, and scored her first Broadway success in 1952 when, at the age of 27, she played the 12-year-old Millie Owens in William Inge's "Picnic". Subsequently, in the 1954 production of Inge's "Bus Stop," as the starry-eyed chanteuse Cherie (a role Marilyn Monroe assumed for the film), Stanley ascended to even greater heights and greater accolades in her acting achievements. Though she preferred stage acting to any other facsimile and often shied away from movies (reportedly, she declined to repeat for the movies roles she mastered on stage), she frequently played roles on television during the 1950s and '60s on such theatrical programs as "Goodyear TV Playhouse" and "Magnavox Theater," garnering two Emmy awards in the process (one in 1963 for her contributions to an episode of Ben Casey (1961); the other for her Big Mama part in the 1984 PBS/American Playhouse production of Tennessee Williams' "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof"). In the latter part of her life, she gravitated toward teaching, conducting acting classes in Los Angeles and, later, returning to her roots, securing a position teaching acting at the College of Santa Fe in New Mexico.
- Actor
- Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Thalmus Rasulala was born on 15 November 1936 in Miami, Florida, USA. He was an actor and assistant director, known for New Jack City (1991), Above the Law (1988) and The Last Hard Men (1976). He was married to Shirlyn Mozingo and Martha Roberts. He died on 9 October 1991 in Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA.- Rebecca Welles was born on 5 February 1928 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. She was an actress, known for Wire Service (1956), Juvenile Jungle (1958) and Lights Out (1946). She was married to Don Weis and Barton Lawrence Goldberg. She died on 13 February 2017 in Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA.
- Donald Murphy was born on 29 January 1918 in Chicago, Illinois, USA. He was an actor, known for Frankenstein's Daughter (1958), Lord Love a Duck (1966) and Cavalcade of America (1952). He died on 19 May 2008 in Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA.
- Writer
- Producer
Cormac McCarthy was born on 20 July 1933 in Providence, Rhode Island, USA. He was a writer and producer, known for The Road (2009), No Country for Old Men (2007) and The Counselor (2013). He was married to Jennifer Claire Winkley, Anne DeLisle and Lee Holleman. He died on 13 June 2023 in Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA.- Actor
- Soundtrack
Tim Donnelly was born on 3 September 1944 in Los Angeles County, California, USA. He was an actor, known for Emergency! (1972), The Clonus Horror (1979) and The Toolbox Murders (1978). He was married to Michele McKay. He died on 17 September 2021 in Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA.- Actress
- Producer
- Soundtrack
Kristin Harmon was born on 25 June 1945 in Burbank, California, USA. She was an actress and producer, known for The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet (1952), Love & Kisses (1965) and Sonic Boom (1975). She was married to Mark Tinker and Ricky Nelson. She died on 27 April 2018 in Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA.- Actress
- Soundtrack
With more than two decades of stage experience in France, England and on Broadway behind her, this moon-faced, heavy-set character actress first entered films in 1940. But no matter a film's genre - contemporary drama, historical costumer or shoot 'em up western - her Brooklyn roots always sounded through.- Actor
- Producer
Just as strapping (6' 3") and amiably handsome as his actor/father, Joel McCrea, Jody was born Joel Dee McCrea on September 6, 1934 in Los Angeles, California, and bore a strong resemblance to his famous namesake. The oldest of three children, his mother was actress Frances Dee and his two younger brothers are David McCrea and Peter McCrea. Jody had little interest in the entertainment field until his early 20s when he began appearing in minor film roles. Making his unbilled debut in Lucy Gallant (1955), he was afforded the opportunity of first working with his dad in the films The First Texan (1956) and Trooper Hook (1957). He moved up to co-star status in the short-lived TV western series Wichita Town (1959), which again starred his dad.
From there, he found employment in other western and action films including Lafayette Escadrille (1958), All Hands on Deck (1961), The Broken Land (1962) and Young Guns of Texas (1962). However, he is most fondly remembered for his recurring comic role as the dim-eyed, carefree lug "Deadhead" (later named "Bonehead") in a number of the frivolous "Beach Party" flicks, starring Frankie Avalon and Annette Funicello, which were released by American International Pictures between the years 1963 and 1965. As a trivia note, Jody was the only cast member other than Robert Cummings who could really surf.
Jody appeared on TV over the years as well and kept his genial personality an attractive trademark. Although he secured a footing in the business, McCrea found it difficult to escape the shadow of his father, especially in western drama, but comedy served as a welcome individualistic approach. Nevertheless, outside of performing occasionally in community theater over the next few years, McCrea decided to retire from acting altogether in 1970 after appearing in and producing the film Cry Blood, Apache (1970). For the remaining decades, he became a cattle rancher in New Mexico. His wife of 20 years, Dusty McCrea (aka Dusty Iron Wing), who appeared as the Indian "Dancing Moon" in the film Windwalker (1980), died of complications from diabetes in 1996. Jody passed away in 2009 of cardiac arrest at his Roswell ranch.- Cinematographer
- Camera and Electrical Department
- Additional Crew
Halyna Hutchins was born on 9 April 1979 in Zhytomyrska, Ukraine. She was a cinematographer, known for Treacle (2019), Archenemy (2020) and In Absentia (2017). She was married to Matthew Hutchins. She died on 21 October 2021 in Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA.- Bruce Gordon was born on 1 February 1916 in Fitchburg, Massachusetts, USA. He was an actor, known for Piranha (1978), Tower of London (1962) and The Buccaneer (1958). He was married to Mary Jane Farrar Falvey and Marla Gordon. He died on 20 January 2011 in Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA.
- Producer
- Additional Crew
Film producer Michael Todd was one of the major contributors to technical innovation in the film industry in the 1950s. Having worked with Fred Waller and Cinerama, he got tired of the three-panel format, left the company and tried to find the process for making "Cinerama coming from one hole". He joined forces with the American Optical Co. and developed a system using 65mm cine cameras at 30 fps and wide angle-photography (approx 150 degrees). The system was named Todd-AO after its inventors and was by far the best big-screen system ever seen, when it was introduced with Oklahoma! (1955). The Todd-AO prints used 70mm film with a 2.2:1 ratio. Sound was six-track magnetic only, with five channels behind the screen and one surround channel, with Perspecta coding (a switch stereo device) The 70mm Todd-AO productions were premiered through Magna Theatre Corp., which also co-produced the pictures. Due to the non-standard speed, the first two Todd-AO pictures (the other was Around the World in 80 Days (1956)) were parallel-shot in 35mm CinemaScope with 24 fps for general release, but for the third production, South Pacific (1958), the Todd-AO pictures were all shot in 24 fps. Todd was killed in a plane crash in 1958, but his system lived on, adopted as the wide super format of 20th Century-Fox, which used it all through the 1960s. During that period a number of alternate processes developed, of which Super Panavision became the most used.- Peter Griffith was born on 23 October 1933 in Baltimore, Maryland, USA. He was an actor, known for Halloween (1978), Suspense (1949) and Roads to Romance (1946). He was married to Debra Meyer Boyd, Marianne ?, Daryl ?, Nanita Greene and Tippi Hedren. He died on 14 May 2001 in Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA.
- Surrey-born character actor Paul John Geoffrey was raised and educated in England. He began his screen career in 1977 and first appeared on the professional stage the following year at the Haymarket Theatre Royal, London, as John Daly in a revival of N.C. Hunter's play Waters of the Moon. Described as 'a thespian to the core' with a sound appreciation of history, Geoffrey specialized in classical roles early on and became known for his many performances in literary adaptations and period drama, including as Sir Perceval in Excalibur (1981), Tarzan's biological father Lord John 'Jack' Clayton in Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes (1984), Vronsky's close friend Petritsky in Anna Karenina (1985), Murat in Napoleon and Josephine: A Love Story (1987) and (as Mr. Lockwood) in Wuthering Heights (1992), headlining Juliette Binoche and Ralph Fiennes.
Geoffrey's first wife was London-born actress Belinda Sinclair, a niece of the well-known film director Nicolas Roeg. When this union ended in divorce, he remarried in the U.S. and moved there in 1991, settling in Santa Fe, New Mexico. There, he forged a successful career as a real estate broker and as director of a fashionable contemporary art gallery, while continuing to make occasional guest appearances in TV series like Better Call Saul (2015) and Get Shorty (2017). - Frank Adamo was born on 2 March 1929 in New York City, New York, USA. He was an actor, known for The Dick Van Dyke Show (1961), Six Weeks (1982) and The New Dick Van Dyke Show (1971). He died on 18 December 2018 in New Mexico, USA.
- Casting Department
- Additional Crew
- Casting Director
Gwyn Savage was born on 18 April 1965 in New Mexico, USA. Gwyn was a casting director, known for Gamer (2009), The Killer Inside Me (2010) and The Spirit (2008). Gwyn died on 21 January 2010 in New Mexico, USA.- Jay Lanin was born on 5 June 1931 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. He was an actor, known for Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea (1964), The Invaders (1967) and As the World Turns (1956). He was married to Elena Rafael. He died on 17 July 2013 in Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA.
- Peter Bailey-Britton was born on 16 April 1937 in Netherlands. He was an actor, known for Capitol (1982) and Weekend Pass (1984). He was married to Carolyn Jones. He died on 19 November 1992 in Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA.
- Bruce Watson was born on 27 July 1940 in Bronxville, New York, USA. He was an actor, known for Star Trek (1966), The Swinging Barmaids (1975) and Mission: Impossible (1966). He died on 11 June 2009 in Los Lunas, New Mexico, USA.
- Additional Crew
- Production Manager
- Producer
Derek M. Chavez was born on 3 June 1990 in Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA. He was a production manager and producer, known for The Host (2013), Finch (2021) and 12 Strong (2018). He was married to Kristen Chavez. He died on 12 January 2023 in Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA.- Actor
- Soundtrack
Don Meredith was born on 10 April 1938 in Mount Vernon, Texas, USA. He was an actor, known for NFL Monday Night Football (1970), Supertrain (1979) and McCloud (1970). He was married to Susan Schloss Lessans, Cheryl King and Alma Lynne Shamburger. He died on 5 December 2010 in Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA.- Director
- Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
- Producer
Directed more than 1,600 episodes of television. Graduated from Hollywood High School in 1935 and got a job as a messenger at Columbia Studios, working his way up to second assistant director by 1939. Served in the U.S. Navy's photographic unit near the end of World War II.- Transportation Department
- Actor
Todd Sopher was born on 22 September 1974 in Sedro Woolley, Washington, USA. He was an actor, known for 2 Guns (2013), Brothers (2009) and Conspiracy (2008). He was married to Heather Patricia Guynes. He died on 18 October 2015 in Edgewood, New Mexico, USA.- Hugh Prosser was born on 2 March 1907 in Sauk Rapids, Minnesota, USA. He was an actor, known for The Adventures of Sir Galahad (1949), Mysterious Island (1951) and Pardon My Past (1945). He was married to Mary Vincent. He died on 8 November 1952 in Gallup, New Mexico, USA.
- Actress
Eddra Gale was born on 16 July 1921 in Chicago, Illinois, USA. She was an actress, known for 8½ (1963), The Graduate (1967) and Somewhere in Time (1980). She died on 13 May 2001 in Deming, New Mexico, USA.- Howard Taylor was born on 27 June 1929 in London, England, UK. He was an actor, known for Vanity Fair (1967), ITV Television Playhouse (1955) and Boom! (1968). He was married to Mara Regan. He died on 31 August 2020 in El Prado, New Mexico, USA.
- David House was born on 15 December 1958 in Detroit, Michigan, USA. He was an actor, known for The Host (2013), Paul (2011) and The Last Stand (2013). He died on 27 November 2016 in Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA.
- Maureen Kelly was born on 20 December 1956 in Whittier, California, USA. She was an actress, known for Thirtysomething (1987), Hell Squad (1985) and Roseanne (1988). She died on 4 December 2008 in Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA.
- Adele Longmire was born on 27 June 1918 in New Orleans, Louisiana, USA. She was an actress, known for Bullet Scars (1942), I Love Lucy (1951) and The Turning Point (1952). She was married to Arthur Franz. She died on 15 January 2008 in Taos, New Mexico, USA.
- Virginia Guynes was born on 27 November 1943 in Richmond, California, USA. She was married to Danny Guynes and Charles Harmon. She died on 2 July 1998 in Farmington, New Mexico, USA.
- Virginia Brissac was an actress, best known for Rebel Without a Cause (1955), Dark Victory (1939) and The Scarlet Clue (1945). Prior to her work in film and television, she had a thirty-year career as a stage actress on the West Coast stock circuit, including three years in residence with her own company in San Diego, managed by then husband John Griffith Wray. She had one daughter, Ardel Wray, by a previous marriage.
- Herbert Lytton was born on 9 December 1897 in Falmouth, Kentucky, USA. He was an actor, known for The Twilight Zone (1959), The Cosmic Man (1959) and McHale's Navy (1962). He died on 26 June 1981 in Las Cruces, New Mexico, USA.
- Actor
- Stunts
- Additional Crew
Stuntman and actor Boyd Stockman was born on February 12, 1916 in Red Rock, Grant County, New Mexico. Boyd moved to California in the early 1940's where he and his brother worked for the Bakersfield Land and Cattle Company. Stockman began his film business career doing stunts at Monogram Pictures in the mid-1940's after he was spotted roping cattle at the L.A. Coliseum Rodeo by fellow stuntmen Joe Yrigoyen and Andy Jauregui, who suggested to Stockman that he try his hand in the movies. An expert horseman and team driver, Boyd was usually cast in Westerns as a stagecoach driver. Moreover, Stockman was also a regular in Gene Autry Western programmers made by Columbia. His career as both an actor and stuntman in Westerns spanned over three decades altogether. Boyd returned to his native state of New Mexico in the mid-1970's. Stockman died at age 82 on March 10, 1998 in Silver City, New Mexico.- Director
- Script and Continuity Department
- Additional Crew
Milwaukee-born Don Weis began as a director of light-hearted, often youth-oriented entertainment. After graduating in film studies from the University of Southern California in 1942, he got his first job as an errand boy at Warner Brothers. He saw wartime service as a technician with the 1st Motion Picture Unit of the U.S. Army Air Corps, involved in the production of training films at Culver City. After the war he resumed his apprenticeship with Enterprise Productions as a dialogue director and assistant on several pictures produced by Stanley Kramer. In 1951 he was signed by Dore Schary to a two-year contract at MGM, making his directorial feature debut with the newspaper expose Bannerline (1951). This was followed by a string of light comedies and musicals of widely varying quality.
Among the best of the bunch was the cheerful George Wells-scripted and -produced musical I Love Melvin (1953) starring Debbie Reynolds and Donald O'Connor, highlighted by several exuberant dance routines and an engaging dream sequence in which Debbie sings "A Lady Loves". There was also a youthful college comedy, The Affairs of Dobie Gillis (1953), and an enjoyable minor sword-and-sandal outing made for Fox, entitled The Adventures of Hajji Baba (1954). Of considerably less interest were two inane entries in the "beach party" genre aimed specifically at the teen market: the sleep-inducing, apropriately-titled Pajama Party (1964) and the even sillier The Ghost in the Invisible Bikini (1966), which sadly wasted the talents of such excellent screen veterans as Boris Karloff and Basil Rathbone. It didn't get any better with the decidely laborious and unamusing farce Did You Hear the One About the Traveling Saleslady? (1968). Though conceived by two talented writers (James Fritzell and Everett Greenbaum) who later earned a well-deserved reputation for their rather wittier collaborative effort on M*A*S*H (1972), the humour was as obvious as the title might suggest. The venture, predictably, did not make a screen star out of Phyllis Diller.
In 1954 Weis began to direct episodes for television, a medium to which he found himself eminently suited. In the course of the next 30 years he became one of TV's busiest directors and one of the most accomplished, winning six annual awards from the Directors Guild of America. Ranging across every known genre, he was equally at ease helming the iconic Batman (1966) as he was behind the camera of some 58 episodes of crime-busting, wheelchair-bound Ironside (1967), or guiding four of the best installments of the cult series Kolchak: The Night Stalker (1974). Weis achieved his greatest success directing a brace of the most enduring episodes of the long-running and much-loved medical comedy "M*A*S*H*". Following his retirement he presided over the Motion Picture Permanent Charities Committee (PCC) and served on the board of the New Mexico Film Council.- Edith Barrett was born on 19 January 1907 in Roxbury, Massachusetts, USA. She was an actress, known for I Walked with a Zombie (1943), Jane Eyre (1943) and Ruthless (1948). She was married to Vincent Price. She died on 22 February 1977 in Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA.
- George Ostos was born on 9 October 1962 in New Mexico, USA. He was an actor, known for Angel, Angel, Down We Go (1969), Mod Squad (1968) and Adam-12 (1968). He died on 27 November 2003 in Las Cruces, New Mexico, USA.
- Actor
- Writer
- Director
Ken Shapiro was born on 5 June 1942 in Newark, New Jersey, USA. He was an actor and writer, known for The Groove Tube (1974), Modern Problems (1981) and Singing Faces (1968). He was married to Kelly Hamilton,. He died on 18 November 2017 in Las Cruces, New Mexico, USA.- Music Department
- Composer
- Additional Crew
Dominic Carmen Frontiere, 86, Emmy and Golden Globe winning film and television composer, former head of music at Paramount Pictures, passed away in Tesuque, New Mexico on 21 December 2017. He is survived by his wife Robin and their children Emily, Joseph, Nicholas and Sofia, as well as daughter Victoria from a previous marriage.- Writer
- Additional Crew
Tony Hillerman was born on 27 May 1925 in Sacred Heart, Oklahoma, USA. He was a writer, known for Dark Winds (2022), The Dark Wind (1991) and Skinwalkers: The Navajo Mysteries (2002). He was married to Marie Unzner. He died on 26 October 2008 in Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA.- Costume and Wardrobe Department
- Costume Designer
- Actress
Lynette Bernay was born on 18 August 1931 in Bronx, New York City, New York, USA. She was a costume designer and actress, known for Up in the Air (2009), Burke's Law (1963) and Away We Go (2009). She was married to Ted Jordan. She died on 9 December 2008 in Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA.- A delightfully irksome, viper-tongued presence who usually played older than she was, actress Cora Witherspoon began her five-decade career in New York playing an elderly lady in the 1910 production of "The Concert". She was 20 years old at the time. Born in 1890, the brown-haired, Louisiana-born character player continued on the Broadway stage after her successful debut and became a generally unsympathetic audience favorite in such popular shows as "Daddy Long Legs," "Lillies of the Field" and "The Awful Truth" for the next two decades.
She began dividing her time between theater and film in the early 1930s wreaking havoc and rattling the nerves of many a male and female star with her imperious gallery of class-conscious matrons, haranguing wives, acidulous spinsters and aggressive busybodies. Notable film contributions were her cryptic socialites in the quality comedies Libeled Lady (1936) and Personal Property (1937), both starring Jean Harlow. She was equally unpleasant in such dramatic fare as Dark Victory (1939), and played her patented society snoot to perfection in the Shirley Temple vehicle Just Around the Corner (1938). A particular standout, and the movie role she is probably best remembered for, was her untidy, henpecking wife Agatha Sousé in the comedy classic The Bank Dick (1940), the prime source of W.C. Fields' misery.
Though her home base was in New York City where she continued to perform in the theater, she made her living commuting to Hollywood in the post-war years, ending her career with brief appearances on TV. She died in 1957 at age 67 in New Mexico. - Margie the Elephant was born in Asia. She was an Indian Elephant known for appearances in The Boy Who Stole the Elephant (1970) and several T.V. shows including The Cisco Kid (1954 - 1956) and Lassie (1960) and Mr. Ed (1962). She died on June 10, 1979 in New Mexico, USA.