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1-50 of 1,684
- Abbé Prévost was born on 1 April 1697 in Hesdin, Artois, France. He was a writer, known for Manon Lescaut (1914), The Metropolitan Opera HD Live (2006) and Manon Lescaut (1918). He died on 25 November 1763 in Paris, France.
- Music Department
- Composer
- Soundtrack
Haydn had a hard childhood: at six years old he had to work as a boy singer in a choir and after his voice broke he had to earn his money by playing dance music and serving as a butler. Becoming famous for his compositions Haydn was employed as "Kapellmeister" by Fuerst Esterhazy in Eisenstadt in 1761. For thirty years he served him and composed his pieces for the pleasure of the aristocrats; his musicians used to call him "Papa Haydn" as he was caring for them and was socially engaged. After the death of Esterhazy Haydn moved to Vienna leaving it only twice for London where he composed his "London symphonies".- Writer
Dominique Vivant was born on 1 April 1747 in Chalon-sur-Saône, Saône-et-Loire, France. Dominique was a writer. Dominique died on 24 April 1825 in Paris, France.- Augustus Charles Hobart-Hampden was born on 1 April 1822 in Walton-on-the-Wolds, England, UK. He died on 18 June 1886 in Milan, Lombardy, Italy.
- Jorge Isaacs was born on 1 April 1837 in Cali, Valle del Cauca, Colombia. He was a writer, known for María (1938), La María (1922) and María (1972). He was married to Felisa González Umaña. He died on 17 April 1895 in Ibagué, Tolima, Colombia.
- Otto von Bismarck was born on 1 April 1815 in Schönhausen, Jerichow II, Province of Saxony, Prussia [now Stendal, Saxony-Anhalt, Germany]. He was a writer, known for Die Entlassung (1942), Film socialisme (2010) and Royal Cousins at War (2014). He was married to Johanna von Puttkamer. He died on 30 July 1898 in Friedrichsruh, Aumühle, Schleswig-Holstein, Germany.
- Mary Davenport was born on 1 April 1850 in the USA. She was an actress, known for The Widow of Red Rock (1914). She was married to J. Duke Murray (manager). She died on 26 June 1916 in Fresno, California, USA.
- Lindsay Morison was born on 1 April 1865 in Durham, England, UK. He was an actor, known for The Commuted Sentence (1915), Bessie's Bachelor Boobs (1915) and The Film Favorite's Finish (1915). He was married to Rose Gertrude Braggacci and Kate Hamilton Rogerson. He died on 22 February 1917 in New Rochelle, New York, USA.
- Edmund Rostand was a prominent French playwright and poet.
Rostand, who was born in Marseille on 1 April, 1868, the son of the distinguished economist Eugene Rostand (1843-1915), first achieved success in Paris at the age of twenty with his vaudeville sketch 'Le Gant Rouge". A collection of poems in 1890 entitled "Les Musardises", would also be well received. Not before too long his works were being compared to that of Belgian poet and playwright Maurice Maeterlinck (1862-1949).
Some of Rostand's more successful plays were: "Les Romonesques" (1894), "La Princess Lomtain" (1895), "La Samaritaine" (1897), "Cyrano de Bergerac" (1897), "Aiglon" (1901) and "Chantecler" (1910). Many of Rostand's plays were popular on both sides of the Atlantic. The American rights to "Chantecler" alone would make him a small fortune.
Edmund Rostand was a member of L'Académie française and a commander of the Légion d'honneur. He had dined with King Edward IV at Biarritz and read "Cyrano de Bergerac" to an audience of Paris laborers. At the outbreak of World War One his offer to enlist was politely turned down by French officials. After the sinking of the Lusitania, he wrote a long poem condemning the German ambassador to America. Rostand passed away on 2 December, 1918 after a bout of influenza. Besides his son, Jean Rostand, he was survived by his wife, Rosemonde Gerard (1871-1953), a grand-daughter of Count Etienne Gerard (1773-1852), a veteran of the Napoleonic Wars. - Ivar Knudsen was born on 1 April 1861 in Følle, Rønde, Jutland, Denmark. He was married to Julie Marie Olsen. He died on 23 March 1920.
- Jules Friquet was born on 1 April 1854 in France. He was an actor, known for Captain of His Soul (1918) and Limousine Life (1918). He died on 18 November 1921 in Los Angeles, California, USA.
- Producer
- Director
Søren Nielsen was born on 1 April 1853 in Risby, Denmark. He was a producer and director, known for Hovmod staar for Fald (1911), Kærlighed ved Hoffet (1912) and Lersøens Konge (1911). He died on 2 January 1922 in Denmark.- Writer
- Music Department
- Composer
Ferruccio Busoni was born on 1 April 1866 in Florence, Tuscany, Italy. He was a writer and composer, known for Warrior (2011), Amour (2012) and Ida (2013). He was married to Gerda Sjöstrand. He died on 27 July 1924 in Berlin, Germany.- Leo Greiner was born on 1 April 1876 in Brünn, Moravia, Austria-Hungary. He was a writer, known for Meier Helmbrechts Flucht und Ende (1913). He died on 21 August 1928 in Berlin, Germany.
- Actor
- Director
- Writer
Although his parents were deaf, Leonidas Chaney became an actor and also owner of a theatre company (together with his brother John). He made his debut at the movies in 1912, and his filmography is vast. Lon Chaney was especially famous for his horror parts in movies like e.g. Quasimodo in The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1923). Due to his special make-up effects he carried the characterization to be "the man with the thousand faces." He only filmed one movie with sound: The remake of one of his earlier films The Unholy Three (1930). His son, Lon Chaney Jr., became a famous actor of the horror genre.- Writer
- Director
- Producer
Edgar Wallace was born on 1 April 1875 in Greenwich, London, England, UK. He was a writer and director, known for King Kong (2005), King Kong (1933) and King Kong (1976). He was married to Ethel Violet King and Ivy Maude Caldecott. He died on 10 February 1932 in Hollywood, California, USA.- Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Albert F. Mayo was born on 1 April 1878 in Brooklyn, New York, USA. He was an assistant director, known for Zudora (1914), Tillie's Tomato Surprise (1915) and Gold (1914). He was married to Hilda Ruth Twogood and Hilda Twogood. He died on 20 May 1933 in Los Angeles, California, USA.- Edward Jefferson was born on 1 April 1901 in Cumbria, England, UK. He was an actor, known for Mixed Nuts (1922), The Egg (1922) and The Weak-End Party (1922). He died on 17 December 1933 in Los Angeles, California, USA.
- Emil Nuchberg was born on 1 April 1895 in Posha, Hungary. He was an actor, known for The Katzenjammer Kids (1912), They Plan a Trip to Germany (1912) and School Days (1912). He died on 12 September 1934 in Chicago, Illinois, USA.
- John Buckler, aged 30, and his father, a well known British actor 'Hugh Buckler', aged 55, were drowned together on the night of Oct. 30, 1936 when their car skidded off the road during a rainstorm and overturned in the waters of Malibu Lake in California. The two men were trapped inside the car and were undiscovered until the following morning when residents saw the wheels of the car above the water's surface.
The younger Buckler, whose promising film career had just begun only two years before his untimely death, had been a member of the cast of the prestigious film, David Copperfield (1935) and had last appeared in Tarzan Escapes (1936) as a greedy explorer in the third in the series made by MGM detailing the adventures of Edgar Rice Burroughs iconic character, played by 'Johnny Weissmuller'. John Buckler first gained critics and audience attention when he appeared on Broadway in some of the most famous plays of the 1920s, including "The Green Hat," "The Letter," and "The Barretts of Wimpole Street." - Eugenio Siena was born on 1 April 1905 in Milan, Lombardia, Italy. He died on 15 May 1938 in Tripoli, Libya.
- Joseph Menchen was born on 1 April 1878 in Illinois, USA. He was a writer, known for The Miracle (1912). He died on 5 October 1940 in California, USA.
- Actor
- Writer
- Director
Billy Mason was born on 1 April 1889 in Plankington, South Dakota, USA. He was an actor and writer, known for Baseball Bill (1916), The Wolf (1919) and Baseball Madness (1917). He died on 24 January 1941 in Orange, New Jersey, USA.- Camera and Electrical Department
Ted Wurtenberg was born on 1 April 1893 in Texas, USA. He died on 25 January 1941 in Los Angeles, California, USA.- Mai Wells was born on 1 April 1862 in San Francisco, California, USA. She was an actress, known for His Majesty, the Scarecrow of Oz (1914), The Last Egyptian (1914) and Opened Shutters (1921). She was married to ? Chapman. She died on 1 August 1941 in Los Angeles, California, USA.
- Writer
- Producer
- Script and Continuity Department
Jack Cunningham was born on 1 April 1882 in Ionia, Iowa, USA. He was a writer and producer, known for The Avenging Arrow (1921), Daredevil Jack (1920) and The Black Pirate (1926). He was married to Ruth Cunningham (1895-1984). He died on 4 October 1941 in Santa Monica, California, USA.- Richard Korn was born on 1 April 1914 in Frankfurt an der Oder, Brandenburg, Germany. He was an actor, known for Fahrendes Volk (1938), Karussell (1937) and Der Herr Papa (1936). He died on 6 February 1942 in Velizh, Smolensk Oblast, Russian SFSR, USSR [now Russia].
- Carl Sternheim was born on 1 April 1878 in Leipzig, Germany. He was a writer, known for Die Hose (1927), The Sunday Drama (1977) and Die Kassette (1961). He was married to Pamela Wedekind, Thea Löwenstein and Eugenie Hauth. He died on 3 November 1942 in Brussels, Belgium.
- Writer
- Soundtrack
Béla Jenbach was born on 1 April 1871 in Miskolc, Austria-Hungary [now Hungary]. He was a writer, known for The Csardas Princess (1934), Die Csárdásfürstin (1971) and The Lilac Domino (1937). He died on 21 January 1943 in Vienna, Austria.- Music Department
- Composer
- Soundtrack
Sergei Rachmaninoff (also spelled Rachmaninov) was a legendary Russian-American composer and pianist who fled Russia after the Communist revolution of 1917, and became one of the highest paid concert stars of his time, and one of the most influential pianists of the 20th century.
He was born Sergei Vasilyevich Rachmaninov on April 2, 1873, on a large estate near Novgorod, Russia. He was the fourth of six children born to a noble family, and lived in a family estate, where he enjoyed a happy childhood. Rachmaninoff studied music with his mother from age 4; continued at the St. Petersburg Conservatory, and continued at the Moscow Conservatory with professors Arensky, Taneyev and Tchaikovsky. He graduated in 1892, winning the Great Gold Medal for his new opera "Aleko."
He was highly praised by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky , who promoted Rachmaninov's opera to the Bolshoi Theater in 1893. But the disastrous premiere of his 1st Symphony, poorly conducted by A. Glazunov, coupled with his distress over the Russian Orthodox Church's pressure against his marriage, caused him to suffer from depression, which interrupted his career for three years until he sought medical help in 1900. He had a three-month treatment by hypnotherapist, Dr. Dahl, aimed at overcoming his writer's block. Upon his recovery, Rachmaninov composed his brilliant 2nd Piano Concerto, and made a comeback with successful concert performances. From 1904 to 1906 he was a conductor at the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow. From 1906 to 1909, Rachmaninoff lived and worked in Dresden, Germany. There he composed his 2nd Symphony.
In 1909, Sergei Rachmaninoff made his first tour of the United States having composed the 3rd Piano Concerto as a calling card. He appeared as a soloist with Gustav Mahler conducting the New York Philharmonic. His further work on merging Russian music with English literature culminated in his adaptation of a poem by Edgar Allan Poe into choral symphony, "The Bells," which Rachmaninov considered to be among the best of his works. In 1915 he wrote the choral masterpiece: "All-Night Vigil" (also known as the Vespres), fifteen anthems expressing a plea for peace at a time of war. The terror of Russian Revolution and the destruction of his estate forced him to emigrate. On December 23, 1917, Rachmaninov left Russia on an open sledge carrying only a few books of sheet music.
As a pianist, Sergei Rachmaninov made over a hundred recordings and gave over one thousand concerts in America alone between 1918 and 1943. His concert performances were legendary, and he was highly regarded as a virtuoso pianist with unmatched power and expressiveness. Rachmaninoff's technical perfection was legendary. His large hands were able to span a twelfth, that is an octave and a half or, for example, a stretch from middle C to high G. Rachmaninoff was highly regarded for accuracy on the piano keyboard, which he achieved through arduous practice by repeating difficult passages many times in a very slow tempo. In many of his original compositions, Sergei Rachmaninoff used musical allusions ranging from folk songs to oriental music and jazz. Unusually wide chords and deeply romantic melody lines were characteristic of his compositions. Besides his own music, he often performed pieces by Ludwig van Beethoven, Frédéric Chopin , Franz Liszt and Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky.
In 1931, Rachmaninov signed a letter condemning the Soviet regime, that was published in the New York Times. There was retaliation immediately, and his music was condemned by the Soviets as "representative of decadent art." However, the official censorship in the Soviet Union could not stop the popularity of Rachmaninov's music in the rest of the world. During the 1930s and 1940s, he remained one of the highest paid concert stars.
During the 1930s, Rachmaninoff shared his time between Europe and America, because he was booked for numerous live performances in major cultural centers on both sides of the Atlantic. In 1932, Rachmaninoff with his family moved to his newly built Villa 'Senar' on Lake Luzern. There he replicated the layout of his estate that was destroyed by Russian revolution of 1917. The villa became a new home for the family and a center of cultural life, as Rachmaninoff was visited by notable musicians, such as Horowitz, writers, such as Bunin, and even Maharaja with family from India. For his guests, Rachmaninoff often played his music on the new concert grand piano that was presented to him by Hamburg Steinway company. Using that piano, Rachmaninoff composed his famous Rhapsody on the Theme of Paganini in 1934. In 1939, with the onset of World War 2, Rachmaninoff left Europe and moved to America for good.
At his home on Elm Drive in Beverly Hills, Rachmaninoff had two Steinway pianos which he played together with Vladimir Horowitz and other entertainers. His love of fast cars was second to music, and led him to occasional fines for exceeding the speed limit. Since he bought his first car in 1914, Rachmaninov acquired a taste for fast cars, buying himself a new car every year. His generosity was legendary. He gave away 5000 dollars to Igor Sikorsky to start an American helicopter industry. He paid for Vladimir Nabokov and his family relocation from Paris to New York. He sponsored Michael Chekhov and introduced him to Hollywood.
Sergei Rachmaninoff gave numerous charitable performances, and donated large sums of money to fighting against the Nazis during WWII. He became a US citizen in 1943, just a few weeks before his death. In his last recital, in February, 1943, Rachmaninov played Chopin's Piano Sonata No. 2, featuring the famous "Funeral march." The New York Times obituary of March 28, 1943, stated that Sergei V. Rachmaninoff, pianist, composer and conductor, who for fifty years had been a leader in the music world on two continents, died today at his Beverly Hills home of complications resulting from pneumonia and pleurisy, which twice had caused him to cancel recitals here this month.
Rachmaninoff was survived by his wife and two daughters who arranged for his burial in Kensico Cemetery, New York. Over the years, Soviet and Russian authorities made numerous claims to re-bury the composer in Moscow, Russia, but the Rachmaninoff family successfully opposed due to the fact that Sergei Rachmaninoff made his choice to be a citizen of the United States.- Allegretti Anderson was born on 1 April 1898 in Chicago, Illinois, USA. She was an actress, known for Georgia Rose (1930). She was married to Julian Kerby Anderson and Agaton H Magboo. She died on 10 July 1944 in Chicago, Illinois, USA.
- Richard Christensen was born on 1 April 1887 in Copenhagen, Denmark. He was an actor, known for Nyhavn 17 (1933), Amors Spilopper (1916) and Moderkærlighed (1913). He died on 18 September 1944 in Denmark.
- Actor
- Soundtrack
Malcolm 'Mr. Jetsam' McEachern was born on 1 April 1883 in Albury, New South Wales, Australia. He was an actor, known for The Purge (2013), Chu Chin Chow (1934) and The Crimes of Stephen Hawke (1936). He died on 17 January 1945 in University College Hospital, London, England, UK.- When Mermoz (1943) premiered in Paris on 3rd November 1943, no-one seemed to notice the conspicuous absence of its star, Robert Hugues-Lambert. Lambert had a good reason for not being there: He was in a concentration camp. Just a few weeks before the end of the shooting, Lambert had been arrested by the Gestapo in a gay bar and sent to Drancy concentration camp, just outside Paris. Without its main actor, the production was forced to close down. André Tranché, the producer, now facing bankruptcy, tried to have Lambert released but in vain. After several agonising (and costly) weeks, a replacement was found in the person of the newcomer Henri Vidal. All the remaining scenes were subsequently shot with Vidal (who looked uncannily like Lambert). But another problem soon arose: Vidal's voice didn't match Lambert's. The production shut down once again. But André Tranché managed to get in touch with Robert Hugues-Lambert in Drancy and begged him to record the dialogue from behind the camp's barbed-wired fence. Lambert accepted and a sound engineer, a boom and a microphone were secretly dispatched to Drancy where all the dialogues were recorded with the complicity of the camp's warden. The film was finally completed on schedule and released in November 1943. 'Mermoz' was his only film. Despite several other attempts to have him freed or transferred to another prison, Robert Hugues-Lambert was deported to Germany. He died in the German concentration camp of Gross Rosen (now Rogoznica, Poland) in March 1945.
- Roza Schlesingerová was born on 1 April 1874 in Vienna, Austria-Hungary [now Austria]. She was an actress, known for Otec Kondelík a zenich Vejvara I. (1926), Batalion (1927) and Horské volání S.O.S. (1929). She died on 22 January 1946 in Prague, Czechoslovakia [now Czech Republic].
- Director
- Actor
- Writer
James Young Deer was born on 1 April 1876 in Washington, District of Columbia, USA. He was a director and actor, known for Lieutenant Daring RN and the Water Rats (1924), Tragedies of the Osage Hills (1926) and The Stranger (1920). He was married to Helen Gilchrist, Anomine Paige and Red Wing. He died on 6 April 1946 in New York City, New York, USA.- Phil Brady was born on 1 April 1893 in New York, New York, USA. He was an actor, known for The Valley of the Giants (1927). He died on 25 July 1946 in Los Angeles, California, USA.
- Laurette Taylor was born on 1 April 1883 in New York City, New York, USA. She was an actress, known for Peg o' My Heart (1922), Happiness (1924) and One Night in Rome (1924). She was married to J. Hartley Manners and Charles A. Taylor. She died on 7 December 1946 in New York City, New York, USA.
- E. Lawrence Dudley was born on 1 April 1879 in Camden, New Jersey, USA. E. Lawrence was a writer, known for Voltaire (1933). E. Lawrence died on 2 June 1947 in Salisbury, Vermont, USA.
- Gunhild Robertson was born on 1 April 1885. She was an actress, known for Bröderna Östermans huskors (1925), Hälsingar (1923) and Rågens rike (1929). She died on 17 June 1947.
- Composer
- Music Department
J.E. Szyfer was born on 1 April 1887 in Warsaw, Poland. J.E. was a composer, known for The Late Mathias Pascal (1925), Chansons de Paris (1934) and The Secret Spring (1923). J.E. died on 25 August 1947.- Lionel Braham was born on 1 April 1879 in Yorkshire, England, UK. He was an actor, known for A Christmas Carol (1938), Skinner's Dress Suit (1926) and As You Like It (1936). He died on 6 October 1947 in Hollywood, California, USA.
- Music Department
- Soundtrack
Blues singer Lucille Bogan was born in Mississippi in 1897. Little is known so far about her early life, other than at one point she moved from Mississippi to Birmingham, Alabama. Pursuing a career in music, she gained a reputation for, to put it lightly, enthusiastically performing "bawdy" songs, often about such taboo subjects as prostitution, adultery and lesbianism. In 1923 she was in New York City and signed a recording contract with Okeh Records, then relocated again, this time to Chicago, where she recorded for Paramount Records and Brunswick Records.
In 1935, using the name Bessie Jackson, she teamed with pianist Walter Roland and signed a contract with the American Recording Co. It was with this company that she put out what is probably her most famous--or notorious--record, "Shave 'Em Dry", with lyrics so explicit they would most likely not be allowed on the airwaves even today. American did not renew her contract when it expired, and she eventually returned to Birmingham, becoming involved in that city's burgeoning blues scene. She put together and managed a blues group, Bogan's Birmingham Busters.
She is known to have left Birmingham sometime in the late 1930s or early 1940s and moved to Los Angeles, where she died in 1948.- Mowbray Berkeley was born on 1 April 1881 in St. Kitts, British West Indies. He was an actor, known for Fires of Faith (1919). He died on 28 December 1948 in Hollywood, California, USA.
- Günther Brackmann was born on 1 April 1920 in Berlin, Germany. He was an actor, known for Jugend (1938), Die blonde Carmen (1935) and The Hound of the Baskervilles (1937). He died on 28 March 1949 in Göttingen, Germany.
- Actor
- Director
- Writer
In 1902, 16-year-old Wallace Beery joined the Ringling Brothers Circus as an assistant to the elephant trainer. He left two years later after a leopard clawed his arm. Beery next went to New York, where he found work in musical variety shows. He became a leading man in musicals and appeared on Broadway and in traveling stock companies. In 1913 he headed for Hollywood, where he would get his start as the hulking Swedish maid in the Sweedie comedy series for Essanay. In 1915 he would work with young ingénue Gloria Swanson in Sweedie Goes to College (1915). A year later they would marry and be wildly unhappy together. The marriage dissolved when Beery could not control his drinking and Gloria got tired of his abuse. Beery finished with the Sweedie series and worked as the heavy in a number of films. Starting with Patria (1917), he would play the beastly Hun in a number of films. In the 1920s he would be seen in a number of adventures, including The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (1921), Robin Hood (1922), The Sea Hawk (1924) and The Pony Express (1925). He would also play the part of Poole in So Big (1924), which was based on the best-selling book of the same name by Edna Ferber. Paramount began to move Beery back into comedies with Behind the Front (1926). When sound came, Beery was one of the victims of the wholesale studio purge. He had a voice that would record well, but his speech was slow and his tone was a deep, folksy, down home-type. While not the handsome hero image, MGM executive Irving Thalberg saw something in Beery and hired him for the studio. Thalberg cast Beery in The Big House (1930), which was a big hit and got Beery an Academy Award nomination. However, Beery would become almost a household word with the release of the sentimental Min and Bill (1930), which would be one of 1930's top money makers. The next year Beery would win the Oscar for Best Actor in The Champ (1931). He would be forever remembered as Long John Silver in Treasure Island (1934) (who says never work with kids?). Beery became one of the top ten stars in Hollywood, as he was cast as the tough, dim-witted, easy-going type (which, in real life, he was anything but). In Flesh (1932) he would be the dim-witted wrestler who did not figure that his wife was unfaithful. In Dinner at Eight (1933) he played a businessman trying to get into society while having trouble with his wife, link=nm0001318]. After Marie Dressler died in 1934, he would not find another partner in the same vein as his early talkies until he teamed with Marjorie Main in the 1940s. He would appear opposite her in such films as Wyoming (1940) and Barnacle Bill (1941). By that time his career was slowing as he was getting up in age. He continued to work, appearing in only one or two pictures a year, until he died from a heart attack in 1949.- József Cselényi was born on 1 April 1899 in Fót, Hungary. He was an actor, known for A Magyar Nemzeti Színház múltja, jelene és jövöje (1928), A beszélö köntös (1941) and Sárga csikó (1936). He died on 25 July 1949 in Budapest, Hungary.
- Actor
- Soundtrack
Sid Field was born on 1 April 1904 in Birmingham, England, UK. He was an actor, known for London Town (1946), That's the Ticket (1940) and Cardboard Cavalier (1949). He was married to Constance Dawkins (aka Connie Dawkins, stage actress). He died on 3 February 1950 in Wimbledon, London, England, UK.- Hubert F. Greenwood was born on 1 April 1884 in Marylebone, Middlesex, England, UK. He was an actor. He died on 7 April 1950 in Los Angeles County, California, USA.
- Rudolf Seibold was born on 1 April 1874 in Vienna, Austria. He was an actor, known for Die wahre Liebe ist das nicht (1918). He died on 3 February 1952 in Munich, Germany.