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1-50 of 259
- Actor
- Producer
William McChord Hurt was born in Washington, D.C., to Claire Isabel (McGill) and Alfred McChord Hurt, who worked at the State Department. He was trained at Tufts University and The Juilliard School and has been nominated for four Academy Awards, including the most recent nomination for his supporting role in David Cronenberg's A History of Violence (2005). Hurt received Best Supporting Actor accolades for the role from the Los Angeles Film Critics circle and the New York Film Critics Circle.
Hurt spent the early years of his career on the stage between drama school, summer stock, regional repertory and off-Broadway, appearing in more than fifty productions including "Henry V", "5th of July", "Hamlet", "Uncle Vanya", "Richard II", "Hurlyburly" (for which he was nominated for a Tony Award), "My Life" (winning an Obie Award for Best Actor), "A Midsummer's Night's Dream" and "Good". For radio, Hurt read Paul Theroux's "The Grand Railway Bazaar", for the BBC Radio Four and "The Shipping News" by Annie Proulx. He has recorded "The Polar Express", "The Boy Who Drew Cats", "The Sun Also Rises" and narrated the documentaries, "Searching for America: The Odyssey of John Dos Passos", "Einstein-How I See the World" and the English narration of Elie Wiesel's "To Speak the Unspeakable", a documentary directed and produced by Pierre Marmiesse. In 1988, Hurt was awarded the first Spencer Tracy Award from UCLA.- Actress
- Additional Crew
- Soundtrack
When Kansas-born Patrice Wymore was only six years of age, she began touring with her family in tent shows and in vaudeville, her mother being a pianist and singer on the circuit. In contrast, her father was a trucking line exec. Trained in voice, the lovely, fair-haired teenager gambled on a try in New York and it paid off. Performing in "Up in Central Park" in 1947, she made her Broadway debut a year later in the musical "Hold It!" and won the Theatre World Award for "promising actress." Following her Broadway role in another musical, "All for Love" in 1949, the wide set-eyed beauty was handed a starlet contract by Warner Bros. and headed west to seek her fame and fortune. She found a little bit of both.
Patrice made her debut in a singing role in the nostalgic Doris Day/Gordon MacRae tunefest Tea for Two (1950). Fate took a hand when she was cast opposite the much older Errol Flynn in Rocky Mountain (1950), one of the aging actor's lesser-known efforts. Patrice became the final Mrs. Errol Flynn in October of 1950 after a hasty marriage in Monaco. Daughter Arnella, who later would become a model in Europe, was born in 1953. The couple moved to Jamaica and also traveled by yacht overseas. By the time of his marriage, Flynn was already in a severe decline both physically and mentally and the marriage was a difficult one. After typically playing the "other woman" in several other Warner efforts, including I'll See You in My Dreams (1951), She's Working Her Way Through College (1952), The Big Trees (1952), She's Back on Broadway (1953), and in the British-made King's Rhapsody (1955).
Patrice felt compelled to retire in order to tend to her ailing husband and the raising of their daughter. His drug/alcohol addictions, however, became too overwhelming, and she eventually was forced to separate from Flynn. They never divorced by the time he died at age 50 in October of 1959, although he was living with someone else. Patrice never remarried.
Following Flynn's passing, Wymore attempted a comeback and began performing in a nightclub act in Vegas and in stock musicals such as "Carnival," Guys and Dolls," "Irma La Douce," and "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes." On camera she was cast in the short-lived soap opera Never Too Young (1965) and appeared secondarily in the films Ocean's Eleven (1960) and Chamber of Horrors (1966).
Patrice eventually retired again in the late 1960s and returned to Jamaica with her daughter to the mansion Flynn built and bequeathed to her along with a cattle ranch and 2,000-acre coconut plantation. She also went into business operating a boutique and wicker furniture manufacturing plant. Patrice also continued to be active in her late husband's estate and attends tributes and dedications to him.
Tragedy struck when her daughter Arnella, who gave Patrice a grandson (actor Luke Flynn), died of a drug overdose in 1998. Patrice herself died of pulmonary complications on March 22, 2014.- Tall and rangy, usually sporting long mangy hair, and frequently projecting a strong and intense on-screen presence, character actor Luke Askew made a potent and lasting impression playing a substantial volume of mean and fearsome villains in both motion pictures and television shows alike in a career that spanned over forty years.
Askew was born on March 26, 1932 in Macon, Georgia, of English and Scandinavian descent. He first developed an interest in acting towards the end of his high school years. He attended the University of Georgia (where he initially planned on getting a B.A. in Business Administration), Mercer University, and the Walter F. George School of Law. Askew served in the U.S. Air Force in strategic air command intelligence during his college years.
Following college Askew worked as a radio deejay and television announcer prior to beginning his acting career in Off-Broadway stage productions in New York City (Askew lived in Greenwich Village in the early 1960s and kept himself afloat working as a furniture mover). Luke moved to Los Angeles in 1966 and made his film debut in 1967 in "Harry Sundown". Best known as the stranger on the highway in the hippie counterculture cult classic "Easy Rider", Askew's other memorable roles included the redoubtable Boss Paul in "Cool Hand Luke", the peaceful hippie commune leader Jonathan Tremaine in "Angel Unchained", the scary and brutal thug Automatic Slim in the grim revenge thriller "Rolling Thunder", the sleazy coroner Dexter Ward in "The Beast Within," and the no-nonsense Irish gypsy crime lord Boss Jack Costello in "Traveller".
Askew also appeared in a sizable number of Westerns made throughout the 1960s and 1970s: he had a rare lead role in the spaghetti Western "Night of the Serpent" and gave an especially fine performance as tough and stoic veteran cowpoke Luke in the gritty gem "The Culpepper Cattle Co."
Among the many TV series Askew popped up in throughout the years are "The High Chaparral", "Mission: Impossible", "Cannon", "Quincy, M.E.", "The Six Million Dollar Man", "Fantasy Island", "T.J. Hooker", "The Fall Guy", "Airwolf", "Murder, She Wrote", "Walker, Texas Ranger", "Everwood", and "Cold Case". He had a recurring role as the dangerous polygamist Hollis Greene on the acclaimed cable TV program "Big Love".
Askew died at age 80 at his home in Portland, Oregon on March 29, 2012. He was survived by his wife and his son, Christopher, a painter and tattoo artist. - Katherine Woodville was born on 12 March 1938 in Ewell, England, UK. She was an actress, known for Star Trek (1966), Mission: Impossible (1966) and The Mystery of Edwin Drood (1960). She was married to Edward Albert, Jerrold Freedman, Patrick Macnee and Michael Julian Anderson Wenn. She died on 5 June 2013 in Portland, Oregon, USA.
- Actress
- Camera and Electrical Department
- Producer
Jessica Campbell was born on 30 October 1982 in Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA. She was an actress and producer, known for Election (1999), In the Best Interest of the Children (1992) and Junk (2002). She was married to Daniel Papkin. She died on 29 December 2020 in Portland, Oregon, USA.- In 1957, seven-year-old Stanley Fafara's mother took him to an open casting call for a new television series about a suburban family entitled "Leave It To Beaver." He had been working in commercials and television westerns since the age of four, and was somewhat of an old hand at auditions. He earned the part of "Whitey" Whitney, one of the lead character's best buddies. The show quickly became a hit, giving the young actor a dazzling taste of Hollywood fame and money which he would never forget.
Stanley enjoyed six years on the sitcom, and after the cancellation of "Leave It To Beaver" in 1963, Stanley attended North Hollywood High School. While there, he developed a liking for alcohol and soon learned how to use his fame to his best advantage. He became friendly with the pop-rock band Paul Revere and the Raiders, and reportedly moved in with the band for a time. He discovered hard drugs in the mid-1960s, an unfortunate obsession that would dog him for many years to come.
For a while, at his parents' insistence, he attempted living with his sister in Jamaica, where he tried his hand at painting. But he couldn't abstain from drug use. He returned to Los Angeles at age 22, where he was married briefly. Then, to support himself, he started dealing illegal drugs. Even worse, later he was convicted of breaking into pharmacies, and was sentenced to a year in jail.
After being incarcerated, Stanley tried his hand at being a roofer, waiter and janitor before descending back into drug use, particularly heroin. He was in and out of rehab centers for many years, eventually getting sober in 1995. He managed to turn his life around, and finally conquered his addictions, without any relapses. But, unfortunately, he had already contracted hepatitis C.
Eventually Stanley re-established a relationship with a daughter who he hadn't seen in twenty years, and became close to his nephew, Dez Fafara, of the rock band Coal Chamber. He also kept in contact with other child actors who were in recovery, and helped fellow addicts stay clean and sober. He started a business designing web sites, and was beginning to have some success. At the time of his death he had a flat in Portland's Mark Harfield Building, an apartment complex created for people in recovery from addiction.
Stanley Fafara was given two well-attended funerals. - Mayo Methot was born on 3 March 1904 in Chicago, Illinois, USA. She was an actress, known for Jimmy the Gent (1934), Virtue (1932) and Counsellor at Law (1933). She was married to Humphrey Bogart, Percy Tredegar Morgan Jr. and John M. La Mond. She died on 9 June 1951 in Portland, Oregon, USA.
- Actress
Nancy Hsueh was born on 25 February 1941 in Los Angeles, California, USA. She was an actress, known for Targets (1968), The Wild Wild West (1965) and Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea (1964). She was married to Dan Carr. She died on 24 November 1980 in Portland, Maine, USA.- In 1993, nine year old Jon Paul Steuer was cast in the role of Brett Butler's son Quentin Kelly on the ABC sitcom Grace Under Fire. The pilot episode aired September 29, 1993 with actor Noah Segan playing Quentin. Jon took over the role starting in episode two. During hiatus of the second season, ten year old Jon was cast in Little Giants (1994), a comedy movie co-starring with Sam Horrigan who was then 13 years old. Jon returned to his Grace Under Fire schedule and continued on the show until the end of the third season.
In May 1996, Jon's parents abruptly pulled him from the show saying that they felt the show was not a good environment for their son, citing Brett Butler's substance abuse, frequent rehab admissions and her overt sexual behavior toward 12-year-old Jon. Brett Butler was observed flashing her breasts at him on the set. When Jon left Grace Under Fire in 1996, it was his Little Giants co-star Sam Horrigan who took over the role of Quentin Kelly.
After leaving the show, when Jon interviewed for other acting jobs, he found most casting directors only wanted to question him about what it was like to work with Brett Butler, how it was working on Grace Under Fire set and why he left the show.In April 2015, Jon told an interviewer from the internet-based newspaper website, The A.V. Club, that he thought the behavior of some casting agents was very unprofessional and that he didn't appreciate how the focus during job interviews was on Brett Butler and the show, when he was supposed to be interviewing with them for another job.
It was then that Jon Paul Steuer decided to quit acting altogether. His family moved to Denver Colorado and while finishing high school, Jon worked at several jobs.
In 2003 Jon took the stage name of Jonny P. Jewels, formed the glam punk band Kill City Thrillers with four other musicians and became the lead singer. In 2005, the band changed its name to Soda Pop Kids. The band worked consistently until November 2009 when the group decided to quit.
In 2011, Jon became the fifth member of a Portland-based punk rock group called P.R.O.B.L.E.M.S. They performed in nearby states and in 2014, the band went on a European tour. Jon remained with the band until his death.
In March 2015, Jon became partners with chef Sean Sigmon and invested in a vegan restaurant in Portland, Oregon called Harvest At The Bindery. The restaurant thrived for almost three years.
On January 1, 2018, at the age of 33, Jon Paul Steuer died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound at his home in Portland, Oregon. The day after his death, his Harvest At The Bindery restaurant partner closed down the restaurant permanently and on January 3, 2018 it was put up for sale. - Tim Sampson was born on 25 October 1956 in Okmulgee, Oklahoma. He was an actor, known for The Man Who Wasn't There (1983), Fighting Back (1982) and Shadowhunter (1993). He was married to Darice Gayle Rommelmann. He died on 7 July 2019 in Portland, Oregon, USA.
- Director
- Writer
- Producer
Boris Sagal was born on 18 October 1923 in Yekaterinoslav, Ukrainian SSR, USSR [now Dnipropetrovsk, Ukraine]. He was a director and writer, known for The Omega Man (1971), The Name of the Game (1968) and Rich Man, Poor Man (1976). He was married to Marge Champion and Sara Macon. He died on 22 May 1981 in Portland, Oregon, USA.- Former NFL defensive linesman who played with the Cleveland Browns, Oakland Raiders and Denver Broncos from 1971 through to 1991. Alzado amassed a string of prestigious achievements in his NFL career including being named ABC's 1977 Defensive Player of The Year and Defensive Linesman of the Year, plus he was a key player in the Los Angeles Raiders' Super Bowl victory over the Washington Redskins in 1983. He even flirted with the idea of becoming a professional boxer and fought eight rounds in an exhibition match with Muhammad Ali. At his peak, the fiery Alzado stood around 6' 3" and weighed in at approximately 255 pounds; however, after a failed comeback attempt to the NFL in 1991, he admitted long term steroid abuse.
When not on the football field, Lyle's macho image helped him land roles in movies, television shows and commercials. His movie roles primarily consisted of Alzado playing tough guys, enforcers or similar hard cases such as in Ernest Goes to Camp (1987), Destroyer (1988), Shocktroop (1988) and Comrades in Arms (1991). In addition, Alzado was known to have a good sense of humor. When Johnny Carson had him as a guest on the The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (1962) in 1986 and implied that he was over the hill, Alzado responded by saying "I can still kick your a--".
While no conclusive link was ever established, Alzado was sure that his steroid abuse caused the brain tumor that eventually took his life. He never drank, smoked or used recreational drugs during his life and stated that steroids were the only questionable thing he put into his body. After years of denying steroid abuse, he finally came clean and used his admission to try and help prevent younger people from making the same mistakes that he had made. He passed away aged only 43 on May 14th, 1992 at his home in Portland, Oregon. - Canadian performer who was seen in films and television from late 1950s to the 1970s. Called "the Canadian James Dean", after appearing in several features with success, Borisenko went to England where he had starring roles in two films by fellow Canadians: Sidney J. Furie's wartime melodrama "During One Night" (1960), and Mark Robson's account of the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi, "Nine Hours to Rama" (1963), in which he played Naryan Apte, the friend of Gandhi's murderer, Nathuram Vinayak Godse (played by Horst Buchholz). After he walked off the set of Robert Aldrich's "The Dirty Dozen" (1967), dissatisfied with his role (which was then given to Donald Sutherland), Borisenko appeared on different television shows, back in Canada and in England. Moving in the 1970s to Los Angeles, he changed his name to Jonas Wolfe, appeared in several films, as "Black Gunn" (1972) and "The Laughing Policeman" (1973), and opened a music club, where he reportedly gave the rock group Van Halen their first paying gig. Borisenko finally retired from acting and dedicated to poetry, painting and sculpture.
- Fritzi Jane Courtney was born on 15 February 1923 in Harlem, New York, USA. She was an actress, known for Jaws: The Revenge (1987), Jaws 2 (1978) and Spraggue (1984). She died on 7 August 2012 in Portland, Maine, USA.
- Jack Buetel was born on 5 September 1917 in Dallas, Texas, USA. He was an actor, known for The Outlaw (1943), Jesse James' Women (1954) and Best of the Badmen (1951). He was married to Joann Jensen, Gloria Jean Bailey, Creatha Browning and Jill Meredith. He died on 27 June 1989 in Portland, Oregon, USA.
- Actress
- Stunts
- Additional Crew
Melissa Clayton was born on 12 July 1972 in Aspen, Colorado, USA. She was an actress, known for House IV (1992), A Child Lost Forever: The Jerry Sherwood Story (1992) and Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman (1993). She was married to John Tydlaska. She died on 12 May 2017 in Portland, Oregon, USA.- Actor
- Writer
- Director
New Hollywood Maverick: Wild Bill Richert - Film Society of Lincoln Center
A bold, brash uncompromising figure in the tradition of Orson Welles and John Cassavetes, William Richert burst on to the Hollywood scene near the end of the storied 1970s, first as a screenwriter and then as director of the dazzling conspiracy opus Winter Kills. A critical triumph abandoned by its studio, the movie set the tone for Richert's career to come-a quartet of highly original, idiosyncratic American features that have maintained an almost clandestine existence, subject to poor distribution and myriad unauthorized versions.- Anne Benton was born on 29 October 1932 in Albany, New York, USA. She was an actress, known for Men Into Space (1959), Checkmate (1960) and Flaming Star (1960). She was married to Bernard McDonald. She died on 8 November 2005 in Portland, Oregon, USA.
- Shell Kepler was born on 5 October 1958 in Painesville, Ohio, USA. She was an actress, known for General Hospital (1963), The Great American Girl Robbery (1979) and Homework (1982). She was married to Robert DeSantis and Kenny Ryback. She died on 1 February 2008 in Portland, Oregon, USA.
- Katherine Emery was born on 11 October 1906 in Birmingham, Alabama, USA. She was an actress, known for Strange Bargain (1949), The Private Affairs of Bel Ami (1947) and The Walls Came Tumbling Down (1946). She was married to Paul Conant Eaton. She died on 7 February 1980 in Portland, Maine, USA.
- Michael Lehrer was born on 1 December 1978 in Chicago, Illinois, USA. He was an actor, known for The Second City Presents: The Last Show Left on Earth (2020), Sports Action Team (2006) and Masters of the Internet (2017). He died on 17 January 2023 in Portland, Oregon, USA.
- Actor
- Soundtrack
Reid Shelton was born on 7 October 1924 in Salem, Oregon, USA. He was an actor, known for 1st & Ten (1984), Remington Steele (1982) and St. Elsewhere (1982). He died on 8 June 1997 in Portland, Oregon, USA.- Writer
- Additional Crew
Ursula K. Le Guin was born on 21 October 1929 in Berkeley, California, USA. She was a writer, known for Tales from Earthsea (2006), The Lathe of Heaven (1980) and The Telling. She was married to Charles A. Le Guin. She died on 22 January 2018 in Portland, Oregon, USA.- Charles Briles was born on 17 December 1945 in Los Angeles, California, USA. He was an actor, known for Petticoat Junction (1963), The Trouble with Girls (1969) and The Big Valley (1965). He was married to Kathy Briles. He died on 12 June 2016 in Portland, Oregon, USA.
- Producer
- Director
- Animation Department
Will Vinton was born on 17 November 1947 in McMinnville, Oregon, USA. He was a producer and director, known for Closed Mondays (1974), Return to Oz (1985) and Martin the Cobbler (1977). He was married to Susan Shadburne, Gillian Allred and Bevan Vinton. He died on 4 October 2018 in Portland, Oregon, USA.- Composer
- Music Department
- Actor
Born in Oregon in 1914, George Bruns was the son of a sawmill worker. He took music lessons as a child, becoming proficient on the piano, tuba and trombone. He attended Oregon State Agricultural College, and in order to pay tuition he played in the ROTC band. Deciding on a musical career, he left college to be a full-time musician, and was soon playing with the likes of Jack Teagarden.
After World War II, he began playing with various swing and jazz bands, then formed his own group (among whom was a trumpet player named Doc Severinsen). In addition to having his own band, he was also musical director at several Portland (OR) radio stations. In 1948 he left Portland for Los Angeles, where he played for orchestras such as the Turk Murphy Band. In 1953 he was hired by UPA Studios as the composer for a cartoon called Little Boy with a Big Horn (1953). The award-winning short launched his career, and over the next few years he composed music for a dozen more pictures.
He was hired by Walt Disney Studios in 1953 to compose the score for Sleeping Beauty (1959). While working on that, he was asked to come up with a song to fill a 3.5-minute gap in a multi-part TV series the studio was shooting. He got together with lyricist Thomas W. Blackburn, and they came up with what would become a landmark song and series of the 1950s: "The Ballad of Davy Crockett" from Davy Crockett: King of the Wild Frontier (1955).
Bruns was then assigned by Disney to write songs for its upcoming childrens show, The Mickey Mouse Club (1955). He spent nearly 20 years at the studio, working on the scores of nearly 40 films and several TV series and specials. He received an Academy Award nomination for his scores for "Sleeping Beauty", Babes in Toyland (1961) and The Sword in the Stone (1963), and another nomination for the song "Love" from Robin Hood (1973).
He retired in 1976, moved back to Oregon, and died of a heart attack in Portland on May 23, 1983.- Willy Nelson was born on 11 April 1944 in Teaneck, New Jersey, USA. He was an actor, known for Dr. Christian (1956) and The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet (1952). He died on 12 June 2013 in Portland, Oregon, USA.
- Art Balinger was born on 1 February 1915 in Los Angeles, California, USA. He was an actor, known for The Towering Inferno (1974), The Swarm (1978) and Code Red (1981). He died on 10 June 2011 in Portland, Oregon, USA.
- Received a partial scholarship to prep school, graduating from the prestigious Peddie School in Hightstown, New Jersey (class of 1941).
Was not all that interested in selling the M*A*S*H rights to make the movie or the TV series, but a fellow Peddie School alumnus (movie producer Howard W. Koch, class of 1933, and Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award winner at the 1990 Oscars), gave him some encouragement to do so. - Shelley Ann Beattie was born in Orange County, California, where she at the age of three suffered from severe hearing loss due to overdose of aspirins; the overdose caused her to lose all her ability to hear in one ear and reduced her ability to hear by thirty percent in the other. This event changed her life at an early age. She was raised in California until age 11, when she moved to Oregon. While living in Oregon and going to school experienced a number of problems; all due to her hearing deficiency. Because of her hearing problems Shelley had trouble socializing at school since she could not communicate with other classmates who thought she was stupid according to her since she could only understand them only if they were facing her. Because of this Beattie became a loner and soon she began to use sports to deal with her frustrations and lack of social life. She would later learn sign language as well as getting several operations and speech therapy to help her deal with her hearing loss.
In school Beattie began to compete in Heptathlon, Cross Country, Hurdles, and 400 yards field events in which she excelled in every one of such competitions. During this time she developed a specialty for the low hurdles in which she developed an impressive reputation in her school for her mastery of such competition and even making some records in her high school. As a standout in heptathlete and cross country in high school, Shelley enjoyed competing in this event since she felt that she did not need to hear to be good at this event. Beattie began lifting weights at age 14, in order to be more competitive at the hurdles and 400s since she wanted to compete against her male track mates since her female competitors were not competitive enough for her and since she noticed that the men lifted weights to be better on track competitions. Lifting was also a method of rebellion for Shelley who knew she would be looked upon differently by others if she developed her body to look different from other girls, she wanted to achieve this. She first began weight training in a small weight training room that her high school had and soon began to seriously follow a strict training regime at age of 15 and soon began to develop her body.
At the age of 16 suffered a severe track accident when she tripped over a hurdle and twisted her ankle. Beattie believed that she would not be able to continued due to the trauma of the injury. Her family life was characterized by instability which added to her anxiety and frustration causing her teenage years to be covered with personal problems. In order to deal with this problems she focused more on her training and began to write songs and even became the lead singer of a traveling band while in high school. In 1984 Shelley began to attend Western Oregon State College in Monmouth, there she decided to focus on weight training and powerlifting in order to make her body stronger, help her deal with her emotional problems, as well as help her heal her body. There she majored in Child Psychology, Special Education, and also studied Jazz dance and choreography while in college. She also joined a dance company to expand her musical talents. She also choreographed dance routines while learning to fully control and express her emotions through dance. During this time Shelley began to compete as an amateur in bodybuilding competitions. At 124 pounds she entered her first competition, the Portland Rose Cup Novice finishing 4th in the heavy-weight class, after this competition Beattie decided that a career as a professional bodybuilder was for her.
Shelley would continue to compete regularly through the late 80s reaching the top-five of every amateur competition she entered and soon began to win every amateur show she competed in. She soon developed a friendly rivalry with Nikki Fuller who she at many times finished second to at the amateur level. But this would soon changed when Beattie teamed-up with Oregon State exercise and physiology graduate Aaron Shelley in 1989. With him she was able to overcome several obstacles to become a transformed bodybuilder in 1990. With significant improvements in her diet and training she managed to take the overall title at the 1990 NPC Emerald Cup, the pacific Coast Championships, and earned her pro card in bodybuilding at age 22 when she won the overall title at the 1990 NPC USA Championship. Afterwards Beattie continued to train heavily to improve her body and continue to have a competitive, professional status meanwhile she worked two forty-hour-a-week positions as a group home counselor for mentally retarded teenagers. She would often spread her workouts day and night in between jobs. If she received a sponsorship by a fitness company, she would leave one position and follow a more normal training schedule.
During her competitive days as a professional she competed at a height of 5 feet 7 inches in a bodyweight of around 144 pounds and soon became known for her great genetics as well her graceful and artistic presentation while competing. Beattie would often thank her genetics and her physical abilities as well by coming from an athletic family: her mother is six feet tall and athletic while her sister is 5 feet 10 inches tall, 180-pound basketball player at Portland State. After winning the 1990 NPC USA and turning pro she found herself in some problems with the politics of bodybuilding federation known as the IFBB since she was unable to compete at the 1990 Ms. Olympia after the her USA victory. She also was unhappy when some contest promises were not fulfilled. Beattie said, "Certain benefits and reimbursements from the USA that I was supposed to receive have never happened. I have made the proper people so I'm hoping that one day they will fulfill their obligations." After missing the 1990 Ms. Olympia she competed for the first time as a professional for the first time at the 1991 Ms. International where she finished 3rd. The same year she Managed to reach 7th at the Ms. Olympia. The next year in 1992 she added more poise and grace to her physique and presentation and managed to finish 3rd, her highest achievement in her competitive days.
During the early 1990s she also joined the American Gladiators TV show as "Siren" and stayed with them for several seasons. She retired from competition after the 1993 Ms. Olympia contest after placing 7th in that competition. After her retirement from bodybuilding, Beattie competed as a "grinder" on the America³ sailing team (the first all-women's America's Cup team) in this competition she manged the runner-up spot on two different occasions in 1994 and again in 1995. Beattie is probably best known for her years as "Siren" on the American Gladiators TV series. Due to her hearing loss, she received visual cues from referee Larry Thompson as well as from fellow Gladiator, Salina "Elektra" Bartunek, while competing, and spectators would wave at her or stomp their feet (rather than applauding) to acknowledge her performances. She was married to John Romano, a well-known columnist for Muscular Development magazine for six years.
Until her death Shelley lived on her own in Oregon, working with physically impaired people. She also made drums and jewelry, and worked as a personal trainer near her home town.
Shelley Beattie died in Portland, Oregon on February 16, 2008. The cause of her death has not yet been released, however, on the Muscular Development website, Romano writes that Beattie had been "had fallen gravely ill. She fought like the champion she was until she could fight no more, and passed away quietly last week." - Writer
- Actor
- Director
Gill Dennis was born on 25 January 1941 in Charlottesville, Virginia, USA. He was a writer and actor, known for Walk the Line (2005), Return to Oz (1985) and Without Evidence (1995). He was married to Kristen Peckinpah and Elizabeth Hartman. He died on 13 May 2015 in Portland, Oregon, USA.- Danna Schaeffer was born on 26 December 1943 in Atlanta, Georgia, USA. She was an actress, known for Birddog (1999). She was married to Benson Schaeffer. She died on 6 November 2022 in Portland, Oregon, USA.
- Writer
- Producer
- Director
John Callahan was born on 5 February 1951 in Portland, Oregon, USA. He was a writer and producer, known for Don't Worry, He Won't Get Far on Foot (2018), I Think I Was an Alcoholic (1993) and Quads! (2001). He died on 24 July 2010 in Portland, Oregon, USA.- Haycox is the writer most often credited with raising western fiction up from the pulps into the mainstream; his influence on other writers of western fiction cannot be overestimated. He was a prolific writer, with almost three hundred short stories and more than twenty novels to his credit, and is among the most successful writers of American western fiction. Many of Haycox's stories were published in pulp magazines such as "Western Story" before he wrote stories for "Collier's Magazine" and "The Saturday Evening Post." His final works, "The Earthbreakers" and "The Adventurers," were published after his death.
- Frank Alten was born on 5 July 1907 in Vienna, Austria. He was an actor, known for Manhunt of Mystery Island (1945), Escape to Glory (1940) and The Man Called X (1956). He died on 16 July 1988 in Portland, Oregon, USA.
- Joey Capone grew up near the beaches of southern California. He read a lot of books instead of doing homework when he was in school. He likes to cook and eat and travel and learn languages and talk to different sorts of people. He's a proud papa and tries to be a good guy.
- Writer
- Producer
- Actor
Bob Comfort was born on 17 September 1940. He was a writer and producer, known for The Best of Times (1983), Good Luck (1996) and Dogfight (1991). He died on 8 January 2010 in Portland, Oregon, USA.- Gavin Reed was born on 3 June 1931 in Liverpool, England, UK. He was an actor, known for Tootsie (1982), The Body Beneath (1970) and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (1972). He died on 3 December 1990 in Portland, Maine, USA.
- Actor
- Music Department
- Composer
Mitch Mitchell was born on 9 July 1947 in Ealing, Middlesex, England, UK. He was an actor and composer, known for The Groundstar Conspiracy (1972), Jennings at School (1958) and The Mend (2014). He was married to Lynn Collins. He died on 12 November 2008 in Portland, Oregon, USA.- Music Department
- Actor
- Writer
Quirky pianist-songwriter, noted for his plaintive, nasally voice, who has released a number of jazz albums. His songs have included "Van Lingle Mungo" (the lyrics of which consist entirely of the names of old-time baseball players), "My Attorney Bernie", "Sweet Kentucky Ham", "Do You Miss New York", "Let's Eat Home", "Blizzard Of Lies", and a number of songs for ABC's Schoolhouse Rock (1973) which include the classic "I'm Just A Bill".- Marie Selland was born on 22 October 1927 in Happy Valley, California, USA. She was an actress, known for Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956), Without Evidence (1995) and Dream on! (1981). She was married to Tom Taylor and Sam Peckinpah. She died on 28 October 2006 in Portland, Oregon, USA.
- Tracy R. Twyman is a non-fiction writer, known for her books The Merovingian Mythos, Solomon's Treasure, and Money Grows on the Tree of Knowledge. She first came to public light in 1996 when she began publishing the underground esoteric history magazine Dagobert's Revenge, which she continued to publish until 2003. She is known for her appearances on the radio shows Coast to Coast AM and Ground Zero with Clyde Lewis. She was also in the documentary movie Bloodline, and has been in several TV documentaries.
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- Director
Danny Simon was a comedy writer, who together with his brother, Neil Simon, wrote for such classic 1950s television series as Your Show of Shows (1950). It was Danny who mentored his younger sibling and nicknamed him "Doc". They worked together in radio in the late 1940s and then in television, a period of their lives chronicled in Neil Simon's 1993 play, "Laughter on the 23rd Floor".
The brothers wrote not only for Your Show of Shows (1950), 90 minutes of live original comedy starring Sid Caesar and Imogene Coca, but also worked for The Jackie Gleason Show (1952), The Red Buttons Show (1952) and The Phil Silvers Show (1955), in which Silvers portrayed the conniving Army Sgt. Ernie Bilko.
While working on Your Show of Shows (1950), the Simons collaborated with such writers as Mel Brooks, Larry Gelbart, Sheldon Keller, Mel Tolkin and later Woody Allen, who once said, "Everything I learned about comedy, I learned from Danny Simon".
When Neil grew dissatisfied with the restrictions of network TV and left to write for the theater, Danny stayed in television as head writer for NBC's The Colgate Comedy Hour (1950). He later wrote for The Danny Thomas Show (1953), starring Danny Thomas; Diff'rent Strokes (1978) and The Facts of Life (1979); and provided material for many of Joan Rivers appearances on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (1962).- Cinematographer
- Camera and Electrical Department
John J. Campbell was born in 1950 in Ohio, USA. John J. was a cinematographer, known for My Own Private Idaho (1991), Sisters (2006) and Bucksville (2011). John J. died on 8 December 2019 in Portland, Oregon, USA.- Esther Brodelet was born on 7 December 1906 in Chicago, Illinois, USA. She was an actress, known for Mexicana (1945) and Young as You Feel (1940). She was married to John Martin Amato. She died on 21 December 1989 in Portland, Maine, USA.
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John Hackett was born on 17 September 1930 in Los Angeles, California, USA. He was an actor and writer, known for The Pledge (2001), About Schmidt (2002) and The Bucket List (2007). He died on 8 December 2020 in Portland, Oregon, USA.- Director
- Producer
- Writer
Homer Groening was born on 30 December 1919 in Main Centre, Saskatchewan, Canada. He was a director and producer, known for A Study in Wet (1964), The Story (1969) and Basic Brown Basic Blue (1969). He was married to Margaret Wiggum. He died on 15 March 1996 in Portland, Oregon, USA.- Alan Barzman was born on 1 December 1931 in Portland, Oregon, USA. He was an actor, known for The Mouse and His Child (1977), Beakman's World (1992) and Matthew and Ophelia's Wonderful World of Fun (2020). He died on 21 October 2020 in Portland, Oregon, USA.
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Robbie Knott was born on 1 September 1944 in Hollywood, California, USA. He is known for The Muppet Movie (1979), Repo Man (1984) and Donnie Darko (2001). He died on 29 June 2018 in Portland, Oregon, USA.- Marian Anderson was born on February 27, 1897, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She was the first of three sisters in the family. Her father, named John Anderson, was a salesman at a railroad station. Her mother, named Anna Anderson, was a schoolteacher. From the age of six, Anderson sang in the choir of the United Methodist Church, where she became known as the "baby contralto." She taught herself piano and violin until the age of sixteen.
She was sponsored by her neighbors, who raised money for her to study under Giuseppe Boghetti. Their teacher-student relationship blossomed into a friendship that lasted for several decades. Boghetti broadened her range from traditional spirituals to classical opera repertoire. With the help of Joseph Pasternack, Anderson became the first African-American singer to perform with the Philharmonic Society of Philadelphia. Pasternack also introduced her to the Victor recording company, where Anderson made recordings of spirituals in 1923-1924. In 1925, Boghetti secretly entered Anderson in a New York Philharmonic contest, which she won and gave a successful performance with the New York Philharmonic on August 26, 1925, before a crowd of seven thousand.
Anderson went to Europe in 1927, because she saw Europe as a place of real freedom and culture, where she could perfect her craft. She spent most of her time in Germany and Scandinavia making successful tours with the Finnish pianist Kosti Vehanen. Vehanen introduced her to the Finnish composer Jean Sibelius who added a number of songs to her repertoire. In May of 1934, in Paris Anderson met Sol Hurok, who offered her a guarantee: 15 concerts with a fee of $500 per concert. No other impresario could match Hurok's offer, which Anderson signed. Under the direction of Sol Hurok, Anderson became the third highest box office draw. Her 1935 concert tour of the Soviet Union was another sensation. Anderson managed to overcome the communist censorship by changing the titles of spirituals and religious songs; Shubert's "Ave Maria" was translated by her Russian interpreter as "an aria by Schubert." She was also invited to the Moscow Art Theatre and performed for legendary directors Konstantin Stanislavski and Vladimir Nemirovich-Danchenko.
She brought her Finnish accompanist Kosti Vehanen to America. In 1936 Sol Hurok arranged for her to perform at Constitution Hall, which was owned by the "Daughters of the American Revolution" (DAR). Anderson was rejected because of the "white performers only" policy of the DAR. Hurok quickly turned to a black school in Washington D.C. and the concert was a success. Anderson was invited by the First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt to perform for President Roosevelt at the White House, and the two women developed friendship. However in 1939, DAR again turned Anderson away from the Constitution Hall. Eleanor Roosevelt resigned from DAR in protest of their discrimination of non-white artists. Sol Hurok brilliantly resolved the situation; he organized an open-air concert at the Lincoln Memorial, which was, ironically, near the Constitution Hall. 75,000 people of all races attended that historic concert of Anderson; it was broadcast nationwide and made her a celebrity.
During the 1940's Anderson's best accompanist Kosti Vahanen left for Finland, and her teacher Boghetti passed away. She was diagnosed with a cyst in her throat and had to stop her singing career. Her comeback after a throat surgery in 1948, was another sensation. Her voice sounded as beautiful as ever and the emotional depth in her song interpretations was impressive. However, some critics mentioned her troubles with technique, pitch, and breath in her later years. Anderson's career spanned over forty years. She made over two thousand performances worldwide, including concerts for inaugurations of American Presidents Dwight D. Eisenhower and John Kennedy, King Gustav of Sweden, and the King and Queen of England. Anderson became the first African-American vocalist in Japan's history to perform for the Imperial Court in 1953. In 1955, Anderson made her Metropolitan Opera debut, becoming the first African-American singer to perform there. In 1955, she sang in Hebrew with the Israel Philharmonic. In 1958, Anderson was appointed a delegate to the UN and made several diplomatic trips as a "goodwill ambassador" to Africa and Asia.
In 1964 Sol Hurok was asked by Anderson to organize her farewell concert tour. She began her last tour in October of 1964 with a concert in Washington D.C.'s Constitution Hall. After six months and 50 concerts in the USA and Canada Anderson gave her final performance on April 18, 1965, at Carnegie Hall. She spent her retirement years on her 155-acre farm in Connecticut, and extended her continuous support of such talents as Kathleen Battle, Jessye Norman, Leontyne Price and others. In 1990, Anderson made a documentary on her life and career, in addition to the documentary of her 1939 Lincoln Memorial Concert. She died of heart failure on April 8, 1993, in Portland, Oregon, and was laid to rest in Eden Cemetery in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.