Actors to remember

Norma Bengell was born on 21 February 1935 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. She was an actress and director, known for Planet of the Vampires (1965), The Murdered House (1971) and Eternamente Pagú (1987). She was married to Gabriele Tinti. She died on 9 October 2013 in Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Evi Marandi was born on 7 August 1941 in Athens, Greece. She is an actress, known for From the Orient with Fury (1965), Planet of the Vampires (1965) and Our Men in Bagdad (1966).

Quin Kessler is known for She (1984), Modern Girls (1986) and The Greatest American Hero (1981).

Tyne Daly was born on 21 February 1946 in Madison, Wisconsin, USA. She is an actress and writer, known for Judging Amy (1999), Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017) and Cagney & Lacey (1981). She was previously married to Georg Stanford Brown.

Clare Kirkconnell is a painter who shows her work primarily in San Francisco, California. She has been married to writer-director Douglas Barr since 1984. They have one son born in 1989. After college, she spent several years as a fashion model traveling the world from bases in New York and Paris. Concurrently, she studied acting and landed several film and television roles, including a three-year run as the female lead on The Paper Chase (1978). Never abandoning her interest in painting, she continued her studies at Santa Monica College and Otis Parsons School of Design. Her work has been consistently well-received and can be found in many private collections.

Born in Brownsville, Texas, she spent a number of years in Mexico City before returning to Houston to finish high school. Developing an interest in the arts, she continued her education at Palomar College in San Marcos, California, a school well-known for its art program.

When not in the studio, her time is divided between her husband and son; and the family wine business, "Hollywood and Vine Cellars.

Ben Gazzara's screen career began with two critically acclaimed roles as heavies in the late 1950s. He turned to television in the 1960s but made a big screen comeback with roles in three John Cassavetes films in the 1970s. The 1980s and 1990s saw Gazzara work more frequently than ever before in character parts. If he never became the leading man his early films and stage work promised, he had a career notable for its longevity. He was born Biagio Anthony Gazzara on August 28, 1930, in New York City. The son of a Sicilian immigrant laborer, he grew up on New York's tough Lower East Side. After seeing Laurette Taylor in "The Glass Menagerie," Gazzara decided he wanted to become an actor. He studied engineering (unhappily) but quit after receiving an acting scholarship (he worked under well-known coach Erwin Piscator).

Gazzara then joined the Actors Studio, where a group of students improvised a play from Calder Willingham's novel End as a Man. The tale of a brutal southern military academy reached Broadway slightly changed in 1953 but with Gazzara still in the principal role. It was a star making part (he won a Theatre World award) and he then played leads in the original productions of "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" (1955) and "A Hatful of Rain" (1955) (he was nominated for a Tony). Bigger names Paul Newman and Don Murray played those last two roles on the big screen but Gazzara made his movie debut in The Strange One (1957) the film version of "End as a Man." The film was a critical but not commercial success. His next role was as the defendant in Anatomy of a Murder (1959) which was a big hit.

Gazzara followed this with an Italian venture co-starring Anna Magnani, The Passionate Thief (1960), two Hollywood films The Young Doctors (1961) and Convicts 4 (1962) and then another Italian film Conquered City (1962). None of these did much for his career, and he turned to television. He appeared in the successful series Arrest and Trial (1963) and Run for Your Life (1965). In between, he made A Rage to Live (1965), a film version of John O'Hara's novel. He returned to films in The Bridge at Remagen (1969) and with a cameo appearance in If It's Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium (1969). His buddy in the cameo was John Cassavetes, who directed and co-starred with him in Husbands (1970), a critical success. Gazzara made two more well-received films with his good friend Cassavetes: The Killing of a Chinese Bookie (1976) and Opening Night (1977).

Gazzara's other films in the 1970s were undistinguished apart from the sprawling Voyage of the Damned (1976) and a rare leading role in director Peter Bogdanovich's Saint Jack (1979). Bloodline (1979) and They All Laughed (1981) (also directed by Bogdanovich) were only notable because of Gazzara's off-screen relationship with co-star Audrey Hepburn (ironically, Gazzara had declined to make his screen debut in War and Peace (1956) starring Hepburn). Tales of Ordinary Madness (1981) was another lead for Gazzara, but it received a mixed critical reception. Other big-screen roles in the 1980s were scarce apart from Road House (1989), a Patrick Swayze vehicle that Gazzara believed out of all his films had been the most repeated on television. He worked much on the small screen, including the groundbreaking television movie An Early Frost (1985), playing the father of an AIDS victim.

The 1990s saw Gazzara working like never before, appearing in 38 films. Most were for free-to-air television or cable but he also worked on the big screen in The Spanish Prisoner (1997), The Big Lebowski (1998), Happiness (1998) and Summer of Sam (1999). His television work included a guest appearance as an executive assistant attorney in a 2001 episode of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (1999)

• a nice touch since

Arrest and Trial (1963) was the predecessor of Law & Order (1990) and its spin-off series.

Gazzara has often returned to the stage throughout his career-in "The Night Circus" (1958) (where he met second wife Janice Rule), "Strange Interlude" (1963), "Traveller Without Luggage" (1964), Hughie/Duet (1975) (nominated for a Tony), "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" (1976) (again Tony nominated), and "Shimada" (1992). He has also worked as a director on episodes his series Run for Your Life (1965) and The Name of the Game (1968) and the television movies A Friend in Deed (1974) and Troubled Waters (1975) featuring his friend Peter Falk. The unreleased Beyond the Ocean (1990) (which he also wrote) was his final film as a director.

In 2003 Gazzara appeared in the independent Dogville (2003) adding Lars von Trier to the list of interesting and acclaimed directors with whom he has worked. There can't be many actors who can boast that they have acted in films by Otto Preminger (Anatomy of a Murder (1959)), John Cassavetes, Joel Coen (The Big Lebowski (1998)), Spike Lee (Summer of Sam (1999)), and Lars von Trier, among others. Ben Gazzara died at age 81 of pancreatic cancer on February 3, 2012.

Tiffani Amber Thiessen was born on January 23, 1974 in Long Beach, California to Robyn Ernest, a homemaker & Frank Thiessen, a park designer. She grew up in Long Beach with her parents and her brothers, professional cyclist Todd (born August 1, 1968) and Schyler (born May 10, 1977). When Tiffani was 8, her uncle, Roger Ernest, suggested that she try acting and modeling. Soon afterward, she appeared in her first TV commercial, for Peaches and Cream Barbie. From there she started competing in several beauty pageants and, in 1987, she won the Miss Junior America pageant.

She got her big break when she was cast as the popular cheerleader Kelly Kapowski on the NBC series Saved by the Bell (1989), which lasted for five years. But this was not at all the end of her career. Coinciding with the cancellation of the short-lived Saved by the Bell: The College Years (1993), she was cast as the bitchy, conniving vixen Valerie Malone on Aaron Spelling's long-running hit series Beverly Hills, 90210 (1990). Here, she played the constant enemy of Kelly Taylor, played by Jennie Garth, although in real life, the two are actually best friends. Tiffani also lived with co-star Brian Austin Green for several years. She stayed with the show until 1998 and then left to pursue her movie career. The result was two independent movies, followed by two comedies and then Hollywood Ending (2002), in which she starred alongside Woody Allen.

She met actor Richard Ruccolo while guest starring as Marti in the hit sitcom Two Guys, a Girl and a Pizza Place (1998) where in 2001, the couple became engaged. During the fall of 2002, she co-starred with best friend Jennie's husband, Peter Facinelli, and Bill Bellamy on Fox's action/drama series, Fastlane (2002), where she starred as Billie Chambers, but the show was canceled after one season. In 2003, Tiffani broke off her engagement to Richard Ruccolo and in 2005, she married actor Brady Smith. The couple have two children, a daughter, Harper Smith (Harper Renn Smith) and a son, Holt Fisher Smith.

Amy Yasbeck was born on 12 September 1962 in Cincinnati, Ohio, USA. She is an actress, known for The Mask (1994), Robin Hood: Men in Tights (1993) and Pretty Woman (1990). She was previously married to John Ritter.

It took 30 years since it was first predicted, but Conchata Ferrell finally achieved television stardom, albeit of the supporting variety, as the housekeeper "Berta" in the situation-comedy Two and a Half Men (2003). Ferrell originally had been tipped for stardom with her turn as the prostitute "April" in the Norman Lear-produced series Hot l Baltimore (1975), in which she recreated her role in Lanford Wilson's off-Broadway hit. However, what was a hit play in New York turned out to be a flop on national TV and, though she worked steadily ever since, it took her role in support of stars Charlie Sheen and Jon Cryer in "Men" to get her the attention her talent richly deserved. For her role as "Berta", Conchata was nominated for an Emmy Award as Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series in both 2005 and 2007. She had three Emmy nominations in total, having previously gotten a nod in 1992 for Best Supporting Actress in a Drama Series for L.A. Law (1986).

Conchata Galen Ferrell was born on March 28, 1943 in Charleston, West Virginia, to Mescal Loraine (George) and Luther Martin Ferrell. She attended West Virginia University and Marshall University. Conchata graduated from Marshall with a degree in social studies in education. Eventually, she sought a life in the theater, and achieved success off-Broadway as a member of the Circle in the Square theatrical company in Wilson's "Hot L Baltimore". For her next off-Broadway appearance, as "Gertrude Blum" in Edward J. Moore's "The Sea Horse", Ferrell won Drama Desk, Theatre World and Obie Awards as best actress in 1974. She worked steadily in television and films ever since.

Ferrell was married to Arnie Anderson, and had one daughter.

Shapely and statuesque blonde knockout Dona Speir was born on February 7, 1964 in Norwalk, California. The former high school gymnast and track star enjoyed an active career as an international model and brand ambassador before (and after) her selection as Playboy's Playmate of the Month in the March 1984.

Appearances in a series of videos produced by Playboy followed, as did additional pictorials in national and international issues of the popular men's magazine. When Hollywood came calling, Dona Speir made guest appearances on episodes of popular TV shows including "Mike Hammer," "Matt Houston," "Knight Rider," and "Married with Children." Her career as an actress found its stride-and a new fan base--with her portrayal of tough, gun-toting (fictional) federal drug enforcement agent Donna Hamilton in (7) seven action features for director Andy Sidaris: "Hard Ticket to Hawaii," "Picasso Trigger," "Savage Beach," "Guns," "Do or Die," "Hard Hunted," and "Fit to Kill." Additional roles as a hard-edged veteran model in "Click: The Calendar Girl Killer", along with smaller parts in the major motion films "Dragnet," "Mortuary Academy" and "Doin' Time, kept her active and in front of a camera through the 1990s.

As the 20th century became the 21st century, Dona Speir focused attention on her work as a spokesperson, motivational speaker and personal growth counselor including working as Personal Recovery Assistant (PRI). In 2018, she earned accreditation as a NCRCI, NCRCII, NCIP (Recovery Coach I, II, Interventions) and has made her service to the addiction and recovery community a top priority.

In 2019, Dona will embark on a North American media tour to coincide with the 35th anniversary of her Playboy centerfold, running at the same time as speaking engagements in support of her first book "Naked Truth: The Fall and Rise of Dona Speir". Still a California resident, Dona has added collecting rare mineral specimens to her list of passions, which include; riding Harley-Davidson motorcycles, contemporary art, adventure travel and an advocacy for animal rights and rescue.

Gorgeously buxom, sultry and voluptuous brunette looker Roberta Vasquez was born on February 13, 1963 in Los Angeles, California. She's of Mexican descent. Roberta was the Playmate of the Month in the November, 1984 issue of "Playboy." Vasquez subsequently appeared in a handful of "Playboy" videos and special edition publications. A former California state police officer (she played lady cop Heather Torres in the Clint Eastwood action vehicle "The Rookie"), Roberta is also a bodybuilder and martial artist. She popped up in the music video for "Born in East L.A." by Cheech Marin and Tommy Chong. Vasquez acted in several enjoyably lowbrow exploitation features made in the 80s and 90s. Roberta portrayed sexy villainess Pantera in "Picasso Trigger" for director Andy Sidaris. Vasquez then played Federal agent Nicole Justin in four additional films for Sidaris: "Guns," "Do or Die," "Hard Hunted," and "Fit to Kill." Roberta Vasquez still occasionally appears as a guest at Glamourcon conventions.

Gorgeously voluptuous, buxom and shapely knockout Cynthia Brimhall was born on March 10, 1964 in Ogden, Utah. She was raised in Utah and attended public schools in her home state. Cynthia eventually moved to Hollywood, California. Brimhall first gained widespread public attention as a Playmate of the Month in the October, 1985 issue of "Playboy." Not surprisingly, Cynthia has appeared in a handful of "Playboy" related videos, posed for a sizable number of "Playboy" special editions, and has been featured in additional nude pictorials in subsequent issues of the popular men's magazine. Brimhall portrayed foxy nightclub owner and singer Edy Stark in six enjoyable low-budget action exploitation pictures for director Andy Sidaris: "Hard Ticket to Hawaii," "Picasso Trigger," "Guns," "Do or Die," "Hard Hunted," and "Fit to Kill." (She also sings songs on the soundtracks for most of these movies.) Moreover, Cynthia popped up as a model on the game-show "The New Price Is Right" from 1992 to 1993. Cynthia Brimhall has since gone on to become a successful showgirl in Las Vegas, Nevada: She starred in the adult song and dance revue "Skintight" at Harrah's from August, 2000 to September, 2001.

Deborah Harmon was born on 8 May 1951 in Chicago, Illinois, USA. She is an actress, known for Bachelor Party (1984), Used Cars (1980) and Just the Ten of Us (1987).

Barbara Crampton was born in Levittown, New York. Growing up in Vermont, she spent the majority of her childhood summers traveling the country with a roadside carnival that her father worked for. Crampton began acting in school plays in seventh grade and subsequently studied drama in high school. She earned a BA in Theater Arts from Castleton State College and, following graduation, portrayed "Cordelia" in an American Theater of Actors production of "King Lear" in New York.

The young actress then moved to Los Angeles and, in 1983, made her TV debut with a recurring role on the popular daytime soap opera Days of Our Lives (1965). The following year she had a brief, but memorable role in Brian De Palma's Body Double (1984), which was followed by the 1985 comedy Fraternity Vacation (1985). Barbara achieved enduring cult popularity as college coed Megan Halsey in Stuart Gordon's Re-Animator (1985) and, after making a splash in the horror genre, successively starred in From Beyond (1986), Chopping Mall (1986), Puppet Master (1989), and Castle Freak (1995), among others.

Outside of horror, Barbara had recurring roles on daytime television soap operas Guiding Light (1952); The Bold and the Beautiful (1987), and The Young and the Restless (1973), for which won a Soap Opera Digest Award.

Years after retiring from acting to raise a family, Crampton returned to film in 2011 with a role in Adam Wingard's You're Next (2011). She subsequently appeared in number of new films, the majority of which were horror. Highlights of her return include The Lords of Salem (2012), We Are Still Here (2015), and Beyond the Gates (2016).

Crampton's hobbies include skiing, yoga, horseback riding, running, working out with weights, and shopping for antiques at flea markets. She lives outside of San Francisco with her husband, Robert Bleckman, and their two children.

Joe Estevez' first time on the stage was as a 6-year-old playing the "Evil Innkeeper" in a Christmas Nativity play, and as an actor he has never looked back. Born the last of 10 children to an Irish-immigrant mother and a Spanish-immigrant father, Joe was raised in Dayton Ohio to be a factory worker but he had other plans, and 230-some films later, Joe feels that his decision was the right one.

For most actors the road is never easy, but through perseverance, faith, and talent, Joe has become an accomplished actor, and in Hollywood today he is one of the busiest actors for one reason: He is one of the best at what he does. Joe can be seen weekly on the TV series "Hollywood Joe" and as the host of the critically-acclaimed Faith Film Festival in NYC. If you want to read about Joe, pick up a copy of his book, "Wiping Off the Sheen."

Ranked #19 in AVN's Top 50 Porn Stars of All Time. Raised in Texas and throughout Southern California. Was porn star Jeanna Fine's girlfriend. She is one of the most notorious, controversial porn stars of all time.

The athletically gifted 6' 7" Charles Aaron "Bubba" Smith played defensive end / defensive tackle for the National Football League's Baltimore Colts (1967-1971), Oakland Raiders (1973-1974), and Houston Oilers (1975-1976). After the conclusion of his football career, Smith moved into a TV & film career, with initial guest appearances on prime time TV shows including Wonder Woman (1975), Charlie's Angels (1976) and Eight Is Enough (1977).

Smith is best known to international film audiences as the softly spoken police officer "Moses Hightower" from the Police Academy (1984) series of comedies, in which he has appeared in all but one of the numerous sequels.

Kathy Shower was born on 8 March 1953 in Brookville, Ohio, USA. She is an actress and producer, known for The Further Adventures of Tennessee Buck (1988), Commando Squad (1987) and Baja Run (1996).

Je'net Carmen is known for Three's Company (1976).

Orson Bean, the American actor, television personality and author, was born Dallas Frederick Burrows on July 22, 1928 in Burlington, Vermont to George Frederick Burrows, a policeman who later went on to become the chief of campus police at Harvard University, and the former Marion Ainsworth Pollard. He was of Irish, Scottish, and English descent. Through the latter, the newborn Dallas Burrows was a first cousin, twice removed, to Calvin Coolidge, who was President of the United States at the time of his birth. The young Dallas, an amateur magician with a taste for the limelight, graduated from Boston's prestigious Latin School in 1946. Too young to see military service during World War II, the future Orson Bean did a hitch in the U.S. Army (1946-47) in occupied Japan.

After the war, he launched himself onto the nightclub circuit with his new moniker, the "Orson" borrowed from reigning enfant terrible Orson Welles. His comedy act premiered at New York City's Blue Angel nightclub, and the momentum from his act launched him into the orbit of the legitimate theater. He made his Broadway debut on April 30, 1954 in Stalag 17 (1953) producer Richard Condon's only Broadway production as a playwright, "Men of Distinction", along with Robert Preston and Martin Ritt. The play flopped and ran only four appearances.

The following year was to prove kinder: he hosted a summer-replacement television series produced at the Blue Angel, and won a Theatre World Award for his work in the 1954 music revue "John Murray Anderson's Almanac", which co-starred Harry Belafonte, Polly Bergen, Hermione Gingold and Carleton Carpenter. It was a hit that ran for 229 performances. He followed this up with an even bigger hit, the leading role in "Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter". Next up was a succès d'estime as the leading man in Herman Wouk's comic play "Nature's Way", which co-starred Bea Arthur, Sorrell Booke and Godfrey Cambridge. Though the play lasted but 67 performances, Orson Bean had established himself on the Broadway stage.

He enjoyed his greatest personal success on Broadway in the 1961-62 season, in the Betty Comden and Adolph Green musical "Subways are for Sleeping", which was directed and choreographed by Michael Kidd and featured music by Jule Styne. Bean received a Tony Award nomination for Best Featured Actor in a Musical (his co-star Phyllis Newman won a Tony Award as Best Featured Actress in a Musical). The following season, he was in a bigger hit, the comedy "Never Too Late", which would go on to play for 1,007 performances. After appearing in the flop comedy "I Was Dancing" in November 1964, Bean made his last Broadway appearance in the musical "Illya Darling" in 1967 with Melina Mercouri, directed by fellow blacklister Jules Dassin; it played 320 performances. He also toured in the Neil Simon-Burt Bacharach musical "Promises, Promises".

Bean made an impression as the Army psychiatrist in Otto Preminger's Anatomy of a Murder (1959). But it was as a television personality that he made his biggest inroads into the popular consciousness, as well as the popular culture. He appeared in numerous quiz and talk shows, becoming a familiar face in homes as a regular panelist on To Tell the Truth (1956). He also appeared on Norman Lear's cult favorite Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman (1976) and its sequel, Forever Fernwood (1977), as "Reverend Brim", and as store owner "Loren Bray" on Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman (1993). Much of his role as 105-year-old "Dr. Lester" in the cult film Being John Malkovich (1999) wound up the cutting room floor, but audiences and critics welcomed back his familiar presence.

Gloria Garayua is an American born actress. She is most recognized from Seasons 4, 5, and 6 on "Grey's Anatomy" as Intern Graciella, and Season 3 of "How To Get Away With Murder" as Detective Davis, "Blanca" in "Fun With Dick and Jane" with Jim Carrey, and such series as "Reckoning" on Netflix, and much more. Gloria was born and raised in the Bronx in New York City. She received her B.F.A. in Acting from Long Island University where she graduated Summa Cum Laude. She is a proud member of the sorority Sigma Iota Alpha, Xi Chapter at C.W. Post. Both of her parents are from Ponce, Puerto Rico. She speaks fluent Spanish and intermediate French. She enjoys music, dancing, singing karaoke, and loves cats. She is the creator of an online video series for anyone interested in starting acting classes called "Acting For True Beginners". When she is not acting, she works as an acting teacher and audition coach. She has taught privately, and in group format at Azusa Pacific University, CAL State LA, El Camino College and various acting studios throughout LA.

Alley Mills was born on May 9, 1951, in Chicago, Illinois. A graduate of Yale in 1973, she studied acting at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art. While still in college, Alley Mills scored a small role in the film Diary of a Mad Housewife (1970). She got her first lead role in 1979 in a short-lived television series about young lawyers entitled The Associates (1979), opposite a then yet-unknown Martin Short. After another failed sitcom in 1982, she finally caught a big break with a lead role in the critically acclaimed nostalgic 1960s-set family dramedy The Wonder Years (1988) playing matriarch Norma Arnold. After the show ended in 1993, Alley Mills continued work in television, landing a recurring role on the western drama Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman (1993) as Jane Seymour's sister. She also made numerous guest appearances shows such as NYPD Blue (1993), Sabrina the Teenage Witch (1996)and Yes, Dear (2000). She made the leap to daytime television with a guest role on the CBS soap opera The Bold and the Beautiful (1987) as Pamela Douglas playing along-side Susan Flannery and Betty White in 2006. As the producers were thrilled with her performances, she was eventually offered a contract and continues to star on the show, occasionally taking some time off to do theatre work in the Los Angeles area, often together with her husband. Alley Mills is married to actor Orson Bean since 1993 and the couple lives in Venice, California.

Kari Lizer was born on 26 August 1961 in San Diego, California, USA. She is a producer and writer, known for Will & Grace (1998), The New Adventures of Old Christine (2006) and Private School (1983).

Christie Claridge was born on 21 November 1962 in Miami, Florida, USA. She is an actress, known for Gotcha! (1985), Hunter (1984) and Airwolf (1984). She has been married to Jeffrey Foster since 1994. They have two children.

Marla Adams was born on 28 August 1938 in Ocean City, New Jersey, USA. She was an actress, known for Gotcha! (1985), The Young and the Restless (1973) and The Golden Girls (1985). She died on 25 April 2024 in Los Angeles, California, USA.