IMDb: Most Popular People Born In 1906

1-50 of 1,530 names.

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1.		Joan Crawford Actress, Mildred Pierce Joan Crawford was born Lucille Fay LeSueur on March 23, 1905 in San Antonio, Texas. Her parents were already separated before the birth. Her mother had trouble keeping husbands after having married three times. Joan was fond of dancing and had entered several dance contests. She wanted a career in show business because it was much more glamorous than the odd jobs she was working...
2.		Billy Wilder Writer, Some Like It Hot Originally planning to become a lawyer, Billy Wilder abandoned that career in favor of working as a reporter for a Viennese newspaper, using this experience to move to Berlin, where he worked for the city's largest tabloid. He broke into films as a screenwriter in 1929, and wrote scripts for many German films until Adolf Hitler came to power in 1933...
3.		John Huston Director, The Maltese Falcon An eccentric rebel of epic proportions, this Hollywood titan reigned supreme as director, screenwriter and character actor in a career that endured over five decades. The ten-time Oscar-nominated legend was born John Marcellus Huston of Scottish and Irish heritage in Nevada, Missouri, on August 5, 1906...
4.		George Sanders Actor, All About Eve George Sanders was born of English parents in St. Petersburg, Russia. He worked in a Birmingham textile mill, in the tobacco business and as a writer in advertising. He entered show business in London as a chorus boy, going from there to cabaret, radio and theatrical understudy. His film debut, in 1936...
5.		John Carradine Actor, The Grapes of Wrath John Carradine, the son of a reporter/artist and a surgeon, grew up in Poughkeepsie, New York. He attended Christ Church School and Graphic Art School, studying sculpture, and afterward roamed the South selling sketches. He made his acting debut in "Camille" in a New Orleans theatre in 1925. Arriving in Los Angeles in 1927...
6.		Joan Blondell Actress, Grease With blonde hair, big blue eyes and a big smile, Joan was usually cast as the wisecracking working girl who was the lead's best friend. Born into vaudeville to a comic named Eddie, Joan was on the stage when she was three years old. For years, she toured the circuit with her parents and joined a stock company when she was 17...
7.		Max M. Gilford Actor, Mustang!
8.		Eddie Albert Actor, The Longest Day Eddie Albert's television career is the earliest of any other performer. It began years before electronic television was introduced to the public. In June of 1936 Eddie appeared in RCA/NBC's first private live performance for their radio licensees in New York City. This was very early experimental all electronic television system...
9.		Lon Chaney Jr. Actor, High Noon American character actor whose career was influenced (and often overshadowed) by that of his father, silent film star Lon Chaney. The younger Chaney was born while his parents were on a theatrical tour, and he joined them onstage for the first time at the age of six months. However, as a young man...
10.		Roberto Rossellini Writer, Rome, Open City The master filmmaker Roberto Rossellini, as one of the creators of neo-realism, is one of the most influential directors of all time. His neo-realist films influenced France's nouvelle vague movement in the 1950s and '60s that changed the face of international cinema. He also influenced American directors, including Martin Scorsese...
11.		Bea Benaderet Actress, Spur Line to Shady Rest Bea Benaderet had a remarkable career in radio and television. In the days before television, she provided the voices for hundreds of characters on the radio, on shows like "Fibber McGee and Molly," "My Favorite Husband" (with Lucille Ball), and the "Jack Benny Show." Benederet was born in New York City but raised in San Francisco and made her radio debut when she was 12 years old...
12.		Mary Astor Actress, The Maltese Falcon Mary Astor was born, Lucile Vasconcellos Langhanke, on May 3, 1906 in Quincy, Illinois to a German immigrant father, Otto Ludwig Langhanke, and an American mother from Illinois, Helen Marie Vasconcellos, of Portuguese and Irish ancestry. Her parents were very ambitious for her as they recognized Mary's beauty and knowing if they played their cards right...
13.		Luchino Visconti Director, Rocco and His Brothers
14.		Lou Costello Actor, Africa Screams Born and raised in Paterson, New Jersey, Lou Costello dropped out of high school and headed west to break into the movies. He got a job as a carpenter at MGM and Warners. He went from there to stuntman and then to vaudeville as a comic. In 1931, while working in Brooklyn, his straight man became ill and the theater cashier...
15.		Hermione Baddeley Actress, Mary Poppins
16.		Louise Brooks Actress, Pandora's Box A legendary actress of the silent film era. She epitomized the flapper age with her bobbed hairstyle, while blatantly flaunting the accepted sexual and societal roles of women at the time. She is best known for her starring roles in G.W. Pabst's "Pandora's Box" and "Diary of a Lost Girl," which were both filmed in Weimar Germany in 1929...
17.		Carol Reed Director, The Third Man Carol Reed was the second son of stage actor, dramatics teacher and impresario founder of the Royal School of Dramatic Arts 'Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree'. Reed was one of Tree's six illegitimate children with Beatrice Mae Pinney, who Tree established in a second household apart from his married life. There were no social scars here; Reed grew up in a well-mannered...
18.		Roy Roberts Actor, Chinatown Veteran character player Roy Roberts proudly claimed over 900 performances in a 40-year career. He might not have been known necessarily by name but the face was so distinct and obviously familiar. The prototype of the steely executive, the no-nonsense mayor, the assured banker, the stentorian leader...
19.		Joan Hickson Actress, The Mirror Crack'd Joan Hickson was born in 1906 at Kingsthorpe, Northampton. Her stage career began with provincial theater in 1927, going on to a long series of West End comedies, usually playing the part of a confused or eccentric middle-age woman. She performed at the Regent's Park Open Air Theater, at the time London was subject to World War II bombing...
20.		Gale Gordon Actor, The 'Burbs Character actor Gale Gordon found his niche as stuffy, blustery characters on Our Miss Brooks and the various Lucille Ball sitcoms. In his early film appearances, he usually played stuffy military officers. Gordon was at his best when he had to deliver the "slow burn" take.
21.		Ed Gein Self, The Saw Is Family: Making 'Leatherface' Ed Gein and his elder brother Henry were born into a farming family near Plainfield, WI. George Gein, his father, was a tanner and carpenter and was drunk most of the time. Augusta, Ed's domineering mother, was the real power of the house. She was a religious fanatic who constantly warned her sons about the sins of premarital sex and railed against "evil" women...
22.		John Carroll Actor, Flying Tigers
23.		William Bendix Actor, Lifeboat Popular American character actor William Bendix's burly physique and New York accent were equally suited to playing genial lugs and vicious thugs. Bendix was born in midtown Manhattan, the son of musician Oscar Bendix (not violinist/conductor Max Bendix, as is often reported). He made his film debut in 1911...
24.		Ozzie Nelson Actor, David's 17th Birthday This preeminent sitcom dad of the 50s had already started things off studying law when he decided to put together a dance band in the 20s on the sly. The band was so successful that he never looked back -- his love for entertaining completely took over. The New Jersey-born performer made a living for a time playing hotels and casinos on the East coast...
25.		Donald Woods Actor, True Grit Donald Woods, a prolific cinema and television character actor whose career spanned 75 films and 150 TV programs over 40 years, was born Ralph L. Zink on December 2, 1906, in Brandon, Manitoba. (He legally changed his name to Donald Woods in 1945.) His family eventually departed Canada for California...
26.		Ned Glass Actor, West Side Story Veteran Polish-born character actor Ned Glass grew up in New York, and, after vaudeville experience, started acting in small parts on Broadway from the early 1930's. He gained further experience in the capacity of theatrical production supervisor, before entering motion pictures in 1937 as an MGM contract player...
27.		Bruce Bennett Actor, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre Herman Brix was a star shot-putter in the 1928 Olympics. After losing the lead in MGM's Tarzan the Ape Man due to a shoulder injury, he was contracted by _Ashton Dearholt_ for his independent production of The New Adventures of Tarzan, a serial and the only Tarzan film between the silents and the 1960s to present the character accurately...
28.		Anthony Mann Director, El Cid
29.		Brigitte Helm Actress, Metropolis After her role in Metropolis she made a string of movies in which she almost always had the starring role, easily making the transition to sound films. Her last film was Ein idealer Gatte (An Ideal Spouse) in 1935.
30.		Janet Gaynor Actress, Sunrise Janet Gaynor was born Laura Gainor on October 6, 1906, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. As a child, she & her parents moved to San Francisco, California, where she graduated from high school in 1923. She then moved to Los Angeles where she enrolled in a secretarial school. She got a job at a shoe store for the princely sum of $18 per week...
31.		Madeleine Carroll Actress, The 39 Steps The original ash-blonde "iceberg maiden", Madeleine Carroll was a knowing beauty with a confident air, the epitome of poise and "breeding". Not only did she have looks and allure in abundance, but she had intellectual heft to go with them, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts from Birmingham University at the age of 20...
32.		Madame Spivy Actress, The Manchurian Candidate
33.		Richard Whorf Director, Till the Clouds Roll By
34.		Josephine Baker Soundtrack, Midnight in Paris Born to Carrie McDonald, a laundress, and Eddie Carson, a musician, Josephine Baker's early life hinted at her future career. She first danced for the public on the streets of St. Louis, Missouri for nickels and dimes. Later, she became a chorus girl on the St. Louis stage. At age 15, she married Pullman porter William Howard Baker...
35.		Harry von Zell Actor, Son of Paleface Portly, pudding-faced, wavy dark-haired actor/announcer Harry Von Zell, whose well-modulated voice was a standard radio fixture during the 1930s and '40s, also extended his talents toward film and TV where he appeared in numerous comedy outings, often as a straight man foil. Born in Indianapolis, Indiana...
36.		Marcel Carné Director, Children of Paradise Marcel Carné, the son of a cabinet maker, entered the movies as the assistant of Jacques Feyder. At the age of 25 he directed his first movie Jenny. Colaborating with the writer Jacques Prévert, the decorator Alexandre Trauner, the musician and composer Maurice Jaubert and the actor Jean Gabin...
37.		Roger Livesey Actor, The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp The son of Joseph Livesey and Mary Catherine (nee Edwards), Roger was educated at Westminster City School, London. His first stage appearance was the office boy in Loyalties at St. James' theatre in 1917. Subsequently, he played in everything from Shakespeare to modern comedies. He played various roles in the West End from 1920 to 1926...
38.		Catherine Cookson Writer, The Black Velvet Gown
39.		Robert E. Howard Writer, Conan the Barbarian Robert E. Howard created Conan the Barbarian in a series of short stories and novels in the 1930's. Born in Peaster, Texas, he was raised in Cross Plains. His fiction was carried in pulp magazines of the time such as Weird Tales, and H.P. Lovecraft was a friend and admirer of his. He committed suicide after holding vigil by his mother's deathbed in 1936.
40.		Leslie Dwyer Actor, The Way Ahead
41.		Joe Sawyer Actor, The Killing Joe Sawyer's familiar mug appeared everywhere during the 1930s and 1940s, particularly as a stock player for Warner Bros. in its more standard college musicals, comedies and crime yarns. He could play both sides of the fence, street cops and mob gunmen, with equal ease. He was born Joseph Sauers in Guelph...
42.		Estelle Evans Actress, To Kill a Mockingbird
43.		Oscar Levant Soundtrack, Eyes Wide Shut Pianist, composer and bizarre wit in movies, radio and TV.
44.		Samuel Beckett Writer, Waiting for Godot One of the twentieth century's most original and important writers, winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1969, Samuel Beckett was the author of 'Waiting for Godot' (1952), one of the few plays in theatrical history to redefine the possibilities of the medium. Long fascinated by the cinema (especially silent comedies...
45.		Horace McMahon Actor, Detective Story Born in 1906, Connecticut-born character actor Horace McMahon fell easily into his career while pursuing a law career at Fordham University. A former news reporter, his dark, streetwise mug and attitude proved perfect for playing assorted New York characters -- thugs, cabbies, henchmen, bouncers -- in a slew of late 30s and 40s crime yarns...
46.		Ursula Jeans Actress, The Dam Busters
47.		Thelma Todd Actress, Horse Feathers Thelma Todd was born in Lawrence, Massachusetts, an industrial city near the New Hampshire state line. She was a lovely child with good academic tendencies, so much so that she decided early on to become a schoolteacher. After high school she went on to college but at her mother's insistence entered several beauty contests (apparently her mother wanted her to be more than just a "schoolmarm")...
48.		Henny Youngman Self, Goodfellas A career of seven decades of snappy, irreverent one-liners put Henry "Henny" Youngman at the top of most comedians' list of favorite showmen. Born in London, England, and moving to the United States when he was a baby, Youngman started his professional career as a printer in a small store. Naturally funny...
49.		Vinton Hayworth Actor, Mink
50.		James MacDonald Actor, Cinderella

1-50 of 1,530 names.