1-50 of 2,082 names.

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1. Alec Guinness Alec Guinness Actor, Star Wars Alec Guinness de Cuffe was born on April 2, 1914 in Marylebone, London, England. While working in advertising, he studied at the Fay Compton Studio of Dramatic Art, debuting on stage in 1934 and played classic theater with the Old Vic from 1936. In 1941, he entered the Royal Navy as a seaman and was commissioned the next year...
2. Walter Matthau Walter Matthau Actor, The Odd Couple Born Walter Matthow on October 1, 1920, to a pair of Russian-Jewish immigrants in New York City, Matthau grew up in poverty on the Lower East Side and started out selling soft drinks and playing bit parts at a Yiddish theater troupe at age 11. He was paid 50 cents for each of his occasional on-stage appearances...
3. Hedy Lamarr Hedy Lamarr Actress, Samson and Delilah Hedwig Eva Maria Kiesler was born in Vienna, Austria, to a banker and his wife. Hedwig, who obviously became Hedy, had a rather calm childhood, but it was cinema that fascinated her. By the time she was a teenager she decided to drop out of school and seek fame as an actress. Her first role was a bit part in the German film Geld auf der Straße (aka "Money on the Street") in 1930...
4. Jim Varney Jim Varney Actor, Toy Story Jim Varney became interested in theater as a teenager, winning state titles in drama competitions while a student at Lafayette High School in Lexington, Kentucky. At age 15 he played Ebeneezer Scrooge in a local children's theater production of "A Christmas Carol", and by 17 was performing professionally in nightclubs and coffee houses...
5. Jason Robards Jason Robards Actor, Once Upon a Time in the West Powerful and highly respected American star character actor. Son of stage and film star Jason Robards Sr., he was born in Chicago, but raised mostly in Los Angeles. A star athlete at Hollywood High School, he served in the U.S. Navy in World War II, where he saw combat as a radioman (though he is not listed in official rolls of Navy Cross winners...
6. Julie London Julie London Actress, Man of the West Julie London was an actress & sultry singer who starred in a number of movies in the 1940s & '50s before beginning a popular singing career, but is probably best remembered for her role as Nurse Dixie McCall on Emergency! in the '70s. Known for her wonderful sex appeal throughout her career, even well up into her late 40s, she had a career most people can only dream of...
7. David Tomlinson David Tomlinson Actor, Mary Poppins David Tomlinson is best known for his role as George Banks in Walt Disney's Mary Poppins. As a youth he spent a short spell in the guards where he survived the trauma of a plane crash. He began his film career in the pre-war British film Quiet Wedding and followed that with Leslie Howard's 'Pimpernel' Smith...
8. Justin Pierce Justin Pierce Actor, Kids Born in London, England to a Welsh mother and an Australian father, Justin Charles Pierce was raised in the Marble Hill section of Manhattan, New York City. He attended P.S. 7 in the Bronx for Elementary School and J.H.S. 141 in the Riverdale section of the Bronx for Junior High School. Pierce's parents divorced when he was 15 years old...
9. Sandra Shaw Sandra Shaw Actress, The Gay Nighties
10. John Gielgud John Gielgud Actor, Gandhi Sir John Gielgud is a highly distinguished and prolific performer who is considered to be one of the finest actors of his generation. A graduate of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts in London, Gielgud played his first Hamlet in 1930 and quickly established himself as one of the most eminent Shakespearean interpreters of his time...
11. Larry Linville Larry Linville Actor, Earth Girls Are Easy
12. Richard Farnsworth Richard Farnsworth Actor, Misery 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...
13. Richard Mulligan Richard Mulligan Actor, Little Big Man Originally a student of playwriting at Columbia University, Richard Mulligan began his acting career in regional theater and soon after made his Broadway debut in the Pulitzer Prize-winning play "All the Way Home". In addition to his continuing Broadway career, Mulligan has successfully transferred his unique comedic talents to television and film...
14. Billy Barty Billy Barty Actor, Willow Billy Barty began performing at three and began making pictures in 1927. He played Mickey Rooney's little brother in the "Mickey McGuire" comedy shorts series. He was equally adept in both comedy and drama, and generally gives an added zest to any production he is associated with. He founded the Little People of America in 1957 and the Billy Barty Foundation in 1975...
15. Christopher Pettiet Christopher Pettiet Actor, Point Break Born in Dallas, Texas, Christopher Pettiet began career as a child actor making appearances in television series, made-for-television movies and films. He starred in two hit flicks, Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter's Dead and Point Break, and then joined the cast of the Western TV series The Young Riders as a young Jesse James...
16. Nancy Marchand Nancy Marchand Actress, Another World Nancy Marchand's mother, a pianist, sent her shy daughter to acting classes in hopes of breaking her out of her shell. As a student at Carnegie Tech (Carnegie Mellon University), she studied the works of William Shakespeare and the other great playwrights and, upon graduation, set off to New York City....
17. Steve Reeves Steve Reeves Actor, Hercules Unchained Though he did not possess a Herculean acting talent by any stretch, handsome bodybuilder Steve Reeves certainly had an enviable Herculean physique, and made plenty good use of it in Europe during the late 1950s and early 1960s portraying some of filmdom's most famous bronzed gods. Reeves was originally a Montana boy born on a cattle ranch in 1926...
18. Meredith MacRae Meredith MacRae Actress, The Census Taker Meredith Lynn MacRae was born on May 30, 1944, in Houston, Texas. She was born on a military base where her father was stationed. Meredith was bitten by the show business bug at an early age. Her father, Gordon MacRae was a singer and movie idol of the 1950s (Roger & Hammerstein's Oklahoma! and Carousel)...
19. Loretta Young Loretta Young Actress, The Stranger Sweet, sweeter, sweetest. No combination of terms better describes the screen persona of lovely Loretta Young. When Gretchen Young was three years old, her mother took her and her sisters to Hollywood, where she established a boarding house. Gretchen was appearing on screen as a child extra by the time she was four...
20. Werner Klemperer Werner Klemperer Actor, Judgment at Nuremberg Werner Klemperer, everyone's favorite TV German Air Force colonel, was best known for his role as the bumbling Col. Wilhelm Klink on the comedy series Hogan's Heroes. Although he'll forever be known as the blustering but inept German commandant of Stalag 13, Klemperer was in fact a talented dramatic actor...
21. George Montgomery George Montgomery Actor, Battle of the Bulge George Montgomery was boxing champion at the University of Montana, where he majored in architecture and interior design. Dropping out a year later, he decided to take up boxing more seriously, and moved to California, where he was coached by ex-heavyweight world champion James J. Jeffries. While in Hollywood...
22. Marie Windsor Marie Windsor Actress, General Hospital A product of Marysvale, Utah, Marie Windsor attended Brigham Young University and trained for the stage under Maria Ouspenskaya before she began playing leading roles in B pictures in the late 1940s. Her best work was in the "film noir" category, most notably her role as the manipulative, double-crossing...
23. Charles Gray Charles Gray Actor, Diamonds Are Forever The son of a surveyor, Charles Gray grew up in Queens Park, London, and went to school in his home town of Bournemouth. As a young actor, he received his vocal training from the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford-upon-Avon and at the Old Vic, having long abandoned his first job as clerk for a real estate agent...
24. Helen Martin Helen Martin Actress, Don't Be a Menace to South Central While Drinking Your Juice in the Hood
25. Max Showalter Max Showalter Actor, Sixteen Candles Born in Kansas, Max Showalter picked up the "acting bug" as a toddler when mother used to take him to the local theater where she played the piano for silent movies. He acted in 92 shows at the Pasadena Playhouse between 1935 and '38, made his Broadway debut under the aegis of Oscar Hammerstein II in "Knights...
26. Bart the Bear Bart the Bear Actor, The Bear Bart the Bear is perhaps one of Hollywood's most remarkable animal stars. The Alaskan brown bear was born in 1977 and was brought in by Utah animal trainer Doug Seus. Bart's mother was a bear who was also in films like "Grizzly" and "Day of the Animals". Bart started to train in acting in 1980 and grew to 9 feet tall, the average for brown bears...
27. Claire Trevor Claire Trevor Actress, Stagecoach Claire Trevor was born Claire Wemlinger in the Bensonhurst section of Brooklyn, the only child of Fifth Avenue merchant-tailor Noel Wemlinger, an immigrant Frenchmen from Paris who lost his business during the Depression, and his Belfast-born wife Betty. Trevor's interest in acting began when she was 11 years old...
28. Jean Speegle Howard Jean Speegle Howard Actress, Apollo 13
29. Douglas Fairbanks Jr. Douglas Fairbanks Jr. Actor, Little Caesar Although he appeared in approximately 100 movies or TV shows, Douglas Elton Ulman--better known as Douglas Fairbanks Jr.--never really intended to take up acting as a career. However, the environment he was born into and the circumstances naturally led him to be a thespian. Noblesse oblige. The son...
30. David Dukes David Dukes Actor, Gods and Monsters
31. John Colicos John Colicos Actor, The Changeling
32. Roger Vadim Roger Vadim Writer, Barbarella Roger Vadim was born Roger Vladimir Igorevich Plemyannikov, on January 26, 1928, in Paris, France. Although his father gave him the first name Vladimir, the French law then required a French first name. His father, Igor Nikolaevich Plemyannikov, was a Russian-Ukrainian aristocrat who was born in Kiev...
33. Vittorio Gassman Vittorio Gassman Actor, Sleepers Vittorio Gassman studied theatre in his youth and was quite a good basketball player. He debuted on stage in 1943 and soon felt home in all classical theatre works. Since 1946 he also worked at the movies and his first big role there was the criminal in Bitter Rice. This fixed him to his main parts: The ambigous gentleman inflicting pain and pleasure at the same time...
34. Craig Stevens Craig Stevens Actor, The Deadly Mantis Born in Liberty, Missouri, as Gail Shikles Jr., tall, suave Craig Stevens will forever be remembered for his role as the cool, laid-back private eye Peter Gunn, a ground-breaking show that ushered in the era of tough but smooth private eyes who were handy with their fists and with the ladies, and which also pioneered the use of jazz as not only background music but its main theme song...
35. Ann Doran Ann Doran Actress, Rebel Without a Cause Ann Doran appeared in over 500 motion pictures and 1000 television shows, by one count. Starting at the age of four, she appeared in hundreds of silent films under assumed names so her father's family wouldn't find out. Rarely a featured player (although Charles Starrett's Rio Grande is a notable exception), she provided many a wonderful performance in support of the leads.
36. Gwen Verdon Gwen Verdon Actress, All My Children Gwen Verdon was born to the theater. Her mother, Gertrude, was a vaudevillian and dancer. Her father, Joseph, was an MGM studio electrician. She had to wear corrective boots as a child to straighten out her legs, which were misshapen by childhood illness. Nonetheless, she first appeared as a tapper on stage at age 6...
37. Paul Bartel Paul Bartel Actor, The Usual Suspects Paul Bartel was born in Brooklyn in 1938. He decided he wanted to direct animated movies when he was 11 and by 13 had spent a summer working at New York's UPA animation studio. He majored in theater arts at UCLA, and received a Fulbright scholarship to study film direction in Rome, producing a short that was presented at the 1962 Venice Fiom Festival...
38. Beah Richards Beah Richards Actress, In the Heat of the Night Beah Richards left her native Vicksburg, Mississippi, for New York City in 1950. She would not acquire a significant role on stage until 1955, when she appeared in the off-Broadway show "Take A Giant Step" convincingly portraying an 84-year-old grandmother without using theatrical makeup. In 1962 she...
39. Rick Jason Rick Jason Actor, A Day in June The only child of a stockbroker and well-to-do mother, Richard Jason described himself as "second-generation nouveau riche" and a born romantic. Friends say he was affable, charming, driven and a real Renaissance man. A good student, popular with classmates and teachers, Jason's hellish behavior got him expelled from eight prep schools before he managed to graduate from Rhodes School...
40. Nicholas Clay Nicholas Clay Actor, Excalibur
41. Jean Peters Jean Peters Actress, Viva Zapata! Green-eyed beauty Jean Elizabeth Peters flashed across the screen as a bright star during her relatively brief tenure in Hollywood. After just seven years under contract to 20th Century Fox (1947 to 1954), she joined in the reclusive lifestyle of her eccentric billionaire husband, Howard Hughes, and all but vanished from public view...
42. Professor Toru Tanaka Professor Toru Tanaka Actor, The Running Man Built like the proverbial Patton tank, Professor Toru Tanaka was arguably the successor to Harold Sakata as the archetypal Asian henchman who possessed incredible strength, and clobbered those foolish enough to tangle with him. Born Charles Kalani, he was a successful wrestler and served for over ten years in the US Armed Forces attaining the rank of sergeant...
43. Kemal Sunal Kemal Sunal Actor, The Rascals' Class Misses its Grades Born in 1944 Istanbul, Turkey. Graduated from Vefa High School, Fatih, Istanbul. Sunal acted in many popular films, although he began his artistic career in the theater. His first play was called, "Unwilling Doctor" and he later worked at the Devekusu Kabare Theatre with Ulvi Uraz. Although Sunal had minor roles at first...
44. Jack Hemingway Jack Hemingway Self, Mariel Hemingway
45. Fran Ryan Fran Ryan Actress, General Hospital As an American character actress, Fran Ryan was a familiar face on stage, screen and television from her theatrical stage debut in the 1950s and continuing for nearly three decades. Ryan's similarity to actress Marjorie Main was soon noticed in the late 1960s, and she frequently played tough, mean-lipped, earthy and gruff-but-lovable female characters...
46. Gloria Talbott Gloria Talbott Actress, All That Heaven Allows Gloria Talbott was born in the Los Angeles suburb of Glendale, a city co-founded by her grandfather. Growing up in the shadows of the Hollywood studios, her interests inevitably turned to acting, with the result that she participated in school plays and landed small parts in films such as "Maytime" (1937)...
47. Leo Gordon Leo Gordon Writer, Attack of the Giant Leeches Big, burly, character actor, one of the toughest of screen heavies, Leo Gordon's powerful physique, combined with his deep, menacing voice, was guaranteed to strike fear into the heart of even the bravest screen hero. Director Don Siegel, who used Gordon in his prison film Riot in Cell Block 11, once said that "Leo Gordon was the scariest man I have ever met"...
48. Steve Allen Steve Allen Self, Casino
49. Eric Christmas Eric Christmas Actor, Harold and Maude Christmas trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, gained experience in English repertory theatre in 1936, and had a principal role in the London production of Noel Coward's "Bitter Sweet" in the 1930s. During the Second World War, he was a member of Royal Air Force production units and performed in the RAF's Gang Show...
50. Jeremy Applegate Jeremy Applegate Actor, Heathers Jeremy was born on August 29, 1965 as Paul Boyce. He was named by his sisters after Paul McCartney of the Beatles fame. He changed his name to Jeremy Applegate in 1983.
1-50 of 2,082 names.