Famous People From Western PA
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Scott Glenn was born January 26, 1939, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to Hope Elizabeth and Theodore Glenn, a salesman. As he grew up in Appalachia, his health was poor; he was bedridden for a year and doctors predicted he would limp for the rest of his life. During long periods of illness, Glenn was reading a lot and "dreaming of becoming Lord Byron". He challenged his illness by intense training programs and eventually got rid of his limp.
After graduating high school, Glenn entered William and Mary College where he majored in English. He spent three years in the Marines and then tried to combine his passion for storytelling with his passion for adventures by working for five months as a criminal reporter at the Kenosha Evening News. Glenn planned to become an author but found out he had "problems with dialogues", so he decided to overcome it by studying acting. In 1966, he headed to New York where he joined George Morrison acting class. He helped in directing student plays to pay for his studies and appeared onstage in La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club productions. Soon after arriving in New York, Glenn became a fan of martial arts. In 1968, he joined The Actors Studio and began working in professional theater and TV. In 1970, James Bridges offered him his first movie work in The Baby Maker (1970).
Glenn left for L.A., where he spent seven of the "most miserable years of [his] life". He couldn't find interesting film roles and, doing brief TV stints, he felt "like a person who had to paint the Sistine Chapel with a house-painter's brush". On a brighter side, he worked episodically with Jonathan Demme (Angels Hard as They Come (1971), Fighting Mad (1976)), Robert Altman (Nashville (1975)) and Francis Ford Coppola (Apocalypse Now (1979)). In 1978, Glenn got tired of Hollywood and moved his family to Ketchum, Idaho, where he worked as a barman, huntsman and mountain ranger for two years (occasionally acting in Seattle stage productions). James Bridges once more changed the course of Glenn's life in 1980 when he offered him the role of John Travolta's rival in Urban Cowboy (1980) and made him a star. Glenn's acting abilities and physical presence helped him to excel both in action (Silverado (1985), The Challenge (1982)) and drama (The Right Stuff (1983), Countdown to Looking Glass (1984), The River (1984)) as he alternately played good guys and bad guys.
In the beginning of the '90s, his career was at its peak - he appeared in such indisputable masterpieces as The Silence of the Lambs (1991), and The Hunt for Red October (1990). Established as one of Hollywood's most solid and respected character actors he has appeared in a wide variety of films, such as the black Freudian farce Reckless (1995), the tragicomedy Edie & Pen (1996) and Ken Loach's socio-political declaration Carla's Song (1996), alternating mainstream (Courage Under Fire (1996), Absolute Power (1997)) with independent projects (Lesser Prophets (1997) and Larga distancia (1997)), written by his daughter Dakota Glenn), and TV (Naked City: A Killer Christmas (1998)). Continuing into the 21st century, Glenn has also appeared in Training Day (2001), W. (2008) (as Donald Rumsfeld), Secretariat (2010), Sucker Punch (2011), The Paperboy (2012), and two of the Bourne films: The Bourne Ultimatum (2007) and The Bourne Legacy (2012).Pittsburgh, PA.- Handsome, rugged, versatile and charismatic character actor Tom Atkins was born on November 13, 1935 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Atkins initially became an avid horror film fan in his childhood days; Howard Hawks' immortal classic The Thing from Another World (1951) made an especially strong impression on him as a kid. Tom attended Duquesne University in Pittsburgh and was a member of the Gamma Phi Fraternity. Atkins made his film debut as a rookie police officer in the Frank Sinatra private eye-outing The Detective (1968); it was the first of many police officer roles he has played throughout the years. Tom appeared in two films for director John Carpenter: he is very likable as Nick Castle in the spooky ghost film The Fog (1980) and solid as Rehme in the fantastic futuristic sci-fi/action cult film Escape from New York (1981). Atkins had a nice small role as a disapproving and overbearing father in the wrap-around segments of the immensely enjoyable fright feature anthology Creepshow (1982). He made for a touchingly flawed hero as Dr. Daniel Challis in the unjustly maligned Halloween III: Season of the Witch (1982).
Tom gave a smack dead-on-the-money terrific performance as weary, cynical and suicidal Detective Ray Cameron in the delightful Night of the Creeps (1986) (this movie is Tom's personal favorite among all the horror films he has acted in). He was once again excellent as the similarly burnt-out Lt. Frank McCrae in the fine Maniac Cop (1988) and impressive as the guilt-ridden heroin smuggler Michael Hunsaker in the exciting blockbuster Lethal Weapon (1987). Atkins had a recurring part as Lt. Alex Diehl on the television series The Rockford Files (1974); he reprised this character in several spin-off made-for-TV movies. Among the television series Tom has done guest spots on are Oz (1997), Xena: Warrior Princess (1995), Walker, Texas Ranger (1993), The Equalizer (1985), Spenser: For Hire (1985), The Fall Guy (1981), Lou Grant (1977), Baretta (1975) and M*A*S*H (1972). Outside of his film and television work, Atkins has had a long and distinguished stage career. He has acted on Broadway in the plays "The Changing Room" (Tom won a 1973 Drama Desk Award for Most Promising Performer), "Keep It in the Family" and "The Unknown Soldier and His Wife". His off-Broadway credits include "Vikings", "Long Days Journey Into Night", "Whistle in the Dark" and "Nobody Hears a Broken Drum". Tom frequently acts in plays held at the Pittsburgh Public Theater; he has garnered plenty of accolades for his outstanding portrayal of Pittsburgh Steelers founder Art Rooney in the acclaimed one-man show "The Chief". Tom Atkins resides in Peters Township, Washington County, Pennsylvania.Pittsburgh, PA. - Actress
- Producer
- Additional Crew
Sharon Stone was born and raised in Meadville, a small town in Pennsylvania. Her strict father was a factory worker, and her mother was a homemaker. She was the second of four children. At the age of 15, she studied in Saegertown High School, Pennsylvania, and at that same age, entered Edinboro State University of Pennsylvania, and graduated with a degree in creative writing and fine arts. She was a very smart girl (with an IQ of 154), became a bookworm, and once was told that a suitable job for her (and her brains) was to become a lawyer. However, her first love was still the black-and-white movies, especially those featuring Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. So, the 17-year-old Sharon got herself into the Miss Crawford County and won the beauty contest.
From working part-time as a McDonald's counter girl, she worked her way up to become a successful Ford model, both in TV commercials and print ads. In 1980, she made her acting debut in Woody Allen's Stardust Memories (1980) as "pretty girl in train". Her first speaking part, though, was in Wes Craven's horror movie, Deadly Blessing (1981). She struggled through many parts in B-movies, notably King Solomon's Mines (1985) and Action Jackson (1988). She was also married in 1984 to Michael Greenburg, the producer of MacGyver (1985), but they divorced two years later.
She finally got her big break with Arnold Schwarzenegger in Total Recall (1990) and also posed nude for Playboy, a daring move for a 32-year-old actress. But it worked; she landed the breakthrough role as a sociopath novelist, "Catherine Tramell", in Basic Instinct (1992). Her interrogation scene has become a classic in film history and her performance captivated everyone, from MTV viewers, who honored her with Most Desirable Female and Best Female Performance Awards, to a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress. After she got famous, she didn't want to be typecast, so she played a victim in Sliver (1993), and, in Intersection (1994), she was the aloof, estranged wife of Richard Gere. These movies didn't "work," so she got herself again into more aggressive roles , such as The Specialist (1994) with Sylvester Stallone and The Quick and the Dead (1995) with Gene Hackman.
But it wasn't until she played a beautiful but drug-crazy wife of Robert De Niro in Casino (1995) that she got far more than just fame and fortune--she also received the acknowledgment of the movie industry for her acting ability. She received her first Golden Globe and an Oscar nomination. She did a couple of films afterwards, teaming up with Isabelle Adjani in Diabolique (1996), and as a woman waiting for her death penalty in Last Dance (1996). In 1998, she married a newspaper editor,Phil Bronstein but they divorced later in 2004. She received her third Golden Globe nomination for The Mighty (1998), a film that her company, "Chaos", also co-executive produced. The next year, she played the title role in Gloria (1999) and entered her first comedic role in The Muse (1999), which gave her another Golden Globe nomination.
Sharon Stone, a diva who thoroughly enjoys her hard-won stardom, is now a mother of three children: Roan, Laird and Quinn.Meadville, PA.- Actor
- Director
- Soundtrack
Marty Allen was born on 23 March 1922 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA. He was an actor and director, known for Night Gallery (1969), The Last of the Secret Agents? (1966) and The Vanishing of Ethan Carter (2014). He was married to Karon Kate Blackwell and Lorraine 'Frenchy' Trydelle. He died on 12 February 2018 in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA.Pittsburgh, PA.- Music Department
- Actor
- Soundtrack
Lou Christie was a popular singer from the Pittsburgh area, a former choirboy with no formal musical training, who hit it big in the early 1960s as a teenager with two songs featuring his very high-pitched falsetto voice, "The Gypsy Cried" and "Two Faces Have I." Several years later he hit it big again, with two more hits using his falsetto voice (though not as prominently as on his previous hits), "Lightning Strikes Again" and "Rhapsody in the Rain." The latter had the distinction of being one of the first songs to be banned from many radio stations because of its perceived "suggestive" lyrics.Glen Willard, PA.- Actress
- Soundtrack
Barbara Feldon was born on 12 March 1933 in Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, USA. She is an actress, known for Get Smart (1965), Fitzwilly (1967) and Smile (1975). She was previously married to Lucien Verdoux-Feldon.Bethel Park, PA.- Actor
- Producer
- Music Department
Bret Michaels was born on 15 March 1963 in Butler, Pennsylvania, USA. He is an actor and producer, known for A Letter from Death Row (1998), Mr. & Mrs. Smith (2005) and Friday Night Lights (2004).Butler, PA.- Actor
- Soundtrack
He had the requisite charm and dark, thick-browed good-looks of a Tyrone Power that often spelled "film stardom" but it was not to be in the case of actor William Eythe. Spotted for Hollywood while performing on Broadway, he made nary a dent when he finally transferred his skills to film and is little remembered today. Outgoing in real life, he never found his full range in film and a certain staidness behind the charm and good looks prohibited him from standing out among the other high-ranking leading men. Like Power, his untimely death robbed filmgoers of seeing what kind of a character actor he might have made.
Born William John Joseph Eythe on April 7, 1918, in a small dairy town near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, he was the son of a contractor. Developing an early interest in theatrics after appearing in an elementary school play, he put on his own shows as an amateur producer/director. Following high school he applied to the School of Drama at Carnegie Tech where he initially focused on set design and costuming due to a stammering problem (it was corrected while there). He also produced some of the school's musicals in which he also wrote the songs. Graduating from college in 1941, he began leaning towards a professional music theater and started involving himself in musicals and revues in the Pittsburgh era. He appeared in various stock shows in other states as well, including the "borscht circuit", while radio work in the form of announcing came his way. Following a failed attempt at forming his own stock company, he was discovered by a 20th Century-Fox talent scout while performing impressively on Broadway in "The Moon Is Down" and moved west when the show closed in the summer of '42.
Benefiting from the fact that many major Hollywood male stars were actively serving in WWII, Eythe. who had "4-F status, was handed an enviable film debut as the wavering son of a lynch mob member in the superb The Ox-Bow Incident (1942). More quality films ensued with The Song of Bernadette (1943) and Wilson (1944) although he didn't have much of a chance to shine. He received his best Hollywood top-lining assignments as the rural WWII soldier who has telepathic capabilities in The Eve of St. Mark (1944) and as a German-American double agent in the taut espionage drama The House on 92nd Street (1945). When Fox star Tyrone Power turned down the lead role opposite Tallulah Bankhead in the plush costumer A Royal Scandal (1945), Eythe inherited the part. Naturally Tallulah's histrionics dominated the proceedings and Eythe, though sincere and quite photogenic, was completely overlooked. This happened in other movies as well, and while he was a talented singer/dancer, the only musical film he ever appeared in required minor singing in Centennial Summer (1946). Adding insult to injury, he was dubbed.
Eythe never conformed easily to the strictest of rules that studio head Darryl F. Zanuck imposed and it proved a detriment to his career in the long run. He was either suspended or (in one case) farmed out to England to do a "B" film as punishment for his rebellious nature. A close "friendship" with fellow actor Lon McCallister had to be carefully dampened, and, out of concern, an impulsive marriage in 1947 to socialite and Fox starlet Buff Cobb was the result. It may have ended rumors for a spell but, not unsurprisingly, the couple divorced a little over a year later. Ms. Cobb later married veteran TV newsman Mike Wallace.
In the post-war years, Fox began to lose interest and Eythe was seen with less frequency. He flatlined film-wise in his last two "C" movies that were made by other studios: Special Agent (1949) and Customs Agent (1950). To compensate for the waning of interest, he formed his own production company and appeared on stage in such fare as "The Glass Menagerie" in the showy role of son Tom. He also enjoyed seeing one of his early revues, "Lend an Ear", revamped by Charles Gaynor and given a Broadway run in 1948. Eythe was one of the show's producers and singing stars. The musical is best remembered for putting co-star Carol Channing on the map. In addition, Eythe replaced baritone Alfred Drake in "The Liar" a couple of years later. In 1956 he and McAllister, along with Huntington Hartford, produced a musical revue with the hopes of it reaching Broadway but it closed in Chicago. Uninspired TV work did little to alter his decline.
Depression eventually set in and he turned heavily to drink with an unfortunate series of tabloid-making arrests resulting. His health in rapid deterioration, he was rushed to a Los Angeles hospital one day for treatment of acute hepatitis and died ten days later, at age 38, on January 26, 1957. For someone so promising, his untimely death merely left another tainted impression of the downside to Hollywood stardom.Mars, PA.- Music Artist
- Actor
- Producer
In a singing (and sometimes acting) career that spanned over six decades, the name Perry Como has come to mean that warm, smooth, easy-listening, general-audience, slow-flame romance that characterized popular music in the 1940s, '50s and '60s. It has also come to represent an overall good feeling. Telling of the success of the appeal of that good feeling early on in his career, during just a single week in the 1940s, the music industry pressed and sold 4 million Como records. In the 1950s, 11 of his singles sold well over 1 million copies each. In more than six decades of singing, his records sold more than 100 million copies; 27 individual prints reached the million-record mark.
Christened Pierino Como in Canonsburg, Pa., and one of a family of 13 children, Como pursued a career as a barber before he launched his singing career. At 11, he was working after school cutting hair in a barbershop. Before long he had set his sights on owning his own shop -- even making monthly payments toward one. He enjoyed singing, however, and let go of his barbershop ambitions soon after high school and his marriage to his high school sweetheart, Roselle Beline. It didn't take long to prove that he had talent and soon landed a spot in the Freddie Carlone Orchestra, where he made $28 a week touring the Midwest. In 1937, he joined the Ted Weems orchestra and was featured on the band's "Beat the Band" radio program. His career was on the rise. But, with the start of WWII and the eventual breakup of Weems' band, Como found himself back in Canonsburg in a barbershop cutting hair -- not for long, however. CBS radio soon offered him a weekly show at $100 a week and RCA signed him to a recording contract that garnered him in the next 14 years 42 Top 10 hits, a feat bettered only by Bing Crosby. These hits included "Dig You Later (A Hubba-Hubba-Hubba)," "I'm Always Chasing Rainbows," "They Say It's Wonderful," "Surrender" and "Some Enchanted Evening." The 1945 rendition of "Till the End of Time," (a song associated with the movie "Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo" and based on Chopin's "Polonaise in A-Flat Minor") was perhaps his most memorable hit from this era. Other hits were on the lighter side of romance and included "Hot Diggity" and the forever a favorite "Papa Loves Mambo."
It was also during his singing career in the 1940s that Como appeared in three films for Twentieth Century Fox. His parts were unfortunately less than memorable, partly because of his overpowering screen presence of his co-star Carmen Miranda. But Como did have a screen presence, and he found its niche in the magic of the living room theater when he made his television debut in 1948 with NBC's "The Chesterfield Supper Club." In 1950, he was at the helm of his own show with CBS: "The Perry Como Show," which ran for five years. Back on NBC in 1955 he achieved his greatest success in the medium with an eight-year run. This was the show that featured his theme song: "Sing Along With Me." The show included the talents of the Ray Charles Singers and announcer Frank Gallop. It was also in this show where he developed and honed the image of the cardigan-wearing, relaxed, wholesome nice-guy that has been his trademark ever since. In 1956 and '57 he won Emmy Awards for most outstanding television personality. The show itself won Peabody and Golden Mike awards. During his tenure with this show he also received the Recording Industry Association of America's first ever Gold Disc Award for his rendition of "Catch a Falling Star." He retired from his show in 1963, opting to work only occasionally on t.v. specials. These specials included his traditional Christmas shows. After two decades of just canned music, he returned to live performances in the 1970s, playing Las Vegas and other circuits; he even did a sell-out tour of Australia. The 1970s also gave rise to his million record seller "It's Impossible." In one of his most gratifying moments in his career, President Reagan presented Como with a Kennedy Center award for outstanding achievement in the performing arts.Canonsburg, PA.- Actor
- Producer
- Writer
Jeffrey Lynn Goldblum was born October 22, 1952 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, one of four children of Shirley (Temeles), a radio broadcaster who also ran an appliances firm, and Harold L. Goldblum, a doctor. His father was of Russian Jewish descent and his mother was of Austrian Jewish ancestry.
Goldblum began his career on the New York stage after moving to the city at age seventeen. Possessing his own unique style of delivery, Goldblum made an impression on moviegoers with little more than a single line in Woody Allen's Annie Hall (1977), when he fretted about having forgotten his mantra. Goldblum went on to appear in the remake Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978) and co-starred with Ben Vereen in the detective series Tenspeed and Brown Shoe (1980) before a high-profile turn in the classic ensemble film The Big Chill (1983).
The quirky actor turned up in the suitably quirky film The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension (1984), which became a 1980s cult classic, starred in the modern-day film noir Into the Night (1985), then went on to a breakthrough role in the David Cronenberg remake The Fly (1986), which also featured actress Geena Davis, Goldblum's wife from 1987-1990 and co-star in two additional films: Transylvania 6-5000 (1985) and Julien Temple's Earth Girls Are Easy (1988).
Goldblum was the rather unlikely star of some of the biggest blockbusters of the 1990s: Steven Spielberg's dinosaur adventure Jurassic Park (1993) and its sequel The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997), as well as the alien invasion film Independence Day (1996). These films saw Goldblum playing the type of intellectual characters he has become associated with. More recently, roles have included critically acclaimed turns in Igby Goes Down (2002) and Wes Anderson's The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004). In 2009, he returned to television to star in his second crime series Law & Order: Criminal Intent (2001).Pittsburgh, PA.- Actor
- Additional Crew
- Director
Eugene Curran Kelly was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the third son of Harriet Catherine (Curran) and James Patrick Joseph Kelly, a phonograph salesman. His father was of Irish descent and his mother was of Irish and German ancestry.
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer was the largest and most powerful studio in Hollywood when Gene Kelly arrived in town in 1941. He came direct from the hit 1940 original Broadway production of "Pal Joey" and planned to return to the Broadway stage after making the one film required by his contract. His first picture for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer was For Me and My Gal (1942) with Judy Garland. What kept Kelly in Hollywood were "the kindred creative spirits" he found behind the scenes at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. The talent pool was especially large during World War II, when Hollywood was a refuge for many musicians and others in the performing arts of Europe who were forced to flee the Nazis. After the war, a new generation was coming of age. Those who saw An American in Paris (1951) would try to make real life as romantic as the reel life they saw portrayed in that musical, and the first time they saw Paris, they were seeing again in memory the seventeen-minute ballet sequence set to the title song written by George Gershwin and choreographed by Kelly. The sequence cost a half million dollars (U.S.) to make in 1951 dollars. Another Kelly musical of the era, Singin' in the Rain (1952), was one of the first 25 films selected by the Library of Congress for its National Film Registry. Kelly was in the same league as Fred Astaire, but instead of a top hat and tails Kelly wore work clothes that went with his masculine, athletic dance style.
Gene Kelly died at age 83 of complications from two strokes on February 2, 1996 in Beverly Hills, Los Angeles, California.Pittsburgh, PA.- Actor
- Soundtrack
Academy Award-winning actor F. Murray Abraham was born on October 24, 1939 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and raised in El Paso, Texas. His father, Fred Abraham, was a Syrian (Antiochian Orthodox Christian) immigrant. His mother, Josephine (Stello) Abraham, was the daughter of Italian immigrants. Born with the first name "Murray", he added an "F." to distinguish his stage name.
Primarily a stage actor, Abraham made his screen debut as an usher in George C. Scott's comedy They Might Be Giants (1971). By the mid-1970s, Murray had steady employment as an actor, doing commercials and voice-over work. He can be seen as one of the undercover police officers along with Al Pacino in Sidney Lumet's Serpico (1973), and in television roles including the villain in one third-season episode of Kojak (1973). His film work of those years also included the roles of a cabdriver in The Prisoner of Second Avenue (1975), a mechanic in The Sunshine Boys (1975), and a police officer in All the President's Men (1976).
Beyond these small roles, Abraham continued to do commercials and voice-over work for income. But in 1978, he decided to give them up. Frustrated with the lack of substantial roles, Abraham said, "No one was taking my acting seriously. I figured if I didn't do it, then I'd have no right to the dreams I've always had". His wife, Kate Hannan, went to work as an assistant and Abraham became a "house husband". He described, "I cooked and cleaned and took care of the kids. It was very rough on my macho idea of life. But it was the best thing that ever happened to me". Abraham appeared as drug dealer Omar Suárez alongside Pacino again in the gangster film Scarface (1983). He also gained visibility voicing a talking bunch of grapes in a series of television commercials for Fruit of the Loom underwear.
In 1985, he was honored with as Academy Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role for the acclaimed role of envious composer Antonio Salieri in Amadeus (1984), an award for which Tom Hulce, playing Mozart in that movie, had also been nominated. He was also honored with a Golden Globe for Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Drama, among other awards, and his role in the film, is still considered to be his most iconic as the film's director Milos Forman inspired the work of the role with Abraham's wide range of qualities as a great stage and film actor.
After Amadeus, he next appeared in The Name of the Rose (1986), in which he played Bernardo Gui, nemesis to Sir Sean Connery as William of Baskerville. In the DVD audio commentary, his director on the film, Jean-Jacques Annaud, described Abraham as an "egomaniac" on the set, who considered himself more important than Sean Connery, since Connery did not have an Oscar. That said, the film was a critical success. Abraham had tired of appearing as villains and wanted to return to his background in comedy, as he also explained to People Weekly magazine in an interview he gave at the time of its release.Pittsburgh, PA.- Actor
- Director
- Writer
Frank John Gorshin, Jr. was born on April 5, 1933 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. His father was a railroad worker and his mother, Frances (Preseren), was a seamstress. His family was originally from Novo Mesto, Slovenia. While in high school, young Frank worked as an usher at the Sheridan Square Theatre and began doing impressions of some of his screen idols: Al Jolson, James Cagney, Cary Grant and Edward G. Robinson. At age 17, he won a local talent contest. The prize was a one-week engagement at Jackie Heller's Carousel nightclub, where Alan King was headlining. It was young Frank's first paid job as an entertainer and launched his show business career. Frank attended local Catholic schools and, later, Carnegie-Mellon Tech School of Drama. He acted in plays and performed in nightclubs in Pittsburgh in his spare time.
In 1953, at age 19, he was drafted into the United States Army and was posted in Germany. Frank served for two years, 1953-1955, as an entertainer attached to Special Services. In the Army, Frank met Maurice A. Bergman, who would introduce Frank to a Hollywood agent when his hitch with Uncle Sam was up. Frank quickly landed a role in The Proud and Profane (1956) and other roles in television dramas followed.
In 1957, while visiting his family in Pittsburgh, his agent phoned him to rush back to Hollywood for an audition for Run Silent Run Deep (1958). For some odd reason, instead of catching a plane, Frank decided to drive his car to Los Angeles. Driving 39 consecutive hours, he fell asleep at the wheel, crashed, suffered a fractured skull and woke up in the hospital four days later. To add insult to injury, a Los Angeles newspaper reported he was killed, and the plum movie role of Officer Ruby went to Don Rickles.
Frank appeared in a number of lovable B-movies for American-International Pictures: Hot Rod Girl (1956) and Dragstrip Girl (1957), and everybody's favorite, Invasion of the Saucer Men (1957). Frank finally got a substantial role in the A-movie, Bells Are Ringing (1960), with Dean Martin and Judy Holliday. He did a thinly-disguised Marlon Brando impression. he also appeared in Hollywood nightclubs, including the Purple Onion. He did Las Vegas engagements, opening for Bobby Darin at The Flamingo. On television, Frank appeared on The Steve Allen Plymouth Show (1956) and had a dozen guest shots on The Ed Sullivan Show (1948).
In 1966, he gave his breakout performance, performing what has become his best-known role: The Riddler on Batman (1966), for which he received an Emmy nomination. He also played The Riddler in the movie, Batman: The Movie (1966), based on the television series. "I could feel the impact overnight", he recalled later. Because of his nationwide recognition, he was given headliner status in Las Vegas at the MGM Grand, Sahara and Aladdin Hotels. He received more good reviews for his performance in Let That Be Your Last Battlefield (1969).
In 1970, Frank made his Broadway debut as the star of "Jimmy", for which he got rave reviews. He also starred in many touring company productions, such as "Promises, Promises", "Peter Pan", "Prisoner of Second Street" and "Guys and Dolls". In the 1980s, Frank served as Honorary Chairman, Entertainment Division, for the American Heart Association. Perhaps recalling his early AIP films, Frank worked with the legendary Roger Corman, appearing as Clockwise on the television series Black Scorpion (2001) and on Corman's The Phantom Eye (1999). He had appeared in over 70 movies and made over 40 guest appearances in television series.
Gorshin died at age 72 in Burbank, California on May 17, 2005. He had suffered from lung cancer, emphysema and pneumonia.Pittsburgh, PA.- Actor
- Soundtrack
Burt Mustin was a salesman most of his life, but got his first taste of show business as the host of a weekly radio variety show on KDKA Pittsburgh in 1921. He appeared onstage in "Detective Story" at Sombrero Playhouse in Phoenix Arizona, and played the janitor in the movie version, (Detective Story (1951)), after moving to Hollywood. Hundreds of screen appearances later, he announced his retirement while filming an episode of Phyllis (1975). In the episode, his character married Mother Dexter, played by actress Judith Lowry. Lowry died one month before, and Mustin died one month after the episode aired.Pittsburgh, PA.- Actor
- Make-Up Department
- Special Effects
Actor/SFX wizard/stuntman/director Tom Savini was born in Pittsburgh. Inspired by the film Man of a Thousand Faces (1957), a young Savini became fascinated with the magic and illusion of film. He spent his youth in his room creating characters by tirelessly practicing make-up. Later, as a combat photographer in Vietnam, Savini saw first-hand the gruesome carnage for which he later gained fame, simulating it on screen.
He has acquired a remarkable cult following among film fans, primarily due to his ground-breaking SFX in the "splatter movie" explosion of the early 1980s. Along with fellow special make-up legends Dick Smith and Rob Bottin, Savini was one of the key SFX people behind the startling make-up & EFX seen in the fantasy/horror genre films of the 1980s-'90s. Savini was heavily influenced by the remarkable silent-era actor Lon Chaney, and he sought to emulate the amazing theatrical make-up effects that were a hallmark of Chaney's career. In Savini's insightful book "Grande Illusions", he speaks of his early attempts at applying prosthetics to his face using "spearmint gum", having misinterpreted that he was meant to actually use "spirit gum"! His first work was in low-budget fare, providing SFX and make-up for independently made horror films such as Deranged (1974) and Martin (1977).
He really caught the attention of horror buffs with his grisly effects in the cult George A. Romero-directed zombie film Dawn of the Dead (1978), and then in the controversial slasher film Friday the 13th (1980), the movie generally identified as the kickstart for the aforementioned "splatter movie" genre. Savini also contributed the incredible EFX & make-up to other splatter thrillers such as Maniac (1980), The Burning (1981), Creepshow (1982) and Romero's third "Dead" film, Day of the Dead (1985) (for which he won a Saturn Award). In 1990, Savini directed his feature film debut Night of the Living Dead (1990), the remake of the original zombie-classic.
Not content with only being behind the lens, however, Savini has appeared in dozens of films, and can be seen demonstrating his capable acting skills as "Morgan, the Black Knight" in Knightriders (1981), as "Blades", one of the biker gang members in Dawn of the Dead (1978) and as "Sex Machine", another leather-clad biker--but this time with a groin-mounted gun--in the wild vampire film From Dusk Till Dawn (1996).Pittsburgh, PA.- A marvelously quirky and distinctive 4' 3" character actress, with a larger-than-life presence on film and TV, Zelda Rubinstein gave up a long and stable career in the medical field as a lab technician in order to strive for something more self-fulfilling as middle age settled in. At the age of 45, the feisty lady gave up the comfort of a stable paycheck and attempt an acting career, a daunting task for anyone but especially someone of her stature and type. Within a few years, she had beaten the odds and became a major movie celebrity thanks to one terrific showcase in a Steven Spielberg horror classic. In the process, she served as an inspiration to all the "little people" working in Hollywood who are forced to toil in cruel and demeaning stereotypes.
Zelda May Rubinstein was born on May 28, 1933 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to Dolores and George Rubinstein, who were Polish Jewish immigrants. Zelda was the youngest of three children, and the only "little person" in the family. Her childhood and teenage years were decidedly difficult in terms of coping with her "interesting variation," which was caused by a pituitary gland deficiency. With no designs on acting at the time, she went the normal route of college and received a scholarship to study at the University of Pittsburgh. She earned her degree in bacteriology and worked for a number of years as a lab technician in blood banks. In 1978, Zelda, in a pursuit of something more creative in her life, abandoned her cushy but mundane job and threw herself completely into acting. She made her movie debut as one of the little people in the Chevy Chase slapstick comedy Under the Rainbow (1981). It all came together so quickly with her second film Poltergeist (1982) in the scene-stealing role of Tangina, the saucy, self-confident, prune-faced "house cleaner" with the whispery, doll-like voice who is brought in to rid a suburban home of demonic possession. Co-writer/producer Spielberg claims he designed the psychic role specifically for a "little person". The film became an instant summertime hit and Zelda created absolute magic and wonderment with the testy role, receiving some of the movie's best reviews. The character actress went on to appear in the two "Poltergeist" sequels. The "Poltergeist" movie projects were eventually dubbed "cursed" due to the untimely deaths of some of its performers, particularly two of the three children of film parents Craig T. Nelson and JoBeth Williams. 22-year-old Dominique Dunne was slain in 1982 by a jealous ex-boyfriend only a few months after the first film's release, and angelic little Heather O'Rourke, age 12, died of an intestinal obstruction just months before Poltergeist III (1988) made it to the screen.
Although Zelda would not find a role quite up to the standards and popularity of Tangina, her subsequent career remained surprisingly active with a number of weird parts woven into both comedies and chillers -- often variations of her eccentric Tangina role. She played a mental patient in the Frances Farmer biopic Frances (1982), which showcased Jessica Lange in the Oscar-nominated title role; a squeaky-shoed organist in John Hughes sweet-sixteen comedy classic Sixteen Candles (1984) co-starring Brat Packers Molly Ringwald and Anthony Michael Hall; the demented mom in the gruesome, Spanish-made horror-thriller Anguish (1987) [aka Anguish], which has since reached cult status; a mentor witch in the comic fantasy Teen Witch (1989); a hermit in a National Lampoon-based slapstick Last Resort (1994); a betting clerk in the Sci-Fi adventure Timemaster (1995); an ill-fated nun in the thriller Little Witches (1996), and; a theatre director in the flick Critics and Other Freaks (1997).
Into the millennium, she made some odd, slapdash appearances in such minor fare as Maria & Jose (2000), Wishcraft (2002), Cages (2005), Angels with Angles (2005), Unbeatable Harold (2006) and Southland Tales (2006). In her last film, she furthered her horror icon status with a small cameo in the slim-budgeted indie Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon (2006) that also featured Robert Englund of "Freddy Krueger" fame. Zelda also found an "in" doing voiceovers, her doll-like tones ideal for cartoons and such, and in commercials promoting such items as Skittles candy. She enjoyed extended popularity on TV with a regular series role on the first couple of seasons of Picket Fences (1992). Her character later was killed off in a freakish accident (fell into a freezer!). In her last years she narrated, and "Exorcist" child star Linda Blair hosted, TV's Scariest Places on Earth (2000). The actress also appeared on stage in such productions as "Deathtrap" (as a psychic, of course), "To Kill a Mockingbird," "Suddenly, Last Summer," "The Slab Boys" and "Black Comedy". She also appeared as Yente in a production of "Fiddler on the Roof".
An outspoken social activist, Zelda was a staunch advocate for the rights of little people who formed the nonprofit Michael Dunn Memorial Repertory Theater Company in Los Angeles in 1985. The actress gained additional attention and respect, if not popularity (her career suffered for a time as a result), as an early and outspoken HIV/AIDS activist. As the poster mom for AIDS awareness, she valiantly appeared in a series of maternal newspaper/billboard advertisements imploring her gay son to practice safe sex. The series of ads ran from the mid-to-late 1980s. Zelda also participated in the first AIDS Project Los Angeles AIDS Walk and attended the 25th Anniversary Walk on October 12, 2009.
A couple of months before her death on January 27, 2010, Zelda suffered a heart attack. Complications set in (kidney and lung failure) and she passed away at age 76 on January 27, 2010, at Barlow Respiratory Hospital in Los Angeles, California.Pittsburgh, PA. - Actor
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Kiel Martin was born on 26 July 1944 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA. He was an actor, known for Hill Street Blues (1981), Trick Baby (1972) and The Panic in Needle Park (1971). He was married to Joanne Marie Lapomarda, Christina Montoya and Claudia Martin. He died on 28 December 1990 in Rancho Mirage, California, USA.Pittsburgh, PA.- Actor
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Ted Cassidy was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and raised in Philippi, West Virginia. He was a well respected actor who portrayed many different characters during his film and television career. His most notable role was Lurch, the faithful butler on the television series The Addams Family (1964). His most memorable dialogue as Lurch would be, "You rang?", whenever someone summoned him. Due to his large size, (6ft. 9in.) he portrayed larger than life characters. His deep voice, was used for narrations and for dubbing certain character's voices. His acting career spanned three decades. Ted Cassidy died in 1979 from complications following open-heart surgery. His live-in girlfriend had his remains cremated, then buried in the backyard of their Woodland Hills home.Pittsburgh, PA.- Actor
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Deadpan comedian Charles Sydney Grodin (originally Grodinsky) was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania of Russian/Polish ancestry and raised in a Jewish orthodox home. He attended the University of Miami but dropped out, opting instead for the life of a struggling actor. The movie A Place in the Sun (1951) was said to have steered him towards his chosen profession. In his own words: "It was two things. One is I think I developed an overwhelming crush on Elizabeth Taylor. And two, Montgomery Clift made acting look like 'Gee, well that looks pretty easy - just a guy talking.'".
After a spell with Uta Hagen (1956-59), he attended Lee Strasberg's Actors Studio before making his stage debut on Broadway in 1962. Though he appeared on screen from as early as 1954, Grodin did not make a great deal of headway in this medium until he attracted critical notice playing the small but crucial role of obstetrician Dr. C.C. Hill in Rosemary's Baby (1968). More substantial roles soon followed. His first major starring turn was in The Heartbreak Kid (1972), a black comedy written by Neil Simon and directed by Elaine May. Grodin managed to inject charm and humanity in what was essentially an egotistical central character. Film reviewer Roger Ebert praised his performance, describing the actor as a "kind of Dustin Hoffman-as-overachiever", an opinion which was echoed by Vincent Canby of the New York Times. Ironically, Grodin had earlier turned down the pivotal role in The Graduate (1967) which propelled Hoffman to stardom (he also -- probably unwisely -- spurned the role of oceanographer Matt Hooper in Jaws (1975) which instead went to Richard Dreyfuss).
Grodin's ultimate breakthrough came on the Broadway stage in "Same Time Next Year" (1975) (opposite Ellen Burstyn), a hugely successful romantic comedy about two people, each married to someone else, who conduct an extramarital affair for a single day over the course of 24 years in the same room of a northern Californian inn. Though the two leads left the show after seven months, Grodin was now much sought-after in Hollywood as a droll comic actor and cast in a string of hit comedies: Heaven Can Wait (1978), Seems Like Old Times (1980), The Lonely Guy (1984) and Midnight Run (1988). He also appeared to sterling effect in the underrated farce The Couch Trip (1988), in which he co-starred with Walter Matthau and Dan Aykroyd as the brittle psychiatrist and radio host Dr. George Maitlin. Arguably his most popular box office success was opposite the titular Saint Bernard canine in the family-oriented comedy Beethoven (1992). Despite less than enthusiastic critical reviews, the film was a hit with audiences, grossed $147.2 million worldwide and spawned a sequel.
In the mid-1990s, Grodin reinvented himself as a television host (The Charles Grodin Show (1995)) and political commentator. He made frequent guest appearances on talk shows with Carson or Letterman, typically adopting the persona of a belligerent tongue-in-cheek character to facilitate "comically uncomfortable situations on the set". Grodin was also a prolific author, both of fiction and non-fiction. An autobiography was entitled "It Would Be So Nice If You Weren't Here: My Journey Through Show Business" (1989). Charles Grodin died at age 86 of bone marrow cancer on May 18, 2021 at his home in Wilton, Connecticut.Pittsburgh, PA.- Writer
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Dennis Miller was born on 3 November 1953 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA. He is a writer and producer, known for The Net (1995), Joe Dirt (2001) and Murder at 1600 (1997). He has been married to Ali Espley since 10 April 1988. They have two children.Pittsburgh, PA.- Actor
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They don't come any nicer than John Davidson. The dark-haired, Pittsburgh-born singer/TV personality, who was born in 1941 and the son of a Baptist minister, is highly-defined and sometimes cursed by his clean-cut, fresh-faced, apple-cheeked handsomeness. After graduating from high school in White Plains, New York, and earning a B.A. in Theater Arts from Denison University, John took his naturally-gifted baritone voice to the musical stage. The affable six-footer made his Broadway bow with Bert Lahr and Larry Blyden in the short-lived musical, "Foxy", in 1964 at the Ziegfeld Theater. TV producer Bob Banner, who discovered such other formidable talents as Carol Burnett, Dom DeLuise and Bob Newhart, caught John in one of his performances and immediately took him under his wing.
Within a short time, John was moving quickly in the musical fast lane. On TV, he co-starred as "Matt" in a 1964 Hallmark Hall of Fame presentation of the classic musical, "The Fantasticks", alongside an esteemed company that included Mr. Lahr, Ricardo Montalban, Stanley Holloway and the lovely soprano, Susan Watson. He also appeared as a regular on The Entertainers (1964), and grew in stature enough to host The Kraft Summer Music Hall (1966), keeping his face and voice consistently front-and-center on the prime-time variety show circuit. Back on stage, he won a Theater World Award in 1965 for his role as "Curly" in "Oklahoma!", a part he would play many times over the years. Demonstrating leading man potential, John was handed tuneful co-star assignments in the rather antiseptic Disney movies, The Happiest Millionaire (1967) and The One and Only, Genuine, Original Family Band (1968), both featuring the reigning "Cinderella" of the time, Lesley Ann Warren, but he did not move ahead in films.
While an overly cute, lightweight image severely hampered his chances to be taken seriously as a dramatic actor, the bedimpled performer, nevertheless, made great strides as a full-fledged TV presence in the 1970s. He earned his own daytime talk show, The John Davidson Show (1969), and appeared in such mini-movie offerings as Coffee, Tea or Me? (1973) with Karen Valentine. He co-starred with another eternal cutie at the time, Sally Field, in The Girl with Something Extra (1973), playing newlyweds, but the sitcom was unsuccessful. Through the lean years, John maintained by singing on his own TV Christmas specials and guesting in episodes of The Love Boat (1977) and Fantasy Island (1977). Interest in John, however, slacked off.
It wasn't until the next decade when his career revitalized by hosting That's Incredible! (1980). The show's format fit John's buoyant nature to a tee and lasted four years, alongside co-host Cathy Lee Crosby. His talent for self-effacing "straight man" humor showed up first as a The Hollywood Squares (Daytime) (1965) regular, then as takeover host of The New Hollywood Squares (1986), which lasted several years. He also took over Dick Clark's emcee post on the syndicated game show, The $10,000 Pyramid (1973), during the 1992-1993 season.
Music, however, has always been John's first passion. In addition to recording 12 solo albums in both the pop and country music venues, he plays the guitar and banjo and has sung in English, French and Spanish. A perennial nightclub and concert favorite, he has starred in many national tours and stock productions including "The Music Man", "110 in the Shade", "Paint Your Wagon", "Li'l Abner", "Camelot", "Carousel", "I Do! I Do!" and "Will Rogers' Follies", among others. He's appeared in legit plays, including the off-Broadway comedy, "High Infidelity", opposite both Barbara Eden and Morgan Fairchild, and, in 1996, returned to Broadway, after 32 years, in the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical, "State Fair". Two years later, he was inspired to try out his one-man show, "Bully", as Theodore Roosevelt, after playing the president earlier in the musical, "Teddy and Alice". John has made sporadic appearances in films, including the disaster epic, The Concorde... Airport '79 (1979), and Edward Scissorhands (1990).
Divorced in 1982 from singer Jackie Miller, who once was part of the folk duo, Jackie and Gayle, after 13 years of marriage and two children, John is currently with second wife and former backup singer, Rhonda Davidson (nee Rivera) (since 1983). Together, they have a child of their own, Ashleigh Davidson. Most recently, he appeared with one of his children, Ashleigh, in a 2005 musical production of "Shenandoah".Pittsburgh, PA.- Actor
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The words "suave" and "debonair" became synonymous with the name Adolphe Menjou in Hollywood, both on- and off-camera. The epitome of knavish, continental charm and sartorial opulence, Menjou, complete with trademark waxy black mustache, evolved into one of Hollywood's most distinguished of artists and fashion plates, a tailor-made scene-stealer, if you will. What is often forgotten is that he was primed as a matinée idol back in the silent-film days. With hooded, slightly owlish eyes, a prominent nose and prematurely receding hairline, he was hardly competition for Rudolph Valentino, but he did possess the requisite demeanor to confidently pull off a roguish and magnetic man-about-town. Fluent in six languages, Menjou was nearly unrecognizable without some type of formal wear, and he went on to earn distinction as the nation's "best dressed man" nine times.
Born on February 18, 1890, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, he was christened Adolphe Jean Menjou, the elder son of a hotel manager. His Irish mother was a distant cousin of novelist / poet James Joyce ("Ulysses") (1882-1941). His French father, an émigré, eventually moved the family to Cleveland, where he operated a chain of restaurants. He disapproved of show business and sent an already piqued Adolphe to Culver Military Academy in Indiana in the hopes of dissuading him from such a seemingly reckless and disreputable career. From there Adolphe was enrolled at Stiles University prep school and then Cornell University. Instead of acquiescing to his father's demands and obtaining a engineering degree, however, he abruptly changed his major to liberal arts and began auditioning for college plays. He left Cornell in his third year in order to help his father manage a restaurant for a time during a family financial crisis. From there he left for New York and a life in the theater.
Adolphe toiled as a laborer, a haberdasher and even a waiter in one of his father's restaurants during his salad days, which included some vaudeville work. Oddly enough, he never made it to Broadway but instead found extra and/or bit work for various film studios (Vitagraph, Edison, Biograph) starting in 1915. World War I interrupted his early career, and he served as a captain with the Ambulance Corps in France. After the war he found employment off-camera as a productions manager and unit manager. When the New York-based film industry moved west, so did Adolphe.
Nothing of major significance happened for the fledgling actor until 1921, an absolute banner year for him. After six years of struggle he finally broke into the top ranks with substantial roles in The Faith Healer (1921) and Through the Back Door (1921), the latter starring Mary Pickford. He formed some very strong connections as a result and earned a Paramount contract in the process. Cast by Mary's then-husband Douglas Fairbanks as Louis XIII in the rousing silent The Three Musketeers (1921), he finished off the year portraying the influential writer/friend Raoul de Saint Hubert in Rudolph Valentino's classic The Sheik (1921).
Firmly entrenched in the Hollywood lifestyle, it took little time for Menjou to establish his slick prototype as the urbane ladies' man and wealthy roué. Paramount, noticing how Menjou stole scenes from Charles Chaplin favorite Edna Purviance in Chaplin's A Woman of Paris: A Drama of Fate (1923), started capitalizing on Menjou's playboy image by casting him as various callous and creaseless matinée leads in such films as Broadway After Dark (1924), Sinners in Silk (1924), The Ace of Cads (1926), A Social Celebrity (1926) and A Gentleman of Paris (1927). His younger brother Henri Menjou, a minor actor, had a part in Adolphe's picture Blonde or Brunette (1927).
The stock market crash led to the termination of Adolphe's Paramount contract, and his status as leading man ended with it. MGM took him on at half his Paramount salary and his fluency in such languages as French and Spanish kept him employed at the beginning. Rivaling Gary Cooper for the attentions of Marlene Dietrich in Morocco (1930) started the ball rolling for Menjou as a dressy second lead. Rarely placed in leads following this period, he managed his one and only Oscar nomination for "Best Actor" with his performance as editor Walter Burns in The Front Page (1931). Not initially cast in the role, he replaced Louis Wolheim, who died ten days into rehearsal. Quality parts in quality pictures became the norm for Adolphe during the 1930s, with outstanding roles given him in The Great Lover (1931), A Farewell to Arms (1932), Forbidden (1932), Little Miss Marker (1934), Morning Glory (1933), A Star Is Born (1937), Stage Door (1937) and Golden Boy (1939).
The 1940s were not as golden, however. In addition to entertaining the troops overseas and making assorted broadcasts in a host of different languages, he did manage to get the slick and slimy Billy Flynn lawyer role opposite Ginger Rogers' felon in the "Chicago" adaptation Roxie Hart (1942), and continued to earn occasional distinction in such post-WWII pictures as The Hucksters (1947) and State of the Union (1948). His last lead was in the crackerjack thriller The Sniper (1952), in which he played an (urbane) San Francisco homicide detective tracking down a killer who preys on women in San Francisco, and he appeared without his mustache for the first time in nearly two decades. Also active on radio and TV, his last notable film was the classic anti-war picture Paths of Glory (1957) playing the villainous Gen. Broulard.
Adolphe's extreme hardcore right-wing Republican politics hurt his later reputation, as he was made a scapegoat for his cooperation as a "friendly witness" at the House Un-American Activities Commission hearing during the Joseph McCarthy Red Scare era. Following his last picture, Disney's Pollyanna (1960), in which he played an uncharacteristically rumpled curmudgeon who is charmed by Hayley Mills, he retired from acting. He died after a nine-month battle with hepatitis on October 29, 1963, inside his Beverly Hills home. Three times proved the charm for Adolphe with his 1934 marriage to actress Verree Teasdale, who survived him. The couple had an adopted son named Peter. His autobiography, "It Took Nine Tailors" (1947), pretty much says it all for this polished, preening professional.Pittsburgh, PA.- Judith O'Dea is an American actress. She is best known for the 1968 George A. Romero film Night of the Living Dead.
In the 1980s she put her acting career aside to found her coaching company O'Dea Communications and raise her family.
She reappeared again as an actress on 2003 in the horror film Claustrophobia. In 2017 she reprised the role of Barbra Hamilton in the film Night of the Living Dead: Genesis.Pittsburgh, PA. - Patti Deutsch was born on 16 December 1943 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA. She was an actress, known for The Emperor's New Groove (2000), Tarzan (1999) and Mr. Mom (1983). She was married to Donald Ross. She died on 26 July 2017 in Los Angeles, California, USA.Pittsburgh, PA.
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Don Brockett was born on 30 January 1930 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA. He was an actor and writer, known for The Silence of the Lambs (1991), Flashdance (1983) and Mister Rogers' Neighborhood (1968). He was married to Leslie Brockett. He died on 2 May 1995 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA.Pittsburgh, PA.- Actor
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Fred Rogers was the host of the popular long-running public television children's show Mister Rogers' Neighborhood. The show debuted in Pittsburgh in 1967 and was picked up by PBS the next year, becoming a staple of public TV stations around the United States. Rogers' mild manner, cardigan sweaters and soft speaking voice made him both widely beloved and widely parodied. Rogers ended production of the show in 2001, but reruns of the show continued to be aired on many PBS stations. He died in 2003 after a short battle with stomach cancer.Latrobe, PA.- Actor
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Quirky, inventive and handsome American actor Michael Keaton first achieved major fame with his door-busting performance as fast-talking ideas man Bill Blazejowski, alongside a nerdish morgue attendant (Henry Winkler), in Night Shift (1982). He played further comedic roles in Mr. Mom (1983), Johnny Dangerously (1984), and Beetlejuice (1988), earned further acclaim for his dramatic portrayal of Bruce Wayne / Batman in Tim Burton's Batman (1989) and Batman Returns (1992), and since then, has moved easily between film genres, ranging from drama and romantic comedy to thriller and action.
Keaton was born Michael John Douglas on September 5, 1951 in Coraopolis, Pennsylvania, to Leona Elizabeth (Loftus), a homemaker, and George A. Douglas, a civil engineer and surveyor. He is of Irish, as well as English, Scottish, and German, descent. Michael studied speech for two years at Kent State, before dropping out and moving to Pittsburgh. An unsuccessful attempt at stand-up comedy led Keaton to working as a TV cameraman in a cable station, and he came to realize he wanted to work in front of the cameras. Keaton first appeared on TV in several episodes of Mister Rogers' Neighborhood (1968).
He left Pittsburgh and moved to Los Angeles to begin auditioning for TV. He began cropping up in popular TV shows including Maude (1972) and The Mary Tyler Moore Hour (1979). Around this time, Keaton decided to use an alternative surname to remove confusion with better-known actor Michael Douglas. He looked into the "K"'s for surnames and thought it was inoffensive to chose 'Keaton'. His next break was scoring a co-starring role alongside Jim Belushi in the short-lived comedy series Working Stiffs (1979), which showcased his comedic talent and led to his co-starring role in Night Shift (1982). Keaton next scored the lead in the comedy hits Mr. Mom (1983), Johnny Dangerously (1984) , Gung Ho (1986), the Tim Burton horror-comedy Beetlejuice (1988), and The Dream Team (1989).
Keaton's career was given another major boost when he was again cast by Tim Burton, this time as the title comic book superhero, millionaire playboy/crime-fighter Bruce Wayne, in Batman (1989). Burton cast him because he thought that Keaton was the only actor who could portray someone who has the kind of darkly obsessive personality that the character demands. To say there were howls of protest by fans of the caped crusader comic strip is an understatement! Warner Bros. was deluged with thousands of letters of complaint commenting that comedian Keaton was the wrong choice for the Caped Crusader, given his prior work and the fact that he lacked the suave, handsome features and tall, muscular physicality often attributed to the character in the comic books. However, their fears were proven wrong when Keaton turned in a sensational performance, and he held his own on screen with opponent Jack Nicholson, playing the lunatic villain, "The Joker". Keaton's dramatic work earned widespread acclaim from critics and audiences alike, and Batman (1989) became one of the most successful films of the year.
Keaton remained active during the 1990s, appearing in a wide range of films. Keen to diversify his work, Keaton starred as a psychotic tenant in Pacific Heights (1990), as a hard-working cop in One Good Cop (1991), and then donned the black cape and cowl once more for Batman Returns (1992). He remained in demand during the 1990s, appearing in a wide range of films, including the star-studded Shakespearian Much Ado About Nothing (1993), the drama My Life (1993), another Ron Howard comedy The Paper (1994), with sexy Andie MacDowell in Multiplicity (1996), twice in the same role, dogged Elmore Leonard character Agent Ray Nicolette, in Jackie Brown (1997) and Out of Sight (1998). He also played a killer in the mediocre thriller Desperate Measures (1998).
In the 2000s, Keaton appeared in several productions with mixed success, including Live from Baghdad (2002), First Daughter (2004), and Herbie Fully Loaded (2005). He also provided voices for characters in the animated films Cars (2006), Toy Story 3 (2010), and Minions (2015).
He returned to major film roles in the 2010s, co-starring in The Other Guys (2010), RoboCop (2014) and Need for Speed (2014). Also that year, Keaton starred alongside Zach Galifianakis, Edward Norton, Emma Stone, and Naomi Watts in Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) (2014), a film by 21 Grams (2003) and Biutiful (2010) director Alejandro G. Iñárritu. In the film, Keaton plays Riggan Thomson, a screen actor, famous for playing the iconic titular superhero, who puts on a Broadway play based on a Raymond Carver short story, to regain his former glory. Keaton's critically praised lead performance earned him a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Musical or Comedy, the Critics' Choice Award for Best Actor and Best Actor in a Comedy, and nominations for the Screen Actors Guild Award, British Academy Film Award, and Academy Award for Best Actor.
In 2015, he played a journalist in Spotlight (2015), which, like Birdman, won the Academy Award for Best Picture. In 2016, he starred as Ray Kroc, the developer of McDonald's, in the drama The Founder (2016).
He is a visiting scholar at Carnegie Mellon University.Coraopolis, PA.- Handsome, charming, and amiable everyman character actor Frederick West McCarren was born on April 12, 1951 in Butler, Pennsylvania. McCarren acted in numerous stage productions while a student at Butler Area Senior High School. Fred attended not only the University of Cincinatti and Point Park College, but also Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Clown College in Venice, Florida. After college McCarren went to New York, where he immediately found employment doing TV commercials. A subsequent career in film and television followed soon thereafter. Fred married his wife Lisa Hogan on December 30, 1982. A onetime resident of Tarzana, California, McCarren and his wife moved back to his native Pennsylvania in the late 1980's. Fred focused on raising his six children while continuing to work in both radio and television commercials that included the crazy Dr. Sanchez in radio spots for the Mad Rex restaurant chain and the coach in a series of TV commercials for Dick's Sporting Goods as well as TV spots for PNC, PPG, Comcast, and Builder's Surplus. McCarren had two brothers and three sisters. He died at age 55 on July 2, 2006 from colon cancer at Butler Memorial Hospital in Butler, Pennsylvania.Butler, PA.
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Bill Cardille is a native of Sharon Pennsylvania. "Chilly Billy" as he is affectionately known, started his broadcast career in 1952 in Erie, PA at WICV Channel 12. He later made Pittsburgh his home in 1957 signing on WIIC Channel 11 (now known as WPXI) and starred as the host for several historical programs such as...Studio Wrestling...Dance Party...and the ever popular Chiller Theater. Bill is still one of the original host for the annual Jerry Lewis Muscular Dystrophy Telethon, which has raised 15.8 million dollars locally for this great cause.
Over the years Bill Cardille has collected several awards and honors for his volunteer work and elaborate career. He was awarded the Heart Award in 1976. Named AFTRA's TV Personality of the Year and inducted in the AFTRA's Hall of Fame in 1979. Viewing of Chiller Theater is displayed in New York's Museum of Broadcast, and Bill was inducted into the Pennsylvania Broadcaster Hall of Fame in 1997. Bill currently spends most of his time on the radio. You can hear Chilly Billy every weekday on 1320 WJAS from 10am - 3pm. He and his wife, Louise, currently live in the North Hills and are proud parents of Lori, Marea and Bill. They have four grandchildren.Farrell, PA.- Actor
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Zachary Quinto was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to Margaret J. (McArdle), an Irish-American office worker, and Joseph John Quinto, an Italian-American barber. Zachary graduated from Central Catholic High School in Pittsburgh, with the class of 1995, where he won Pittsburgh's Gene Kelly Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance as the Major General in Gilbert and Sullivan's "The Pirates of Penzance". He then went on to attend Carnegie Mellon University, where he continued to hone his talents by performing in plays and musicals. He first appeared on numerous television series since 2000 and, in 2003, landed the role of computer expert "Adam Kaufman" on the Fox series, 24 (2001), during its third season. In 2006, Quinto portrayed serial killer "Sylar" on the science fiction series, Heroes (2006), until its cancellation in 2010, after four seasons. He was cast in his first main film role as "Spock", in the hugely successful franchise reboot, Star Trek (2009).Pittsburgh, PA.- Actor
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Bobby Vinton was born on 16 April 1935 in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania, USA. He is an actor and composer, known for Flushed Away (2006), Godzilla vs. Kong (2021) and Blue Velvet (1986). He has been married to Dolly Dobbins since 17 December 1962. They have five children.Canonsburg, PA.- Actor
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Billy Gardell was born on 20 August 1969 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA. He is an actor and producer, known for Bad Santa (2003), Avenging Angelo (2002) and Dragon Wars: D-War (2007). He has been married to Patty Gardell since 30 September 2001. They have one child.Pittsburgh, PA.- Actor
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Billy Barty was born William John Bertanzetti on October 25, 1924 in Millsboro, Pennsylvania. He began performing at age three and began making pictures in 1927. He played Mickey Rooney's little brother in the "Mickey McGuire" comedy shorts series. He was equally adept in both comedy and drama, and generally gives an added zest to any production he is associated with. He founded the Little People of America in 1957 and the Billy Barty Foundation in 1975. He possessed an immense talent and energetic charm that added a much needed shot in the arm to many series and films. Billy Barty died at age 76 of heart failure on December 23, 2000 in Glendale, California.Millsboro, PA.- Eric Namesnik was born on 7 August 1970 in Butler, Pennsylvania, USA. He died on 11 January 2006 in Saline, Michigan, USA.Butler, PA.
- Grace Byers (born Grace Lillis Gealey) was born in Butler, PA and moved to the Cayman Islands at Age 2. She moved back to America to attend the University of South Florida in Tampa, where she received a B.A. in Theater Arts. Upon graduating from college, Byers was accepted into the University of California Irvine's graduate program and obtained her M.F.A in Acting. A successful showcase took her from Los Angeles to New York City, where Byers performed professionally. Several theater productions, short films and national commercials led her to Chicago, where she was cast as Anika Calhoun in Fox's Empire. This marked Byers' network television debut.Butler, PA.
- Terry Hanratty was born on 19 January 1948 in Butler, Pennsylvania, USA. He is an actor, known for Miller Lite: Tastes Great, Less Filling (1973), The NFL on CBS (1956) and NFL Monday Night Football (1970).Butler, PA.
- Actress
- Additional Crew
- Soundtrack
Michele Pawk was born on 16 November 1961 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA. She is an actress, known for Quantum Leap (1989), Anastasia (1997) and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (1999). She has been married to John Dossett since 14 February 2004. They have one child. She was previously married to Kevin McCollum.Butler, PA.- Ed Vargo was born on 25 April 1930 in Butler, Pennsylvania, USA. He was married to Elizabeth Hunter. He died on 2 February 2008 in Butler, Pennsylvania, USA.Butler, PA.
- Music Department
- Soundtrack
Bob Babbitt was born on 26 November 1937 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA. He is known for McHale's Navy (1997), Phil Collins: Going Back (2010) and Standing in the Shadows of Motown (2002). He was married to Ann Kreinar. He died on 16 July 2012 in Nashville, Tennessee, USA.Pittsburgh, PA.- Darrell Zwerling was born on 9 September 1928 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA. He was an actor, known for Grease (1978), Chinatown (1974) and And Justice for All (1979). He died on 11 April 2014 in Hollywood, California, USA.Pittsburgh, PA.
- Composer
- Actress
- Soundtrack
After growing up in Pittsburgh, Syreeta Wright moved to Detroit, where she joined Motown Records. Berry Gordy simplified her name, and as Rita Wright she released "I Can't Give Back the Love I Feel For You," written by Nick Ashford & Valerie Simpson and Brian Holland. It did OK, and Gordy thought of asking her to join The Supremes when Diana Ross left the trio; but it was her association (and marriage) with Stevie Wonder that brought her wider recognition. They co-wrote several hits ("If You Really Love Me," "It's a Shame," "Signed, Sealed, Delivered," "Never Dreamed You'd Leave in Summer," "Superwoman") and he produced her excellent debut album "Syreeta" (on the Mowest label), followed by the classic "Stevie Wonder Presents Syreeta." They were divorced in 1972, she married with drummer Curtis Robertson, but continued working with Wonder, as well as with Leon Ware and Richard Perry. In 1979, she duetted with Billy Preston and had a top 5 pop hit, "With You I'm Born Again," from the film Fast Break (1979). After "The Spell," an album produced by Jermaine Jackson, she left Motown. She is still considered one of the most talented and best voices the firm ever had under contract.Pittsburgh, PA.- Producer
- Actor
Frank DiLeo was born on 23 October 1947 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA. He was a producer and actor, known for Goodfellas (1990), Moonwalker (1988) and Wayne's World 2 (1993). He was married to Linda DiLeo. He died on 24 August 2011 in North Lima, Ohio, USA.Pittsburgh, PA.- Actor
- Producer
- Stunts
Kurt Angle was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA. He won a Olympic Gold Medal in 1996 having notoriously won it with a broken neck. In 1998 he transitioned into professional wrestling where he sky rocked to success after joining the World Wrestling Federation. He later became the first ever wrestler to hold the WCW and WWF Championships during the same calendar year. He also became the second ever TNA Triple Crown Champion in the promotions history and is a overall 13 time World Champion in professional wrestling.Pittsburgh, PA.- Karen Jarrett was born on 12 October 1972 in Greensburg, Pennsylvania, USA. She is an actress and producer, known for One Night Only: GFW Amped Anthology (2017), AEW Dynamite (2019) and AEW Collision (2023). She has been married to Jeff Jarrett since 21 August 2010. She was previously married to Kurt Angle.Greensburg, PA.
- Actress
- Additional Crew
- Stunts
Giovanna Angle was born on 26 March 1987 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA. She is an actress, known for Unstoppable (2010), Death from Above (2012) and Angle (2023). She has been married to Kurt Angle since 20 July 2012. They have three children.Pittsburgh, PA.- Fred Biletnikoff was born on 23 February 1943 in Erie, Pennsylvania, USA. He is an actor, known for The Norseman (1978), A Knife for the Ladies (1974) and Vega$ (1978). He has been married to Angela Loder since 31 May 1991. They have one child. He was previously married to Jerrylyn O'Connor and Jennifer Lysengen.Erie, PA.
- Actor
- Composer
- Director
Billy Blanks Jr. is known for Foodfight! (2012), The Practice (1997) and Steak or Ramen (2017). He is married to Sharon Brown.Erie, PA.- Actress
- Additional Crew
Marilyn Burns was born Mary Lynn Ann Burns on May 7, 1949 in Erie, Pennsylvania, and raised in Houston, Texas. She attended the University of Texas at Austin where she graduated with a Bachelor's degree in Drama. Marilyn was one of the original scream queens, remembered primarily for her role in The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974). She played Sally Hardesty, a teenager who travels with her brother and some friends to the cemetery where her grandfather was buried to investigate reports of grave vandalism, and then encounters an insane, murderous family, including the chainsaw-wielding Leatherface.
Her follow-up appearance was in Eaten Alive (1976), where she played a vacationer who unwittingly stumbles upon a hotel managed by a maniac who feeds his guests to his crocodile. Marilyn earned her scream queen status by starring in other horror movies; Kiss Daddy Goodbye (1981) and Future-Kill (1985). She appeared in the television miniseries Helter Skelter (1976) about the real-life trial of Charles Manson and his family. She played Linda Kasabian, a member of the Manson Family whose testimony helped lead to the convictions of the cult leader and many of his followers.
Marilyn had an uncredited cameo as Sally Hardesty in Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation (1994), and made a cameo appearance as Verna Carlson in Texas Chainsaw (2013). However, aside from these roles and occasional appearances at horror conventions, she lived a relatively quiet life out of the spotlight in the Houston area in her later years. Marilyn Burns died at age 65 in her sleep on August 5, 2014 and was found in her Houston, Texas home by family members, the cause was an apparent heart attack, although not specified.Erie, PA.- Actor
- Composer
- Music Department
Pat Monahan was born on 28 February 1969 in Erie, Pennsylvania, USA. He is an actor and composer, known for Skyscraper (2018), Abduction (2011) and Spider-Man 2 (2004). He has been married to Amber Peterson since 20 July 2007. They have two children. He was previously married to Ginean Rapp.Erie, PA.- Music Department
- Composer
- Actor
Grammy award-winning artist and former longtime Nine Inch Nails drummer/programmer Chris Vrenna is a multi-faceted musical genius - a rare talent whose artistic prowess easily ranges from onstage performance to studio wizardry. In addition to eight years with NIN and studio collaborations with Marilyn Manson and Smashing Pumpkins, Vrenna's production and remixing credits including U2's "Elevation Remix" for the Tomb Raider soundtrack in addition to work for Xzibit featuring Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg, Nelly Furtado, Weezer, Cold and Rob Zombie, among many others.
As evidenced by his first full-length album, The Attraction To All Things Uncertain (created by his tweaker alter-ego), he also possesses an uncanny knack for working full-circle, for crossing boundaries and genres, for creating art out of nothing but an idea and a feelingErie, PA.- Producer
- Writer
- Actor
Jonathan Stark was born on 16 February 1952 in Erie, Pennsylvania, USA. He is a producer and writer, known for Fright Night (1985), Ellen (1994) and House II: The Second Story (1987). He has been married to Linda since 17 May 1992. They have two children.Erie, PA.- Dorothy Dietrich is a famous American stage magician and escapologist, and the first and only woman to have performed the bullet catch in her mouth. She is also the first woman to perform a straitjacket escape while suspended hundreds of feet in the air from a burning rope as shown on a Home Box Office Special, The World's Greatest Escapes where she was introduced by movie star Tony Curtis. She is the first woman to gain prominence as a female escape artist since the days of Houdini, breaking the glass ceiling for women in the field of escapes and magic. The 2006 Columbia Encyclopedia included Dietrich among their "eight most noted magicians of the late 20th century", and entertainment writer Samantha Hart in her definitive book "The Hollywood Walk of Fame" called her a "world-class magician" and "one of the world's leading female magicians". Early on as a teenager she already was dubbed as "The First Lady of Magic." Dietrich, often called the female Houdini, has duplicated many of Houdini's original escapes, and has gone one step further by doing the Jinxed Bullet Catch Stunt - the one that Houdini backed away from.
Dorothy Dietrich is a native of Erie, Pennsylvania. In a six-page article about the history of women in magic in the women's magazine, Bust, which contained only two full-page pictures, one of Adelaide Herrmann and the other of Dietrich. At the age of 13, she saved enough money as a young teen to hitch a ride with a girlfriend's older brother to New York and ran away from her abusive father, her first true escape act.
Among the books she read as a child was a biography of Houdini, who became a childhood idol, a fact that later influenced her desire to perform escapes.
Early on, she learned her craft mostly from books. In New York, she auditioned for Westchester Department of Parks from an ad in a show business newspaper and was booked on the spot for a full summer of work, was recommended to the school district for the winter months, and re-booked the following summer for an increase in dates and price. Around this same time she earned her performing chops working a dime museum "grind show" Ten-in-One operation in hectic Times Square run by legendary mouse pitchman Tommy Laird with such performers as Earl "Presto" Johnson, Lou Lancaster, Chris Capehart, Dick Brooks and others. Showcasing for the Parent Assembly of the Society of American Magicians at about the same time, well-known magicians Russell Swann and Walter B. Gibson, captivated by her performance style, took her under their wing. Dietrich also studied with "Coney Island Fakir" Al Flosso, a regular performer on the Ed Sullivan television show, Jack London (for the bullet catch) and Lou Lancaster with the Milk Can and the Straitjacket escape, as well as slight of hand magic. The recognition gradually put Dorothy Dietrich and her magic into resort hotels, nightclubs, school and college auditoriums, trade shows. She became a favorite of several New York booking agents.
She developed what is known as a flash act that included doves, a rabbit, a duck and two poodles. Early on she was considered a "leading dove worker". She also developed several routines few women had ever attempted. Sawing men in half, escaping from a straitjacket, sleight of hand with coins via the Misers Dream, The Bullet Catch, and levitating audience members. It is her goal to level the playing field between men and women in the field of magic, and to innovate and break barriers where no women, and in some cases no men have gone. Until she broke many of these barriers women were not allowed full membership in such organizations as The Society of American Magicians and London's Magic Circle, which early on she tried to join. She has pioneered and paved the way for women in the field today.
Dietrich has created special shows for such companies as Maidenform, Pooltrol, Yago Sangria, Manhattan Shirts, as well as fashion and cosmetic companies. She is a regular performer for trade and industrial events.
On television, Dorothy Dietrich won attention as a woman who, instead of allowing herself to be sawed in half, reversed the traditional illusion and severed into two parts the male hosts of talk shows and network specials. As word got around she was called to do a Bill Cosby special while still in her early teens, but with the help of her sophisticated style and makeup she passed as an adult and was able to work night clubs and banquets in leading hotels and venues. Cosby was so impressed that he recommended her to several agents. At this same time she performed with Loretta Lynn, Dick Van Patten and Tony Randall.
Dietrich was co-editor, contributor and publisher of Hocus Pocus Magazine along with magician/mentalist Dick Brooks. In addition to escapes and large scale stunts Dietrich has performed illusions with live animals such as doves, rabbits, poodles and ducks. She is also known for sawing men in half. She also does an updated version of the classic Miser's Dream, plucking coins from the air, nose, ears and pockets of a youngster from the audience. She is also known for levitating volunteers from the audience.
Dietrich was a founder along with Dick Brooks of New York's Magic Towne House, a popular magic show spot in New York City, which was the longest running magic show in New York City history. Always interested in magic history and innovation, Dorothy Dietrich learned that opening a magic show spot in New York City was a dream of legendary magicians Houdini, Thurston, David Copperfield and Doug Henning.
At the same time she wanted a place where well-known performers could be seen, as well as to help to develop future generations of magicians. Along with partner Dick Brooks she accomplished this goal with The Magic Towne House. Some of the magicians who got their early start at The Magic Towne House include Eric DeCamps, Imam, Jeff McBride, Otto and George, Johnny Ace Palmer, Joseph Pepitone, Joe Raven, David Regal, Rocco Silano, Peter Samelson, Meir Yedid and others. Established performers of the era also performed with them, including Bobby Baxter, Harry Blackstone, Jr., Milbourne Christopher, Daryl, Fantasio, Frank Garcia, Walter B. Gibson, Wesley James, Presto Earl Johnson, Lou Lancaster, Jack London, Bill McQueen, Max Maven (Phil Goldstein), Ben Robinson, James Randi, David Roth, George Schindler, Slydini and others.
Imam would, after several years, break away and form his own competing club downtown in Greenwich Village. Brooks and Dietrich searched out Brother Theodore, whose career had waned, and helped to bring him back to prominence that led to his appearing on The Tom Snyder Tomorrow Show and a series of TV and movie appearances. Upon the closing of the Magic Towne House, Michael Chaut and Peter Samuelson would later develop "Monday Night Magic" along with Frank Brents, Todd Robbins, and Jamy Ian Swiss, which still runs successfully in New York City.
In 2008, Bust Magazine reported about Dietrich's 1988 attempt to catch a bullet in a metal cup in her mouth. She performed it at Donald Trump's Resorts International's 10th anniversary in Atlantic City, New Jersey. It was televised on a special called, Just For The Record, The Best Of Everything. This came about after catching a .22 caliber bullet for the yearly convention of the International Brotherhood of Magicians in Pittsburgh. It was shown on Network TV's Evening Magazine, and on The New You Asked For It with Rich Little as host. She performed it again in Canada on a TV show called Autobus du Canada for the highest amount ever paid a magician on Canadian television. She is the first and only female to successfully complete the bullet catch in the mouth. It was done under test conditions with the bullets bought by a committee. Brought in under guard, an independent marksman picked and fired the bullet. One of two chosen bullets was fired into a concrete backstop and the second was fired at Dorothy. Dietrich challenged anyone who could prove that the bullet did not leave from the gun by offering a $10,000 reward. Feature stories and articles about her have appeared in major publications such as the New York Times and TV Guide.
On exhibit for many years at the Houdini Magical Hall of Fame in Niagara Falls, Canada, until it burned down, was a large two-panel display of Dorothy Dietrich and her accomplishments as "The Female Houdini". A similar display is now shown at Scranton's Houdini Museum.
For many years she held the Houdini Seances in New York as a tribute to the legendary magician, continuing a tradition started by Houdini's wife who asked friend and writer Walter B. Gibson to carry on the legacy. Even though Bess gave up the séances herself, she asked Walter B. Gibson to carry on the October 31 tradition. For many years, Gibson, along with several other magicians including Milbourne Christopher, held the séances at the Magic Towne House in New York City. Before Gibson died he asked Dietrich to carry on the tradition, Walter was a confidant and biographer of Houdini and also wrote the famous Shadow Series. Dietrich continues the séances at The Houdini Museum in Scranton, Pennsylvania, each Halloween, the day Houdini died. The séances have been shown on such shows as TV Lands Myths and Legends, Biography's Dead Famous-Houdini and Exploring the Unknown. The séances at the Houdini Museum in Scranton are often attended by The Houdini Family who are the closest living relatives of Bess Houdini, making this the closest event connected back to the original séances that Bess Houdini held.
When not traveling, Dietrich heads up to The Houdini Museum, the only building in the world dedicated to Houdini, where she performs on a regular basis when in town. She has been featured on many television shows and channels including CBC, BBC, CBC, NBC, ABC, Travel Channel, Syfi, and Biography Channel, TV Land, etc. She is also a featured performer at the museum's hit show eight years running Psychic Theater's "Haunted! Mysteries & THE Beyond!" along with Paranormalist Dick Brooks. It is the longest running séance presentation in history.
Dietrich also crusades against those who falsely claim to speak to dead relatives of vulnerable grieving citizens. Early on, Dorothy Dietrich realized that there were those who would use magic and various deceptive arts to manipulate and even cheat people out of money. So following in the footsteps of famous debunkers who came before her such as Houdini, Milbourne Christopher and James Randi, she takes on such a role where possible. She has a $10,000.00 reward for anyone who says they can contact the spirit of Houdini. One who tried recently was Canadian television "medium" Kim Dennis who had contacted the Houdini family claiming she was getting messages from Houdini.
Dietrich also sends out the World's only continuous traveling Houdini exhibit. Besides featuring it as part of her many shows, it has also traveled to corporations, banks, and casinos.
On September 27, 2011 a group she formed, that came to be known in the media as The Houdini Commandos, secretly replaced the statuary bust at Houdini's grave site that has been missing due to vandalism for 36 years. This was reported in a half-page story worldwide in the New York Times on October 24, 2011. Her world famous attraction Scranton's Houdini Museum that she runs with mystery entertainer Dick Brooks, has been asked by both the family of Houdini and the management of the cemetery to take over the upkeep of the grave that has been in disarray for many years due to neglect. She recently petitioned the Society of American Magicians to talk over the responsibility, which gratefully in November 2013 the voted unanimously to take over. Dietrich stated "I will not live forever, but The Society of Americans will."Erie, PA. - Producer
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Bud Yorkin was born on 22 February 1926 in Washington, Pennsylvania, USA. He was a producer and director, known for Blade Runner 2049 (2017), Sanford and Son (1972) and Blade Runner (1982). He was married to Cynthia Sikes and Peg Yorkin. He died on 18 August 2015 in Bel Air, Los Angeles, California, USA.Washington, PA.- Actress
- Soundtrack
Actress, composer, songwriter and author, educated at the University of Pennsylvania. She wrote for and appeared on television shows in the USA and Canada, including "Funsville" and "Storyland". She won awards for her broadcast work from Duquesne University and the Pittsburgh Junior Chamber of Commerce, and was named 'Woman of the Year' by the Pittsburgh "Post Gazette" in 1965. Joining ASCAP in 1955, her chief musical collaborators include Fred Rogers and Johnny Costa. Her popular-song compositions include "Goodnight God", "It's Morning", "Around the Children's Corner", and "Tomorrow on the Children's Corner".Pittsburgh, PA.- Editor
- Additional Crew
- Actor
Matt Clement was born on 12 August 1974 in Butler, Pennsylvania, USA. He is an editor and actor, known for Dance Central 3 (2012), NASCAR Busch Series 24/7 (2004) and Real Moms, Real Stories, Real Savvy (2006).Butler, PA.- Actor
- Music Department
- Soundtrack
Papa John Creach was born on 28 May 1917 in Beaver Hills, Pennsylvania, USA. He was an actor, known for The Atomic Cafe (1982), Les portes tournantes (1988) and A Gathering of Old Men (1987). He died on 22 February 1994 in Los Angeles, California, USA.Beaver Falls, PA.- Tony Lip (born Frank Anthony Vallelonga) was raised in the Bronx, New York. He worked for twelve years at the world-famous Copacabana Nightclub in New York City. At the Copa, he played host to the most famous personalities of the era, including Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett and Bobby Darin. Lip then went on to a career in acting. He got his first big break when he was cast in the hit film, The Godfather. He then appeared in several major motion pictures including Crazy Joe, The Pope of Greenwich Village, The Year of the Dragon, Honor Thy Fathers, Goodfellas, and Donnie Brasco. He was most recently featured as the New York mob boss Carmine Lupertazzi on the hit HBO series, The Sopranos. He also added "author" to his credits. In his book "Shut Up and Eat!" Lip shares personal stories as well as his family's favorite Italian recipes. He gathered his favorite Italian-America actors and friends, including Danny Aiello, James Gandolfini, Chazz Palmintieri and Joe Mantegna to do the same. For the first time ever, these actors-stars of such hits as The Godfather, Goodfellas, Donnie Brasco, Moonstruck, The Sopranos, and A Bronx Tale-shared their families' secret recipes. Plus told tell their own stories of growing up as Italian-Americans. This delightful cookbook, full of photos, personal stories, and favorite recipes, shows why preparing and sharing an Italian meal is a truly rich experience.
In 2018, a film depicting Tony's road trip and friendship with Don Shirley, Green Book (2018), was released, with Viggo Mortensen as Tony, in an Academy Award for Best Actor-nominated performance.Beaver Falls, PA. - The son of a steel worker from Beaver Falls, Pa., Joseph William Namath (Joe Willie) came from the rich football tradition that is in Pennsylvania. After starring for Paul 'Bear' Bryant's Alabama Crimson Tide teams in the 1960s, Namath was drafted by both the National Football League's (NFL) St. Louis Cardinals and the rival American Football League's (AFL) New York Jets in 1965. Namath, known as a brash performer in college, signed with the Jets for a then-record $450,000 and gave the upstart, struggling AFL instant credibility in its war with the NFL. Although he didn't turn the Jets into instant winners, he did improve their fortunes his first three years in the league. Namath delivered on his promise as one of the most exciting players in the AFL, by becoming the first quarterback in history to pass for more than 4,000 yards. Namath was also popular off the field, especially with the ladies (which he indulged in, happily) and was known for his love of the New York nightlife. Because of this, he was dubbed "Broadway Joe" by the New York press. Namath gained his legend with not only his performance, but his mouth. After leading the Jets to the AFL championship over the Oakland Raiders, Namath, weary of all the press knocking him and his team and openly favoring the NFL champion Baltimore Colts, boldly lashed out and predicted victory for him and the Jets. He also showed his poise by talking his way out of a potentially explosive situation with Colts' Defensive Tackle, Lou Michaels. Namath and a teammate were in a restaurant talking about how the Jets were a better team than the Colts, when Michaels (who was in earshot) challenged Namath. The cocky QB, instead, bought Michaels dinner, drinks and gave him a ride home. In the game that many felt made the Super Bowl the spectacle it is today, Namath and the Jets were nearly flawless in beating the 17-point favorite Colts, 16-7. Namath became a household name and gave the Jets and the AFL the respectability they were so desperate to have. Namath continued his all-star performances in New York, although he never again played in the Super Bowl. For several years, he was the entertainer of the NFL (the AFL merged with the NFL in 1970) and even dabbled in movies and television (including a memorable performance in pantyhose for a commercial). He was traded to the Los Angeles Rams in 1977, but his failing knees finally gave out and he retired at the end of the season. Namath was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1985 and, for a few years, was a member of ABC's NFL Monday Night Football (1970) crew. Namath now lives in Florida.Beaver Falls, PA.
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Andrew Warhol's father, Ondrej, came from the Austria-Hungary Empire (now Slovakia) in 1912, and sent for his mother, Julia Zavackyová Warholová, in 1921. His father worked as a construction worker and later as a coal miner. Around some time, the family moved to Pittsburgh. During his teenage years, Andy suffered from several nervous breakdowns. Overcoming this, he graduated from Schenley High School in Pittsburgh in 1945, and enrolled in the Carnegie Institute of Technology (now Carnegie-Mellon University), graduating in June 1949. During college, he met Philip Pearlstein, a fellow student.
After graduation, Andy Warhol (having dropped the letter 'a' from his last name) moved to New York City, and shared an apartment with Pearlstein at St. Mark's Place off of Avenue A for a couple months. During this time, he moved in and out of several Manhattan apartments. In New York, he met Tina Fredericks, art editor of Glamour Magazine. Warhol's early jobs were doing drawings for Glamour, such as the Success is a Job in New York, and women's shoes. He also drew advertising for various magazines, including Vogue, Harper's Bazzar, book jackets, and holiday greeting cards.
During the 1950s, he moved to an apartment on East 75th Street. His mother moved in with him, and Fritizie Miller become his agent. In 1952, his first solo exhibition was held at Hugo Gallery, New York, of drawings to illustrate stories by Truman Capote. He started illustrating books, beginning with Amy Vanderbilt's Complete Book of Etiquette. Around 1953-1955, he worked for a theater group on the Lower East Side, and designs sets. It is around that time that he dyed his hair silver. Warhol published several books, including Twenty Five Cats Named Sam, and One Blue Pussy. In 1956, he traveled around the world with Charles Lisanby, a television-set designer. In April of this year, he was included in his first group exhibition, Recent Drawings USA, held at the Museum of Modern Art, New York. He began receiving accolades for his work, with the 35th Annual Art Directors Club Award for Distinctive Merit, for an I.Miller shoe advertisement. He published In The Bottom Of My Garden later that year. In 1957, received 36th Annual Art Directors Club Medal and Award of Distinctive Merit, for the I.Miller show advertisements, and Life Magazine published his illustrations for an article, "Crazy Golden Slippers".
In 1960, Warhol began to make his first paintings. They were based on comic strips in the likes of Dick Tracy, Popeye, Superman, and two of Coca-Cola bottles. In 1961, using the Dick Tracy comic strip, he designed a window display for Lord & Taylor, at this time, major art galleries around the nation begin noticing his work. In 1962, Warhol made paintings of dollar bills and Campbell soup cans, and his work was included in an important exhibition of pop art, The New Realists, held at Sidney Janis Gallery, New York. In November of this year, Elanor Ward showed his paintings at Stable Gallery, and the exhibition began a sensation. In 1963, he rented a studio in a firehouse on East 87th Street. He met his assistant, Gerard Malanga, and started making his first film, Tarzan and Jane Regained... Sort of (1964). Later, he drove to Los Angeles for his second exhibition at the Ferus Gallery. In November of that year, he found a loft at 231 East 47th Street, which became his main studio, The Factory. In December, he began production of Red Jackie, the first of the Jackie series. In 1964, his first solo exhibition in Europe, held at the Galerie Ileana Sonnebend in Paris, featured the Flower series. He received a commission from architect Philip Johnson to make a mural, entitled Thirteen Most Wanted Men for the New York State Pavilion in the New York World's Fair. In April, he received an Independent Film Award from Film Culture magazine. In November, his first solo exhibition in the US was held at Leo Castelli Gallery. And at this time, he began his self portrait series.
In the summer of 1965, Andy Warhol met Paul Morrissey, who became his advisor and collaborator. His first solo museum exhibition was held at the Institute of Contempary Art, at the University of Pennsylvania. During this year, he made a surprise announcement of his retirement from painting, but it was to be short lived. He would resume painting again in 1972. It was around this time that he met Lou Reed, John Cale, Sterling Morrison, and Maureen Tucker (collectively known as The Velvet Underground), and a German-born model turned chanteuse called Nico. He paired Nico with the Velvets, and they developed a close bond with Warhol. This was an alliance that forever changed the face of world culture. Warhol produced the group's first album, The Velvet Underground and Nico, which has been called "the most influential record ever" by many critics. Later, a multimedia show developed (called The Exploding Plastic Inevitable), managed, and produced by Warhol, featuring the Velvet Underground.
In the summer of 1966, Warhol's film Chelsea Girls (1966) became the first underground film to be shown at a commercial theater. In 1967, Chelsea Girls opened in Los Angeles and San Francisco, and six of his Self Portraits were shown at Expo 67 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. In August of this year, he gave a lecture at various colleges in the Los Angeles area, his persona is so popular that some colleges hire Allen Midgette to impersonate him for lectures. Later, Warhol moved The Factory to 33 Union Square West, and met Fred Hughes, who later became President of Enterprises, and Interview Magazine. In 1968, Warhol's first solo European museum exhibition was held at Moderna Museet, Stockholm. But later that year on June 3, 1968, Warhol was shot by Valerie Solanas, an ultra-radical and member of the entourage surrounding Warhol. Solanis was the founder of SCUM (Society for Cutting Up Men) Fortunately, Warhol survived the assassination attempt after spending two months in a hospital. This incident is the subject of the film, I Shot Andy Warhol (1996). Afterwards, Andy Warhol dropped out of the filmmaking business, but now and then continued his contribution to film and art. He never emotionally recovered from his brush with death.
During the 1970s and 80s, Andy Warhol's status as a media icon skyrocketed, and he used his influence to back many younger artists. He began publishing of Interview magazine, with the first issue being released in fall of 1969. In 1971, his play, entitled Pork, opened at London at the Round House Theatre. He resumed painting in 1972, although it was primarily celebrity portraits. The Factory was moved to 860 Broadway, and in 1975, he bought a house on Lexington Street. A major retrospective of his work is held in Zurich. In 1976, he did the Skulls, and Hammer and Sickle series. Throughout the late 70s and 80s, a retrospective exhibition was held, as Warhol began work on the Reversals, Retrospectives, and Shadows series. The Myths series, Endangered Species series, and Ads series followed through the early and mid 1980s. On 22 February 1987, a "day of medical infamy", as quoted by one biographer, Andy Warhol died following complications from gall bladder surgery. He was 58 years old.Pittsburgh, PA.- Actress
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Jane Hajduk was born in the USA. Jane is an actor and producer, known for Zoom (2006), Unintended (2018) and Ultimate Spider-Man (2005). Jane has been married to Tim Allen since 7 October 2006. They have one child.Oil City, PA.- Writer
- Actor
- Director
Considered one of the pioneer screenwriters of the action genre, Black made his mark with his Lethal Weapon (1987) screenplay. He also collaborated on the story of the sequel, Lethal Weapon 2 (1989). Each successive script he turned in had a higher price attached it, from The Last Boy Scout (1991) to The Long Kiss Goodnight (1996), and in between a re-write on the McTiernan/Schwarzenegger Last Action Hero (1993) script.Pittsburgh, PA.- Actress
- Soundtrack
Dena Dietrich was born on 4 December 1928 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA. She was an actress, known for History of the World: Part I (1981), The Golden Girls (1985) and The North Avenue Irregulars (1979). She died on 21 November 2020 in Los Angeles, California, USA.Pittsburgh, PA.- John Minton, or Big John Studd as he would eventually be known, was born on February 19th, 1948, in Butler, Pennsylvania. He started training to be a professional wrestler under 'Walter 'Killer' Kowalski' at the age of 18. He first worked for the WWF (then the WWWF) under the name Chuck O'Connor, then as one of the Masked Executioners in 1976, leading to a Tag Team Title reign. He later went to Texas and became the masked Captain America, feuding with Fritz Von Erich, Stan Hansen, and 'Andre the Giant'. It was in Texas that he picked up the Big John Studd moniker.
Later, he moved to Jim Crockett's Mid Atlantic territory where he feuded with Greg Valentine and fellow giant Blackjack Mulligan (Bob Windham). He retired from wrestling in the late 70s, but was talked into coming back as Ron Reis' tag team partner in The Giants tag team. He went to the AWA but was generally unhappy there. In the mid 80s the WWF, under 'Vince McMahon Jr.' took off, and Studd was along for the ride. He was always near the top of the card, feuding with the likes of Hulk Hogan and teaming with Ken Patera to cut off Andre's hair. In his most famous match, he took on Andre in a 15,000 dollar bodyslam challenge at the first _Wrestlemania (1985)_. He retired again from pro wrestling, and got himself some acting gigs, including Harley Davidson and the Marlboro Man (1991). Falling off a motorcycle while filming this movie and frequent steroid use probably both accelerated his Hodgkins Disease. Studd learned he had the disease in 1993 right after collapsing after his last match, against the Honky Tonk Man (Wayne Farris). He spent 20 weeks in the hospital in 1994 (during which time he admitted under oath that he used steriods in the 80s during the WWF's steroid trial), and died from liver cancer on March 20th, 1995. He was 47 years old and left behind a wife and three children, John Jr., Janelle and Sean.Butler, PA. - Marty Schottenheimer was born on 23 September 1943 in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania, USA. He was married to Pat Schottenheimer. He died on 8 February 2021 in Charlotte, North Carolina, USA.Canonsburg, PA.
- Actor
- Soundtrack
- Director
Dan Cortese shot to stardom as the creator and host of the Emmy award winning MTV Sports, where he interviewed everyone and everything that had to do with the worlds of sports & entertainment for six successful years. He then went on to star in NBC's remake of the cult classic Route 66.
Next on his plate was starring in the CBS drama Traps with Academy Award winner, George C. Scott. Dan kept the ball rolling and later co-starred for three years on the NBC sitcom Veronica's Closet, opposite Emmy winner Kirstie Alley. From there he moved onto, starring in the comedies Rock Me Baby for UPN and What I Like About You for the WB, opposite Jennie Garth.
Cortese's numerous television credits also include memorable guest-starring roles. A few favorites were when he appeared on Seinfeld, as Elaine's "Mimbo" boyfriend that George had a "man crush" on. As the evil Jess Hanson on Melrose Place and on Hot In Cleveland opposite the legendary Betty White.
In addition, Dan starred in the made for television movies The Triangle, for TBS and NBC's spin on the Shirley Jackson classic, The Lottery. Cortese has appeared in many feature films as well, including Demolition Man, opposite Sylvester Stallone and Sandra Bullock and After Sex with Brooke Shields.
When not acting, Dan's kept his hosting skills sharp by starring in, NBC's My Dad Is Better Than Your Dad, ABC's action packed Crash Course and the fun-filled Guinness World Records: Unleashed. Dan has also added author to his resume when he released his memoir, Step Off! My journey from 'mimbo' to manhood, in the summer of 2020.
A native of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Dan attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill where he played football for the Tarheels and he resides with his wife, Carolina and four kids in Malibu, California.Sewickley, PA.- Caitlin Clarke was born on 3 May 1952 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA. She was an actress, known for Dragonslayer (1981), Blown Away (1994) and Crocodile Dundee (1986). She died on 9 September 2004 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA.Pittsburgh, PA.
- Chuck Knox was born on 27 April 1932 in Sewickley, Pennsylvania, USA. He was an actor, known for Paper Lion (1968), The NFL on NBC (1965) and NFL Monday Night Football (1970). He was married to Shirley Rhine. He died on 12 May 2018 in the USA.Sewickley, PA.
- Actor
- Producer
- Soundtrack
Commanding performer Bill Nunn made his feature debut in fellow Morehouse College graduate Spike Lee's School Daze (1988), but really etched himself into moviegoers' minds as a formidable screen presence in his second film with Lee, Do the Right Thing (1989), playing Radio Raheem, whose ever-present boom box is at the center of a fight that leads to his death at the hands of an overzealous police officer, the prelude to the all-out riot that follows (Nunn also acted in Mo' Better Blues (1990) and He Got Game (1998) for Lee). Though he made his initial mark playing young street toughs on screen, this veteran of the Atlanta stage showed he could use his impressive size for something other than menace with a critically acclaimed performance as Harrison Ford's sympathetic, high-spirited physical therapist in Regarding Henry (1991). Nunn subsequently played pretty much every type there is, all the way up to nice, huggable teddy bear guys like Whoopi Goldberg's protector Eddie Souther in Sister Act (1992).
His professionalism made him a favorite of other directors besides Lee. He portrayed a Southern police chief in Bill Condon's White Lie (1991) (USA Network), later reteaming with Condon for Candyman: Farewell to the Flesh (1995), and has also acted twice for Michael Apted (Extreme Measures (1996), HBO's Always Outnumbered (1998)) and Gary Fleder (Things to Do in Denver When You're Dead (1995), Kiss the Girls (1997)). Nunn also turned in a fine performance as Tim Roth's adoptive father in The Legend of 1900 (1998), Giuseppe Tornatore's first English-language feature, released initially in Italy and then in the United States in 1999. He can also be seen in Spider-Man (2002), People I Know (2002) with Al Pacino and the prison thriller Lockdown (2000).
Nunn has also found time to do numerous television pilots and three series. He was in the CBS series Traps (1994) with George C. Scott, sitcom Local Heroes (1995) for NBC and the critically acclaimed The Job (2001) with Denis Leary on ABC. He appeared on episodes of Chicago Hope (1994), Touched by an Angel (1994) (both CBS), New York Undercover (1994) and Millennium (1996) (both Fox), among others.
Nunn lived in Georgia with his wife Donna and daughters Jessica and Cydney.Pittsburgh, PA.- Arnold Palmer was born on 10 September 1929 in Youngstown, Pennsylvania, USA. He was an actor, known for Return to Campus (1975), Call Me Bwana (1963) and Arnold Palmer: Course Strategy (1989). He was married to Kathleen Gawthrop and Winifred Walzer. He died on 25 September 2016 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA.Latrobe, PA.
- Actress
- Soundtrack
Aline MacMahon was born of Scottish-Irish and Russian-Jewish ancestry on May 3,1899, the daughter of William Marcus MacMahon and Jennie Simon MacMahon. Her father became editor-in-chief of Munsey's Magazine, while her mother pursued a theatrical acting career from middle-age and lived to age107. After the family moved to Brooklyn, Aline was educated at then-prestigious Erasmus Hall High School. She later attended Barnard College where she was graduated in 1920.
MacMahon first appeared onstage in 'The Madras House' at the Neighborhood Playhouse Theater and subsequently made her bow on Broadway in "The Mirage" in 1921. During the 1920s, she had a prolific career on Broadway, first, as a comedienne adept at impersonations (notably, in "The Grand Street Follies" and "Artists and Models"). By 1926, she proved to be equally adept at dramatic roles, making an impact in Eugene O'Neill's "Beyond the Horizon." Noël Coward described her as "astonishing, moving and beautiful", while critic Alexander Woollcott commented on her "extraordinary beauty, vitality and truth" (New York Times, October 14, 1991). Her distinguished career on the stage went on for five and a half decades, highlighted by many critically acclaimed performances in plays like "The Eve of St. Mark" (1942-43), "The Confidential Clerk" (1954), "Pictures in the Hallway" (1956) and "All the Way Home" (1960-61). Her somewhat melancholic, heavy-lidded and thickly eye-browed features inspired sculptor Isamu Noguchi and photographer Cecil Beaton.
MacMahon's film career began on the strength of her wisecracking voice-culture teacher, May Daniels, in the Kaufman and Hart comedy 'Once in a Lifetime', which she had created onstage in Los Angeles in 1931. She reprised her role on screen the following year and was, prior to that, cast in similar roles as feisty secretaries in Five Star Final (1931), (her debut) and The Mouthpiece (1932). Gold Diggers of 1933 (1933) afforded her a well-received co-starring role as the hard-boiled "Trixie Lorraine". McMahon managed to escape typecasting with several strong dramatic performances: Edward G. Robinson's sad, cast-off wife in Silver Dollar (1932); the sympathetic self-sacrificing Mrs. Moore of The Life of Jimmy Dolan (1933); her co-starring role as Guy Kibbee's long-suffering wife Myra in Babbitt (1934); and kindly spinster aunt Lily Davis in Ah Wilderness! (1935). She effortlessly made the transition from Pre-Code films to Post-Code.
In the 1940s, she began playing lower-billed character parts, but was nominated for an Academy Award for her performance as the Chinese mother of Katharine Hepburn's character, Ling Tan, in Dragon Seed (1944). After that, she played a succession of gentle mothers and grandmothers, as, for example, in The Eddie Cantor Story (1953). She was also occasionally employed in meatier outdoor roles in anything from swashbucklers, like The Flame and the Arrow (1950), to westerns, such as her ranch owner in The Man from Laramie (1955). More exotically cast, she portrayed James Darren's Hawaiian mother, Kapiolani Kahana, in Diamond Head (1962). In her last motion picture performance, she re-created her stage role as Aunt Hannah for the Paramount film version of All the Way Home (1963). Based on the novel "A Death in the Family" by James Agee, the picture was a huge success with the critics but performed less well at the box office.
Aside from a handful of guest appearances on television, she retired from the screen after 1964 and died of pneumonia at her Manhattan home at the age of 92 in 1991. She was married to Clarence S. Stern, who predeceased her in 1975.McKeesport, PA.- Producer
- Actor
- Executive
Mark Cuban was born July 31, 1958 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to Shirley (Feldman) and Norton Cuban, an automobile upholsterer. His family, of Eastern European Jewish descent, was originally named Chabenisky. Mark graduated from Indiana University in 1981 with a degree in Business. After college, he moved to Dallas, Texas and created a computer consulting business called "MicroSolutions" which transformed him into a millionaire when he sold the business to CompuServe in 1990. In 1995, Mark and his business partner Todd Wagner began working on an idea (that later became known as Broadcast.com) in order to stream live events over the Internet. This innovative duo sold their company to Yahoo.com in 1999 for billions of dollars in Yahoo! stock. Mr. Cuban went on to purchase the NBA's Dallas Mavericks basketball franchise for $285 million on January 14, 2000, dramatically changing the team for the better. Mark's brilliant ability to lead this organization and mold the Mavericks into an evolving superior force led the team to reach the NBA Finals in 2006 for the first time in franchise history.
Beyond that, Cuban launched the high-definition television network "HDNet" in September of 2001 with Philip Garvin. HDNet provides the highest level of digital broadcast quality available. Mark and Todd Wagner established a media company named "2929" with holdings that cover many aspects of entertainment. This includes film production companies HDNet Films and 2929 Productions, movie distributor Magnolia Pictures, home video distributor Magnolia Home Entertainment, the Landmark Theatres chain, and a stake in Lions Gate Entertainment.
Mr. Cuban is famous for his bold, unambiguous views and mindset, which has a great deal to do with his perpetual success. He continues to challenge the status quo in the worlds of media and technology. In 2005, Mark announced he was financially backing the underdog in a U.S. Supreme Court "peer-to-peer" file-sharing case. Also in 2005, Cuban experimented with a "day-and-date" model when he produced the film Bubble (2005) which was released simultaneously across theatrical, television and home video platforms. His stated goal of collapsing the traditional release windows was intended to give consumers the choice in terms of exactly how they might be interested in viewing a film.
It's impossible to truly know what Mark Cuban will create, produce, buy, or sell next, but you can bet it will be considered "genius" just like the man himself.Pittsburgh, PA.- Vivian Reed was born on 17 April 1894 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA. She was an actress, known for The Eternal Feminine (1915), The Journey's End (1915) and His Majesty, the Scarecrow of Oz (1914). She was married to Alfred E. Green. She died on 19 July 1989 in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, California, USA.Pittsburgh, PA.
- Actress
- Soundtrack
Dolores Costello was once known as the Goddess of the Silent Screen but is probably best remembered today as Drew Barrymore's grandmother. She was born in 1905 to actors Maurice Costello and Mae Costello. Her father began his film career in 1908 and soon became the most popular matinée idol of his day. He gave Dolores and her sister Helene Costello their screen debuts in 1911. Dolores appeared in numerous pictures throughout the 1910s and the early 1920s, mostly with her father and sister. She later appeared on the New York stage with her sister in "George White Scandals of 1924." They were then signed by Warner Bros. where Dolores met future husband John Barrymore.
Barrymore soon made Dolores his costar in The Sea Beast (1926). During their lengthy kissing scene Dolores fainted in John's arms. They married in 1928 despite the misgivings of her mother, who would die the following year at age 45. They had two children, DeDe in 1931 and John Drew Barrymore in 1932. Dolores took time off from her movie career in the early 1930s to raise her young children. Her sister Helene and her new husband, actor Lowell Sherman, successfully convinced Dolores to divorce Barrymore in 1935, mainly because of his excessive drinking.
After the divorce Dolores returned to acting, appearing in several big-budget pictures, and her career seemed to be back on track. Her physical appearance, however, was greatly damaged from the harsh studio makeup used in the early years. The skin on her cheeks was in the process of deteriorating, forcing her into early retirement. She lived in semi-seclusion on her Southern California avocado farm, Fallbrook Ranch, where much of the memorabilia and papers from both the Barrymore and Costello family were destroyed in a flood.Pittsburgh, PA.- Actress
- Producer
Katherine MacDonald was born on 14 December 1891 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA. She was an actress and producer, known for The Beauty Market (1919), Chastity (1923) and Refuge (1923). She was married to Christian Roy Holmes, Charles Schoen Johnson and Malcolm Atherton Strauss. She died on 4 June 1956 in Santa Barbara, California, USA.Pittsburgh, PA.- Ms. Nesbit, artists' model and chorus girl, was at the heart of what was known at the time as the Crime of the Century. Her abusive husband, Pittsburgh millionaire Harry Thaw, murdered 52-year old architect and socialite Stanford White (of the firm McKim, Mead, and White), who had taken advantage of 16-year old Evelyn and subsequently become her lover a couple of years before she married Thaw. Harry Thaw's mother mother quickly financed propaganda, even a film, to portray her son as a protector of women's virtue; at the same time, the media reported the very-married White's many other transgressions involving young women. After his first trial ended in a hung jury, Thaw was retried in 1908 and found insane. He was sent away to a mental institution for the criminally insane in upstate New York, from which he which he escaped once; in 1915 he was released with reputation untarnished--a homicidal hero.Tarentum, PA.
- Actress
- Soundtrack
Mona Ray was born on 17 January 1905 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA. She was an actress, known for Li'l Abner (1940), Pardon My Gun (1930) and Uncle Tom's Cabin (1927). She was married to Hugh Cummings. She died on 3 July 1986 in Nevada, USA.Pittsburgh, PA.- Actress
- Writer
Oliva R. Duffy was born on October 20, 1894, in Charleroi, Pennsylvania, the eldest of three children, with two younger brothers. Olive or Ollie, as she was known to family and friends, did not have much of a childhood. Life in industrial Pittsburgh (at the time, spelled "Pittsburg") was depressing and grim with its smoky factories and hard living. She married Bernard Krug Thomas at the age of 16 (which wasn't uncommon at the time), but the marriage wasn't happy, and they divorced two years later.
By that time, Olive had left Pittsburgh for New York, where she found work in a department store. On a lark, she entered a competition for the most beautiful girl in New York City and, unsurprisingly, won. With the ensuing publicity, she caught the eye of Florenz Ziegfeld Jr. and immediately joined his famed Follies. An outstanding addition, men went wild over her beauty. She also posed nude for the famed Peruvian artist Alberto Vargas. As a result of her sudden fame, she was signed to a contract with Triangle Pictures. Her first film was Beatrice Fairfax (1916). Later that year, she married Jack Pickford, brother of screen star Mary Pickford.
The relationship was a stormy one. In 1917, she starred in four more films: Madcap Madge (1917), A Girl Like That (1917), Broadway Arizona (1917), and Indiscreet Corinne (1917). With five films on her resume, Olive was the toast of Hollywood. She made three films in 1918 and six in 1919. By 1920, Olive was at the top of the film world. She continued to make good pictures, most notably, Youthful Folly (1920) and also The Flapper (1920), which was an overwhelming success. After finishing Everybody's Sweetheart (1920), Olive and Jack sailed to France for a much-needed vacation.
The couple finally seemed happy, which seems odd in light of what was to follow. Olive accidentally ingested bichloride of mercury from a French-labeled bottle in a darkened bathroom, believing it to be another medication. Found unconscious, she died five days later. The death made worldwide headlines. Olive was only 25 when she died.Charleroi, PA.- American actor who specialized in timid or whiny characters. He appeared on the stage in England and in the USA, and performed in musical comedy. He began his film work in silents and often worked in the films of Hal Roach.Scottdale, PA.
- Actor
- Additional Crew
Prolific character actor Ralph Dunn was born in Titusville, PA, in 1902. He attended college for a while, but dropped out to join a traveling vaudeville troupe, and performed in minstrel shows and melodramas until 1935, when he headed to Hollywood, but not for the usual reasons vaudevillians made that trip--his parents lived there and his father was in poor health, so he went to help his mother take care of him. In order to make some money he signed up with Central Casting, where his stocky tough-guy look secured him a succession of jobs as cops, thugs, bouncers, bartenders, fight managers, and the like.
His Hollywood career lasted more than 30 years, during which time he kept his hand in stage work. He appeared in the 1951 Broadway production of "The Moon Is Blue" and played the pajama factory owner in the Broadway classic "The Pajama Game", a role he repeated when it was made into a film in 1957. He had more than 300 credits to his name, including television work. His last film role was as a priest in Black Like Me (1964), and his final appearance was in an episode of the series N.Y.P.D. (1967).
He died in Flushing, NY, in 1968.Titusville, PA.- Director
- Actor
- Writer
Frank Montgomery was born on 14 June 1870 in Petrolia, Pennsylvania, USA. He was a director and actor, known for So's Your Old Man (1926), The Right Name, But the Wrong Man (1911) and A Crucial Test (1912). He was married to Mona Darkfeather, Bernice Jessica Therese Sheay, Edna ? and Myrtle Powell. He died on 18 July 1944 in Hollywood, California, USA.Petrolia, PA.- Actor
- Soundtrack
William Powell was on the New York stage by 1912, but it would be ten years before his film career would begin. In 1924 he went to Paramount Pictures, where he was employed for the next seven years. During that time, he played in a number of interesting films, but stardom was elusive. He did finally attract attention with The Last Command (1928) as Leo, the arrogant film director. Stardom finally came via his role as Philo Vance in The Canary Murder Case (1929), in which he investigates the death of Louise Brooks, "the Canary." Unlike many silent actors, sound boosted Powell's career. He had a fine, urbane voice and his stage training and comic timing greatly aided his introduction to sound pictures. However, he was not happy with the type of roles he was playing at Paramount, so in 1931 he switched to Warner Bros. There, he again became disappointed with his roles, and his last appearance for Warners was as Philo Vance in The Kennel Murder Case (1933). In 1934 Powell went to MGM, where he was teamed with Myrna Loy in Manhattan Melodrama (1934). While Philo made Powell a star, another detective, Nick Charles, made him famous. Powell received an Academy Award nomination for The Thin Man (1934) and later starred in the Best Picture winner for 1936, The Great Ziegfeld (1936). Powell could play any role with authority, whether in a comedy, thriller, or drama. He received his second Academy Award nomination for My Man Godfrey (1936) and was on top of the world until 1937, when he made his first picture with Jean Harlow, Reckless (1935). The two clicked, off-screen as well as on-screen, and shortly became engaged. One day, while Powell was filming Double Wedding (1937) on one MGM sound stage, Harlow became ill on another. She was finally taken to the hospital, where she died. Her death greatly upset both Powell and Myrna Loy, and he took six weeks off from making the movie to deal with his sorrow. After that he traveled, not making another MGM film for a year. He eventually did five sequels to "The Thin Man," the last one in 1947. He also received his third Academy Award nomination for his work in Life with Father (1947). His screen appearances became less frequent after that, and his last role was in 1955. He had come a long way from playing the villain in 1922.Pittsburgh, PA.- Charles West was born on 30 November 1885 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA. He was an actor, known for The Road to Yesterday (1925), The White Man's Law (1918) and The Child Thou Gavest Me (1914). He died on 10 October 1943 in Los Angeles, California, USA.Pittsburgh, PA.
- Billy Mays was born on 20 July 1958 in McKees Rocks, Pennsylvania, USA. He was an actor and producer, known for Pitchman: A Tribute to Billy Mays (2009), Pitchmen (2009) and Grip Wrench Commercial (2002). He was married to Deborah Mays and Dolores DiDesiderio. He died on 28 June 2009 in Tampa, Florida, USA.McKees Rocks, PA.
- Considered by many experts to be the greatest quarterback in the history of NFL football, Montana was recruited by the San Francisco 49ers from Notre Dame in 1979 after leading the "Fighting Irish" to a Cotton Bowl victory in 1978. "Joe Cool," as he was known for his ice cool disposition in the heat of the game, led the 49ers on field for twelve seasons and played key roles in the San Francisco 49ers four Super Bowl victories between 1982 and 1990. Montana scooped the Super Bowl MVP Award in 1982, 1985 and 1990, however he suffered an elbow injury in January 1991, and missed all of the 1991 season, and most of the 1992 season.
He was traded to the Kansas City Chiefs in April 1993, and spent his final two years with the Chiefs before finally retiring at the end of 1994.
Well remembered for his amazing plays with fleet-footed wide receiver Jerry Rice, and high-stepping running back Roger Craig.New Eagle, PA. - Actress
- Soundtrack
Named after child star Shirley Temple, Shirley Jones started singing at the age of six. She started formal training at the age of 12 and would dream of singing with her idol, Gordon MacRae. Upon graduating from high school, Shirley went to New York to audition for the casting director of Rodgers & Hammerstein. Taken by Shirley's beautifully trained voice, Shirley was signed as a nurse in the Broadway production of "South Pacific". Within a year, she would be in Hollywood to appear in her first film Oklahoma! (1955) as Laurey, the farm girl in love with cowboy Gordon MacRae. Oklahoma! (1955) would be filmed in CinemaScope and Todd-AO wide-screen and would take a year to shoot. After that, Shirley returned to Broadway for the stage production of "Oklahoma!" before returning to Hollywood for Carousel (1956). But by this time, musicals were a dying art and she would have a few lean years. She would work on television in programs like Playhouse 90 (1956). With a screen image comparable to peaches-n-cream, Shirley wanted a darker role to change her image. In 1960, she would be cast as the vengeful prostitute in the Richard Brooks dramatic film Elmer Gantry (1960). With a brilliant performance against an equally brilliant Burt Lancaster, Shirley would win the Oscar for Supporting Actress. But the public wanted the good Shirley so she was cast as "Marion", the librarian, in the successful musical The Music Man (1962). Robert Preston had played the role on Broadway and his performance along with Shirley was magic. Shirley would again work with little Ron Howard in The Courtship of Eddie's Father (1963). But the movies changed in the 60's and Shirley's image did not fit so she would see her movie career stop in 1965. There were always nightclubs, but Shirley would be remembered by another generation as "Shirley Partridge" in the television series The Partridge Family (1970). While the success of the show would do more for her stepson, teen idol David Cassidy, it would keep her name and face in the public view for the four years that the series ran. The show still plays in reruns. After the show ended, Shirley would spend the rest of the 70's in the land of television movies. The television movie The Lives of Jenny Dolan (1975) would be made as a pilot for a series that was not picked up. In 1979, Shirley appeared in a comedy show called Shirley (1979), but the show lasted only one season. Shirley would appear infrequently in the 80's and in video's extolling fitness and beauty at the end of the decade.Charleroi, PA.- Actor
- Director
- Producer
James Maitland Stewart was born on May 20, 1908, in Indiana, Pennsylvania, to Elizabeth Ruth (Johnson) and Alexander Maitland Stewart, who owned a hardware store. He was of Scottish, Ulster-Scots, and some English descent. Stewart was educated at a local prep school, Mercersburg Academy, where he was a keen athlete (football and track), musician (singing and accordion playing), and sometime actor.
In 1929, he won a place at Princeton University, where he studied architecture with some success and became further involved with the performing arts as a musician and actor with the University Players. After graduation, engagements with the University Players took him around the northeastern United States, including a run on Broadway in 1932. But work dried up as the Great Depression deepened, and it was not until 1934, when he followed his friend Henry Fonda to Hollywood, that things began to pick up.
After his first screen appearance in Art Trouble (1934), Stewart worked for a time for MGM as a contract player and slowly began making a name for himself in increasingly high-profile roles throughout the rest of the 1930s. His famous collaborations with Frank Capra, in You Can't Take It with You (1938), Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939), and, after World War II, It's a Wonderful Life (1946) helped to launch his career as a star and to establish his screen persona as the likable everyman.
Having learned to fly in 1935, he was drafted into the United States Army in 1940 as a private (after twice failing the medical for being underweight). During the course of World War II, he rose to the rank of colonel, first as an instructor at home in the United States, and later on combat missions in Europe. He remained involved with the United States Air Force Reserve after the war and officially retired in 1968. In 1959, he was promoted to brigadier general, becoming the highest-ranking actor in U.S. military history.
Stewart's acting career took off properly after the war. During the course of his long professional life, he had roles in some of Hollywood's best-remembered films, starring in a string of Westerns, bringing his everyman qualities to movies like The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962)), biopics (The Stratton Story (1949), The Glenn Miller Story (1954), and The Spirit of St. Louis (1957), for instance, thrillers (most notably his frequent collaborations with Alfred Hitchcock), and even some screwball comedies.
On June 25, 1997, a thrombosis formed in his right leg, leading to a pulmonary embolism, and a week later on July 2, 1997, surrounded by his children, James Stewart died at age 89 at his home in Beverly Hills, California. His last words to his family were, "I'm going to be with Gloria now".Indiana, PA.- Actor
- Soundtrack
Pianist, composer ("Everything Depends on You"), conductor and author educated at Schenley High School and in private piano study. He accompanied singers and was pianist for several instrumental groups, eventually forming his own band in Chicago in 1928, which he conducted into 1948 when he joined Louis Armstrong, remaining into 1951, thereafter touring Europe with Jack Teagarden into 1957. In San Francisco he led a band, making many records, and he gave weekly broadcasts for the US Treasury Department. Joining ASCAP in 1949, his other popular-song and instrumental compositions include "Deep Forest", "Rosetta", "My Monday Date", "Jelly Jelly, "Tantalizing a Cuban", "Mad House", "Dancing Fingers", and "The Earl".Duquesne, PA.- Dwier Brown was born on January 30, 1959 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and grew up in Sharon Center, Ohio. He is an actor best known for playing Kevin Costner's father in Field of Dreams (1989). He recently wrote a critically-acclaimed book, called "If You Build It...", a book about Fathers, Fate and Field of Dreams. He has been married to Laurie Lennon since May 31, 2009.Pittsburgh, PA.
- Mike Ditka is an American former football player, coach, and television commentator. A member of both the College Football (1986) and Pro Football Hall of Fame (1988), he was the 1961 UPI NFL Rookie of Year, a five-time Pro Bowl selection and five-time All-Pro tight end with the Chicago Bears, Philadelphia Eagles, and Dallas Cowboys of the National Football League (NFL).
He was an NFL champion with the 1963 Bears, and is a three-time Super Bowl champion, playing on the Cowboys Super Bowl VI team as well as winning as an assistant coach for the Cowboys in Super Bowl XII, and coaching the Bears to victory in Super Bowl XX. He was named to the NFL's 50th, 75th and 100th Anniversary All-Time Teams.
As a coach for the Bears for 11 years he was twice both the AP and UPI NFL Coach of Year (1985 and 1988). He also coached the New Orleans Saints for three years.
Ditka and Tom Flores are the only people to win an NFL title as a player, an assistant coach, and a head coach. Ditka, Flores, Gary Kubiak, and Doug Pederson are also the only people in modern NFL history to win a championship as head coach of a team he played for previously. Ditka is the only person to participate in both of the last two Chicago Bears' league championships, as a player in 1963 and as head coach in 1985.
Mike Ditka is known by the nickname 'Iron Mike', which he has said comes from his being born and raised in a steel town in Pennsylvania.Carnegie, PA. - Chuck Tanner was born on 4 July 1928 in New Castle, Pennsylvania, USA. He was married to Barbara Weiss. He died on 11 February 2011 in New Castle, Pennsylvania, USA.New Castle, PA.
- Composer
- Actor
- Music Department
Trent Reznor is an American songwriter/musician/producer and sole member of multi-platinum act Nine Inch Nails, and now an Academy Award, Emmy and Grammy Award winning film composer. He began creating music as a child in Western Pennsylvania, first on piano and then taking up other instruments. He eventually moved to Cleveland, OH where he took a job at a local recording studio as an assistant engineer/janitor, recording his own material during unused studio time.
Those recordings became the first Nine Inch Nails album, 1989's Pretty Hate Machine. NIN soon developed a reputation as one of the best live acts in rock and joined the inaugural Lollapalooza tour in 1991. The Broken EP followed in 1992, garnering NIN's first Grammy Award (NIN has received twelve Grammy nominations and won two awards). In 1994, the breakthrough album The Downward Spiral was released and featured the radio hits "Closer" and "Hurt." The controversial music video for "Closer" was directed by Mark Romanek and is considered among the best music videos of all time having won various awards (it is one of the few music videos included in the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York City). NIN's mud-covered appearance that Summer at Woodstock 1994 is now legendary. Also released that year was the Reznor produced soundtrack to Oliver Stone's Natural Born Killers (1994). He returned to film 3 years later, producing the soundtrack for David Lynch's Lost Highway (1997). In 1997, Reznor appeared on Time magazine's most influential people list, and Spin magazine named him "the most vital artist in music."
Five years later NIN's next album, The Fragile, was released - the double album debuted at number one. In 2002, "Hurt" was covered by Johnny Cash to critical acclaim; it was one of Cash's final hit releases before his death. NIN's next album, With Teeth, also reached number one in 2005 as did the single "The Hand That Feeds." Reznor broke new ground by posting the single's source tracks as a free download for fans to edit/remix/sample as they pleased and creating an online community for fans to share their creations. David Fincher directed the video for "Only," With Teeth's second single.
The concept album Year Zero was released in 2007 alongside an accompanying ARG (alternate reality game). Conceived by Trent Reznor and assisted in execution by 42 Entertainment, the ARG progressed through the album release and beyond, featuring no less than 29 websites, hidden messages within NIN merchandise, recordings and bar codes, hot lines, flier and poster campaigns, and even resistance cell "meetings" organized via calls made to pre-paid cell phones distributed to participants. Within two months, the ARG amassed 2.5 million cumulative site visits, 7.5 million cumulative page views and 2 million phone calls. Reznor has developed Year Zero into an HBO/BBC mini-series.
In 2008, free of contractual obligations, NIN released Ghosts I-IV, a 36-track instrumental album, NIN's first independent release. Soon after, a new studio album, The Slip, was released as a free digital download alongside a simple message: "Thank you for your continued and loyal support over the years - this one's on me" - TR (In less than a year, it exceeded 1.8M downloads). Ghosts I-IV and The Slip were both released under Creative Commons licenses allowing extensive use of the material within independent film projects. Following these two releases, NIN embarked on the acclaimed Lights In The Sky Tour featuring groundbreaking production effects, layering and programming that allowed the performers to interact and control aspects of the show's visuals. The tour was recognized by the industry as one of the top-ten most creative tours of all time.
Over the course of his career, Reznor has also collected countless production and remix credits including collaborations with David Bowie, producing Saul Williams and the discovery and production of Marilyn Manson.
In 2010, Reznor composed his first film score; for David Fincher's masterwork The Social Network (2010). The score won the Academy Award for best score and the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score. Additionally, he received a Critics' Choice Movie Award and a Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for best score. He also scored Fincher's next film, the highly anticipated The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011).
In addition to his continued work in Nine Inch Nails, Reznor is recording new music as a member of the group How to Destroy Angels.New Castle, PA.- Actress
Brunette, delicately featured leading lady who briefly made an impact through memorable back-to-back appearances in the films Humoresque (1946) and Rope (1948). Joan grew up in Butler, Pennsylvania, where her family had a car dealership. Her mother was a musician. Joan studied dancing at the Bennington School of the Arts and was at one time an alumnus of the Martha Graham Dance Company. Very little is known of her private life but at least one of her two sisters was also on the musical scene. Joan decided on an acting career and made her bow on Broadway in 1944 as a juvenile in "The Late George Apley". Five years later, she had a singing and dancing part, starring opposite Ray Bolger in "Where's Charley?", replacing Allyn Ann McLerie. In between work on stage and screen she also featured in such episodic radio dramas as 'Theater Guild of the Air'. During the first half of the 1950's, Joan enjoyed a good run of critical plaudits for her performances in the comedy "My Three Angels" (with Walter Slezak), and as Miranda in the American Shakespeare Festival staging of "The Tempest" in Stratford, Connecticut.
Her last role of note came in 1959 (as replacement for the nominal star Rosemary Harris), with Joan as the female lead opposite Jason Robards in "The Disenchanted", a Budd Schulberg/ Harvey Breit play about the life of F. Scott Fitzgerald. It has been variously suggested that Joan's career may have suffered as a result of blacklisting by HUAC, or because of a physical similarity to another more established actress, Diana Lynn. The fact remains, that she managed to maintain a relatively busy schedule on the East Coast stage throughout the 1950's. However, by 1962, she seems to have lost heart and given up the profession. Apart from a few guest appearances in early anthology TV and a couple of forgettable teen movies, there was little else of note from this attractive and talented performer. She faded into relative obscurity, living out the sadly short remainder of her life in Manhattan.Butler, PA.- Actor
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Patrik Baldauff was born on 18 February 1938 in Butler, Pennsylvania, USA. He is an actor and producer, known for Patrik (2019), Dress Gray (1986) and Not Only Strangers (1979).Butler, PA.- Actor
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Jim Kelly was born on 14 February 1960 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA. He is an actor and executive, known for Necessary Roughness (1991), Adventure Scouts (2010) and The Last Match (1991). He has been married to Jill Kelly since 18 May 1996. They have three children.Pittsburgh, PA.- Bill Cullen was born on 18 February 1920 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA. He was an actor, known for Three on a Match (1971), It Happened to Jane (1959) and Hot Potato (1984). He was married to Ann Cullen, Carol Ames and Ruth Elizabeth Harrington. He died on 7 July 1990 in Bel Air, California, USA.Pittsburgh, PA.
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Only one film-maker can claim the title "Godfather of Gore." That peculiar but apt identification seems to be the exclusive property of Herschell Gordon Lewis. With an unusual background that included teaching English Literature to college students, producing and directing television commercials, and voicing radio and television commercials, Herschell literally - and single-handedly - established the "Splatter Film" category of motion pictures. He accomplished this by writing and directing (including the musical score) a mini-budget movie titled "Blood Feast," shot in Miami in 1963 and released theatrically the following year. As critics lambasted the primitive effects and inattention to script and sub-par acting, audiences flocked to theaters to see why friends who had reacted to the movie's fiery marketing campaign had said, "You gotta see this." Armed with boxoffice grosses, Herschell and his producer-partner David Friedman quickly decided to build onto their newly-discovered base. Herschell wrote and directed "Two Thousand Maniacs." The lead singer of the musical group hired to perform background music had a tenor voice. Herschell had written the title song, "The South Gonna Rise Ag'in." He wanted a baritone, and without hesitation he made the switch: the voice on the sound track is his. After their third splatter film, "Color Me Blood Red," David Friedman moved to California, engaging in a different type of motio0n picture. Herschell continued to grind out one success after another, with titles such as "The Gruesome Twosome," "The Wizard of Gore," and "The Gore-Gore Girls." When major film companies began to invade his splatter-turf, Herschell took a hiatus, shifting full time to his "other career," writing advertising and mailings for marketers worldwide. He became one of a handful of experts to be inducted into the Direct Marketing Association's Hall of Fame. (Author of 32 books on marketing including the classic "On the Art of Writing Copy," Herschell is often called on to lecture on copywriting, just as he is invited to sing the theme from "Two Thousand Maniacs" at horror film festivals.) Over the years, an unusual reality came into place: Herschell's old films continued to play not just on TV screens but in theatres, years after conventional movies would have disappeared altogether. The result has been renewal of his life as a film director. Thus it is that a new Herschell Gordon Lewis movie is hoving into view: "Herschell Gordon Lewis's BloodMania," produced by James Saito in Calgary, Alberta, Canada and planned for 2015 release. Both the producer and the director encapsulate their opinion of "Herschell Gordon Lewis's BloodMania" in a single word: Enthusiastic.Pittsburgh, PA.- Actress
- Soundtrack
Singer, concert artist, actress, and model, Jackie Evancho is a platinum selling recording artist that first became a worldwide sensation at the age of 10 years old with her stunning debut performance singing "O Mio Babbino Caro" on season 5 of NBC's America's Got Talent (AGT).
A career that began with a little girl's fascination with the film adaptation of The Phantom of the Opera has led Billboard to twice include Jackie on its list of "music movers-and-shakers under the age of 21" due, in part to the history she has made along the way - the youngest solo platinum artist - the youngest top 5 debut artist ever in the U.K - the highest ranking debut artist of 2010 - and a Guinness World Record as the youngest person to ever have a US Top 3 album.
It was that first performance that led to her breakthrough from YouTube star to serious career artist. In only slightly over a decade, Jackie has made ten chart topping albums and DVDs, headlined three successful PBS television specials, co-starred in the film The Company You Keep, at the request of the star of the film, Robert Redford, appeared in a Guess clothing campaign at the request of Guess owner Paul Marciano, tirelessly toured the world singing for Presidents, other world leaders, at world events, and to her fans everywhere.
In addition to her solo success, Jackie has recorded and/or performed duets with such notable artists as Tony Bennett, Barbara Streisand, Placido Domingo, Josh Groban, Chris Botti, Joshua Bell, Il Volo, David Foster, Andrea Bocelli, and José Carreras to name a few.
"I have had so much fun and done so many challenging things" Jackie said at the end of 2012. Those "fun" and "challenging" things continue to this day. Since that quote Jackie Evancho sang for Pope Francis 1 during his US visit and a few years before, sang for - and delighted- President Barack Obama and his family during the lighting of the National Christmas Tree. Two months later she was invited again to perform for the President and Congressional leaders during the National Prayer Breakfast. She was also invited to open Oprah Winfrey's farewell special with a duet performance of "Somewhere Over The Rainbow" with Josh Groban and Patti LaBelle. She also represented the US in Russia at the opening of the St. Petersburg Economic Forum where she performed in front of over 100,000 people prior to the Forum's opening, singing with two international opera stars, Russia's Dmitri Hvorostovsky, and South Korea's Sumi Jo.
In 2017 Jackie and her family appeared in a reality TLC TV special, 'Growing Up Evancho' to give the world a glimpse of life since her first appearance on America's Got Talent. A couple of years later the world saw the emergence of a maturing Jackie Evancho starting with her much anticipated return to AGT - The Champions where she again stunned audiences with her rendition of Barbara Streisand's "Somewhere" in which Jackie recorded that version for here album "The Debut" which put her in the unique position of bringing a young woman's perspective to this stunning repertoire while becoming one of the great voices of contemporary musical theatre.
In 2020 Jackie appeared as "The Kitty" on FOX's The Masked Singer where she immediately became a crowd favorite through her amazing vocal and playful persona. This re-introduced audiences to not only a master of classical vocals but showed the world that she is masterful within any genre of music.
During the pandemic Jackie explored a new direction within her craft and began songwriting. In doing so she realized that she wanted to pay homage to one of the greatest song writers of our time, Joni Mitchell. Her most recent album "Carousel Of Time" just does that and has received high praise from the music industry.
Jackie currently share her time and talents lending support to various foundations as well a being a proud supporter of her transgender sister Juliet and the entire lgbtq community.
2022 Jackie Evancho. All Rights ReservedPittsburgh, PA.- Director
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Widdoes starred as senior student and Fraternity President "Robert Hoover", alongside John Belushi, in the 1978 film, National Lampoon's National Lampoon's Animal House (1978), as well as the 1979 TV series spin-off, Delta House (1979). He has guest-starred in many TV series episodes since then, including Remington Steele (1982), Night Court (1984), Dave's World (1993) and My Wife and Kids (2000). Widdoes starred as father of the house "Stan Pembroke" in the 1984-1985 seasons of Charles in Charge (1984).
Since 1998, he has directed and/or produced many episodes for various TV series. Some of these include Just the Ten of Us (1987), Empty Nest (1988), Anything But Love (1989), Harry and the Hendersons (1991), Boston Common (1996), Brother's Keeper (1998), Reba (2001), 8 Simple Rules (2002), The King of Queens (1998), 'Til Death (2006), The Bill Engvall Show (2007) and Two and a Half Men (2003).
Widdoes graduated from The Loomis Chaffee School in Windsor, Connecticut in 1972, and, today, sits on its Board of Trustees. He began his acting career during college, starring in a production of "The New Amen Show" at the Diners Playhouse in Lexington, Kentucky in 1974. He next attended New York University's Tisch School of Arts, graduating in 1976 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree. While in New York, he roomed with such soon-to-be famous actors as Michael O'Keefe, from Caddyshack (1980) and The Great Santini (1979). He then began performing on New York stages in productions such as the 1977 Equity Library Theatre revival of "Wonderful Town" and the 1982 Broadway musical, "Is There Life After High School?", for which he won a Theatre World Award.
In addition to being on The Loomis Chaffee School's board, Widdoes is also active in many other community-oriented programs. He has been on the Board of Turning Point School; the Board of Trustees for the California Association of Independent Schools; the Board of Directors/Executive Committee for Camp Dudley-YMCA; and the Executive Advisory Board of The Gordie Foundation, a non-profit organization based in Dallas, Texas that "[provides] today's young people with the skills to navigate the dangers of alcohol, binge drinking, peer pressure and hazing". The organization was founded in memory of Lynn Gordon Bailey Jr.
Widdoes is married to Mer James, and has two sons, Charles Landauer and Sumner Dickinson, and a daughter, Margaret Hendrie.Pittsburgh, PA.