1-50 of 2,924 names.

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1. Paul Gleason Paul Gleason Actor, Die Hard Character actor Paul Gleason has been adept at playing tough guys and white collar sleaze bags in motion pictures since the early 1960s, making his film debut in Winter A-Go-Go. Gleason has made a name for himself portraying these unlikeable characters in films. A native of Jersey City, New Jersey...
2. Chris Penn Chris Penn Actor, Reservoir Dogs Chris Penn was a well known actor, belonging to a family whose roots were set in the production of movies. Although his life ended before his time, Penn racked up an impressive number of performances in his career, in films now treasured as classics. Born on October 10, 1965 in Los Angeles, California...
3. Peter Boyle Peter Boyle Actor, Taxi Driver A bold, blunt instrument of hatred and violence at the onset of his film career, Peter Boyle recoiled from that repugnant, politically incorrect "working class" image to eventually play gruff, gentler bears and even comedy monsters in a career that lasted four decades. He was born on October 18, 1935...
4. Mako Mako Actor, Memoirs of a Geisha Born in Japan, Mako was living there with his grandparents while his parents studied art in the United States, when Japan and the U.S. went to war in 1941. His parents remained in the U.S., working for the Office of War Information, and, at the cessation of the conflict, were granted U.S. residency by Congress...
5. Glenn Ford Glenn Ford Actor, Superman Legendary actor Glenn Ford was discovered in 1939 by Tom Moore, a talent scout for 20th Century Fox and then subsequently signed a contract with Columbia Pictures the same year. Ford's contract with Columbia marked a significant departure in that studio's successful business model. Its boss, Harry Cohn...
6. Jack Palance Jack Palance Actor, Batman Few people know that veteran movie actor Jack Palance was a professional heavyweight boxer in the early 1940s. Fighting under the name Jack Brazzo, Palance a product of Lattimer Mines, Pennsylvania, won his first 15 fights, 12 by knockout before losing a 4th round decision to future heavyweight contender Joe Baksi on Dec...
7. Robert Altman Robert Altman Director, Gosford Park Robert Altman was born on February 20th, 1925 in Kansas City, Missouri, to B.C. (an insurance salesman) and Helen Altman. He entered St. Peters Catholic school at the age six, and spent a short time at a Catholic high school. From there, he went to Rockhurst High School. It was then that he started exploring the art of exploring sound with the cheap tape recorders available at the time...
8. Don Knotts Don Knotts Actor, Pleasantville Don Knotts, the legendary television character actor, was born Jesse Donald Knotts on July 21, 1924 in Morgantown, West Virginia, to William Jesse Knotts and the former Elsie L. Moore. He was the youngest of four sons in a family that had been in America since the 17th century. His first stint as an entertainer was as a ventriloquist...
9. Shelley Winters Shelley Winters Actress, Lolita Shelley Winters was born Shirley Schrift of very humble beginnings on August 18, 1920 (some sources list 1922) in East St. Louis, Illinois. Her father moved the family to Brooklyn when she was still young so that he, a tailor's cutter, could find steadier work closer to the city's garment industry....
10. Jack Warden Jack Warden Actor, 12 Angry Men Jack Warden was born John H. Lebzelter on September 18, 1920 in Newark, New Jersey to a Jewish father, Jack Warden Lebzelter, and his Irish wife, Laura M. Lebzelter (nee Costello). Raised in Louisville, Kentucky, at the age of 17, young Jack Lebzelter was expelled from Louisville's DuPont Manual High School for repeatedly fighting...
11. Bruno Kirby Bruno Kirby Actor, The Godfather: Part II Native New Yorker and Italianate Bruno Kirby tended towards assertive, pushy, streetwise characters and was armed with a highly distinctive scratchy tenor voice that complemented his slim eyes and droopy puss and accentuated his deadpan comedic instincts on film and TV. The well-regarded character actor was born Bruno Giovanni Quidaciolu--his father is actor Bruce Kirby--on April 28...
12. Dennis Weaver Dennis Weaver Actor, Duel
13. Alida Valli Alida Valli Actress, The Third Man Enigmatic, dark-haired foreign import Alida Valli was dubbed "The Next Garbo" but didn't live up to postwar expectations despite her cool, patrician beauty, remote allure and significant talent. Born in Pola, Italy (now Croatia), on May 3, 1921, the daughter of a Tridentine journalist and professor and an Istrian homemaker...
14. Andreas Katsulas Andreas Katsulas Actor, The Fugitive Born in St. Louis, Missouri, Andreas was a cross between apple pie and baklava, coming from a working-class Greek-American family. Attracted from early childhood to being on stage when at 4 his mother took him to see a community theater performance, he took theatre as an extra-curricular activity in high school...
15. Jane Wyatt Jane Wyatt Actress, Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home Born in Campgaw, New Jersey, Jane Waddington Wyatt came from a New York family of social distinction (her father was a Wall Street investment banker and her mother was a drama critic). Jane was raised from the age of three months in New York City and attended the fashionable Chapin School and later Barnard College...
16. Steve Irwin Steve Irwin Self, The Crocodile Hunter: Collision Course Steve Irwin was the director of the Australia Zoo in Queensland, Australia, and host of Animal Planet's series The Crocodile Hunter. The son of naturalists Bob and Lyn Irwin, he spent his entire life studying, living and working with animals. He grew up at the Queensland Reptile and Fauna Park, where he took part in the daily feeding...
17. Darren McGavin Darren McGavin Actor, A Christmas Story A remarkably seasoned actor of stage, screen and television, Darren McGavin has notched in excess of 200 performances; however, he is most fondly remembered by cult TV fans as heroic newspaper reporter Carl Kolchak in the classic but short-lived horror TV series Kolchak: The Night Stalker. In a long and varied career...
18. Tony Jay Tony Jay Actor, Beauty and the Beast
19. Adrienne Shelly Adrienne Shelly Actress, Waitress
20. Bob Mathias Bob Mathias Actor, Minotaur, the Wild Beast of Crete
21. Barnard Hughes Barnard Hughes Actor, The Lost Boys Barnard Hughes began his acting career with the Shakespeare Fellowship Repertory company in New York City. Since then, he has played more than 400 roles on the stage alone, including "Da" which he also filmed. Among his other roles are Polonius to Stacy Keach's "Hamlet", Dogberry in the New York...
22. Robert Donner Robert Donner Actor, Cool Hand Luke Robert Donner was born in New York City and grew up in New Jersey, Michigan and Texas. Robert joined the Navy after he graduated from high school and served almost 4 years. After he left the Navy he stayed on the West Coast and worked as a shipping clerk, salesman, bartender, commercial artist, gardener...
23. Jack Wild Jack Wild Actor, Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves Born September 30, 1952, in Royton, near Oldham, England, Jack Wild was discovered by talent agent June Collins, mother of rock star Phil Collins. His breakthrough came when he landed the role of Oliver in the London stage production of "Oliver!" When it came to casting the film, the role of the Artful Dodger went to Jack...
24. Red Buttons Red Buttons Actor, The Poseidon Adventure Composer, actor, comedian and author, he joined ASCAP in 1963 and wrote several popular songs (which he often personally performed), including "Strange Things Are Happening" and "The Ho-Ho Song".
25. Elizabeth Allen Elizabeth Allen Actress, Donovan's Reef
26. Mickey Spillane Mickey Spillane Writer, Kiss Me Deadly Mickey Spillane, the king of the pulp novelists in the post-WW II period, sold an estimated 200 million copies globally. He was born Frank Morrison Spillane in Brooklyn, NY. Young Frank's mother was a Protestant who bestowed on him his middle name "Morrison", but his Irish Catholic father, barkeep John Joseph Spillane...
27. Anthony Franciosa Anthony Franciosa Actor, Tenebre Tony Franciosa was born Anthony Papaleo on October 25, 1928, in New York City. His parents divorced shortly after his birth, and he never really knew his father. After graduating high school, Franciosa's route to his acting career began on a serendipitous route: during a visit to a YMCA to take a free dance lesson...
28. Al Lewis Al Lewis Actor, They Shoot Horses, Don't They? In the late 1920s, Lewis worked as a circus performer, but ultimately decided on college, earning a Ph.D. in child psychology from Columbia University. He taught school and wrote two children's books. In 1949, at the suggestion of a friend, Lewis turned to acting and joined the Paul Mann Actor's Workshop in New York...
29. Edward Albert Edward Albert Actor, Port Charles The only son of Green Acres star Eddie Albert and Mexican actress/dancer Margo, Edward Laurence Albert managed to come out from under his father's strong shadow and make a gallant showing of his own as a gifted thespian. Born in Los Angeles on February 20, 1951, Edward's multi-cultural heritage and talented gene pool allowed him to become a man of many talents: songwriter...
30. June Allyson June Allyson Actress, Till the Clouds Roll By American leading lady whose sweet smile and sunny disposition made her the prototypical girl-next-door of American movies of the 1940s. Raised in semi-poverty in Bronx neighborhoods by her divorced mother, Allyson (nee Ella Geisman) was injured in a fall at age eight and spent four years confined within a steel brace...
31. Moose Moose Actor, My Coffee with Niles Moose was the youngest of a litter of 4, yet was also the biggest, hence his name. Hyper and destructive as a pup, he eventually found his way to Birds & Animals Unlimited, where he got his job playing Eddie on Frasier.
32. Aaron Spelling Aaron Spelling Producer, Charlie's Angels Aaron Spelling graduated from Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas, with a Bachelor of Arts Degree. Before that, he attended Forest Avenue High. He started as a writer and sold his first script to Jane Wyman Presents The Fireside Theatre. He wrote for various television shows, including Playhouse 90. After he wrote his first pilot he became a producer for Four Star Productions...
33. Kasey Rogers Kasey Rogers Actress, Strangers on a Train Hailing from Morehouse, Missouri, she was born Imogene Rogers and moved with her family to California at age 2 1/2. She got the nickname Casey when her neighborhood playmates discovered how well she handled a baseball bat ("I could hit a baseball farther than anybody in grammar school except Robert Lewis...
34. Mickey Hargitay Mickey Hargitay Actor, Bloody Pit of Horror
35. Dana Reeve Dana Reeve Actress, Everyone's Hero
36. Maureen Stapleton Maureen Stapleton Actress, Cocoon
37. Michael Taliferro Michael Taliferro Actor, Bad Boys
38. Mike Evans Mike Evans Writer, Good Times Clean cut and smoothly handsome as a youth, Mike Evans got on board the Norman Lear TV train in the early 1970s and took a straight ride to sitcom stardom in both a landmark comedy series and its black-oriented spin-off. Born Michael Jonas Evans in Salisbury, North Carolina, on November 3, 1949...
39. Richard Fleischer Richard Fleischer Director, Conan the Destroyer
40. James Brown James Brown Soundtrack, Django Unchained
41. Philippe Noiret Philippe Noiret Actor, Il Postino: The Postman Philippe Noiret was one of French cinema's most familiar faces who appeared in more than 140 films in a career that spanned more than half a century. He was born on October 1, 1930, in Lille, Nord, France, into a middle class family of shopkeepers. His father was fond of literature. Young Noiret attended the College Janson-of-Sally in the 16th arrondissement in Paris...
42. Franklin Cover Franklin Cover Actor, Wall Street
43. Pedro Gonzalez Gonzalez Pedro Gonzalez Gonzalez Actor, Rio Bravo Providing rather unrestrained Latin caricature comedy relief by typically mangling the English language and appearing slow to grasp in the 1950s, diminutive character comedian Pedro Gonzalez-Gonzalez had to endure some "politically incorrect" flak over the latter course of his career but, in retrospect...
44. Richard Bright Richard Bright Actor, The Godfather: Part II Fair complexioned, cold-eyed actor Richard Bright has notched up an impressive array of character performances of often shifty, or deadly characters on the wrong side of the law. First came to attention as a burglar in the engrossing The Panic in Needle Park, and then followed it the following year playing a slick con artist hustling naive Ali MacGraw for the bank robbery loot in The Getaway...
45. Tamara Dobson Tamara Dobson Actress, Cleopatra Jones
46. Adam Williams Adam Williams Actor, North by Northwest
47. Peter Ellis Peter Ellis Director, Natural Born Killer
48. Robert Sterling Robert Sterling Actor, Show Boat Born William Sterling Hart in 1917, the Pennsylvania-born actor was the son of a professional ballplayer. He graduated from the University of Pittsburgh, then worked as a clothing salesman before deciding to give acting a try. He certainly had the requisite dreamboat looks as Columbia signed this blue-eyed...
49. Robert Earl Jones Robert Earl Jones Actor, The Sting
50. Stanislaw Lem Stanislaw Lem Writer, Solaris Stanislaw Lem was a visionary Polish author known for Solaris. He was born on September 12, 1921, in Lwów, Poland. His father, Samuel Lem, was a wealthy laryngologist who served in the Austrian army. His mother, Sabina Woller, was a homemaker. Although he was born into a Polish-Jewish family...
1-50 of 2,924 names.