Celebrity Full Names: Actresses - L
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- Actress
- Music Department
- Composer
Patti LaBelle was born Patricia Louise Holte on May 24, 1944 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Patti began her career in the early 1960s as lead singer of the band Patti LaBelle and the Bluebelles. A decade later the group changed their name to Labelle and recorded the hit song "Lady Marmalade". Patti became a solo artist in 1976 and her debut album was another success. During five decades she has sold more than 50 million records and also became an actress.Patricia Louise Holt
PLH- Mae LaBorde was born on 13 May 1909 in Fresno, California, USA. She was an actress, known for Pineapple Express (2008), The Heartbreak Kid (2007) and It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia (2005). She was married to Nicholas Laborde. She died on 9 January 2012 in Santa Monica, California, USA.Mae Shamlian
MS - Actress
- Director
- Producer
Casey LaBow was born on 14 August 1983 in New York City, New York, USA. She is an actress and director, known for The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 2 (2012), Banshee (2013) and Skateland (2010).Samantha Casey LaBow
SCL- Actress
- Producer
- Soundtrack
Vanessa Joy Minnillo was born on November 9, 1980, at Clark Air Force Base in the Philippines. She is the daughter of Helen Ramos Bercero and Vincent Charles Minnillo, a crew member on an Air Force aircraft (he has since retired). Her father is American, from Ohio, and is of half Italian, one quarter Russian-Jewish, and one quarter Irish, descent. Her mother is a Filipina, whom he met while based in the Philippines. Vanessa and her family, which includes her brother Vincent, who is two years older than she, lived in California, Nevada, Florida, Germany and Japan, before settling down in Charleston, South Carolina. Vanessa attended seven different schools during this time, and participated in cheerleading and volunteer work for numerous local charities.
Her parents divorced in 1986, and Helen was awarded custody of both children; Vanessa only saw her father on weekends. When her mother remarried, the family moved to Turkey, where her new stepfather, who was in the U.S. Air Force, was assigned. They were forced to evacuate when Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait in 1990, leading to the Gulf War of 1991, and Helen brought the kids back to the U.S., leaving them with their father until she could get back on her feet. That would be the last time that Vanessa would see her mother, who never returned. Instead, Vanessa began a new life, along with her brother, living with her father Vince and his new wife, Donna, whom she now calls her "best friend".
With her life more settled, Vanessa began to turn her attention to the Miss South Carolina Teen USA beauty pageant in 1996. She had loved cheerleading since she was a young child, and was very keen on performing in front of an audience. With her unaffected style and natural ebullience, she easily won over the judges, sweeping all the categories before winning the crown. Two years later, on August 17, 1998, she competed in the Miss Teen USA pageant. Though it was preempted by CBS' live coverage of a speech by President Bill Clinton regarding the Monica Lewinsky ordeal; in the end, she wowed the Miss Teen USA judges just as she had the Miss South Carolina Teen USA judges two years earlier. It was her second pageant, and her second victory.
In the three years since handing over her Miss Teen USA crown, Vanessa has concentrated on college, acting and modeling. She has a promising future, and was recently one of the finalists in E!'s competition to find a replacement for Brooke Burke as hostess for the show, Wild On... (1997). Though the job ultimately went to Cindy Taylor, Vanessa made a big impression with "Wild On..." fans across the world, and hopes to continue working in television for some time to come.
Vanessa began dating singer Nick Lachey in 2006, shortly after Jessica Simpson filed for divorce from him. The couple married in 2011, and have three children.Vanessa Joy Minnillo
VJM- Actress
- Writer
- Music Department
Cheryl Ladd is an American actress, singer, and author best known for her role as Kris Munroe in the ABC television series Charlie's Angels, whose cast she joined in its second season in 1977 to replace Farrah Fawcett-Majors. Ladd remained on the show until its cancellation in 1981. Her film roles include Purple Hearts (1984), Millennium (1989), Poison Ivy (1992), Permanent Midnight (1998), and Unforgettable (2017).Cheryl Jean Stoppelmoor
CJS- Actress
- Producer
- Director
The amazingly gifted and versatile, Ms. Diane Ladd, received immense praise for her dramatic efforts throughout the course of her electric and unique seventy-year career. Her timeless offbeat charm and beauty reminiscent of a lamented Hollywood Golden Era actress gleam in the most understated roles and continue to make her a sought-after unconventional performer.Rose Diane Ladner
RDL- Jordan Ladd was born on 14 January 1975 in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA. She is an actress, known for Death Proof (2007), Never Been Kissed (1999) and Cabin Fever (2002). She was previously married to Conor O'Neill.Jordan Elizabeth Ladd
JEL - Music Artist
- Actress
- Composer
Lady Gaga, born Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta, is an American songwriter, singer, actress, philanthropist, dancer and fashion designer.
Gaga was born on March 28, 1986 in Manhattan, New York City, to Cynthia Louise (Bissett), a philanthropist and business executive, and Joseph Anthony Germanotta, Jr., an internet entrepreneur. Her father is of Italian descent; and her mother, who is from West Virginia, is of half Italian and half French, English, German, and Scottish ancestry. Gaga was able to sing and play the piano from a young age. She attended the Convent of the Sacred Heart from age 11 where was bullied for her appearance (she was small and plumper than other girls with large front teeth) and eccentric habits.
By the age of 14, Gaga was performing at open mike nights in clubs and bars. By age 17, she had gained early admission to New York University's Tisch School of the Arts. In addition to sharpening her songwriting skills, she composed essays and analytical papers on art, religion, social issues and politics. At the age of 19 Gaga withdrew from her studies and moved out of her parents' home in order to pursue a musical career. During this time she started a band which began to gain local attention.
After a brief partnership with talent scout Rob Fusari, which resulted in the creation of her stage name, Gaga was signed to Def Jam Records in 2006; however she was dropped from the label after just three months. Devastated, Gaga returned home, and became increasingly experimental: fascinating herself with emerging neo-burlesque shows, go-go dancing at bars dressed in little more than a bikini in addition to experimenting with drugs.
Gaga met performance artist Lady Starlight during this time; after a performance at Lollapalooza Festival in 2007 Gaga was signed by Vince Herbert to Streamline Records, an imprint of Interscope Records. Having served as an apprentice songwriter under an internship at Famous Music Publishing, which was later acquired by Sony/ATV Music Publishing, Gaga subsequently struck a music publishing deal with Sony/ATV. As a result, she was hired to write songs for Britney Spears and labelmates New Kids on the Block, Fergie, and the Pussycat Dolls. At Interscope, singer-songwriter Akon recognized her vocal abilities when she sang a reference vocal for one of his tracks in studio; Akon then convinced Interscope-Geffen-A&M Chairman and CEO Jimmy Iovine to form a joint deal by having her also sign with his own label Kon Live, making her his "franchise player."
In 2008 Gaga released her first album 'The Fame' to lukewarm radio play; Gaga toured around Europe and in gay clubs in the US to promote the album - however it was not until her first hit 'Just Dance' came to mainstream attention in 2009 that Gaga exploded onto the music scene.
Since then Gaga has gained numerous awards and nominations for a string of hits; her first album spawned several more smash hits 'Paparazzi', 'Loveame' and 'Poker Face'); while touring the album Gaga wrote 'The Fame Monster', an EP examining the darker side to her new-found fame. The Fame Monster was released in 2009 and won multiple awards, spawning her most iconic single 'Bad Romance' as well as 'Telephone' and 'Alejandro'. During this time Gaga came under increased public and critical scrutiny for her eccentric and often bizarre style choices. Gaga embarked on her second tour, The Monster Ball; upon finishing in May 2011, the critically acclaimed and commercially accomplished tour ran for over one and a half years and grossed $227.4 million, making it one of the highest-grossing concert tours of all time and the highest-grossing for a debut headlining artist. Concerts performed at Madison Square Garden in New York City were filmed for an HBO television special. The special accrued one of its five Emmy Award nominations and has since been released on DVD and Blu-ray.
In 2011 Gaga released her second full-length album 'Born this Way'; the album was received vastly more critically than her previous two for touching on themes of politics, sexuality, and religion. Despite this, the album's songs were praised critically, and Born This Way sold 1.108 million copies in its first week in the US, debuting atop the Billboard 200, and topping the charts in more than 20 other countries. In addition to exceeding 8 million copies in worldwide sales, Born This Way received 3 Grammy Award nominations, including her third consecutive for Album of the Year. In March 2012, Gaga was ranked fourth on Billboard's list of top moneymakers of 2011, grossing $25,353,039 dollars, which included sales from Born This Way and her Monster Ball Tour.
At the end of April 2012, Gaga's Born This Way kicked off in Korea - the tour would last 2 years and take the singer to every continent of the globe. However in February 2012 the tour was abruptly canceled; Gaga had a labral tear in her right hip which she had been nursing secretly for several weeks in the hopes that she would be able to continue the tour. After a performance in Toronto left her unable to walk and in considerable pain, she was taken to hospital for surgery and the tour was canceled. Through to Jan. 17, the tour had grossed $168.2 million and moved 1.6 million tickets to 85 shows, according to Billboard Boxscore, with the Asian, European, and South American legs already completed in 2012. The North American leg, which was to wrap the tour and was almost completely sold out, would have likely put the tour at more than $200 million gross, easily in the top 20 tours of all time and probably in the top 15, according to Billboard. As it stands, Gaga finished sixth among all touring artists in 2012, with a gross of $125 million and attendance of more than 1.1 million, according to Boxscore.
Gaga wrote her third album, ARTPOP, released in 2013. Gaga made her acting debut in Robert Rodriguez's Machete Kills (2013), the sequel to his 2010 film Machete, and also appeared in Rodriguez's sequel Sin City: A Dame to Kill For (2014). In 2018, she starred with Bradley Cooper, who also directed, in A Star Is Born (2018). Gaga received her first Academy Award nomination for Best Actress for the role.Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta
SJAG- Actress
- Additional Crew
- Camera and Electrical Department
Carla Laemmle was born on 20 October 1909 in Chicago, Illinois, USA. She was an actress, known for The Adventures of Frank Merriwell (1936), King of Jazz (1930) and The Gate Crasher (1928). She died on 12 June 2014 in Los Angeles, California, USA.Rebekah Isabelle Laemmle
RIL- Actress
- Soundtrack
Though known to millions as Celia "CeCe" Rhodes on Gossip Girl (2007) and for her extensive film and TV credits, Caroline Lagerfelt has established a distinguished career in international theatre and Broadway. The recipient of Outer Critics Circle and Obie Awards, as well as a Drama Desk nomination, her career began under the auspices of theatrical legends Eva Le Gallienne and Sir Ralph Richardson.
She appeared in nine Broadway shows for some of the most celebrated directors of the English-speaking world, among them Sir Peter Hall ("Betrayal," opposite Raul Julia and Roy Scheider), Sir John Gielgud ("The Constant Wife," with Ingrid Bergman and a then-unknown Sigourney Weaver), Harold Pinter, Cyril Ritchard, Mike Nichols, Jerry Zaks and Abe Burrows.
She has appeared in every major Off-Broadway venue, receiving critical acclaim for "The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie" opposite Cynthia Nixon, "Moonlight" with Jason Robards, Blythe Danner and Liev Schreiber, "Quartermaine's Terms" with Kelsey Grammer, and for multiple collaborations with Harold Pinter, Simon Gray and Nicolas Kent, among others.
In addition, Lagerfelt has played many of the US and UK's top regional theatres (Kennedy Center, Guthrie, Williamstown, etc.), highlights including: "Night and Day" with Ralph Fiennes, "The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui" with Paul Giamatti, "Les Liaisons Dangereuses" with Dianne Wiest, "The Physicists" with Brian Bedford, George Grizzard and Len Cariou, and Garland Wright's "The Misanthrope." She is perhaps best known for her portrayal of Elizabeth I in multiple productions of "Mary Stuart," directed by Carey Perloff.
In 2010, Lagerfelt starred as Greta Garbo in 'Frank McGuinness'' "Greta Garbo Came to Donegal," voted one of London's "Top Five Plays of the Year."Caroline Eugenie Lagerfelt
CEL- Actress
- Director
- Soundtrack
Christine Lahti was born April 4, 1950 in Birmingham, Michigan, to Elizabeth Margaret (Tabar), a painter and nurse, and Paul Theodore Lahti, a surgeon. She is of half Finnish and half Austro-Hungarian descent. She studied fine arts at Florida State University and received a bachelors degree in drama from the University of Michigan. In New York, Christine worked as a waitress and did commercials before she found her breakthrough role in And Justice for All (1979) with Al Pacino. She received an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in Swing Shift (1984) and won an Academy Award for Best Short Film, Live Action for Lieberman in Love (1995) in which she starred and directed. Throughout her acting career, Christine primarily focused on television, with performances in Chicago Hope (1994), and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (1999).Christine Ann Lahti
CAL- Elizabeth Lail stars in Blumhouse's box office hit, "Five Nights At Freddys," based on the wildly popular video game series. She can also be seen in the upcoming indie film "Gonzo Girl," directed by Patricia Arquette and starring Willem Dafoe. The film premiered at the Toronto Film Festival and is based on the critically acclaimed novel by Cheryl Della Pietra. Lail recently appeared in the comedy film "Mack & Rita" opposite Diane Keaton. Elizabeth is best known for her lead role of 'Beck' in Netflix's smash hit "You" and recently starred as 'Jenny' in NBC's drama series "Ordinary Joe."
Elizabeth got her big break when she recreated the role of 'Anna' from Frozen on ABC's "Once Upon A Time." She also starred in STX Entertainment's terrifying horror film, Countdown, the independent film Unintended, and in a recurring role in the HBO Max reboot of "Gossip Girl"Elizabeth Dean Lail
EDL - Patricia Lake was born on 18 June 1919 in Paris, France. She was married to Arthur Lake. She died on 3 October 1993 in Riverside, California, USA.Patricia Van Cleeve Lake
PVCL - Actress
- Producer
- Soundtrack
Ricki Lake was born in Hastings-on-Hudson, New York, surprisingly as a blond. She has one sister, who is one year younger than she, named Jennifer. Her father, Barry, is a pharmacist, and her mother, Jill, is a homemaker. The two currently reside in Las Vegas, Nevada. Ricki attended Hastings Elementary as a child, went on to Farragut Middle, and then attended Hastings High, for two years. At the end of her sophomore year, she transferred to the Professional Children's School, in New York, to focus on perfecting her craft as an actress. Also, Ricki began singing professionally at the age of nine, in cabarets and clubs. After finishing high school, she attended Ithaca College for one year. During final exams in her freshman year, she received a call from her agent, telling her to audition for the lead in a John Waters film. Unsurprisingly, she landed the role as "Tracy Turnblad." Thus, Hairspray (1988) marked Ricki Lake's movie debut. She then went on to act in 15 more movies and had a recurring role in ABC's China Beach (1988), for one season. At one point in her life, she hit rock-bottom. Then, she decided to take charge of her life and make a dramatic change. She began eating right and exercising and soon lost over 125 pounds. In 1993, she was chosen, out of a hundred people, to host her own daytime talk show. After only three years, Ricki Lake (1992) became rated second in its time frame. Also, in 1993, she met the man of her dreams. At a Halloween party, she locked eyes with Rob Sussman, a political illustrator, who was to become her husband. It was love at first sight, on both sides. The two married in Las Vegas in March 1994 but divorced in 2004.Ricki Pamela Lake
RPL- Actress
- Producer
- Soundtrack
Veronica Lake was born as Constance Frances Marie Ockleman on November 14, 1922, in Brooklyn, New York. She was the daughter of Constance Charlotta (Trimble) and Harry Eugene Ockelman, who worked for an oil company as a ship employee. Her father was of half German and half Irish descent, and her mother was of Irish ancestry. While still a child, Veronica's parents moved to Florida when she was not quite a year old. By the time she was five, the family had returned to Brooklyn. When Connie was only twelve, tragedy struck when her father died in an explosion on an oil ship. One year later her mother married Anthony Keane and Connie took his last name as her own. In 1934, when her stepfather was diagnosed with tuberculosis, the family moved to Saranac Lake, where Connie Keane enjoyed the outdoor life and flourished in the activities of boating on the lakes, skating, skiing, swimming, biking around Moody Pond and hiking up Mt Baker. The family made their home in 1935 at 1 Watson Place, (now 27 Seneca Street) then they moved to 1 Riverside Drive,(now Lake Kiwassa Road). Both Connie and Anthony benefited from the Adirondack experience and in 1936 the family left the Adirondacks and moved to Miami, FL., however, the memories of those carefree Saranac Lake days would always remain deeply rooted in her mind.
Two years later, Connie graduated from high school in Miami. Her natural beauty and charm and a definite talent for acting prompted her mother and step-father to move to Beverly Hills, California, where they enrolled her in the well known Bliss Hayden School of Acting in Hollywood. Connie had previously been diagnosed as a classic schizophrenic and her parents saw acting as a form of treatment for her condition. She showed remarkable abilities and did not have to wait long for a part to come her way.
Her first movie was as one of the many coeds in the RKO film, Sorority House (1939). It was a minor part, to be sure, but it was a start. Veronica quickly followed up that project with two other films. All Women Have Secrets (1939) and Dancing Co-Ed (1939), were again bit roles for the pretty young woman from the East Coast, but she did not complain. After all, other would-be starlets took a while before they ever received a bit part. Veronica continued her schooling, while taking a bit roles in two more films, Young as You Feel (1940) and Forty Little Mothers (1940). Prior to this time, she was still under her natural name of Constance Keane. Now, with a better role in I Wanted Wings (1941), she was asked to change her name, and Veronica Lake was born. Now, instead of playing coeds, she had a decent, speaking part. Veronica felt like an actress. The film was a success and the public loved this bright newcomer.
Paramount, the studio she was under contract with, then assigned her to two more films that year, Hold Back the Dawn (1941) and Sullivan's Travels (1941). The latter received good reviews from the always tough film critics. As Ellen Graham, in This Gun for Hire (1942) the following year, Veronica now had top billing. She had paid her dues and was on a roll. The public was enamored with her. In 1943, Veronica starred in only one film. She portrayed Lieutenant Olivia D'Arcy in So Proudly We Hail! (1943) with Claudette Colbert. The film was a box-office smash. It seemed that any film Veronica starred in would be an unquestionable hit. However, her only outing for 1944, The Hour Before the Dawn (1944) would not be well-received by either the public or the critics. As Nazi sympathizer Dora Bruckmann, Veronica's role was dismal at best. Critics disliked her accent immensely because it wasn't true to life. Her acting itself suffered because of the accent. Mediocre films trailed her for all of 1945. It seemed that Veronica was dumped in just about any film to see if it could be salvaged. Hold That Blonde! (1945), Out of This World (1945), and Miss Susie Slagle's (1946) were just a waste of talent for the beautiful blonde. The latter film was a shade better than the previous two. In 1946, Veronica bounced back in The Blue Dahlia (1946) with Alan Ladd and Howard Da Silva. The film was a hit, but it was the last decent film for Veronica. Paramount continued to put her in pathetic movies. After 1948, Paramount discharged the once prized star, and she was out on her own. In 1949, she starred in the Twentieth Century film Slattery's Hurricane (1949), which, unfortunately, was another weak film. She was not on the big screen again until 1952 when she appeared in Stronghold (1951). By Veronica's own admission, the film "was a dog". From 1952 to 1966, Veronica made television appearances and even tried her hand on the stage. Not a lot of success for her at all. By now alcohol was the order of the day. She was down on her luck and drank heavily. In 1962, Veronica was found living in an old hotel and working as a bartender. She finally returned to the big screen in Footsteps in the Snow (1966). Another drought ensued and she appeared on the silver screen for the last time in Flesh Feast (1970) - a very low budget film.
On July 7, 1973, Veronica died of hepatitis in Burlington, Vermont. The beautiful actress with the long blonde hair was dead at the age of 50.Constance Frances Marie Ockelman
CFMO- Director
- Actress
- Choreographer
Christine Helen Lakin was born on January 25th, 1979 in Dallas, Texas. After moving several times as a child, her family finally settled in Atlanta, Georgia, where Christine started her acting career. There, she attended the Atlanta workshop players - a theater group which plays in schools in the Atlanta metro area. Her first audition was for a TV-commercial - "Got Milk?!", and after not getting that job, she didn't have to wait long for her next opportunity, which was the part as the young Rose in the civil-war flick The Rose and the Jackal (1990), which also starred Christopher Reeve. In 1991, she took her first step towards big fame and landed the role as the tomboyish Al on the Friday night hit Step by Step (1991).
During the sitcom's long run, Christine gracefully grew up, graduated from high school in 1997 and made various appearances on other television shows. When Step by Step (1991) was cancelled in 1998, Christine, while attending UCLA and majoring in film, looked for other film roles. She landed jobs in independent films such as Boltneck (2000) and Finding Kelly (2000). Whatever It Takes (2000) was Christine's first wide theatrical film release. Since then, she has had a slew of independent coming-of-age films along with guest appearances on such hit shows as Boston Public (2000), and Opposite Sex (2000). Still attending UCLA and handling a film career, Christine is managing to do what few child actors tend to do, which is continue.Christine Helen Lakin
CHL- Actress
- Writer
- Additional Crew
Lalaine Vergara-Paras, or simply Lalaine, is best known for her role as Lizzie's (Hilary Duff) best friend Miranda Sanchez in the hit TV series Lizzie McGuire (2001), and she has confirmed that she will appear in the reboot. Lalaine released her music album "Inside Story" in 2003. She currently resides in Los Angeles, California.Lalaine Vergara Paras
LVP- Actress
- Producer
- Additional Crew
Hedy Lamarr, the woman many critics and fans alike regard as the most beautiful ever to appear in films, was born Hedwig Eva Maria Kiesler in Vienna, Austria. She was the daughter of Gertrud (Lichtwitz), from Budapest, and Emil Kiesler, a banker from Lemberg (now known as Lviv). Her parents were both from Jewish families. Hedwig had a 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, and was a student of theater director Max Reinhardt in Berlin. Her first role was a bit part in the German film Geld auf der Straße (1930) (aka "Money on the Street") in 1930. She was attractive and talented enough to be in three more German productions in 1931, but it would be her fifth film that catapulted her to worldwide fame. In 1932 she appeared in a Czech film called Ekstase (US title: "Ecstasy") and had made the gutsy move to appear nude. It's the story of a young girl who is married to a gentleman much older than she, but she winds up falling in love with a young soldier. The film's nude scenes created a sensation all over the world. The scenes, very tame by today's standards, caused the film to be banned by the U.S. government at the time.
Hedy soon married Fritz Mandl, a munitions manufacturer and a prominent Austrofascist. He attempted to buy up all the prints of "Ecstasy" he could lay his hands on (Italy's dictator, Benito Mussolini, had a copy but refused to sell it to Mandl), but to no avail (there are prints floating around the world today). The notoriety of the film brought Hollywood to her door. She was brought to the attention of MGM mogul Louis B. Mayer, who signed her to a contract (a notorious prude when it came to his studio's films, Mayer signed her against his better judgment, but the money he knew her notoriety would bring in to the studio overrode any moral concerns he may have had). However, he insisted she change her name and make good, wholesome films.
Hedy starred in a series of exotic adventure epics. She made her American film debut as Gaby in Algiers (1938). This was followed a year later by Lady of the Tropics (1939). In 1942, she played the plum role of Tondelayo in the classic White Cargo (1942). After World War II, her career began to decline, and MGM decided it would be in the interest of all concerned if her contract were not renewed. Unfortunately for Hedy, she turned down the leads in both Gaslight (1940) and Casablanca (1942), both of which would have cemented her standing in the minds of the American public. In 1949, she starred as Delilah opposite Victor Mature's Samson in Cecil B. DeMille's epic Samson and Delilah (1949). This proved to be Paramount Pictures' then most profitable movie to date, bringing in $12 million in rental from theaters. The film's success led to more parts, but it was not enough to ease her financial crunch. She made only six more films between 1949 and 1957, the last being The Female Animal (1958).
Hedy retired to Florida. She died there, in the city of Casselberry, on January 19, 2000.Hedwig Eva Marie Kiesler
HEMK- Actress
- Producer
Karen Lamm was born on 21 June 1952 in Indianapolis, Indiana, USA. She was an actress and producer, known for Thunderbolt and Lightfoot (1974), Police Woman (1974) and The Hatfields and the McCoys (1975). She was married to Dennis Wilson and Robert Lamm. She died on 29 June 2001 in Playa del Rey, California, USA.Barbara Karen Perk
BKP- Actress
- Additional Crew
Cynthia LaMontagne was born on 15 February 1966 in the USA. She is an actress, known for Forgetting Sarah Marshall (2008), The Cable Guy (1996) and Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (1997).Cynthia Ann Lamontagne
CAL- Robia began her professional career in Hollywood as a dancer at the age of sixteen. She danced in numerous music videos before traveling the world with Prince starring as "Pearl" in his international tour Diamonds and Pearls. She also graced the album's cover and performed in multiple videos from the album. When the tour ended, Robia began focusing on her acting career. She appeared in over fifty national commercials and various popular television shows such as Beverly Hills, 90210 and Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Shortly after completing her three season stint on Buffy, Robia left a thriving career in entertainment to pursue Christian ministry. For the last fifteen years, Robia has traveled extensively throughout the US and internationally as a Christian speaker and teacher. She is the author of the book Counterfeit Comforts; Freedom from the Imposters that Keep You from True Peace, Purpose, and Passion, which can be found on her website: robiascott.com and on Amazon. After a fifteen year hiatus from acting, in a surprising turn of events, Robia is back on screen in a starring role in the newly released feature film, Unplanned. Robia lives in Southern California with her husband, James, and their daughter, Gemma.Robia Brett LaMorte
RBL - Actress
- Soundtrack
In addition to being Miss New Orleans in 1931, Dorothy Lamour worked as a Chicago elevator operator; band vocalist for her first husband, band leader Herbie Kaye; and radio performer. In 1936 she donned her soon-to-be-famous sarong for her debut at Paramount, The Jungle Princess (1936), and continued to play female Tarzan-Crusoe-Gauguin-girl-with make-up parts through the war years and beyond. The most famous of these was in the popular Bob Hope/Bing Crosby "Road" pictures - a strange combination of adventure, slapstick, ad-libs and Hollywood inside jokes. Of these she said, "I was the happiest and highest-paid straight woman in the business." As she aged, however, the quality of her films dropped. Among her serious films were Johnny Apollo (1940) and A Medal for Benny (1945).Mary Leta Dorothy Kaumeyer
MLDK- Actress
- Writer
- Producer
Lisa Lampenelli is one of the most high-profile insult comics. Though actually born in Connecticut, she is identified as a New Yorker, where she built up her career on the stand-up comic circuit. She is known for her outrageous pot shots at celebrities as well as references to her own weight and sexuality. Her acid wit and boisterous delivery has won many fans, some of whom had gravitated towards Andrew Dice Clay, and has won her the nickname "Comedy's Lovable Queen of Mean." She has been a regular at celebrity roasts on Comedy Central and has made a couple of television and film appearances. She has also been in negotiations for her own sitcom.Lisa Marie Lampugnale
LML- Lana is known for Lingerie Seduction (2006).Catherine Joy Perry
CJP - Actress
- Soundtrack
Elsa Sullivan Lanchester was born into an unconventional a family at the turn of the 20th century. Her parents, James "Shamus" Sullivan and Edith "Biddy" Lanchester, were socialists - very active members of the Social Democratic Federation (SDF) in a rather broad sense - and did not believe in the institution of marriage and being tied to any conventions of legality, for that matter. Her mother had actually been committed to an asylum in 1895 by her father and older brothers because of her unmarried state with James. The incident received worldwide press as the "Lanchester Kidnapping Case."
Elsa had a great desire to become a classical dancer and to that end at age 10 her mother enrolled her at the famed Isadora Duncan's Bellevue School in Paris in 1912. But the uncertainties of WW1 brought her home after only two years. At age 12, she was sent to a co-educational boarding school in Kings Langley, Hertfordshire, England, to teach dance classes in exchange for her education and board. In 1918, she was hired as a dance teacher at Margaret Morris's school on the Isle of Wight.
Next to dance, she loved the music halls of the period, so in 1920 she debuted in a music hall act as an Egyptian dancer. About the same time she founded the Children's Theater in Soho, London and taught there for several years. She made her stage debut in 1922 in the West End play "Thirty Minutes in a Street." In 1924 she and her partner, Harold Scott, opened a London nightclub called the Cave of Harmony. They performed one-act plays by Pirandello and Chekhov and sang cabaret songs. She would later collect and record these and many others. The spot was frequented by literati like Aldous Huxley, H.G. Wells and also James Whale, working in London theater and soon to be directing on Broadway and Hollywood's most famous horror films. Lanchester kept busy including, on her own admission, posing nude for artists. During a 1926 comic performance in the Midnight Follies at London's Metropole, a member of the British Royal family walked out as she sang, "Please Sell No More Drink to My Father." She closed her nightclub in 1928 as her film career began in earnest.
Perhaps not beautiful in the more conventional sense, Lanchester was certainly pretty as a young woman with a turned-up nose that gave her a pert, impish expression, all the more striking with her large, expressive dark eyes and full lips. She had a lithe figure that she carried with the assuredness of her dancing background. Her voice was bright and distinctive, and had a delightful rush and trill that had an almost Scottish burr quality. What clicked on stage would do the same in the movies.
Her first film appearance was actually in an amateur movie by friend and author Evelyn Waugh called The Scarlet Woman: An Ecclesiastical Melodrama (1925). Her formal film debut was in the British movie One of the Best (1927). She continued stage work and became associated in 1927 with a rather self-possessed but keenly dedicated actor, Charles Laughton. He appeared with her in three of four films Lanchester did in 1928. (Three of these were written for her by H.G. Wells). They did a few plays as well and wed in 1929. According to Lanchester, after two years, she discovered Laughton was homosexual but they remained married until his death in 1962. Lanchester declared in a 1958 interview that she kept to a separate career path from her husband. They appeared together on occasion, moving through 1931 with several smart play-like films including Potiphar's Wife (1931) with Laurence Olivier. She had done the play "Payment Deferred" in London in 1930 and followed it to Broadway in 1931.
MGM offered her a contract in 1932. In 1933 Alexander Korda was casting his The Private Life of Henry VIII (1933) and decided that Laughton was the perfect choice - and his wife would be just as perfect as one of Henry's six wives. Her versatility pointed to a part with some comedic elements and fitting more into a caricature. She looked most like Hans Holbein's famous portrait of Anne of Cleves (Henry's fourth wife who was actually somewhat more homely than the painter depicted). In costume Lanchester was charming if not striking. Her interpretation of Anne was a perfect integration with herself, and her scene with Laughton informally playing cards on the marriage bed and deciding on annulment is a high point of the movie.
Of course, it would be hard to mention her film career of the 1930s without mentioning the one role that would forever dog her, Bride of Frankenstein (1935). Having come to Hollywood with Laughton in 1932 (but not permanently until 1939), Lanchester did only a few films up to 1935 and was disappointed enough with Hollywood's reception to return to London for a respite. She was quickly called back by an old friend from London, stage and film associate James Whale, now the noted director of Frankenstein (1931) and The Invisible Man (1933). He wanted her for two parts in Bride: author Mary Shelley and the bride. A central joke of the movie build-up was the tag lines: "WHO will be The Bride of Frankenstein? WHO will dare?"
Indeed, it was no honeymoon for her. For some ten days, Lanchester was wrapped in yards of bandage and covered in heavy makeup. The stand-on-end hairdo was accomplished by combing it over a wire mesh cage. Lanchester was in real agony with her eyes kept taped wide open for long takes - and it showed in her looks of horror. Her monster's screaming and hissing sounds (based on the sounds of Regents Park swans in London) were taped and then run backward to spook-up the effect. She was delightfully melodramatic and picturesque as Wollstonecraft, and her bride would become iconic. Many have considered Bride of Frankenstein (1935) the best of the golden age horror movies.
Lanchester stood out in her next movie with Laughton the next year, Korda's dark Rembrandt (1936), but she only did a few more films for the remainder of the decade. Through the 1940s she was doubly busy - a couple of films per year while regenerating her beloved musical revue sketches. She performed for 10 years at the Turnabout Theater in Hollywood, using old London music hall/cabaret songs and others written for her. Later she would have to split her time further doing a similar act at a supper club called The Bar of Music. By the later 1940s she had become rather matronly, and the roles would settle appropriately. But she always lent her sparkle, as with her charming maid Matilda in The Bishop's Wife (1947). She would be nominated for best supporting actress in Come to the Stable (1949).
She entered the 1950s busy with road touring of her nightclub act with pianist J. Raymond Henderson (who went by "Ray" and who is sometimes confused with popular songwriter Ray Henderson). There was a series of tours to complement Laughton's famous reading tours, called Elsa Lanchester's Private Music Hall which ended in 1952; Elsa Lanchester--Herself which ended in 1961; and once more in 1964 at the Ivar Theater. She was equally busy with a stock of film roles and a large share of TV playhouse theater. She made ten movies with Laughton, the last of which, Witness for the Prosecution (1957) garnered her second supporting actress nomination. But her dizzy Aunt Queenie Holroyd of Bell Book and Candle (1958) is a fond remembrance of that time.
With the two decades from the 1960s to early 1980s, Lanchester was a fixture on episodic TV and an institution in Disney and G-rated fare - perhaps a bit ironic for the unconventional Lanchester. She wrote two autobiographies: "Charles Laughton and I" (1938) and "Elsa Lanchester: Herself" (1983), both recalling her nearly 100 roles before the camera. Lanchester remained humorously reflective in regard to her film career, describing it as "...large parts in lousy pictures and small parts in big pictures." It was the mix of silly, bawdy, and outrageous in her revues that was her great joy: "I was content because I was fully aware that I did not like straight acting but preferred performing direct to an audience. You might call what I do vaudeville. Making a joke, especially impromptu, and getting a big laugh is just plain heaven."Elsa Sullivan Lanchester
ESL- Actress
- Producer
- Director
Juliet Landau is an actress, director, producer and writer. As an actress, highlights include her role as "Drusilla" on Joss Whedon 's Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997) & spin-off Angel (1999), and co-starring in Tim Burton's Ed Wood (1994) as "Loretta King". She played the recurring role of Rita Tedesco on Amazon's number one series, Bosch (2014) in season 5. She's recurring as "Cordelia" on TNT's Claws (2017) .
Juliet just helmed her visionary feature film directorial debut, A Place Among the Dead (2020). Modern Films is distributing it worldwide. Release date is Nov, 9th, 2020. Starring Juliet Landau with Gary Oldman, Ron Perlman, Robert Patrick, Lance Henriksen, Joss Whedon and Anne Rice (appearing for the first time ever in a movie).
Also in the works and partially completed is The Undead Series (2016). Think Jerry Seinfeld's Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee (2012)... This is Vampires in Coffins Getting Blood!... The only series ever to gather the A-list of the genre together. Every one of the talented artists in A Place Among the Dead (2020) came back to participate in her series, as did Tim Burton, Willem Dafoe and many other notables.
Other acting work includes starring opposite Whoopi Goldberg in Theodore Rex (1995) as well as starring in over 20 other films, appearing in many more, guest-starring frequently on television, extensive voiceover work in features, tv, video games and garnering rave reviews for her roles in the theater.
Juliet's previous directorial efforts include two short subjects. Take Flight: Gary Oldman Directs Chutzpah (2009). explored Gary Oldman's creative process and was produced by Gary. Dream Out Loud featured interviews with Guillermo del Toro, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Rian Johnson. Both projects were produced with her husband Deverill Weekes, under the Miss Juliet Productions banner.
Landau co-wrote two issues of the Angel (1999) comic book for IDW Publishing . She is now penning the companion coffee table book to The Undead Series (2016) called Book Of The Undead.Juliet Rose Landau
JRL- Actress
- Writer
Natalie Lander was born in Los Angeles, California, USA. She is an actress and writer, known for The Middle (2009), 13 Reasons Why (2017) and 9-1-1: Lone Star (2020). She has been married to Jared Hillman since 3 September 2017.Natalie Jenette Lander
NJL- Actress
- Soundtrack
Elissa Landi was born in Venice, Italy on December 6, 1904. From an early age, she wanted to be an actress and writer. Her acting career started at the Oxford Repertory Company and on London's West End performing with actors such as Laurence Olivier and John Gielgud. She played Desdemona in "Othello" and appeared in plays with and by Noel Coward (most notably "Blithe Spirit, in which she was forced to enter through the fireplace when the door jammed). She made her London debut in "The Storm," which lasted for five months and for which she received rave reviews for her performances. That led to meaty leads in "Lavendar Ladies" and other plays. European film producers took notice of the photogenic beauty, and Elissa starred in eight films over the next two years. Her first film was the German-made Synd (1928). Her career didn't impress critics, though, until she played Anthea Dane in The Price of Things (1930). She felt that she would make more headway in the U.S., so she went to New York in 1931 to star in the stage version of "A Farewell to Arms." Although the play made no huge impression, Hollywood sat up and took notice, and she soon appeared in Body and Soul (1931) opposite Charles Farrell. However, it wasn't until Cecil B. DeMille's biblical epic The Sign of the Cross (1932) that many moviegoers got their first glimpse of Elissa, and they were enthralled, although she was among such heavyweight stars as Claudette Colbert, Fredric March, Charles Laughton, and Vivian Tobin. Completed in under eight weeks, the film was a smash hit. After A Passport to Hell (1932) and Devil's Lottery (1932), Elissa scored again in The Warrior's Husband (1933), a film about the intrigues and intricacies of the old Roman Empire that starred Marjorie Rambeau and Ernest Truex. In 1934 Elissa co-starred with Robert Donat in the classic The Count of Monte Cristo (1934). The next year saw Elissa as world-class singer Lisa Robbia, (singing voice dubbed by Nina Koshetz) in Enter Madame! (1934) with Cary Grant, the era's greatest leading man. In Cary Grant's biography, he mentions seeing Elissa at a typewriter, pursuing her other passion, writing, between takes throughout the filming process. After a mediocre role in Mad Holiday (1936), Elissa had a better part as the tormented Selma Landis in the hit After the Thin Man (1936), the second film in the series. She appeared in only three movies after that, the last being the low-budget Corregidor (1943) for bottom-of-the-barrel Producers Releasing Corporation. When that picture was completed, Elissa left films behind and concentrated on writing; she produced six novels and poetry volumes. After Hollywood she concentrated on Broadway, regional theater, and summer stock near Kingston, New York, where she lived with her husband Curtis Thomas and their daughter. Elissa succumbed to cancer on October 21, 1948 at just 43 years old.Elisabeth Marie Christine Kuhnelt
EMCK- Actress
- Writer
- Soundtrack
Carole Landis was born on New Year's Day in 1919 in Fairchild, Wisconsin, as Frances Lillian Mary Ridste. Her father, a railroad mechanic, was of Norwegian descent and her mother was Polish. Her father walked out, leaving Carole, her mother and an older brother and sister to fend for themselves.
After graduating from high school, she married Jack Robbins (Irving Wheeler), but the union lasted a month (the marriage was annulled because Carole was only 15 at the time). The couple remarried in August 1934, and the two headed to California to start a new life. For a while she worked as a dancer and singer, but before long the glitter of show business drew her to Los Angeles.
She won a studio contract with Warner Brothers but was a bit player for the most part in such films as A Star Is Born (1937), A Day at the Races (1937), and The Emperor's Candlesticks (1937). The following year started out much the same way, with more bit roles. By 1939, she was getting a few speaking roles, although mostly one-liners, and that year ended much as had the previous two years, with more bit roles; also, she and Wheeler were divorced.
In 1940 she was cast as Loana in the Hal Roach production of One Million B.C. (1940); she finally got noticed (the skimpy outfit helped), and her career began moving. She began getting parts in B pictures but didn't star in big productions -- although she had talent, the really good roles were given to the established stars of the day.
Her busiest year was 1942, with roles in Manila Calling (1942), The Powers Girl (1943), A Gentleman at Heart (1942), and three other movies. Unfortunately, critics took little notice of her films, and when they did, reviewers tended to focus on her breathtaking beauty. By the middle 1940s, Carole's career was beginning to short-circuit. Her contract with 20th Century-Fox had been canceled, her marriages to Willis Hunt Jr. and Thomas Wallace had failed, and her current marriage to Horace Schmidlapp was on the skids; all of that plus health problems spelled disaster for her professionally and personally.
Her final two films, Brass Monkey (1948) and The Silk Noose (1948) were released in 1948. On July 5, 1948, Carole committed suicide by taking an overdose of Seconal in her Brentwood Heights, California, home. She was only 29 and had made 49 pictures, most of which were, unfortunately, forgettable. If Hollywood moguls had given Carole a chance, she could have been one of the brightest stars in its history.Frances Lillian Mary Ridste
FLMR- Jessie Royce Landis was called "an international star" in her New York Times obituary. She was 20 when she made her stage debut at the Playhouse in Chicago as the young countess in "The Highwayman". Soon she was on Broadway. In 1950 she went to London for "Larger Than Life", a dramatization of W. Somerset Maugham's novel, "Theatre". There she received an award for the best performance of the year. The following year in London she had the prima donna role (a singing part) in "And So To Bed". In 1954, she published her autobiography, "You Won't Be So Pretty". Then in the mid-1950s her film career took off after she was Grace Kelly's mother in To Catch a Thief (1955) and Cary Grant's mother in North by Northwest (1959). Although she claimed to have been born the same year as Grant, she was actually more than seven years older.Jessie Medbury
JM - Margaret Landis was born on 31 August 1891 in Nashville, Tennessee, USA. She was an actress, known for Amarilly of Clothes-Line Alley (1918), What Wives Want (1923) and Alice Adams (1923). She was married to J. Hamilton Couper and Bertram Bracken. She died on 8 April 1981 in Oakland, California, USA.Margaret Cullen Landis
MCL - Tall, leggy and extremely well-built statuesque blonde actress Laurene Landon has enlivened a bunch of hugely enjoyable movies with her spunky energy, physical dexterity, bubbly, upbeat personality and considerable sex appeal. She often portrays tough, two-fisted, no-nonsense action heroines with a winning blend of fiery aplomb and cheerful good humor.
Born as Laurene Landon Coughlin in Toronto, Canada, Landon's family moved to the United States when she was four. The 5'9" Landon starred as "Molly", one of two female wrestlers, who are managed by 'Peter Falk', in Robert Aldrich's uproariously raucous comedy, ...All the Marbles (1981). The fiercely athletic and aggressive Landon also performed a lion's share of her own stunts in the film. Landon was very funny as a daffy stewardess in Airplane II: The Sequel (1982) and was excellent as Mike Hammer's loyal secretary "Velda" in I, the Jury (1982). Laurene was especially strong and impressive in two delightful action/adventure features for director Matt Cimber: she's the titular rugged warrior woman in Hundra (1983) and a gutsy half-Native American spitfire in Yellow Hair and the Fortress of Gold (1984). Landon was once again, on the money, effective and engaging as courageous policewoman "Teresa Mallory" in the terrific Maniac Cop (1988) and its superior 1990 sequel, Maniac Cop 2 (1990). After a regrettably lengthy absence from acting, Laurene made a return to screen with a sizable co-starring part in the Masters of Horror (2005) episode, Pick Me Up (2006).
Outside of acting, Laurene Landon writes scripts in her spare time and is an award-winning gold medal lyricist, who authored rap music for an L.A. Metro Transit Authority video.Laurene Landon Coughlin
LLC - Actress
- Soundtrack
Singer and actress Abbe Lane made a splash in the 50s and 60s with revealing costumes and a seductive style of dancing. Far removed from her sultry Latin image, she was born Abigail Francine Lassman in Brooklyn, of Jewish parentage. Abbe began performing on radio from the age of four and first appeared on screen two years later (under her birth name) in the Vitaphone featurette Toyland Casino (1938), warbling "Five and Ten Cent Soldiers on Parade". Billed as Abbe Marshall --probably in deference to her father's first name 'Abbey'-- she became a hoofer on Broadway by her mid-teens (having lied about her age to get into musicals), before finagling a gig on television as a vocalist for bandleader Vincent Lopez. While performing a calypso number in the 1948 Broadway musical As Girls Go, she was spotted by the charismatic Spanish maestro Xavier Cugat and hired on the spot. For the next few years, she became 'Cugie's' featured vocalist and the 'Rumba King's' star attraction.
Despite a considerable difference in their respective ages (he was thirty-two years her senior), Lane and Cugat married in 1952. During their twelve years together, Lane sang on several Cugat LP's and was featured --with her hair dyed blonde-- on the cover of "The Best of Cugat", a compendium of hits released by Mercury Records. In 1958, Abbe co-starred on Broadway opposite Tony Randall in Oh, Captain, a musical comedy based on the English motion picture The Captain's Paradise (1953). She also sidelined as a nightclub singer, recorded a popular album with Tito Puente's orchestra, entitled "Be Mine Tonight" and appeared in a handful of Hollywood pictures.
Frustrated with being typecast in American films merely as "a decorative accessory", Lane joined Cugat in Italy in 1956 and enjoyed almost immediate screen success. Her first motion picture lead was in I girovaghi (1956), as a fiery dancer who enchants Peter Ustinov's itinerant puppeteer. The following year, she partnered Gabriele Ferzetti (as a suave jewel thief) in the caper comedy Parola di ladro (1957) and starred alongside Totò and Vittorio De Sica in another comedy, The Lady Doctor (1957). Aside from romances and musicals, Lane also featured in peplum (Caesar Against the Pirates (1962)) and as the tempestuous ex-flame of daredevil fire fighter Cornel Wilde (who also directed) in the Paramount love-triangle melodrama Maracaibo (1958), which was filmed on location in Venezuela.
In 1956, Cugat returned to New York while his spouse opted to remain in Italy. The bandleader had no intention of raising a family and this ultimately led to the couple's divorce in June 1964. Lane did not stay single for long. By November, she had moved back to America and married Harvard graduate and Hollywood theatrical agent Perry Leff. The union produced two sons and endured until Leff's death in 2020.
Though unable to reignite her career as an actress, Lane went on to appear as panelist or singer on numerous TV variety shows throughout the 60s and 70s, hosted by the era's most prominent emcees, including Ed Sullivan, Steve Allen, David Frost, Jack Paar, Merv Griffin and Johnny Carson. In her later years, Lane tended to distance herself from her previous sensual image. In January 1993, she published a semi-autobiographical novel, entitled But Where is Love?, a thinly-veiled account of her early career and turbulent marriage to Cugat.
Abbe Lane has a star on the Walk of Fame on Hollywood Boulevard.Abigail Francine Lassman
AFL- Leone Lane was born on 17 November 1908 in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. She was an actress, known for The River of Romance (1929), The Case of Lena Smith (1929) and Stairs of Sand (1929). She died on 28 March 1993 in Los Angeles, California, USA.Leone Hallie Lane
LHL - Actress
- Soundtrack
Priscilla Lane attended the Eagin School of Dramatic Arts in New York before she began touring with her sisters in the Fred Waring and the Pennsylvanians Dance Band. She was a popular singer with her sisters and, after 5 years, she was signed to a Hollywood contract with Warner Brothers in 1937. Her first film was Varsity Show (1937) where she had the hard task of portraying a singer with the Fred Waring Band. Priscilla was to play the nice girl against the temperamental star played by her sister Rosemary Lane. Over the years, Priscilla would play an assortment of girlfriends, daughters and fiancees. She would team with her two sisters, Rosemary Lane and Lola Lane, to make a series of dramas beginning with the film Four Daughters (1938). That film would be the one that made John Garfield a star. In most of her films, all Priscilla had to do was to look attractive and give a good supporting performance. Priscilla would also co-star with Wayne Morris in three 1938 releases. In The Roaring Twenties (1939), she would play the girlfriend of James Cagney. In Arsenic and Old Lace (1944), which was released 3 years after it was filmed, she would play the fiancee of Cary Grant. When Alfred Hitchcock was unable to get Barbara Stanwyck, he cast Priscilla in Saboteur (1942) where she was on the run with the hero. By that time, her movie career was almost finished and she would appear in just a couple of films over the next five years before retiring in 1948.Priscilla Mullican
PM- Barbara Lang was born on 8 April 1937 in New York City, New York, USA. She is an actress, known for Weird Science (1985), Soap (1977) and Charlie's Angels (1976).Barbara Jean Bly
BJB - Actress
- Soundtrack
This approachable blue-eyed blonde with a striking, open-faced beauty had a very encouraging career going for her in 30s Hollywood but extenuating circumstances hurt her chances in the long run. In less than a decade and a half June Lang was out of pictures altogether (after appearing in over 30) and therein was glimpsed here and there on TV and commercials until her full retirement. Although June never lost her stunning looks and vivacity, she never managed to return, although she indeed contemplated it from time to time.
Born in Minneapolis, Minnesota as Winifred June Vlasek on May 5, 1917, June was encouraged to perform at a young age. Dancing at school functions and local amateur Elks Club events from age five, her family moved to Hollywood when she was around seven. There the child joined up with the "Meglin Kiddies" revues and performed with the outfit in various vaudeville shows. Attending the Hollywood Professional School, she matured quickly and began finding jobs in various chorus lines, including one at the Orpheum Theatre. The thirteen-year-old was even cast in the show "Temptations of 1930" after convincing the dance director she was 18.
June made an inauspicious debut in pictures as an extra in Young Sinners (1931) and was again unbilled in Barbara Stanwyck's The Miracle Woman (1931) and Janet Gaynor's Daddy Long Legs (1931). Fox Studios took an interest in her after the director of She Wanted a Millionaire (1932), John G. Blystone, saw bright promise in June after she performed a brief swimming pool bit. Given her first speaking role, a featured femme part, in Chandu the Magician (1932) starring Edmund Lowe and a scene-stealing Bela Lugosi, June's career began a steady incline.
Billed as June Vlasek at first and seen prominently in such films as The Man Who Dared (1933) and I Loved You Wednesday (1933), June received the second femme lead role in the plush yet whimsical, operetta-styled Music in the Air (1934) top-lining John Boles and Gloria Swanson, who played a temperamental Teutonic diva. Adapted from the 1932 Broadway show with a Billy Wilder screenplay and songs composed and written by Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II, second lead ingénues June (now billed June Lang) and her partner Douglass Montgomery actually received more focus than the stars. June followed this with the Hal Roach-produced Laurel and Hardy comedy Bonnie Scotland (1935). She would work again with Hardy in his solo movie effort Zenobia (1939).
Fox did not renew June's contract in 1935 after production chief Winifield Sheehan, who had taken a professional interest in June, left the studio. Yet within a year she was back in the fold when the new studio casting director spotted her dancing at The Trocadero Club. June made one of her most impressive films at Fox in 1936, the war-themed The Road to Glory (1936) with the 19-year-old playing opposite the more-seasoned Fredric March and Warner Baxter. In addition to such regular fare as The Country Doctor (1936), which showcased the newsworthy Dionne Quintuplets, and Ali Baba Goes to Town (1937), in which she played a beautiful princess, June is perhaps best remembered for her co-starring roles in two Shirley Temple hearttuggers: Captain January (1936), in which she played a schoolteacher, and Wee Willie Winkie (1937), in which she portrayed Shirley's widowed mother. As fate would have it, the extremely photogenic June was relegated primarily to decorative roles in "B" films for the most part, but she tried to make the most of it until fate intervened and the beginning of the end began to show itself.
Fox sent June to England in 1938 to film So This Is London (1939) but the threat of war there so terrified her that she abandoned the set and returned home. Fox quickly ended her contract for making that choice. Worse yet, a disastrous and ill-conceived 1939 marriage to handsome Chicago mobster Johnny Roselli tarnished her Hollywood reputation completely. Roselli later became pals with film producer Bryan Foy and was brought into Foy's minor company, Eagle Lion Studios, to serve as a producer of a few gangster movies.
Although June maintained that she was initially naive to her husband's mob-related activities and the couple did eventually divorced in 1943 (Roselli was indicted and convicted of racketeering during their marriage and later found murdered amid controversy in 1976 at age 71), her career never recovered from such bad press. 1941 and 1942 were her last productive years as a "B" co-star with the "Poverty Row" offerings Too Many Women (1942), The Deadly Game (1941) and City of Silent Men (1942) most representative of what she was handed.
She made fleeting appearances after that, some of which were unbilled, and ended her movie career passively with the second-string programmers Three of a Kind (1944) Lighthouse (1947). TV appearances were sporadic come the 1950s and early 1960s. She was the on-the-air "telephone girl" for a local Los Angeles talk show for a time, pitched products on TV, and also served as a photo model before she gracefully left the limelight altogether.
June's first brief marriage (1937-1938) was to playboy agent-turned-producer Victor M. Orsatti). A third marriage to Lt. William Morgan in 1944 produced her only child, Patricia (she suffered a miscarriage earlier). The marriage to Morgan, who later became a businessman, ended bitterly in 1954 and June never remarried. In later years both her mother and daughter lived with her in her North Hollywood home. Daughter Patricia dedicated her life to working with handicapped children, at one time working for the Lowman School in the Los Angeles valley area. June died shortly after her 88th birthday and was buried at Forest Lawn Cemetary in Los Angeles.Winifred June Vlasek
WJV- Actress
- Soundtrack
One of the most natural beauties of the 1960s with a gentle voice and personality to match, blonde Hope Lange was born in Redding Ridge, Connecticut, and performed on stage from the age of nine. She studied both drama and dance under Martha Graham, did some modeling and then worked in stock companies and on television, dancing on Jackie Gleason shows. She acted in just a handful of motion pictures, garnering an Academy Award nomination for one, and later won two Emmys for her best-loved role on television.
Hope was one of four children of an actress mother, upon whose shoulders fell the responsibility of supporting the family after the premature death of her father, the composer/arranger John Lange, at age 61 in 1942. Along with her siblings, she worked as a waitress in the family's Greenwich Village restaurant, 'Minette's of Washington Square'. By chance, she made the acquaintance of Eleanor Roosevelt, who owned an apartment in the village, and ended up walking the former First Lady's prized Scotch terrier, Fala. This got her photo into a newspaper, which, in turn, led to an advertising job with pictures on the June 1949 cover of 'Radio-Electronics', sporting the futuristic red 'Man from Mars' pith helmet with built-in radio. Still just fifteen years old, Hope spent the next two years at college in Oregon and New York, then found her first job in television and was subsequently signed by 20th Century-Fox.
After successful screen tests, Lange made her motion picture debut in Bus Stop (1956) (Barbara Eden was one of her competitors for the part) opposite Marilyn Monroe and husband-to-be Don Murray. Even the great Marilyn was said to have felt a little threatened by another blonde who was not only beautiful but five years younger and could act as well. After playing the wife of the titular character in The True Story of Jesse James (1957), a picture which she later referred to as a 'turkey', Lange was cast as the fragile Selena Cross in the melodramatic but good-looking soap opera Peyton Place (1957). This movie was regarded as risqué and controversial at the time, dealing with previously taboo subjects such as rape and incest. For her part of the abused girl, raped by her alcoholic stepfather, whom she finally kills in self-defense, Lange received an Academy Award nomination.
The glossy production values of The Best of Everything (1959), a film about ambitious New York career women working in a magazine publishing house, overshadowed most of the character development. However, Lange (who was billed above the established star Joan Crawford) was dealt with most favorably by the critics. According to Bosley Crowther of The New York Times: "Simply because she has the most to do, and does it gracefully, Miss Lange comes off best' (October 9,1959). The following decade was to be a period of mixed fortunes for Hope Lange.
In 1961, Lange began a long-standing relationship with fellow actor Glenn Ford and left husband Don Murray. Ford, in his dual role of star and associate producer, put pressure on director Frank Capra to cast Lange as the female lead in his next motion picture, the whimsical Damon Runyon-inspired comedy Pocketful of Miracles (1961), even though Shirley Jones had already been assigned to the role. Capra reluctantly gave way, though Hope Lange was likely miscast as the wisecracking showgirl. Lange again co-starred with Ford in the glossy romantic melodrama Love Is a Ball (1963), wherein acting took a back seat to sumptuous costumes and the French Riviera. On the negative side of the ledger, Lange had unsuccessfully auditioned for the part of Maria in West Side Story (1961), which ultimately went to Natalie Wood. Instead, she was cast as Elvis Presley's psychiatrist in Wild in the Country (1961), which was generally panned by critics, except for Variety singling out her performance above the rest as 'intelligent' and 'sensitive'. Lange was also slated to appear as love interest to George Peppard in How the West Was Won (1962), but her scenes ended up on the cutting room floor.
Turning increasingly towards television, Hope Lange achieved her most lasting fame as the popular star of the amiable sitcom The Ghost & Mrs. Muir (1968) as a widow who (with two kids and a housekeeper) takes up residence in a quaint cottage also inhabited by the cantankerous ghost of a sea captain (Edward Mulhare). The show ran for three seasons and Lange won two Emmy Awards for Outstanding Continued Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Comedy Series (1969 and 1970). In her only other recurring TV role, she played Dick Van Dyke's wife in The New Dick Van Dyke Show (1971), but with less rewarding results. She received good notices for portraying Charles Bronson's dying wife, the victim of the original Death Wish (1974) and its raison d'etre. She then acted primarily on television, with few exceptions, including Blue Velvet (1986) and Clear and Present Danger (1994) as a U.S. senator. In 1977, she replaced Tony Award-winning Ellen Burstyn in the starring role of Doris in 'Same Time, Next Year' on Broadway.
In the early '90s, Lange underwent surgery for a brain tumour. While the operation was successful, her health remained precarious and she limited her screen appearances, retiring altogether in 1998. She died of an intestinal infection in December 2003, aged 70.Hope Elise Ross Lange
HERL- Actress
- Producer
- Soundtrack
Jessica Lange was born in 1949, in Cloquet, Minnesota, USA, where her father worked as a traveling salesman. She obtained a scholarship to study art at the University of Minnesota, but instead went to Paris to study drama. She moved to New York, working as a model, until producer Dino De Laurentiis cast her as the female lead in King Kong (1976). The film attracted much unfavorable comment and, as a result, Lange was off the screen for three years. She was given a small but showy part in Bob Fosse's All That Jazz (1979), before giving a memorable performance in Bob Rafelson's The Postman Always Rings Twice (1981), as an adulterous waitress. The following year, she won rave reviews for her exceptional portrayal of actress Frances Farmer in Frances (1982) and a Best Supporting Actress Academy Award for her work in Sydney Pollack's Tootsie (1982) (as a beautiful soap-opera actress). She was also outstanding as country singer Patsy Cline in Karel Reisz's Sweet Dreams (1985) and as a lawyer who defends her father and discovers his past in Music Box (1989). Other important films include Martin Scorsese's Cape Fear (1991) (as a frightened housewife) and Tony Richardson's Blue Sky (1994), for which she won a Best Actress Academy Award as the mentally unbalanced wife of a military officer. She made her Broadway debut in 1992, playing "Blanche" in Tennessee Williams "A Streetcar Named Desire".Jessica Phyllis Lange
JPL- Actress
- Writer
- Producer
Heather Langenkamp was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA. She got her start in acting when she was cast as an extra in the Francis Ford Coppola films The Outsiders (1983) and Rumble Fish (1983), which were both filmed in Tulsa. Her scenes were deleted from the final cut of both films. While studying at Stanford University, she rose to international prominence when Wes Craven cast her as Nancy Thompson in A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984). After a string of television guest appearances, she returned as Nancy in the 1987 sequel A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors (1987). Subsequently, she became known for her role as the moralistic Marie Lubbock on the ABC television series Just the Ten of Us (1987), a spin-off of the popular ABC situation comedy Growing Pains (1985) (on which she guest-starred), from 1988 to 1990. In 1994, she portrayed fictionalized versions of herself in New Nightmare (1994) and the figure skater Nancy Kerrigan in Tonya & Nancy: The Inside Story (1994). The following year, she had a supporting role as the reporter Christy Carruthers in the horror film The Demolitionist (1995). She served as executive producer and narrator for the documentary Never Sleep Again: The Elm Street Legacy (2010), followed by roles in The Butterfly Room (2012), Star Trek Into Darkness (2013), and Truth or Dare (2017). She has since starred in a variety of independent films. She co-owns AFX Studio, a company responsible for the special effects for films such as Dawn of the Dead (2004) and The Cabin in the Woods (2011). She has been married to David LeRoy Anderson since 1990. They have two children. She was previously married to Alan Pasqua.Heather Elizabeth Langenkamp
HEL- Allison Joy Langer was born in Columbus, Ohio. At age 5, her family moved to the San Fernando Valley, just outside of Los Angeles, where she attended Granada Hills High School. She first began using her initials to join an all-boys baseball team, and the nickname stuck. She was introduced to Ernie Lively, who became her acting coach.
After roles on television shows, including Drexell's Class (1991) (which starred a then-unknown Brittany Murphy), Coach (1989), and The Wonder Years (1988), she gained international fame on the series My So-Called Life (1994) as Rayanne Graff. Though a critical hit, the series was canceled after only 19 episodes, and Langer moved on to several more short-run series. She married Charles Peregrine Courtenay, a practicing attorney and British peer, son of the 18th Earl of Devon. When her husband became the 19th Earl of Devon, she became the Countess of Devon. She had taken several years off to raise the couple's two children, but, in 2011, she returned to acting and joined the cast of Private Practice (2007).
In January 2014, she permanently relocated to London with her husband and children.Allison Joy Langer
AJL - Actress
- Music Department
- Writer
Frances Langford won fame on radio (primarily as Bob Hope's vocalist, later sparring comically with Don Ameche as "The Bickersons"), via recordings and in the movies. In spite of the fact that she played mostly in minor musicals (plus appearing occasionally in "A" productions, including Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942), This Is the Army (1943) and The Glenn Miller Story (1954)), she introduced major songs like "I'm in the Mood for Love" in Every Night at Eight (1935), "You are My Lucky Star" and "Broadway Rhythm" in Broadway Melody of 1936 (1935), Cole Porter's "Easy to Love" in Born to Dance (1936) and "Hooray for Hollywood" in Hollywood Hotel (1937).Julia Frances Langford
JFL- Susan Lanier is known for Einstein's God Model (2016).Susan Jean Engledow
SJE - Actress
- Producer
- Executive
Angela Lansbury was born in 1925 into a prominent family of the upper middle class living in the Regent's Park neighborhood of London. Her father was socialist politician Edgar Isaac Lansbury (1887-1935), a member of both the Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB) and the Labour Party. Edgar served as Honorary Treasurer of the East London Federation of Suffragettes (term 1915), and Mayor of Poplar (term 1924-1925). He was the second Communist mayor in British history, the first being Joe Vaughan (1878-1938). Lansbury's mother was Irish film actress Moyna Macgill (1895-1975), originally from Belfast. During the first five years of Angela's life, the Lansbury family lived in a flat located in Poplar. In 1930, they moved to a house located in the Mill Hill neighborhood of north London. They spend their weekends vacationing in a farm located in Berrick Salome, a village in South Oxfordshire.
In 1935, Edgar Lansbury died from stomach cancer. Angela reportedly retreated into "playing characters", as a coping mechanism to deal with the loss. The widowed Moyna Macgill soon became engaged to Leckie Forbes, a Scottish colonel. Moyna moved into his house in Hampstead.
From 1934 to 1939, Angela was a student at South Hampstead High School. During these years, she became interested in films.. She regularly visited the local cinema, and imagined herself in various roles. Angela learned how to play the piano, and received a musical education at the Ritman School of Dancing.
In 1940, Lansbury started her acting education at the Webber Douglas School of Singing and Dramatic Art, located in Kensington, West London. She made her theatrical debut in the school's production of the play "Mary of Scotland" (1933) by Maxwell Anderson (1888-1959). The play depicted the life of Mary, Queen of Scots (1542-1587, reigned 1542-1567), and Lansbury played one of the queen's ladies-in-waiting.
Also in 1940, Lansbury's paternal grandfather, George Lansbury, died from stomach cancer. When the Blitz started, Moyna Macgill had reasons to fear for the safety of her family and few remaining ties to England. Macgill moved to the United States to escape the Blitz, taking her three youngest children with her. Isolde was already a married adult, and was left behind in England.
Macgill secured financial sponsorship from American businessman Charles T. Smith. She and her children (including Angela) moved into Smith's house in Mahopac, New York, a hamlet in Putnam County. Lansbury was interested in continuing her studies, and secured a scholarship from the American Theatre Wing. From 1940 to 1942, Lansbury studied acting at the Feagin School of Dramatic Art, located in New York City. She appeared in performances organized by the school.
In 1942, Lansbury moved with her family to a flat located in Morton Street, Greenwich Village. She soon followed her mother in her theatrical tour of Canada. Lansbury secured her first paying job in Montreal, singing at the nightclub Samovar Club for a payment of 60 dollars per week. Lansbury was 16 years old at the time, but lied about her age and claimed to be 19 in order to be hired.
Lansbury returned to New York City in August, 1942, but Moyna Macgill soon moved herself and her family again. The family moved to Los Angeles, where Moyna was interested in resurrecting her film career. Their first home there was a bungalow in Laurel Canyon, a neighborhood in the Hollywood Hills.
Lansbury helped financially support her family by working for the Bullocks Wilshire department store in Los Angeles. Her weekly wages were only 28 dollars, but she had a secure income while her mother was unemployed. Through her mother, Lansbury was introduced to screenwriter John Van Druten (1901-1957), who had recently completed his script of "Gaslight" (1944). He suggested that young Lansbury would be perfect for the role of Nancy Oliver, the film's conniving cockney maid. This helped secure Lansbury's first film role at the age of 17, and a seven-year contract with the film studio Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. She earned 500 dollars per week, and chose to continue using her own name instead of a stage name.
In 1945, Lansbury married actor Richard Cromwell (1910-1960), who was 15 years older than she. The troubled marriage ended in a divorce in 1946. The former spouses remained friends until Cromwell's death.
In 1946, Lansbury started a romantic relationship with aspiring actor Peter Shaw (1918-2003), who was 7 years older than her. Shaw had recently ended his relationship with actress Joan Crawford (c. 1908-1977). The new couple started living together, while planning marriage. They wanted to be married in the United Kingdom, but the Church of England refused to marry two divorcees. They were married in 1949, in a Church of Scotland ceremony at St. Columba's Church, located in Knightsbridge, London. After their return to the United States, they settled into Lansbury's home in Rustic Canyon, Malibu. In 1951, both Lansbury and Shaw became naturalized citizens of the United States, while retaining their British citizenship.
Meanwhile, Lansbury continued appearing in MGM films. She appeared in 11 MGM films between 1945 and 1952. MGM at times loaned Lansbury to other film studios. She appeared in United Artists' "The Private Affairs of Bel Ami" (1947), and Paramount Pictures' "Samson and Delilah" (1949). In 1948, Lansbury made her debut in radio roles, followed by her television debut in 1950.
In 1952, Lansbury requested the termination of her contract with MGM, instead of its renewal. She felt unsatisfied with her film career as an MGM contract player. She then joined the East Coast touring productions of two former Broadway plays. By 1953, Lansbury had two children of her own and was also raising a stepson. She and her family moved into a larger house, located on San Vincente Boulevard in Santa Monica. In 1959, she and her family moved into a house in Malibu. The married couple were able to send their children to a local public school.
Meanwhile she continued her film career as a freelance actress, but continued to be cast in middle-aged roles. She regained her A-picture actress through well-received roles in the drama film "The Long, Hot Summer" (1958) and the comedy film "The Reluctant Debutante" (1958). She also appeared regularly in television roles, and became a regular on game show "Pantomime Quiz" (1947-1959).
In 1957, Lansbury made her Broadway debut in a performance of "Hotel Paradiso". The play was an adaptation of the 1894 "L'Hôtel du libre échange" ("Free Exchange Hotel"), written by Maurice Desvallières (1857-1926) and Georges Feydeau (1862-1921). Lansbury's role as "Marcel Cat" was critically well received. She continued appearing in Broadway over the next several years, most notably cast as the verbally abusive mother in "A Taste of Honey". She was cast as the mother of co-star Joan Plowright (1929-), who was only four years younger.
In the early 1960s, Lansbury was cast as an overbearing mother in "Blue Hawaii" (1961). The role of her son was played by Elvis Presley (1935-1977), who was only 10 years than her. The film was a box office hit, it finished as the 10th-top-grossing film of 1961 and 14th for 1962 on the "Variety" national box office survey. It gained Lansbury renewed fame, at a difficult point of her career.
Lansbury gained critical praise for a sympathetic role in the drama film "The Dark at the Top of the Stairs" (1960), and the role of a manipulative mother in the drama film "All Fall Down" (1962). Based on her success in "All Fall Down", she was cast in a similar role in the Cold War-themed thriller "The Manchurian Candidate" (1962). She was cast as Eleanor Iselin, the mother of her co-star Laurence Harvey (1928-1973), who was only 3 years younger than she. This turned out to be one of the most memorable roles in her career. She received critical acclaim and was nominated for a third time for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. The award was instead won by Patty Duke (1946-2016).
Lansbury made a comeback in the starring role of Mame Dennis in the musical "Mame" (1966), by Jerome Lawrence (1915-2004) and Robert Edwin Lee (1918-1994). The play was an adaptation of the novel "Auntie Mame: An Irreverent Escapade" (1955) by Patrick Dennis (1921-1976), and focused on the life and ideas of eccentric bohemian Mame Dennis. The musical received critical and popular praise, and Lansbury won her first Tony Award for Best Leading Actress in a Musical. Lansbury gained significant fame from her success, becoming a "superstar".
Her newfound fame led to other high-profile appearances by Lansbury. She starred in a musical performance at the 1968 Academy Awards ceremony, and co-hosted the 1968 Tony Awards. The Hasty Pudding Club, a social club for Harvard students. elected her "Woman of the Year" in 1968.
Lansbury's next theatrical success was in 1969 "The Madwoman of Chaillot" (1945) by Jean Giraudoux (1882-1944). The play concerns an eccentric Parisian woman's struggles with authority figures. Lansbury was cast in the starring role of 75-year-old Countess Aurelia, despite her actual age of 44. The show was well received and lasted for 132 performances. Lansbury won her second Tony Award for this role.
In 1970, Lansbury's Malibu home was destroyed in a brush fire. Lansbury and her husband decided to buy Knockmourne Glebe, an 1820s Irish farmhouse, located near the village of Conna in rural County Cork.
Her film career reached a new height. She was cast in the starring role of benevolent witch Eglantine Price in Disney's fantasy film "Bedknobs and Broomsticks" (1971). The film was a box-office hit; it was critically well received, and introduced Lansbury to a wider audience of children and families.
In 1972, Lansbury returned to the British stage, performing in London's West End with the Royal Shakespeare Company. In 1973, Lansbury appeared in the role of Rose in London performances of the musical "Gypsy" (1959) by Arthur Laurents. It was quite successful. In 1974, "Gypsy" went on tour in the United States. with the same cast. For her role, Lanbury won the Sarah Siddons Award and her third Tony Award. The musical had its second tour in 1975.
Tired from musicals. Lansbury next sought Shakespearean roles in the United Kingdom. From 1975 to 1976, she appeared as Queen Gertrude in the National Theatre Company's production of Hamlet. In November 1975, Lansbury's mother Moyna Macgill died at the age of 79. Lansbury arranged for her mother's remains to be cremated, and the ashes scattered near her own County Cork home.
In 1976, Lansbury returned to the American stage. In 1978, Lansbury temporarily replaced Constance Towers (1933-) in the starring role of Anna Leonowens (1831-1915) in The King and I. While Towers was on a break from the role, Lansbury appeared in 24 performances.
In 1978, Lansbury appeared in her first film role in seven years, as the novelist and murder victim Salome Otterbourne in the mystery film "Death on the Nile" (1978). The film was an adaptation of the 1937 novel by Agatha Christie (1890-1976); Otterbourne was loosely based on real-life novelist Elinor Glyn (1864-1943). The film was a modest box-office hit, and Lansbury befriended her co-star Bette Davis (1908-1989).
In 1979, Lansbury was cast in the role of meat pie seller Mrs. Lovett in the musical "Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street" (1979), by Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler (1912-1987). The musical was loosely based on the penny dreadful serial novel "The String of Pearls: A Domestic Romance" (1846-1847), which first depicted fictional serial killer Sweeney Todd. Lansbury remained in the role for 14 months, and was then replaced by Dorothy Loudon (1925-2003). Lansbury won her fourth Tony Award for this role. She returned to the role for 10 months in 1980.
Lansbury's next prominent film role was that of Miss Froy in "The Lady Vanishes" (1979), a remake of the 1938 film directed by Alfred Hitchcock (1899-1980). She was next cast in the role of amateur sleuth Miss Jane Marple in the mystery film "The Mirror Crack'd" (1980), an adaptation of the novel "The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side" (1962) by Agatha Christie. The novel was loosely inspired by the life of Gene Tierney (1920-1991). The film was a modest commercial success. There were plans for at least two sequels, but they ended in development hell.
In 1982, Lansbury was inducted into the American Theatre Hall of Fame, She appeared at the time in the new play "A Little Family Business" and a revival of "Mame", but both shows were commercial failures. In film, Lansbury voiced the witch Mommy Fortuna in the animated fantasy film "The Last Unicorn" (1982). The film was critically well received, but was not a box-office hit.
Lansbury played Ruth in the musical comedy "The Pirates of Penzance" (1983), a film adaptation of the 1879 comic opera by William Schwenck Gilbert (1836-1911) and Arthur Sullivan (1842-1900). The film was a box office bomb, earning about 695,000 dollars.
Lansbury's next film role was that of Granny in the gothic fantasy film "The Company of Wolves" (1984), based on a 1979 short story by Angela Carter (1940-1992). Lansbury was cast as the grandmother of protagonist Rosaleen (played by Sarah Patterson), in a tale featuring werewolves and shape-shifting. The film was critically well received, but barely broke even at the box office.
At about that time, Lansbury appeared regularly in television films and mini-series. Her most prominent television role was that of Jessica Fletcher in the detective series "Murder, She Wrote" (1984-1996). Jessica was depicted as a successful mystery novelist from Maine who encounters and solves many murders. The character was considered an American counterpart to Miss Marple. The series followed the "whodunit" format and mostly avoided depictions of violence or gore.
The series was considered a television landmark for having an older female character as the protagonist. It was aimed primarily at middle-aged audiences, but also attracted both younger viewers and senior citizen viewers. Ratings remained high for most of its run. Lansbury rejected pressure from network executives to put her character in a relationship, as she believed that Fletcher should remain a strong single female.
In 1989, Lansbury co-founded the production company Corymore Productions, which started co-producing the television series with Universal Television. This allowed Lansbury to have more creative input on the series. She was appointed an executive producer. By the time the series ended in 1996, it tied with the original "Hawaii Five-O" (1968-1980) as the longest-running detective drama series in television history.
Her popularity from "Murder, She Wrote" made Lansbury a much-sought figure for advertisers. She appeared in advertisements and infomercials for Bufferin, MasterCard and the Beatrix Potter Company.
Lansbury's highest-profile film role in decades was voicing the character of singing teapot Mrs. Potts in Disney's animated fantasy film "Beauty and the Beast" (1991). Lansbury performed the film's title song, which won the Academy Award for Best Original Song, the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song, and the Grammy Award for Best Song Written for a Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media.
During the late 1980s and 1990s, Lansbury lived most of the year in California. In 1991, she had Corymore House, a farmhouse at Ballywilliam, County Cork, built as her new family home. She spend Christmases and summers there.
Following the end of "Murder, She Wrote", Lansbury returned to a career as a theatrical actress. She temporarily retired from the stage in 2001, to take care of her husband Peter Shaw, whose health was failing. Shaw died in 2003, from congestive heart failure at the couple's Brentwood, California home. Their marriage had lasted for 54 years (1949-2003).
Lansbury felt at the time that she could not take on any more major acting roles, but that she could still make cameos. She moved back to New York City in 2006, buying a condominium in Manhattan. Her first prominent film role in years was that of Aunt Adelaide in the fantasy film "Nanny McPhee" (2005). She credits her performance in the film with pulling her out of depression, a state of mind which had lasted since her husband's death.
Lansbury returned to performing on the Broadway stage in 2007, after an absence of 23 years. In 2009, she won her fifth Tony Award. She shared the record for most Tony Award victories with Julie Harris (1925-2013). In the 2010s, she continued regularly appearing in theatrical performances. In 2014, she returned to the London stage, after an absence of nearly 40 years.
In 2015, Lansbury received her first Olivier Award for Best Supporting Actress. At age 89, she was among the oldest first-time winners. Also in 2015, November 2015 was awarded the Oscar Hammerstein Award for Lifetime Achievement in Musical Theatre.
In 2017, she was cast as Aunt March in the mini-series "Little Women". The mini-series was an adaptation of the 1868-1869 novel of the same name by Louisa May Alcott (1832-1888). The series lasted for 3 episodes, and was critically well received.
In 2018, Lansbury gained her next film role in Disney's fantasy film "Mary Poppins Returns" (2018), a sequel to "Mary Poppins". Lansbury was cast in the role of the Balloon Lady, a kindly old woman who sells balloons at the park. The films was a commercial hit, earning about 350 million dollars at the worldwide box office.
In 2019, Lansbury performed at a one-night benefit staging of Oscar Wilde's play "The Importance of Being Earnest" (1895). a farce satirizing Victorian morals. She was cast in the role of society lady Lady Bracknell, mother to Gwendolen Fairfax.
By 2020, Lansbury was 95 years old, one of the oldest-living actresses. She has never retired from acting, and remains a popular icon.Angela Brigit Lansbury
ABL- Actress
- Soundtrack
Joi Lansing was born Joyce Renee Brown on April 6, 1929 in Salt Lake City, Utah. As a teen she developed early, and because of her striking good looks, she began to model and was extremely successful throughout the 1940s.
It was only natural that her physical assets eventually landed her on the silver screen. Her first go at films occurred in 1948 with roles as--what else?--models in The Counterfeiters (1948), Julia Misbehaves (1948), and Easter Parade (1948). She was 20 years old and her acting wasn't exactly polished in the beginning, but producers cared not--she was hired for her looks and her body.
The following year brought more of the same; she got mostly uncredited roles in films as nothing more than a showpiece. She took a hiatus in 1950 to concentrate on her modeling career. She returned to the big screen in 1951 to play minor roles, though this time went a little better. She played Susan Matthews in F.B.I. Girl (1951) and Marilyn Turner in On the Riviera (1951); at least she played characters with names. Then it was back to being a showpiece. In 1952, she had an uncredited role in one of the most popular movies of all time, Singin' in the Rain (1952). Another minor role as the Maxim Girl in The Merry Widow (1952) followed. She began appearing on television in 1955 when she played in an episode of Adventures of Wild Bill Hickok (1951) and one of I Love Lucy (1951) the following year.
In 1955, Joi landed a recurring role as Shirley Swanson in the television series The Bob Cummings Show (1955). It was this series that proved to all that she actually could act well. Because of this series, she began to get more-substantial parts in films such as The Brave One (1956), Hot Cars (1956), and So You Think the Grass Is Greener (1956), all in 1956. Then it was back to bit roles. For the balance of the 1950s, she continued to appear in B-movies with less-than-quality roles. After appearing in the comedy film Who Was That Lady? (1960), Joi landed the role of Goldie in the television series Klondike (1960). However, most viewers remember her as the wife of Lester Flatt on the situation comedy The Beverly Hillbillies (1962), in which she appeared from 1965 to 1968. As Gladys Flatt, her beauty even surpassed Donna Douglas' as Elly May Clampett.
Her film career was now winding down and she appeared as Boots Malone in the B-movie Hillbillys in a Haunted House (1967), which went nowhere.
Joi Lansing died of breast cancer at age 43 on August 7, 1972 in Santa Monica, California.Joy Rae Brown
JRB- Actress
- Producer
Model, producer, actress, and award-winning rodeo barrel racer, Darcy LaPier is bringing all the glitz, grit, and glamour of the rodeo to reality TV in the A&E's hotly-anticipated, Rodeo Girls (2013) - set to premiere in Fall 2013. LaPier, the star and an Executive Producer of "Rodeo Girls" and the Weinstein Company are finally shining the spotlight on Cowboy- or in this case, Cowgirl- Rodeos" in A&E's newest original real-life series. Pre-production has commenced on the network's eight one-hour episode order, airing in December 2013.
After attending rodeos as a spectator with her father in her home state of Oregon, LaPier began her mission to learn barrel-racing after his death and would drive 125 miles one-way up to Washington to work with a trainer. La Pier trained hard to succeed in the rodeos and, in 2004, earned the most money as a rookie after just starting out in competition.
She now outrides and outdrives most any cowboy. LaPier sparkles when she's competing and has rightfully earned her place among the top barrel racers in the country. She trains tirelessly, driving her horse trailer from rodeo to rodeo and has suffered multiple debilitating injuries that are common with her sport.
A true rags-to-riches saga, LaPier's life has been part-fairytale, part-drama, and part-inspirational story. After leaving her small-town Oregon roots for Hollywood, LaPier quickly became a "Hawaiian Tropic" girl-turned Tabloid favorite, marrying "Hawaiian Tropic" founder Ron Rice, and later action film star, Jean-Claude Van Damme. But it was her third marriage to "Herbalife" founder Mark Hughes, which ultimately redirected her exit choice from the Hollywood scene. After Hughes met a tragic end within a year of their marriage, her love of the equine sports gave her comfort and coping skills during some very difficult years. On her ranch in Oregon with her family, La Pier transformed herself into one of the top 20 award-winning professional rodeo barrel racers in the country.
Whether Darcy LaPier is driving her 43 foot long semi-truck to the next rodeo, or parenting her 3 children, she remains the Hottest Cowgirl, a savvy businesswoman and she does it all (just as a pro-barrel racer does).....with grace, skill, and guts. Darcy's daughter, Sterling Rice, is in business college, her son Nicolas Van Damme is following in his parents' footsteps and is going into entertainment, while her younger daughter, Madison, does all the sports: soccer, gymnastics, volleyball and even barrel-racing.Darcy Lynn LaPier
DLP- French-born Francine Larrimore arrived in the United States as a child and first appeared on stage at the age of 12 in 'Where There's a Will' in 1910. A member of the Adler dynasty of actors (cousin of Luther, Stella and Jay Adler), she had her first major theatrical successes in the Rudolf Friml musical 'Sometime' (1918) and in the comedy 'Nice People'(1921), with Tallulah Bankhead and Katharine Cornell. She was best known for her portrayals of exuberant 'pouty girls', but she could also dance, had a good singing voice and a talent for delivering humorous lines. At the height of her theatrical fame in 1926, Francine created the role of Chicago showgirl Roxie Hart at the Music Box Theatre in New York (a part played on screen by Ginger Rogers in 1942). Her one significant foray into talking pictures, John Meade's Woman (1937), was poorly received and Francine promptly returned to the stage. Her last performance was in 'Temporarily, Mrs. Smith', in 1946. Her first husband was the well-known songwriter Con Conrad.Francine La Remee
FLR - Actress
- Producer
- Director
Brie Larson has built an impressive career as an acclaimed television actress, rising feature film star and emerging recording artist. A native of Sacramento, Brie started studying drama at the early age of 6, as the youngest student ever to attend the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco. She starred in one of Disney Channel's most watched original movies, Right on Track (2003), as well as the WB's Raising Dad (2001) and MGM's teen comedy Sleepover (2004) - all before graduating from middle school.
Brie's work includes the coming-of-age drama Tanner Hall (2009) and the dark comedy, Just Peck (2009), with Marcia Cross and Keir Gilchrist. She earned critical praise for her role in the independent feature, Remember the Daze (2007) (aka "The Beautiful Ordinary"), singled out by Variety as the "scene stealer" of the film, opposite Amber Heard and Leighton Meester.
Brie garnered considerable acclaim for her series regular role of "Kate", Toni Collette's sarcastic and rebellious daughter, in Showtime's breakout drama United States of Tara (2009), created by Academy Award-winning writer Diablo Cody and based on an original idea by Steven Spielberg.
She starred in The Trouble with Bliss (2011) opposite Michael C. Hall, playing a young girl out to seduce him while, in turn, teaching him more about his own life. She also starred in Universal's Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (2010) and Noah Baumbach's Greenberg (2010). In Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (2010), Brie played rock star "Envy Adams", former flame of Michael Cera, and in Greenberg (2010), she starred as a young temptress trying to flirt with Ben Stiller, a New Yorker traveling West to try to figure out his life.
In addition to her talents as an actress, Brie has simultaneously nurtured an ever-growing musical career. At 13, Brie landed her first record deal at Universal Records with Tommy Mottola, who signed her sight-unseen. Her first release in 2005 led to a nationwide tour.Brianne Sidonie Desaulniers
BSD- Actress
- Producer
- Music Department
Born in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, Ali began modeling at age thirteen, and traveled the world before moving to Los Angeles to study acting. Her first professional acting job was a role on the television series Chicago Sons (1997). She received her breakthrough in the high school football drama Varsity Blues (1999) which included her infamous whipped cream bikini scene. Roles in the horror films House on Haunted Hill (1999) and Final Destination (2000) further transitioned her career as an actress.
Acting alongside Colin Farrell, Larter starred in the Western comedy, American Outlaws (2001) which performed poorly at the box office. That year, she also starred as "Brooke Taylor Windham" in the comedy Legally Blonde (2001) with Reese Witherspoon.
Not happy with how things were going, Larter moved to New York in 2002 to reassess her life and career. She reprized her role as "Clear Rivers" in the sequel Final Destination 2 (2003) for which she received star billing. A year later, she made a cameo appearance as herself on the pilot to the HBO comedy drama Entourage (2004) and starred in Three Way (2004) as "Isobel Delano". She had a role in A Lot Like Love (2005) as "Gina."
Larter moved back to Los Angeles in 2006 where she auditioned for a role in the NBC sci-fi drama Heroes (2006). The pilot premiered on September 25, 2006 to successful ratings and many critics declaring it "the new Lost (2004)". The series ran for a total of 77 episodes in 4 Seasons when it was canceled due to diminishing ratings and high production costs. There has been interest in a mini-series or a movie to wrap up story lines.
During her time on Heroes (2006), Larter made several appearances on film. The first was the Bollywood film Marigold (2007) where she received a seven-figure salary. The movie was met with primarily negative reviews. She also starred in Resident Evil: Extinction (2007), part 3 of the popular film franchise based on the Capcom video games. She played "Claire Redfield", based on the video game character of the same name. The movie was a box office success tripling its production budget, albeit being a critical flop. Larter also appeared in the caveman comedy Homo Erectus (2007) which was released direct-to-DVD. The film co-starred Hayes MacArthur, an actor whom she was engaged to marry in December 2007.
In 2009, Larter starred opposite Beyoncé and Idris Elba in the thriller Obsessed (2009). The film opened at number one at the box office but was met with negative reviews, with some critics comparing it to Fatal Attraction (1987). It was also this year that Larter and MacArthur married in a small ceremony in Maine, among the guests was Larter's close friend, Amy Smart. The couple has two children.
She reprised her role as Claire Redfield in Resident Evil: Afterlife (2010) and Resident Evil: The Final Chapter (2016), directed by Paul W.S. Anderson.Alison Elizabeth Larter
AEL- Actress
- Writer
Eva LaRue grew up in California. At the age of 6 she began her show-business career. She starred in television commercials and sang many "jingles" for them. She still often sings at sports events and any other opportunities that arise. Eva likes to ride horses and has shown horses for over a decade. She also enjoys Tae Kwon Do. She's the oldest of three children. She loves acting and is well into her craft.Eva Maria LaRue
EML- Actress
- Producer
- Director
Sanaa Lathan is an actor, director, producer, and activist, well-known for starring in such hit films as LOVE & BASKETBALL, THE BEST MAN and BEST MAN HOLIDAY, BROWN SUGAR, ALIEN VS. PREDATOR, and NAPPILY EVER AFTER.
She recently made her feature directorial debut for Paramount Pictures' ON THE COME UP, based on the New York Times best-selling novel of the same name. Premiering at the Toronto film festival to stellar reviews. Currently streaming on Paramount Plus.
Coming soon: MACRO Films' YOUNG WILD AND FREE which premiered at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival.
She is currently starring in the 3rd season of the Emmy Award-winning HBO series Succession. For which she was nominated for an Emmy award.
Lathan can be seen starring in REPLAY, an episode of the Jordan Peele's remake of The Twilight Zoneon CBS All Access. She also stars in Showtime's The Affair and Fox's Shots Fired created by Gina Prince- Bythewood, and Rashid Johnson's Native Son on HBO.
Lathan is the voice of 'Donna Tubbs' on Fox's animated series Family Guy and The Cleveland Show, as well as the voice of 'Catwoman' in the DC animated series Harley Quinn.
On stage, Lathan was nominated for a Tony Award for her performance on Broadway in A RAISIN IN THE SUN and starred as 'Maggie the Cat' opposite James Earl Jones in the Olivier award winning revival of CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF at the Novello Theatre in London's West end.
Lathan made her directorial debut with the short film LEAP for Maven Pictures, which she shot during lock down, about a Zoom therapist who suffers from OCD and panic disorder. It premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival.
She also stars in Peacock's MAN: FINAL CHAPTERS limited series with the original cast for which she was nominated for an image award.
Later this year she will be starring in the Fox Searchlight film: SUPREMES AT EARL'S ALL YOU CAN EAT based on the book of the same name.
Her lengthy list of credits also includes Steven Soderbergh's CONTAGION, NOW YOU SEE ME 2, AMERICAN ASSASSIN and Focus feature's SOMETHING NEW.Sanaa McCoy Lathan
SML- Music Artist
- Actress
- Additional Crew
Cyndi Lauper was born on 22 June 1953 in Ozone Park, Queens, New York City, New York, USA. She is a music artist and actress, known for Cyndi Lauper: Girls Just Want to Have Fun (1983), Vibes (1988) and Mad About You (1992). She has been married to David Thornton since 24 November 1991. They have one child.Cynthia Ann Stephanie Lauper
CASL- Tammy Lauren was born on 16 November 1968 in San Diego, California, USA. She is an actress, known for Wishmaster (1997), Mork & Mindy (1978) and Homefront (1991). She has been married to Guri Weinberg since 31 January 1997.Tamara Lauren Vasquez
TLV - Actress
- Director
- Soundtrack
Piper Laurie was a three-time Oscar nominee, nominated by BAFTA as well as the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for best performance by an actress in 'The Hustler' with Paul Newman.
Laurie was born Rosetta Jacobs in Detroit, Michigan, to Charlotte Sadie (Alperin) and Alfred Jacobs, a furniture dealer. She had an elder sister. Her family was of Russian Jewish and Polish Jewish descent.
Young Rosetta had been studying acting with Benno and Betomi Schnider for three years when she auditioned for Universal Studios, who signed her to a long term contract and was renamed Piper Laurie. She made more than twenty films, appearing opposite such actors as Tony Curtis, Rock Hudson and Tyrone Power.
Disgusted with the lack of serious roles, Laurie finally broke her lucrative Hollywood contract, moved to New York, lived on a budget, worked on live television and theater, and within two years changed her life and her career.
She stopped working for fifteen years after 'The Hustler' to devote her energies to the Civil Rights and anti-Vietnam War movements, feeling acting was less important. When she accepted work again she was nominated for an Academy Award as Best Supporting Actress for 'Carrie' with Sissy Spacek, and again as Best Supporting Actress in 'Children of a Lesser God' with Marlee Matlin. She won the Golden Globe for her role in the David Lynch cult favorite 'Twin Peaks' and was nominated for an Emmy for both Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress in 'Twin Peaks'.
She was nominated a total of twelve times for the Emmy, including one for the original and celebrated live broadcast of 'The Days of Wine and Roses' with Cliff Robertson, directed by John Frankenheimer, as well as for her comedic performance in 'Frasier'. She won an Emmy for her performance in 'Promise' opposite James Woods and James Garner. She was Harvard's Hasty Pudding Woman of the Year, and she also received an SFECA award for her performance as Dolly in the film 'The Grass Harp'.
In 2010, she played an elderly grandma who learns to smoke a bong in the feature film 'Hesher', with Joseph Gordon Levitt and Natalie Portman. Most recently she appeared as Grandma Hershe in White Boy Rick, starring Matthew McConaughey, and as Rose Muller in 'Snapshots', directed by Melanie Mayron. In 2013, she made her musical stage debut in 'A Little Night Music' as Madame Armfeldt.
Laurie performed on Broadway in the Tony-nominated Lincoln Center production of 'Mornings at Seven' directed by Dan Sullivan at the Lyceum Theatre. She also appeared on Broadway in the 20th Anniversary production of 'The Glass Menagerie', in which she played Laura Wingfield, with Maureen Stapleton (only 7 years older) as her mother, Amanda, at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre.
Off-Broadway, she appeared in Molly Kazan's 'Rosemary and the Alligators' and in Larry Kramer's 'The Destiny of Me'. She toured in a one-person play about Zelda Fitzgerald, written by Bill Luce. In 2010 she directed Jim Brochu in his one-man show 'Zero Hour', for which he received the Drama Desk Award for best solo performance on or off Broadway, playing Zero Mostel.
Laurie was divorced from Wall Street Journal's movie critic, Pulitzer Prize-winner Joe Morgenstern. They had a daughter. Laurie's autobiography, Learning to Live Out Loud, was published by Crown in 2011 to rave reviews and is now available as an audio book on audible.com.Rosetta Jacobs
RJ- Actress
- Producer
- Writer
Crystal Porter-Bazemore is an award-winning Actress and Producer from Atlanta, Georgia. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from Hampton University. Porter-Bazemore is best known for her outstanding performance as the lead actress and producer in the critically acclaimed independent film, Sound, which has garnered a multitude of awards. Her portrayal as Isabelle Pisano earned her nine Best Actress wins.
Porter-Bazemore has showcased her versatility as an actress in the Emmy-nominated short form comedy series, Bridesman. Fans of Porter-Bazemore's work can look forward to seeing her in the upcoming television series, Top Voices & Moments. The anticipated indie film, The Recipe, is on the festival circuit and won the People's Choice Award at the prestigious Denton Black Film Festival.
Additional acting credits include award-winning independent films and television (USA Network, Lifetime Network, BET, Tubi, Mubi, and YouTube TV). Her voice has been featured in campaigns for Macy's, Verizon Wireless, Cartoon Network, and Prentice Hall, among others. Porter-Bazemore is proud to join the cast of the Undertow universe, an ongoing supernatural horror series as Reina Thomas, in the Apple Podcast.
Porter-Bazemore honed her skills in the theater. She has had the privilege of sharing the stage with Loretta Divine at the Wilshire Ebell Theatre, a renowned venue in Los Angeles. In addition, she has performed at other respected theaters such as the Pasadena Playhouse, Alliance Theatre, Nate Holden Theatre, The Matrix, among others. Her experience in these venues has allowed her to develop her craft and showcase her talent to diverse audiences. Porter-Bazemore's dedication to her craft is evident in her performances, which are characterized by a combination of passion and skill.
Porter-Bazemore is a published Author and a proud member of the Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. Her books center on gratitude and are an offshoot of her CPB Little Reminders, a platform that's all about cultivating gratitude in our daily lives. Her books are available on Amazon and Barnes & Noble. She has received rave reviews from readers.
In addition to her work as an Actor & Author, Porter-Bazemore is a partner in Cinema Optics. A Los Angeles based production company she co-owns with her Filmmaker husband, Tawan Bazemore. Their first film, Sound, won an outstanding 52 wins on the festival circuit. The Bazemore Duo, as dubbed by Indie Short's Mag, sophomore film, The Recipe is on the 2024 film festival circuit.
Porter-Bazemore is a dedicated Actor who views acting as an art form that demands commitment and continues to train in her craft. As a woman and storyteller, she places great importance on being involved in projects that use film to challenge social norms and elevate conversations. In a recent interview, Porter-Bazemore was asked how she selects her projects, to which she replied that it is the character that chooses her. It is her story that she says yes to, and by doing so, she can bring the story to life on-screen.Crystal Dionne Porter
CDP- Actress
- Soundtrack
The entrancing and exotic-eyed "B"-level leading lady Jody Lawrance, whose 1950s career was spotty at best, provided lovely diversion from the manly adventure movies she helped bring to the screen. Personal turmoil and studio conflicts, however, ultimately hurt her career and the remainder of her life was spent out of the limelight.
She was born Nona Josephine Goddard in Fort Worth, Texas, on October 19, 1930. Her childhood was troubled and disruptive. Parents Ervin S. ("Doc") and Eleanor (née Roeck) Goddard divorced while Jody was a child. Ervin, nicknamed "Doc" although he was not one, was an amateur inventor and research engineer at the Adel Precision Products Company at one point. Moving to California, he eventually married Grace McGee in 1937. Jody subsequently migrated to California and lived with her father and stepmother in their Van Nuys bungalow. Marilyn Monroe (then Norma Jeane Baker) was a foster child of her stepmother Grace, who knew Norma Jeane's mother when both worked for Columbia -- Grace as a film librarian and and Gladys as a film cutter. Jody and Norma Jeane lived together briefly in 1941-1942.
Jody went on to attend Beverly Hills High School (studying under Benno Schneider and his wife) and the Hollywood Professional School. Excelling as a swimmer, Jody's first shot was appearing in a water show operated by Larry Crosby, who was also a publicity manager for famous younger brother Bing Crosby.
The teenager was awarded her first on-camera professional part on the TV show "The Silver Theatre" in 1949. Because her real name, Nona Goddard, lacked glamour, she changed it to Jody (short for Josephine, her middle name) Lawrance (her maternal grandmother's maiden name). Jody's drama teacher Schneider managed to get her an introduction to Columbia. The studio took an immediate interest in the 19-year-old beauty and signed her to a 7-year contract at $250 per week.
Jody made four relatively strong films in 1951. She provided damsel-in-distress duty in her screen debut between up-and-coming screen hero John Derek and established villain Anthony Quinn in the spirited swashbuckler Mask of the Avenger (1951). This was followed by The Family Secret (1951) playing the altruistic fiance to a murder suspect (again, John Derek. Things looked even more promising when she co-starred an exotic love interest to robust Burt Lancaster in the Eastern adventure yarn Ten Tall Men (1951). Her final film that year was a horror opus portraying the fiance to Louis Hayward as the The Son of Dr. Jekyll (1951).
She started the following year off with the adventure film The Brigand (1952) opposite handsome, sliver-eyed Anthony Dexter, better known for his captivating Valentino-like looks than for his acting ability. In 1953 career problems surfaced when the studio assigned Jody, who had now completed six film projects, to a lackluster role in one of its minor musicals, a poor man's version of "On the Town" entitled All Ashore (1953) which starred sailors-on-leave Mickey Rooney, Dick Haymes and Ray McDonald. Peggy Ryan, Barbara Bates and Jody were cast as their the love interests. Set this time on California's Catalina Island instead of New York, Jody balked at the assignment while citing a lack of confidence in her singing and dancing abilities. She ask the studio to replace her but Columbia refused and the actress begrudgingly filmed the movie. Her "difficulty" with the studio on this assignment ultimately led to a break of her contract. Feeling overlooked by the studio at the time, she supposedly did not regret her release too much.
On her own, however, the quality of Jody's films declined markedly with her the "Poverty Row" independent film, the sub-par and highly distorted biographical piece Captain John Smith and Pocahontas (1953) again starring Anthony Dexter. It was revealed that Jody suffered a frightening allergic reaction on the set after dying her lighter hair jet black for the role. Among many other problems, the 23-year old, blue-eyed actress was quite miscast in the role of the much younger Indian maiden. The released film was a dismal failure and Jody's career suffered as a result.
Finding almost no offers in 1954-1955 and in order to make ends meet, Jody took on employment as an ice cream shop waitress near the UCLA campus in Los Angeles. The story goes that one day one of her customers was her former co-star Burt Lancaster. He came to her aid by introducing her to his friend, director Michael Curtiz, who reignited her career with his minor film noir The Scarlet Hour (1956) which starred Tom Tryon and had Jody playing a second femme role behind Carol Ohmart, who was being built up as Paramount's supposed answer to a difficult Marilyn Monroe at the time. Jody was promoted as one of the "Deb Stars of 1955" along with other hopefuls including Cathy Crosby, Anita Ekberg, Mara Corday, Marisa Pavan and Lori Nelson, among other lesser known actors.
Back on the boards again, Jody revived her look on screen as a blonde again. Things looked hopeful when Paramount Studios signed her to a contract, earning $300 a week. In the spiritual drama The Leather Saint (1956), she plays a platinum-blonde nightclub singer (and even sings a bit of "I'm in the Mood for Love" in the film) and temptress to (once again) John Derek whose Episcople minister agonizes over his decision to box for money in order help medically finance church/community projects for special needs children.
Things fell apart once more, however, when Paramount released her the following year. It seems that the studio was perturbed when, while promoting her to the public as a sexy single, Jody resisted the cheesecake angle and also secretly married Bruce Tilton (1930-2007), an airplane parts company executive, in Las Vegas on April 7, 1956 and was pregnant. A daughter, Victoria, was born a year later.
She remained unproductive career-wise during this period of new marriage and more family. By April of 1958, however, the Tilton marriage had dissolved and a bitter custody suit ensued (in the end, Jody lost). While she returned to the screen, the pickings were slim. She landed minor parts in the Shirley Booth vehicle Hot Spell (1958) and Barry Sullivan film The Purple Gang (1959), and found isolated work on TV in such dramatic fare as "Perry Mason," "The Loretta Young Show" and "The Rebel". Her last screen role of any substance was the minor western Stagecoach to Dancers' Rock (1962) starring Martin Landau.
Jody met second husband Robert Wolf Herre and they married in November of 1962. Two children, Robert Jr. and Abigail ("Chrissy") were born from this relationship. Other than an isolated TV appearance on "The Red Skelton Show" in 1968, little was heard of Jody following this period until it was learned that she had died in Ojai, California on July 10, 1986, at age 55.Nona Josephine Goddard
NJG- Actress
- Soundtrack
Her career may have only lasted a dozen years, and the number of films slightly more than twenty, but Barbara appeared in some interesting productions. As a young girl, she was a model. While completing her studies at UCLA, she co-starred in half a dozen movies for 20th Century Fox. Lawrence appeared in the critically acclaimed A Letter to Three Wives (1949).
In 1952, she was cast in Here Come the Nelsons (1952), which was the film version of their popular radio programme. Rock Hudson was also in the cast. The following year, Lawrence was cast with Gig Young in Arena (1953), which was a 3-D feature film from MGM. As originally shown, special 3-D glasses were required to view the picture to bring all the action of the Rodeo to your seat. In 1954, she was cast in Her Twelve Men (1954), which was the last film that Greer Garson made at MGM. In 1955, she was cast as Gertie Cummings in Oklahoma! (1955), which was filmed in TODD-AO wide-screen. After making a few movies in 1957, she retired.Barbara Jo Lawrence
BJL- Florence Lawrence was the first film player whose name was used to promote her films and the studio (Independent Moving Pictures Company [IMP]) for which she worked. Before her, actors and actresses worked anonymously, partly out of fear that stage managers would refuse to hire them if they were found to be working in films and partly because movie executives didn't want to put much money into the production of these short, practically disposable films, and didn't want their players to become well known and start demanding higher salaries. Lawrence was on the stage from age three, appearing in musicals and plays, whistling and playing the violin. At 20 she was cast in the Edison production of Daniel Boone (1907), and that led to work at Vitagraph Studios. From there she was hired by Biograph, where she refined and perfected her craft under the direction of D.W. Griffith. In 1909 she left Biograph to seek more recognizable employment at another film company. As a result she was blacklisted by the Motion Picture Trust, headed by Thomas A. Edison, to which most motion-picture producers belonged and which held the patents on most film production equipment and would not allow any companies that did not belong to the Trust to use them. Carl Laemmle started IMP in late 1909, and refused to join the Motion Picture Trust. The Trust took action--both legal and otherwise--to discourage Laemmle from producing films on his own. Lawrence and her husband, director Harry Solter, signed on as IMP's first featured players. In 1910 Laemmle, partly out of anger over the Trust's actions--such as hiring thugs to attack his film crews and wreck his equipment--decided to advertise the fact that he had Miss Lawrence. She made the first personal appearance of a film star in St. Louis, MO, that March, and the resulting publicity made her famous (and also increased the grosses on her--and Laemmle's--films). Other film companies soon followed suit, and the names of film actors and actresses began to appear in all segments of the media. Lawrence worked for IMP for a year, then spent another year at Lubin before she began her own production company, Victor, where she worked on and off until 1914. After a stage accident in which she injured her back, she retired from films, only to be lured back in 1916 for her first feature, Elusive Isabel (1916). It was unsuccessful. She tried a comeback again in 1921; that, too, was unsuccessful. She settled into bit parts and character roles through the 1920s and 1930s. She committed suicide in 1938 after years of unhappiness and illness. She was found in her apartment on Dec. 27, 1938 and died soon afterward in hospital.Florence Annie Bridgwood
FAB - Jane Lawrence was born on 3 February 1915 in Bozeman, Montana, USA. She was an actress, known for Sailor's Holiday (1944). She was married to Tony Smith. She died on 5 August 2005 in New York City, New York, USA.Jane Brotherton
JB - Actress
- Producer
- Writer
As the highest-paid actress in the world in 2015 and 2016, and with her films grossing over $5.5 billion worldwide, Jennifer Lawrence is often cited as the most successful actress of her generation. She is also the first person born in the 1990s to have won an acting Oscar.
Jennifer Shrader Lawrence was born August 15, 1990, in Louisville, Kentucky, to Karen (Koch), who manages a children's camp, and Gary Lawrence, who works in construction. She has two older brothers, Ben and Blaine, and has English, German, Irish, and Scottish ancestry.
Her career began when she traveled to Manhattan at the age of fourteen after dropping out of the 8th grade. After conducting her first cold read, agents told her mother that "it was the best cold read by a 14-year-old they had ever heard," and tried to convince her stage mother that she needed to spend the summer in Manhattan. After leaving the agency, Jennifer was spotted by an agent in the midst of shooting an H&M ad and asked to take her picture. The next day, that agent followed up with her and invited her to the studio for a cold-read audition. Again, the agents were highly impressed and strongly urged her mother to allow her to spend the summer in New York City. As fate would have it, she did and subsequently appeared in commercials such as MTV's "My Super Sweet 16" and played a role in the movie The Devil You Know (2013).
Shortly thereafter, her career forced her and her family to move to Los Angeles, where she was cast in the TBS sitcom The Bill Engvall Show (2007), and in smaller movies such as The Poker House (2008) and The Burning Plain (2008).
Her big break came when she played Ree in Winter's Bone (2010), which landed her Academy Award and Golden Globe nominations. Shortly thereafter, she secured the role of Mystique in franchise reboot X-Men: First Class (2011), which went on to be a hit in Summer 2011. Around this time, Lawrence scored the role of a lifetime when she was cast as Katniss Everdeen in the big-screen adaptation of literary sensation The Hunger Games (2012). The film went on to become one of the highest-grossing movies ever, with over $407 million at the US box office, and instantly propelled Lawrence to the A-list among young actors and actresses. Three Hunger Games sequels were released in each consecutive November: The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (2013), The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1 (2014), and The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 2 (2015), with Lawrence reprising her role.
In 2012, the romantic comedy Silver Linings Playbook (2012) earned her the Academy Award, Golden Globe Award, Screen Actors Guild Award, Satellite Award, and the Independent Spirit Award for Best Actress, among other accolades, making her the youngest person ever to be nominated for two Academy Awards for Best Actress and the second-youngest Best Actress winner.
She starred in David O. Russell's popular drama-comedy American Hustle (2013), as Roselyn Rosenfield, and teamed with the director again to play inventor Joy Mangano in another family comedy, Joy (2015), for which she earned Oscar nominations for both roles (Best Supporting Actress and Best Actress, respectively).Jennifer Shrader Lawrence
JSL- Mary Lawrence was born on 17 May 1918 in Lorain, Ohio, USA. She was an actress, known for A Cry in the Night (1956), The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show (1950) and General Electric Theater (1953). She was married to Samuel Doak Young Sr and Delmer Daves. She died on 24 September 1991 in Santa Monica, California, USA.Mary Lou Lender
MLL - Actress
- Soundtrack
This gorgeous green-eyed blonde was born in Canada to British parents and spent her early childhood attending schools in Canada, England, Boston and Los Angeles (where her father worked as a stage carpenter and set designer). She studied ballet for four years and tap dancing for another at the Maurice Kussell Studio, took singing lessons and learned acting under the tutelage of French-Canadian thespian Joseph De Grasse. She performed in school plays during holidays and made her motion picture debut at the age of ten in A Lady of Quality (1924). At thirteen, Rosina appeared in Cecil B. DeMille's The Angel of Broadway (1927) in which she was also used as a hand double for the star Leatrice Joy. For the next seven years she commuted between vaudeville and film work and earned extra dollars as a Hollywood fashion model. She doubled for Sally Eilers (whom she resembled in looks) in both Dance Team (1932) and Disorderly Conduct (1932) but her roles had up to this point amounted to little more than bit parts and walk-ons. A couple of leads eventually came her way, both in second feature mysteries: Welcome Home (1935), opposite James Dunn and Charlie Chan's Secret (1935), with Warner Oland as the screen's first incarnation of the famous detective. Rosina also had two decent production numbers in MGM's marathon biopic The Great Ziegfeld (1936) (her character, Sally Manners, was based on the stage star Marilyn Miller), but those scenes ended up on the cutting room floor. Her career was somewhat revived after she was signed by Hal Roach and found a little niche as the school teacher in the "Our Gang" comedy shorts. She also starred several times in slapstick farce as the wife of Charley Chase and with Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy in Way Out West (1937) (allegedly the duo's personal favorite).
Rosina left the acting profession upon her marriage to the Brooklyn lawyer Juvenal Marchisio, a union which produced three children. Marchisio died in 1973 and Rosina didn't remarry until 1987. Her second husband was actor, academic and Laurel & Hardy biographer John McCabe.Rosina Lawrence Grave
RLG- Actress
- Producer
- Soundtrack
Sharon Lawrence grew up in North Carolina (Charlotte and Raleigh), graduated from UNC-Chapel Hill with a degree in Journalism and spent her college summers doing musicals in summer stock. She became an Actors Equity Member in 1984 and a SAG-AFTRA member in 1987. She may be best known for her multiply Emmy Award-nominated and SAG Award-winning portrayal of ADA Sylvia Costas Sipowicz in NYPD Blue. She also played, among many roles, a stay-at-home prostitute in Desperate Housewives, a charming but murderous realtor on Monk, the twisted jailbird mother of a sociopath on Criminal Minds, a serial killer on Law and Order: SVU, and a mother coming to terms with her long-lost daughter on Rizzoli & Isles -- not to mention bantering with Alfred Molina on Ladies Man or beating up Larry David on Curb Your Enthusiasm.
More recent work includes Blunt Talk (opposite Sir Patrick Stewart) and an arc on NBC's Game Of Silence. Recent film includes Solace (opposite Sir Anthony Hopkins), Of Music and Mind (with Joaquim de Almeida and Aunjanue Ellis), and the award-winning The Bridge Partner (with Beth Grant).
An accomplished stage actress, Lawrence played twenty different female characters in the Noel Coward cabaret, Love, Noel at the Wallis. Lawrence starred in Sir Noel Coward's final play, A Song at Twilight, at the Pasadena Playhouse, and as Vivien Leigh in Orson's Shadow (winner LA Drama Critics Circle Award, nominated for Ovation Award). At the Mark Taper Forum, she created the role of Maureen in the premiere of Theresa Rebeck's Poor Behavior and was featured Carl Reiner's gala, Enter Laughing. Her Broadway credits include revivals of Cabaret, Fiddler On The Roof and Chicago (as Velma Kelly).
A former Chair of Women In Film Foundation, she is affiliated with the Board of Directors of the SAG-AFTRA Foundation as well as WeForShe.org, HealTheBay.org and UNC-Chapel Hill General Alumni Association.Sharon Elizabeth Lawrence
SEL- Actress
- Soundtrack
Debra Laws was born on 10 September 1956 in Houston, Texas, USA. She is an actress, known for Crossroads (1986), The Ambulance (1990) and Jailbird Rock (1985).Debra Renee Laws
DRL- Actress
- Director
- Writer
Anzu Lawson is a force of nature in many disciplines; acting, music, stand-up comedy, screenwriting & directing. A true warrior when it comes to following her passions, which have led her on many creative adventures, each one adding another layer to the multi-dimensional artist that is Anzu Lawson. Beginning at age 7, Anzu's first taste for acting was opposite Academy Award-nominated actor, Mako in her first screen test playing his granddaughter, in an independent film. Then at 14, She was scouted to model in Tokyo, thus beginning her International career path. While modeling one summer, the stars conspired for her to meet YES's singer Jon Anderson, backstage at an INXS concert in Tokyo. It was a pivotal moment in her career when Jon discovered Anzu's musical talent. He prompted the beginnings of her first album, and two albums later, Anzu topped the Japanese Billboard charts with a number one hit on AVEX records as a teen J-Pop star in Japan. Her creative career as a singer-songwriter had begun. Her bold and unique vocal styling can be heard on many of Hans Zimmer's & Harry Gregson-Williams movie soundtracks; The Chronicles of Narnia, Spygame, The DaVinci Code and Sinbad. As a young adult, back in Los Angeles, her acting career ignited when she landed the lead role in "American Yakuza", starring opposite Viggo Mortensen by casting director Don Phillips. Don Phillips is known for giving such talents as Forest Whitaker, Sean Penn, Viggo Mortensen & Matthew McConaughey their first film role. That film's director, Frank Cappello, commissioned her to write a song for his next movie "No Way Back" starring Russell Crowe and then cast her again, opposite Christian Slater in the indie Showtime movie, "He Was A Quiet Man", years later. To date, Anzu has played many diverse roles from Japanese, Korean, Filipino, Latin, Native American & Chinese.
After befriending comedian Brad Garrett, Anzu was inspired to explore the stand-up comedy world, and has now performed on such famous stages as The Comedy Store, Laugh Factory, Westside Comedy Theatre and The Improv Hollywood/Brea.
Frustrated with the lack of diverse leading female roles in Hollywood at the time, The seed for writing her own material had been planted, and Anzu received her certificate in screenwriting at UCLA in '09, where she optioned her first script, "The Seed Between the Stones." A coming of age story inspired by her time spent with Mick Jagger, Richard Perry & Steve Bing. Then in April 2018, Anzu collaborated with Cal State University Los Angeles to launch the second live workshop of her all original rock movie musical she penned called "Dear John, Why Yoko?" (formerly known as "Rock and Roll's Greatest Lovers.") Anzu Lawson had previously received her first "Best Actress nomination" in her portrayal as "Yoko Ono" in the 2014 Hollywood Fringe Festival.
One month later in May 2018, following her mother's death, Anzu wrote an homage to the "two Asian women that shaped her life and fueled her creativity" by debuting her 1st One Woman Show called "Dear Yoko." Anzu's One Woman Show "Dear Yoko" sold out every Los Angeles performance and was an official selection at the 2019 Santa Monica Playhouse "Binge Fringe Festival", Crazy Woke Asian Festival and Solofest 2020 Festival. While prepping for the 2020 summer festival tour of "Dear Yoko", Anzu was starring opposite Al Pacino in a revival workshop reading of Pacino's 1977 Tony Award winning performance in "The Basic Training of Pavlo Hummel" at the Wallis Annenberg/Beverly Hills, benefiting war veterans. On March 6, 2020 they had their only performance, with Los Angeles going into lock down the next day, due to the pandemic. On February 18th 2023, Anzu debuted her 2nd One Woman Show called "The Rub" at Solofest 2023 based on the single camera comedy pilot she wrote about her time as a struggling stand-up comic whose side hustle was being every "Asian mother's worst nightmare"... a massage therapist.
Anzu's production company Happy Hapa Films is focused on edgy screenplays that focus on challenging the stereotypes and bringing to light the untold stories of Asian American & diverse women throughout history.
No one says it better than Nicole Force of The Examiner when she wrote: "Anzu Lawson is a consummate and multi-talented performer who represents the new triple threat in Hollywood-singer, actress and stand-up comedian. Anzu Lawson is an entertainment force who consistently delivers, regardless of the genre."Cristina Anzu Lawson
CAL- Actress
- Producer
Bianca Lawson was born on 20 March 1979 in Los Angeles, California, USA. She is an actress and producer, known for Save the Last Dance (2001), The Feast of All Saints (2001) and Rogue (2013).Bianca Jasmine Lawson
BJL- Actress
- Producer
- Soundtrack
Maggie Lawson was born and raised in Louisville, Kentucky. When she was eight, she began appearing in local community and dinner theater productions, and at 10, she earned an on-air commercial gig at a Louisville TV station, which soon led to a steady six-year role as a TV personality who filed news reports targeted for her fellow kids. At 17, she moved to Los Angeles for her first professional TV appearance in a recurring role on the sitcom Unhappily Ever After (1995). She finished her senior year in high school with a correspondence course. In 2000, she starred in twin roles as a model and a nerdy student in the movie Model Behavior (2000). In her free time, she enjoys singing and songwriting.Margaret Cassidy Lawson
MCL- Actress
- Soundtrack
Kathryn Layng was born on 20 September 1960 in Rockford, Illinois, USA. She is an actress, known for Doogie Howser, M.D. (1989), White Frog (2012) and The Marrying Man (1991). She has been married to David Henry Hwang since 17 December 1993. They have one child.Kathryn Alyssa Layng
KAL- Dorothy Layton
Dorothy Layton, the Hollywood movie actress worked during the arrival of the sound era with some of the greatest comedians of the day including Laurel and Hardy and Charlie Chase.
"Laurel was the brains behind the genius of Laurel and Hardy," she said in December 2003. "I heard rumors of fights between them but never witnessed anything to suggest their relationship was anything but professional. What I can say is the producer Hal Roach had to often stop the cameras rolling because Laurel and Hardy who ad-libbed used to have everyone rolling about the aisles in tears of laughter. They were and still are magnificent."
She was born Dorothy Violet Wannenwetch on August 13, 1912 in Cincinnati, Ohio. As a child she became well traveled, her father was one of three founders of the Western Southern Life Insurance Company and the family moved frequently finally settling in Virginia Beach, Virginia. Dorothy Layton made Baltimore her second home by visiting friends and family there.
Dorothy's teacher at her convert school in Virginia wrote on her final report 'This charismatic young lady personifies the adage 'A rolling stone gathers no moss' she will go far and do extremely well in whatever she decided to do.'
In 1929, Dorothy headed to California to visit a cousin in Santa Barbara for initially two weeks but weeks turned into months and before she knew it, she was in California for good. Dorothy Layton quickly nestled into the Santa Barbara way of life with her cousin frequenting the Hollywood social scene and participating as an actress in local theatre. "We were both very young and innocent," she said. " California was virtually unspoilt then with fruit trees of orange and lemon and pepper trees growing everywhere even down the center of Hollywood Boulevard.
Dorothy was joined by her mother in 1930 and moved to a small house in West Hollywood. By now Dorothy was dating Roger Marchetti; famed attorney for Howard Hughes and Bing Crosby, Dorothy dined at Hollywood 's premier restaurants. She recalled "We always had the best seat in the house and even if the most prominent table had been taken the head waiter would always gather tables together to make a head table for our party which usually consisted of Howard Hughes, Jean Harlow, Joan Crawford, Wallace Beery, Ralph Bellamy, Ann Dvorak and on occasions Garbo."
Dorothy attributed her success in pictures to the company she kept giving very little credit to her own talent. In fact Dorothy along with other A-list cohorts became the premier toast of Tinsel Town.
She adopted her maternal great-grandmother's maiden name, and as Dorothy Layton landed featured parts in big studio pictures mostly films made at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and Fox, "I even had my very own flesh peddler," recalled Dorothy referring to her agent B.P. Schulberg from Paramount Pictures.
Roger Marchetti made sure that Dorothy had an up-to-the-minute wardrobe whenever she had a screen test. He booked either the famous Westmore Brothers or Max Factor to quaff her hair and apply her make-up.
From 1922 through 1934, the Western Association of Motion Picture Advertisers (WAMPAS) selected 13 girls to be WAMPAS Baby starlets. The ladies were chosen for their Hollywood promise and future success.
Picked as a WAMPAS Baby often lead to huge screen success and star quality. Previous recipients included Mary Astor, Joan Crawford and Clara Bow. Like these actresses, Dorothy's career benefited from the WAMPAS influence on the industry. She appeared in the 1932 line-up with Ginger Rogers, Mary Carlisle, Eleanor Holm, Gloria Stuart and Toshi Mori.
Soon after Dorothy Layton featured in MGM movies and signed a contract to Hal Roach Studios, who had brought 'Our Gang', Harold Lloyd and Laurel and hardy to the screen.
Dorothy made her Roach debut in 'Chickens Come Home' (1932), with Laurel and Hardy and Thelma Todd.
"Everyone knew Thelma Todd as 'Toddy'," she said. "Toddy had a small café which was a favorite of all the stars. She then became involved with mobster Lucky Luciano hers was a tragic end."
Hal Roach cast Dorothy Layton opposite Laurel and Hardy in 'The Chimp' (1932), 'Country Hospital' (1932), and as Muriel Evans bridesmaid in 'Pack Up Your Troubles' (1932) - one of the screen duo's most memorable features. Dorothy and Muriel Evans (who was signed to MGM as a Featured Player in 1931) were teamed a second time for the Charlie Chase comedy 'Young Ironsides' (1932).
In the spring of 1933, Dorothy Layton split from Roger Marchetti. Despite that fact they had been courting for two years he never once proposed marriage, buying her lavish jewelery but no engagement ring.
Without Marchetti there was no Schulberg and with no agent in tow Dorothy saw most her film offers and friends disappear. She made her last film for Hal Roach playing Billy Gilbert's secretary in 'Fallen Arches' (1933) and Louis Lewyn's epic 'Hollywood on Parade' (1933) with Johnny Mack Brown and Mary Pickford, after which she quit.
In 1934, from Hollywood Dorothy Layton headed back to Baltimore. Within a month of her arriving there she married businessman Howard Taylor, who operated a large mattress company. Together they had two children, Barbara two days before Halloween in 1934 and Howard Taylor III on Mothering Sunday1937.
In 1947, Dorothy became a volunteer at Keswick Health Care Centre on the Junior Board and the Board of Lady Volunteers. Seven years later, she joined Keswick as a paid employee, retiring after more than 30 years service in 1977. After five years retirement, Keswick tempted her back, where she entertained patients and taught bridge, commenting that, "It was Howard Hughes who taught me."
In 2001 in an interview about her life in Hollywood she said. "I'm never too chatty about those days. I was fond of most of them and often wonder how my life would be had I stayed. Volunteer work gave me a sense of belonging whilst Hollywood was false and phony and really made no sense at all."Dorothy Ann Wannenwetsch
DAW - Cindy Leadbetter was born on 15 June 1955 in Los Angeles, California, USA. She is an actress, known for The Adventures of Hercules (1985), Cindy's Love Games (1979) and Rats: Night of Terror (1984).Cindy Ann Leadbetter
CAL - Actress
- Producer
- Soundtrack
Sharon Leal is a military brat. She was born in Tucson, Arizona. Sharon then moved with her parents to the Philippines, till she was 6 years old. She went to prayer-school there. Then, her parents packed up to move back to the US and settled in Fresno, California. Her mother, Angelita, who is Filipino, is a homemaker, and her father is African-American. She has a step-father, Elmer Manankil. Elmer and Angelita have a daughter, together. So, Sharon has a younger sister, Kristina Manankil.
How she got started with the desire for performing. At the age of two, Sharon sang into a microphone, and her parents taped her. This later led to acting, which she began doing in community theater productions as a teen. Sharon graduated from "Roosevelt High School of the Arts" in Fresno. In 1993, she won a vocal scholarship at the "Santa Cruz Jazz Festival", which enabled her to study with Seth Riggs (Michael Jackson's voice coach). Sharon has also performed in various rap and R&B music videos. She has sung in cabaret productions at B. Smith's, The Violet, and Steve McGraw's, all in New York City, and played teenager "Dahlia Creed" on the daytime soap opera, Guiding Light (1952), in the mid-90s. At New York Theatre Workshop: "Bright Lights, Big City". Regional credits include "Little Shop of Horrors"-Arizona Theatre Co., "Into the Woods"-Theatre Works CA and other shows like "Ain't Misbehavin", "West Side Story", "Me and My Girl" and "Nunsense", to name a few. Last performed on Broadway as "Mimi" in "Rent".Sharon Ann Leal
SAL- Actress
- Producer
- Additional Crew
Katie Leclerc's career began in 2005, when she made her first appearance on Veronica Mars (2004). This jump-started a series of minor roles and small appearances in movies and TV shows. She got her breakout role starring as a deaf teenager, Daphne Vasquez, who finds out she was taken home by the wrong family in ABC Family's Switched at Birth (2011).Katherine Lynn Leclerc
KLL- Pepi Lederer was born on 18 March 1910 in Chicago, Illinois, USA. She was an actress, known for The Cardboard Lover (1928). She died on 11 June 1935 in Los Angeles, California, USA.Josephine Rose Lederer
JRL - Actress
- Producer
Brandy Ledford is an American/Canadian actress, dancer and former model. She was born on February 4th to Sandra and Ken Ledford. Her mother is from Canada, with New Zealand roots and her father is part Cherokee Indian from North Carolina. Brandy was raised in Redondo Beach, CA with her mother and her younger sister and brothers. She discovered her love for dancing at an early age and began competing in local and national drill team competitions, winning the World Drill Team championships in 1980.
After graduating from Redondo Union High School, Brandy started her modeling career. She lived in Japan, New York and Canada and traveled all over the globe as a model and dancer.
From 1993-96, Brandy attended the Baron Brown Studio in Los Angeles, CA, where she studied acting with DW Brown. She continued her training with Margie Haber at the Margie Haber Studio for a number of years. She made her film debut in a small, but memorable role in the blockbuster movie, Demolition Man (1993), starring Sylvester Stallone. Her next role was as Bud's love interest on Married... with Children (1987), which landed her the lead role of Alex Davies in the ABC production of Aaron Spelling's, Pier 66 (1996).
Since then, she has starred as a series regular on several TV series' and guest-starred in popular sitcoms like, Modern Family (2009) and movies such as Rat Race (2001) and the HBO hit, Zebra Lounge (2001). She has a large sci-fi following due to her role as Doyle in Andromeda (2000), which she counts as her favorite character to play. In 2006, Brandy was cast in the critically acclaimed television show, Whistler (2006), for which she was nominated both the Leo Award and the Gemini Award for her performance.
Brandy continues to study dance and spends her time between Los Angeles, Vancouver and Kauai where she enjoys being a mom and a wife and spends quality time on fitness, health and helping others.Brandy Lee Ledford
BLL- Actress
- Soundtrack
The daughter of a clergyman, Anna Lee was born Joan Boniface Winnifrith and encouraged to pursue an acting career by her father. After training at London's Royal Albert Hall, she took to the boards and later began appearing in English films, first as an extra, then working her way up to featured roles and finally earning the unofficial title "The Queen of the Quota Quickies". Lee and her husband, director Robert Stevenson, relocated to Hollywood in the late 1930s, and Lee began starring in stateside productions as well as becoming a fixture of the John Ford stock company (she appeared in How Green Was My Valley (1941), Fort Apache (1948) and a half-dozen others). In 1970, she became the seventh wife of novelist, poet and playwright Robert Nathan (Portrait of Jennie (1948), The Bishop's Wife (1947)); they married three months after they met. Now widowed, Lee continued despite adversity, regularly playing wealthy Lila Quartermaine on the soap opera General Hospital (1963). She was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire at the 1982 Queen's Birthday Honours for her services to drama. On May 14, 2004, Anna Lee passed away from pneumonia at age 91 at her home in Beverly Hills, California.Joan Boniface Winnifrith
JBW- Claudia Lee was born in West Lafayette, Indiana. As a little girl watching TV and film, she dreamed of being an actress, and loved performing. She began acting as a child in minor stage productions, as well studying dance. Lee also speaks Polish. Growing up listening to her father and her older relatives converse, she realized that they wouldn't be around forever. Lee was adamant about connecting with her Polish roots, so her parents sent her to a school in Poznan, Poland for one month each summer to study the language.
At the age of thirteen, Lee studied acting and filmmaking with the New York Film Academy at the School of Cinema and Performing Arts in Vermont. In 2009, Lee and her family made the move to Los Angeles where she began taking acting classes and working immediately. Her first job was a national TV commercial for "Comcast", with Zachary Levi. Next came the recurring role of "Bridget" on the Disney XD series, Zeke and Luther.
More recently, Lee recurred on Freeform's drama Famous In Love opposite Bella Thorne. She had Series Regular roles on both Verizon Go90's comedy In The Vault, as well as Fox comedy Surviving Jack. Prior to which she spent four seasons on The CW's Hart Of Dixie.
In film, Lee appears in Lyle Mitchell Corbine, Jr's Wild Indian which premiered at the 2021 Sundance film festival and stars Jesse Eisenberg and Kate Bosworth. Lee is also known for her Co-Starring role opposite Chloë Grace Moretz in Universal's Kick-Ass 2.
In addition to acting, Lee is also a country music singer. She recorded her first song, "It Gets Better", which was inspired by the "It Gets Better" campaign against bullying in schools. After completing "It Gets Better", Lee recorded a country music album which was released in 2012.Claudia Lee Mirkowski
CLM - She was one of the archetypal flappers of the Jazz Age. Blonde, blue-eyed and impeccably coiffured, we recall Gwen Lee as tall, blonde flibbertigibbets and gold-digging vamps in films of the late 1920s and early '30s. Gwen was born in Nebraska and attended school in Omaha. Having suitably shortened her name from 'Gwendolyn LePinski' to 'Gwen Lee', she began her career as a department store model. An early foray to the stage as a dancer then led to her 'discovery' by the director Monta Bell and a contract with MGM in 1925. Gwen was named a WAMPAS baby star in 1928 and was duly rewarded with starring or co-starring roles in pictures like Lucky Boy (1929), A Lady of Chance (1928) and The Actress (1928). Once it became apparent that silent pictures were on the way out she began to ardently take voice lessons. Her time in the limelight turned out to be rather brief, alas. Her career and public image took a substantial hit when the synchronization of an early talkie, Untamed (1929), went badly awry: during a dancing sequence with Robert Montgomery, poor Gwen could be heard mouthing the dialogue of her partner (and vice versa) -- no doubt to the great amusement of the audience. Not long after, her dizzy screen personae apparently carried over into real life, as she was twice sued by department stores for non-payment of goods. In 1931, she was also taken to court by her mother who claimed guardianship, charging that her daughter was 'incompetent to handle her affairs'. Inevitably, Gwen's movie roles declined both and quality and in quantity. Down to bit parts, her career came to a swift end in 1938 after appearing in a bottom-of-the-bill potboiler at one of the Poverty Row outfits. After that, she faded from the scene. Gwen died in Reno, Nevada, in 1961, almost forgotten, at the age of 56.Gwendolyn Lepinski
GL - Jennie Lee was born on 4 September 1848 in Sacramento, California, USA. She was an actress, known for The Birth of a Nation (1915), Hearts of Oak (1924) and The Children Pay (1916). She was married to William Courtright. She died on 5 August 1925 in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA.Virginia Lee Hicks
VLH - Actress
- Writer
- Producer
Joie Lee was born on 22 June 1962 in Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA. She is an actress and writer, known for Summer of Sam (1999), Coffee and Cigarettes (2003) and Do the Right Thing (1989).Joie Susannah Lee
JSL- Jonna Lee was born on 6 November 1963 in Glendale, California, USA. She is an actress, known for Otherworld (1985), Making the Grade (1984) and Another World (1964). She has been married to Kevin Wilson Dennis since 21 June 1995. They have two children.Jonna Lee Pangburn
JLP - Actress
- Soundtrack
A performer since childhood (she was widely known then as "Cuddles"), pert and pretty, raven-haired Lila Lee was brought to Hollywood by Paramount mogul Jesse L. Lasky and debuted in a starring role with The Cruise of the Make-Believes (1918) as a poor girl supported by a rich admirer. Following her appearance as a servant wench in Cecil B. DeMille's Male and Female (1919), Paramount starting grooming her to eventually supplant the highly temperamental and troublesome Gloria Swanson. Lila's talent, however, was lighter in weight and, though she enjoyed great popularity in such films as Blood and Sand (1922) with Rudolph Valentino, Another Man's Wife (1924), The Midnight Girl (1925), Love, Live and Laugh (1929) co-starring George Jessel and The Unholy Three (1930) opposite Lon Chaney, Swanson had little to worry about. A series of bad judgments and highly publicized bouts with illness led to Lila's swift decline. She made a few dismal comebacks on stage and in TV soaps in the 1950s but to little fanfare. Her last picture was as a hayseed mom in the deservedly obscure Cottonpickin' Chickenpickers (1967). Her actor-turned-writer son James Kirkwood Jr., however, earned fame on his own for penning the play "P.S. Your Cat Is Dead" and the musical "A Chorus Line." Lila died of a stroke in 1973.Augusta Wilhelmina Fredericka Appel
AWFA- Additional Crew
Mary Lee is known for The Big Lebowski (1998).Mary Lee Wooters
MLW- Actress
- Director
- Producer
The daughter of a premier makeup artist and the sister of a United States District Attorney, Michele Lee was born Michele Lee Dusick on June 24, 1942 in Los Angeles, California. Her childhood was consumed by the Hollywood entertainment industry. Lee was outgoing and had taken every chance to do plays in front of her family and friends. In junior high school, she continued acting in school plays. When she was in the 10th grade at Los Angeles' Alexander Hamilton High School, she tried out for the band and was the lead singer for that. Prior to her graduation from Hamilton, she landed her first role in the Broadway revue, "Vintage '60" and her career was launched. A small role in "Bravo Giovanni" and the lead role as Rosemary in "How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying" followed. Her musical talent was brought to the attention of Columbia Records (now Sony) and she signed to the label in a hurry.
Shortly after she appeared in Broadway shows and became a singer, she began making a number of guest appearances on television doing dancing, singing and performing comedy routines on most live-action segments, most notably The Danny Kaye Show (1963). She was only 22 and her career was off to a firing start. She continued making guest appearances on a number of television specials and live-action series. However, the silver screen took precedence as she made her movie debut with the film How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying (1967), followed by The Comic (1969), co-starring Dick Van Dyke. A year that, after her first child was born and soon after, she was back at work, starring as Secretary Carole Bennett on The Love Bug (1969), that it was the best movie of 1970 and it made it to the top of the box office all across the country.
While her laughter was brought unto the world and after giving birth to David Farentino, several months later her father passed away of a severe heart attack in 1970 at age 54. Michele was devastated by the loss of her father but she quickly directed herself to head back to work. She accepted a role on Broadway in "Seesaw", where her work gave her a 1974 Tony nomination for Best Actress in a Musical. However, tragedy haunted Michele when she was unable to spring back for a long time after her mother died in 1974. Near the end of 1979, after being on vacation with her husband and only child, she accepted the leading role of the feisty-yet-friendly neighbor Karen Fairgate MacKenzie in the prime-time soap opera Knots Landing (1979), which spun-off the immensely popular serial Dallas (1978) on CBS. For 14 of those years, Michele was the big asset of the series and by the very first year that it debuted, it had low ratings and producers, at times, wanted to send "Dallas" stars to the cul-de-sac, including that of Larry Hagman, who met Lee after the pilot episode.
By the Fall of 1980, Lee and the producers of "Knots Landing" always wanted to do something better in order to boost up the ratings and in September of that same year, after refusing to accept "no" for an answer, former dancer and movie starlet Donna Mills came to the series by playing Lee's manipulative, nasty and least popular sister-in-law Abby Fairgate Cunningham Ewing Sumner, and the series became #1 for the next 13 seasons, among other 1980s soaps that stood the test of time. By 1982, she was nominated for one Emmy Award, but had won the Soap Opera Digest Award, three times. The triumph of the series was splendid but in real-life, her marriage to James Farentino was a burden and the couple was divorced in 1983. In 1989, while going on strong with her role on "Knots Landing", she also became the series' director, starting to direct several episodes of the series and just before Donna Mills left, making Lee the big star of the series.
By the 14th and the final season, most of her co-stars of "Knots Landing" were asked to be absent (except co-star Joan Van Ark, who left in 1992) a number of times on the series, but for Lee, she had declined to be absent and wanted to show up without pay. In 1993, "Knots Landing" was cancelled when her second family came to a close and due to high salary amongst her co-stars. When the series was dropped away from its schedule on CBS, she was open to new opportunities. She began to produce and develop her own television movies through her own production company. She has had an incredible career that spans almost 40 years in television, film and on stage and in 1999, she earned her own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, which is located not far from the site of her very first audition for "Vintage '60".
In 1995, after learning a great deal from her idol Dottie West, she appeared in the CBS-TV movie Big Dreams & Broken Hearts: The Dottie West Story (1995), playing the character of the same name doing all the singing and knowing what it was like to be Dottie West. Before she came back to do a reunion movie called Knots Landing: Back to the Cul-de-Sac (1997), she played a retarded woman named Dina Blake on Lifetime's Color Me Perfect (1996) and was the first lady to star, write and produce a movie for Cable Television and, like The Love Bug, it was the best movie on Cable Television in 1996. In 2000, she starred opposite Valerie Harper in the Broadway play "Tale of the Allergist's Wife" in New York and almost four years later after a 35-year-absence, she returned to the big screen to play Ben Stiller's mother in Along Came Polly (2004).Michele Lee Dusick
MLD- Actress
- Stunts
- Additional Crew
Michelle Charlene Lee is an Asian American actress that has a series role named Violet in Blood and Treasure 2, Mileena in Mortal Kombat Legacy, a role on Black Widow and Venom to name a few. She's also appeared in many films and television series as a stunt woman in Pirates of the Caribbean 3, Captain Marvel and also motion captured many iconic video game characters like Ellie in The Last of Us 2, Ada Wong in Capcom's Resident Evil 6, and MJ in Sony's Spiderman 4 to name just a few. Michelle's ability to show strength through both acting and physicality has been recognized with a SAG Award for Outstanding Action Performance by a Stunt Ensemble for Top Gun 2, a SAG Nomination for Best Ensemble Cast in Pirates of the Caribbean 3 and graced the cover of Inside Kung Fu Magazine. Michelle has a black belt in Wushu, fluent in Mandarin and holds a BA in Economics from UCLA. You can find her on IG or TikTok @___michellelee She is with Global Artists Agency.Michelle Charlene Lee
MCL- Shannon Lee is known for Autumn Born (1979).Shannon Emery Lee
SEL - Actress
- Additional Crew
- Casting Department
"Dead, wrapped in plastic" is how Sheryl Lee entered onto the scene as Laura Palmer, the doomed homecoming queen on the cult TV series Twin Peaks (1990).
Lee was born April 27, 1967 in Germany. She grew up in Boulder, Colorado, spending much of her youth studying dance before knee injuries ended her hope of becoming a dancer. She began acting in school plays, graduated from Fairview High School, and attended the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in Pasadena, California. Lee also spent time at the North Carolina School of Arts, the National Conservatory Theater in Denver, and Colorado University before pursuing stage work in Seattle, Washington.
Here Lee landed the role of Laura Palmer, and she later appeared on Twin Peaks (1990) as Laura's cousin, Madeleine Ferguson. Madeleine was a brunette and wore glasses, but of course bore a striking resemblance to her late relative. Lee worked with Twin Peaks (1990) mastermind David Lynch again on the film, Wild at Heart (1990), and resurrected Laura Palmer one last time for Lynch's Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me (1992).
Lee has gone on to have a long and adventurous career since then. Appearances have included the Stuart Sutcliffe biopic Backbeat (1994), the John Carpenter film Vampires (1998), and the TV series L.A. Doctors (1998).Sheryl Lynn Lee
SLL- Actress
- Soundtrack
She made only a handful of films within a span of four years (1936-1940), but gentle, soulful-eyed Andrea Leeds touched hearts with those few, culminating in an Oscar-nomination for Best Supporting Actress as the sensitive, aspiring young actress who doesn't survive the school of hard knocks in the 1937 movie version of Edna Ferber-George S. Kaufman's serio-comic play Stage Door (1937).
Andrea was born in Butte, Montana. As her father was a British-born mining engineer, the family traveled quite extensively during her "wonder years". Following graduation from UCLA with the intentions of being a screenwriter, she pursued acting instead and apprenticed in bit roles under her given name, Antoinette Lees. She appeared in Hal Roach comedy shorts with comedian Charley Chase at this same time before landing better parts in better pictures. She portrayed another actress hopeful in the fine film Letter of Introduction (1938), and gave equally affecting turns in the sentimental drama The Goldwyn Follies (1938), Swanee River (1939) (as Mrs. Stephen Foster), The Real Glory (1939) and Earthbound (1940), all blessed with her trademark gentleness, grace and humanity. Personal tragedy struck, however, when her fiancé, Jack Dunn, then an ice skating partner of Sonja Henie, died suddenly of a rare disease in July of 1938, and her once strong interest in her career began to wane dramatically. More than a year later, Andrea married wealthy sportsman Robert Stewart Howard, heir to father Charles S. Howard's racing stables, and gave up her profession completely to raise a family.
Devoutly religious, Andrea and her husband eventually settled in the Palm Springs area with their two children, Robert Jr. and Leann, the latter dying of cancer in 1971. Her life and interests would include owning and breeding horses. After her husband's death in 1962, she operated and owned a modest jewelry shop in the Palm Springs area, designing many of her own pieces. Andrea died of cancer in 1984 at age 70.Antoinette Lees
AL- Lila Leeds was born on 28 January 1928 in Dodge City, Kansas, USA. She was an actress, known for Wild Weed (1949), Moonrise (1948) and Lady in the Lake (1946). She was married to Irvin Rochlin, Dean O. McCollom and Jack Little. She died on 15 September 1999 in Canoga Park, Los Angeles County, California, USA.Lila Lee Wilkinson
LLW - Actress
- Producer
Erica Leerhsen was born February 14, 1976 in New York City, New York, where she was raised along with her two sisters, Nora and Debbie. She is the daughter of Barbara and Charles Leerhsen, a longtime editor of celebrity publication US Magazine (which became US Weekly in March 2000). She attended St. Augustine's School and Ossining High School (where she sang in the choir) and graduated from Boston University College of Fine Arts in 1998. She earned B.F.A (summa cum laude) in acting the same year.
After graduation, Erica's first role was as Sarah in a 1999 short film Junior Creative (2000), which received several good reviews. During its production, she got the lead role of a practicing witch in the controversial Horror sequel Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2 (2000), though she originally auditioned for the part that eventually went to Kim Director. She went to the audition with short blond hair, and, as director Joe Berlinger described it, "completely Gothed-out", but ultimately was given the role of Erica. It was Berlinger who decided to make her character a long-haired redhead. Following Blair Witch 2, she appeared in the third season of The Sopranos (1999), where she played a lesbian tennis instructor who falls for Drea de Matteo's character. She would also have part in the well-acclaimed TV show The Guardian (2001), where her character got written out after several episodes. In the same year she had a supporting role in Woody Allen's Hollywood Ending (2002). Erica was honored with the title "Arrow in the Head's Mistress of the Year 2003". That year saw the release of the very successful Horror remake The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003), in which she had a prominent role as one of the doomed teens. During her screen test for the film, her screams were so loud that people on other floors of the building called the police to report that a young woman was being attacked. The same year she returned to acting on television with a guest appearance on Alias (2001), and then reunited with Allen in his new film, Anything Else (2003). In 2004, Erica starred in an independent Thriller The Warrior Class (2007), where she played Anson Mount's love interest. Months later, she started acting in theaters, and appeared in Allen's 'A Second Hand Memory', which attracted attention from a wider adult audience and received good reviews. A year later, Erica starred in an independently-made Toronto Film Festival-smash Little Athens (2005), had a guest appearance on Jennifer Love Hewitt's television show Ghost Whisperer (2005), and starred in Mozart and the Whale (2005).
The year 2006 opened with Erica's guest appearance on CSI: Miami (2002). Shortly after she was landed a starring role in the well-acclaimed sequel Wrong Turn 2: Dead End (2007), where she did a lot of her own stunts. Before filming Wrong Turn 2, she shot a Horror/Thriller Living Hell (2008), and starred in an independent Thriller film Haunted Traxxs (2009), as well as a lead in a Horror film Slaughter (2009/I), which is set to film in late 2008.
She lives in Los Angeles.Erica Lei Leerhsen
ELL- Actress
- Writer
- Composer
Phoebe Legere is a New York-based singer and actress, known for her sensual stage performances while playing the accordion, violin and guitar. Her best-known song is "Marilyn Monroe," which she performs at the beginning of the film Mondo New York.Phoebe Hemenway Legere
PHL- Actress
- Art Department
Cassidy Sage Lehrman was born in Seattle, Washington and lived a bit of the gypsy life, traveling the country with her family in a 20 foot RV before settling in Paonia, Colorado, a town of 1500 people on the western slope of the Rockies. Blessed with no traffic lights and no fast food chains, the population was rich in culture, arts, community, and agriculture. At age 10, Cassidy became a DJ for a kids' music and talk show on the local NPR radio station. When she was 12 she started writing a regular column on arts and culture for the local newspaper, becoming the only person under the age of 40 to write for that paper. That was also the age when she told her parents she wanted to become an actress. Two weeks later she auditioned in Glenwood Springs for the part of Mary Lennox in the musical version of The Secret Garden and got the part. With extremely favorable reviews and personality, she was invited to come to Los Angeles and within a few months landed her role on HBO's Entourage as Jeremy Piven's daughter, lasting until the show's end, seven years later.
Aside from her television roles, she has appeared in many national commercials, hosted an internet radio show, done stage work in Hollywood, and won the "Best Actress in a Short Film" award at the 2010 SoCal Independent Film Festival. She has also starred in music videos, is the voice for audio books, and is a main character in an upcoming video game. Aside from her theatrical focus, Cassidy spends time in her studio creating beautiful colored glass beads. She is also a dancer, student of Krav Maga, and expert with a bow.
Her sister Jessica, 3 years older than Cassidy, is an independent documentary photographer in New York whose striking work on music, culture, and politics appears in Rolling Stone, Billboard, and other magazines. Cassidy and Jessica have a history of combining travel with volunteer work, with Jessica having worked in orphanages in Central America and India and Cassidy having toured military bases in the Middle East. The two hope to someday travel the world together and collaborate in creative projects that raise consciousness and entertain at the same time.Cassidy Sage Lehrman
CSL- Heidi Hudson Leick, upon graduating high school, got a modeling gig in Japan; this was perfect because she loves traveling and modeling. When she returned to New York, her dream was to be an international model and then go into acting. One day, she quit modeling while in France, and pursued a TV career. After several episodes of Melrose Place (1992) and several TV movies, Hudson's big break in television came auditioning for her signature role of "Callisto" on Xena: Warrior Princess (1995). The casting people told her the part was that of a warrior queen, which she thought was great. Her audition consisted of doing a kick and throwing a chakram; having intimidated the crew, she got the part. Hudson attends Xena conventions as a guest of honor. She said her celebrity status surprises even her: when she had a birthday, several hundred fans sent her email messages. Her presence touches so many other people. She loves traveling, going on yoga retreats and climbing mountains. Hudson said at a convention, "I really want to thank all the people who have been supportive of me. It is so appreciated."Heidi Hudson Leick
HHL - Barbara Leigh was born on 16 November 1946 in Ringgold, Georgia, USA. She is an actress, known for Terminal Island (1973), Pretty Maids All in a Row (1971) and The Incredible Hulk (1978). She was previously married to Joe Lewis.Barbara Ann Kish
BAK - Actress
- Sound Department
- Producer
Cherami Leigh Kuehn (born July 19, 1988) is an American actress and voice artist who has provided voices for a number of English-language versions of Japanese anime series and video games with Funimation, Bang Zoom! Entertainment and Studiopolis.
Leigh began acting at the age of six. She studied Meisner-based Film Acting Technique with Nancy Chartier from the age of nine. As a child she played Gretchen in Finding North, Marcia in Temple Grandin, the young LeAnn Rimes in Holiday in Your Heart (1997), Stacy Anderson in The President's Man (2000), and appeared on on the television series Walker, Texas Ranger (1993) multiple times. On screen, she played Kim in Fast Food Nation (2006). In 2014, she had the lead role in Shane Dawson's Not Cool (2014). As a voice artist, her roles have included Sae Kashiwagi in Peach Girl, Cecily Campbell in The Sacred Blacksmith, Tamaki Kawazoe in Bamboo Blade, Lucy Heartfilia in Fairy Tail, Patty Thompson in Soul Eater, and Asuna Yuuki in Sword Art Online.
Leigh attended Hebron High School in Carrollton, Texas and studied theater at Collin College in Plano. She worked for Radio Disney as a DJ and also voice-over promotions and commercials for ABC Radio for 10 years. In 2013 she moved to Los Angeles, and continued voice acting on video games and anime as well as take on live-action acting roles. She married fellow actor Jon Christie on April 13, 2014, whom she had dated since 2010.Cherami Leigh Kuehn
CLK- Actress
- Producer
- Director
Chyler is an actress and singer who currently stars opposite Andie MacDowell in THE WAY HOME for Hallmark. She is well-known for playing "Alex Danvers" in SUPERGIRL for six seasons and "Lexie Grey" in GREY'S ANATOMY. Chyler also reprised her role of "Alex Danvers" in THE FLASH and has been featured in ARROW, DC'S LEGENDS OF TOMORROW, and PRIVATE PRACTICE. Her initial breakout role was playing "Janey Briggs" in NOT ANOTHER TEEN MOVIE, and she has held significant roles in other films such as BRAKE. Chyler also tours with the band EAST OF ELI, where she is featured on their songs. Chyler recently finished a long and successful run as the spokesperson for the BE VOCAL CAMPAIGN, a movement that highlights the importance of advocating for mental health.Chyler Leigh West
CLW- Actress
- Producer
- Additional Crew
Janet Leigh was the only child of a couple who often moved from town to town. Living in apartments, Janet was a bright child who skipped several grades and finished high school when she was 15. A lonely child, she would spend much of her time at movie theaters. She was a student, studying music and psychology, at the University of the Pacific until she was "discovered" while visiting her parents in Northern California. Her father was working the desk at a ski resort where her mother worked as a maid. Retired MGM actress Norma Shearer saw a picture of Janet on the front desk and asked if she could borrow it. This led to a screen test at MGM and a starring role in The Romance of Rosy Ridge (1947). MGM was looking for a young naive country girl and Janet filled the bill perfectly. She would play the young ingénue in a number of films and work with such stars as Errol Flynn, Gary Cooper, James Stewart, Orson Welles and Judy Garland. She appeared in a number of successful films, including Little Women (1949), Angels in the Outfield (1951), Scaramouche (1952), Houdini (1953) and The Black Shield of Falworth (1954), among others. Janet would appear in a variety of films, from comedies to westerns to musicals to dramas. Of her more than 50 movies, she would be remembered for the 45 minutes that she was on the screen in the small-budget thriller Psycho (1960). Directed by Alfred Hitchcock, this 1960 classic would include the shower scene that would become a film landmark. Even though her character is killed off early in the picture, she would be nominated for an Academy Award and receive a Golden Globe. Her next film would be The Manchurian Candidate (1962), in which she starred with Frank Sinatra. For the rest of the decade, her appearances in films would be rare, but she worked with Paul Newman in Harper (1966). In the 1970s she appeared on the small screen in a number of made-for-TV movies. In 1980, she appeared alongside her daughter Jamie Lee Curtis in The Fog (1980), and later, in Halloween H20: 20 Years Later (1998). Janet Leigh died at age 77 in her home in Beverly Hills, California on October 3, 2004.Jeanette Helen Morrison
JHM- Actress
- Writer
Lillian Leighton was born on 17 May 1874 in Auroraville, Wisconsin, USA. She was an actress and writer, known for Parisian Love (1925), Secret Service (1919) and Castles for Two (1917). She died on 19 March 1956 in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, California, USA.Lillianne Brown Leighton
LBL- Actress
- Music Department
- Soundtrack
Madison Leisle was born on 2 June 1999. She is an actress, known for Inherent Vice (2014), Ghost Whisperer (2005) and Stevie TV (2012).Madison Janis Leisle
MJL- Actress
- Music Department
- Writer
Stephanie Lemelin is a versatile actress appearing in both TV and film, comedies and dramas, and lending her unique voice to many cartoons, movies, video games, and commercials. In 2007, she also co-wrote and produced two movies with the company In-Motion Pictures.
Stephanie began acting professionally soon after moving to L.A. in 2001, following her graduation from the University of Pennsylvania, where she majored in Communications with a minor in English. During her junior year, she spent a year abroad at UNSW (Sydney, Australia), interning for Network 9 as a production assistant.
Born in southern New Jersey to a mom from Philly and a dad from Quebec,Stephanie grew up outside of Philadelphia until she was 10. In the winters, her family (including brother Brian) lived wherever her Dad was playing hockey, which included: Atlanta, Georgia; Calgary, Alberta, Canada; and Boston, Massachusetts. She credits these moves as her first experiences in acting, learning to blend in different towns and cities at a young age.
As of 2012, Stephanie had been cast in 13 consecutive TV pilots (several of which went to series) including Satisfaction (CTV) Men At Work (TNT), The Whole Truth(ABC), Bunker Hill (TNT), Canned(ABC), Good Behavior(ABC), Cavemen(ABC), The Funkhousers (ABC), as well as FOX's Worst Week of My Life, Dirtbags, and Titletown, and had a lead in the SyFy Channel's original TV movie/back door pilot -- Anonymous Rex,based on the books by Eric Garcia. Stephanie has also guest-starred in many network shows, with comedic and dramatic roles on Bones(Fox), Brothers and Sisters (ABC), The League (FX), The Closer (TNT), Melissa & Joey (ABC Family), CSI: Las Vegas (CBS), Malcolm in the Middle (Fox), Rules of Engagement (CBS), Run of the House (WB), Out of Practice (CBS), The Mullets (UPN). Her network television debut was on the critically acclaimed but short-lived Fox show, Undeclared, in which she was cast after one month of moving to LA.
In 2008, Stephanie began adding voice-over credits to her resume. Her first big gig was as Mei Ling in the Dreamworks Kung Fu Panda franchise. She also appears as the voice in several commercials, including some by Taco Bell, Nintendo 3DS, Lunchables, and Supercuts. However her break-out v/o role was series regular Artemis on Cartoon Network's "Young Justice", where she also played Tigress, Catherine Colbert, and the voice of The Computer. She also appears as Sporty Shorty in the children's cartoon "Twinkletoes", and had a recurring role as Nurse Lady Pam on Nickelodeon's "Fan Boy & Chum Chum." Additionally, Stephanie has voiced numerous characters in video games-- from the leading role in Sunset Overdrive, to Misty in Call of Duty: Black Ops 2, to a killer nun in Hitman: Absolution, to the role of Eep in The Croods video game, along with reprising the role of Artemis in Young Justice: Legacy.
Personal life: In 2007, Stephanie married her longtime boyfriend, martial artist and Krav Maga third degree black belt A.J. Draven. Before kids the two were very active in the dog rescue community, with two of their own rescued dogs, pit bull mixes, named Brucely & Stanley. Brucely was adopted from the South Los Angeles Shelter, and Stanley (named for the Stanley cup) was rescued off the streets of New Orleans while Stephanie was volunteering post Hurricane Katrina. In 2010, Stephanie joined the board of the non-profit Angel City Pit Bulls. She also volunteered with Best Friends Animal Society and NKLA.
In March of 2013, Stephanie & AJ welcomed their first child, a son, named Xavier. Two years later, they welcome identical twin girls, Lola & Rocky. Following their births, Stephanie's husband AJ Draven launched his own YouTube channel in the Summer of 2017, dedicated to Krav Maga self defense, health, and wellness... and she often appears alongside him in his tutorials with their children.Stephanie Nicole Lemelin
SNL