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1-13 of 13
- Janet Shaw was born on 23 January 1919 in Beatrice, Nebraska, USA. She was an actress, known for Shadow of a Doubt (1943), Night Monster (1942) and The Old Maid (1939). She was married to David Ashford Stuart and Willard Garcia Ilefeldt. She died on 15 October 2001 in Beatrice, Nebraska, USA.
- Writer
- Producer
- Make-Up Department
The son of U.S. Army Sgt Merle Jack ''Pug'' Coon and decorator Erma Gay Noakes, Eugene Lee Coon was born in Beatrice Nebraska on January 7, 1924. At four years old, he sang on the radio at WOAW-AM in Omaha. He knew twenty four songs, including one in French and one in German. As his boyhood went on, he was a member of The Gage County, Nebraska 4-H Club and had been a Boy Scout. Later he attended Omaha Technical High School, participating in ROTC and playing in the school band. During this time, he also was teenage newscaster for KWBE-AM in Beatrice. He later moved with his parents and younger brothers, Merle Jack Coon and Bloise Newell Coon, to Glendale, California. Another brother died at ten years old when they still living in Beatrice. His father found work here as a Poultryman and Gene himself transferred to Glendale High.
Coon served stateside in the U.S. Marine Corps for four years from 1942 to 1946. After his return from service, he studied radio communications at Glendale College and performed in a production of Ayn Rand's play "The Night of January 16th" before transferring to The University of Iowa. Coon returned to active duty during the Korean War from 1950 to 1952 after several years as a Reservist. There, he received further training as a war reporter as well as running a pharmacy and building houses. He wrote about many of his experiences in the novels "Meanwhile Back At The Front" and "The Short End of The Stick". Upon his demobilization, Coon found work first as a radio newscaster before turning to free-lance writing under his mentor, Los Angeles Times reporter, Gene Sherman. He also operated a pharmacy at the intersection of Beverly Boulevard and North Ardmore Avenue between 1954 and 1959. Sherman, in fact, covered his pharmacy exploits in Page 2 Cityside column for The L.A. Times. Sherman also allowed Coon to have a guest spot promoting "Meanwhile Back At The Front" in The Farmer's Market column he wrote using the pen name ''Dick Kidson''.
From 1956, Coon was primarily involved in scripting teleplays for popular western and action shows like Dragnet (1951),Wagon Train (1957), Maverick (1957) and Bonanza (1959). At Universal in the early 60's, he turned McHale's Navy (1962) from a one-hour drama into a successful 30-minute sitcom. Together with the writer Les Colodny, Coon floated the idea for The Munsters (1964) as a satirical spin-off from The Donna Reed Show (1958) to MCA chairman Lew Wasserman. The result was yet another hit show.
Often referred to as 'the forgotten Gene' (a reference to Gene Roddenberry), Gene Lee Coon was one of the most important creative minds behind Star Trek (1966). He is credited with inventing the Klingons and had a hand in creating Khan. He developed the interpersonal dynamics between Kirk, Spock and McCoy (in particular, the invariably humorous verbal banter). He established the enlightened image of Starfleeet/The United Federation of Planets and often ended episodes with an anti-war allegory. A robust-looking, heavy-set man possessed of seemingly boundless creative energy, Coon was a prodigious reader and an immensely focused writer of prolific output. It was said, that he authored his novels and teleplays by assuming a state of near self-hypnosis, which he himself called 'automatic writing'. In one instance, he managed to produce the script for the Star Trek episode "The Devil in the Dark" in the course of a single weekend. Either as writer, or line producer, Coon had extensive, often critical input into some of the show's best-loved episodes, including "Arena", "Space Seed", "A Taste of Armageddon" , "The City of the Edge of Forever" (generally regarded as the best of the series), "Mirror, Mirror" and "The Doomsday Machine". Coon also often acted as a 'script doctor', doing uncredited rewrites. He left Star Trek in March 1968, likely the result of personality clashes with members of the cast (in fact, Coon had a reputation for not getting along with actors in general), but continued to write several more episodes under the pseudonym 'Lee Cronin' in order to fulfill his contract with Paramount.
After Star Trek, Coon worked as writer/producer on _"It Takes a Thief" (1968)_, while at the same time founding one of the first 'cartridge TV' video companies, UniTel Associates, with Colodny as executive vice president. He had, by then, also turned turn offers from D.C. Fontana to write for Star Trek: The Animated Series (1973).
A chain smoker of cigarillos for most of his life, the man whom fellow writer/producer Glen A. Larson referred to as 'the spirit and soul of Star Trek', died of lung and throat cancer -- one week after being diagnosed -- in July 1973, aged just 49. Another possible cause of his cancer was radiation from Nevada Bomb Testing Sites he attended with his mentor Gene Sherman and his first wife Joy in the 1950's.
On the weekend of March 2-4, 2018 there was a tribute in his hometown of Beatrice, Nebraska.- Visual Effects
- Special Effects
- Cinematographer
Born in Nebraska, John P. Fulton moved with his family to California in 1914. His father, adamant that John NOT become involved with the movie industry, insisted that he study electrical engineering; after graduating from high school, he worked as a surveyor, but frequently took time out to watch D. W. Griffith shooting movies. In the early '20s, Fulton broke into the picture business as a $25-a-week assistant cameraman and worked his way up to operator and finally, at the dawn of the talkie era, to cinematographer. He learned the legerdemain of trick photography while working at the Frank William Laboratory, then moved on to Universal, where he headed the studio's effects department. There Fulton and his team contributed to classics like "Frankenstein", director John Ford's "Air Mail" (a favorite of aviator Fulton) and "The Invisible Man". Fulton and his department also furnished the effects for four Invisible Man sequels, three of which garnered Oscar nominations; so did their work on "The Boys from Syracuse". Loaned out to Sam Goldwyn, Fulton worked on the effects for the Danny Kaye fantasy "Wonder Man, " which won him his first Academy Award. Two more Oscar wins ("The Bridges at Toko-Ri" and "The Ten Commandments") followed during Fulton's Paramount years. When Paramount disbanded their effects department, Fulton continued to work, providing effects (and co-writing the original story) for "The Bamboo Saucer" (released in 1968). Contracting a rare infection while working in Spain on "The Battle of Britain", Fulton died in hospital in England.- Maude Wayne was born on 26 March 1890 in Beatrice, Nebraska, USA. She was an actress, known for Moran of the Lady Letty (1922), Prodigal Daughters (1923) and Leap Year (1924). She was married to Johnnie Walker. She died on 10 October 1983 in Los Angeles, California, USA.
- Richard Wayne was born on 16 April 1881 in Beatrice, Nebraska, USA. He was an actor, known for Wasted Lives (1923), The Love Burglar (1919) and Luck in Pawn (1919). He died on 15 March 1958 in Los Angeles, California, USA.
- Wild Bill Tucker was born on 11 April 1892 in Beatrice, Nebraska, USA. He was an actor, known for The Resurrection of Broncho Billy (1970), Texas News 5 (1948) and V.I.P.-Schaukel (1971). He died on 23 March 1980 in Riverside, California, USA.
- Jamie Leigh Wolbert was born and raised in Beatrice, Nebraska on April 10th, 1987. She was a big tomboy growing up and loved to play sports especially softball. She has played the sport since the age of 7. At the age of 7, an audition for To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar was posted in the local newspaper. Her father wanted to go and audition and Jamie, being a daddy's girl went along just for something to do. When she walked into the audition wearing boy clothes, all the people suggested this little "cross-dresser" audition. After about 2 weeks of auditions, Jamie beat out a bunch of local and other girls coming in to audition for the role. She is now attending Peru State College on a softball scholarship and is studying elementary education and would like to pursue acting. Her father works at a local factory and mother works at the local Wal-Mart.
- Music Department
Dennis St. John was born on 9 November 1941 in Beatrice, Nebraska, USA. He is known for The Hard Ride (1971), The Jazz Singer (1980) and Tom (1973). He died on 5 June 2012 in Santa Monica, California, USA.- Director
- Editorial Department
- Cinematographer
Mike Corkle was born on 4 October 1982 in Beatrice, Nebraska, USA. He is a director and cinematographer, known for Ugly (2009), The Survival Games (2012) and American Muscle (2014).- Composer
- Soundtrack
Weldon Kees was born on 24 February 1914 in Beatrice, Nebraska, USA. He was a composer, known for The Joy of Life (2005) and Adventures of Jimmy (1950). He died on 18 July 1955 in San Francisco, California, USA.- Additional Crew
Nate Flansburgh was born on 1 August 1974 in Beatrice, Nebraska, USA. Nate is known for Road to Perdition (2002), Hardball (2001) and The Alamo (2004).- Animation Department
Jay Alan Klein was born in 1894 in Beatrice, Nebraska, USA. Jay Alan died in 1965 in the USA.- Actor
Earle Ozman was born on 16 August 1901 in Beatrice, Nebraska, USA. He was an actor. He died on 13 August 1954 in Los Angeles, California, USA.