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José Ferrer was a Puerto Rican actor and film director. He won an Academy Award for Best Actor for playing the title character in Cyrano de Bergerac (1950). Ferrer was the first Puerto Rican actor to win an Academy Award, and also the first Hispanic actor to win an Academy Award.

In 1912, Ferrer was born is San Juan, the capital city of Puerto Rico. Established as a Spanish colonial city in 1521, San Juan is the third oldest European-established capital city in the Americas, following Santo Domingo (established in 1496) and Panama City (established in 1521). Ferrer's father was Rafael Ferrer, a lawyer and author who was born and raised in San Juan. Ferrer's mother was María Providencia Cintrón, a native of the coastal town of Yabucoa. Ferrer's paternal grandfather was Dr. Gabriel Ferrer Hernández, who had campaigned for Puerto Rican independence from the Spanish Empire.

The Ferrer family moved to New York City in 1914, when José was 2-years-old. As a school student, Ferrer was educated abroad at the Institut Le Rosey, a prestigious boarding school located in Rolle, Switzerland. In 1933, Ferrer was enrolled at Princeton University, located in Princeton, New Jersey. He studied architecture, and wrote a senior thesis about French Naturalism and the literary works of Spanish naturalist writer Emilia Pardo Bazán (1851-1921). In 1934, Ferrer transferred to Columbia University, where he studied Romance languages.

In 1934, while still a college student, Ferrer made his theatrical debut in Long Island-based theatre. In 1935, he was hired as the stage manager at the Suffern Country Playhouse. Later in 1935, Ferrer made his Broadway debut in the comedy play "A Slight Case of Murder" by Damon Runyon (1880-1946) and Howard Lindsay (1889-1968). This stage production of the play ran for 69 performances, with Ferrer appearing in all of them.

Ferrer's major success as a Broadway actor was performing in the play "Brother Rat" by John Monks Jr. (1910-2004) and Fred F. Finklehoffe (1910-1977). The play had a ran of 577 performances from 1936 to 1938. Among his subsequent theatrical appearances, the most successful were staged productions of Mamba's Daughters (1938), which ran for 163 performances, and "Charley's Aunt" (1940-1941), which ran for 233 performances. His role in "Charley's Aunt" required him to perform in drag, for the first time in his career.

Ferrer had one of the greatest theatrical successes of his career when playing the villainous Iago in a Broadway production of "Othello' by William Shakespeare. The production had a ran of 296 performances, lasting from 1943 to 1944. Ferrer played his most famous role as the historical figure of Cyrano de Bergerac (1619-1655) in the 1946-1947 Broadway season. For this role, Ferrer won the 1947 Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play.

Ferrer made his film debut in the Technicolor epic "Joan of Arc" (1948). He played the historical monarch Charles VII of France (1403-1461, reigned 1422-1461), the ruler who Joan of Arc served during the Hundred Years' War. For his debut role, Ferrer was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. The Award was instead won by rival actor Walter Huston (1883-1950).

Ferrer's success as a film actor, helped him gain more film roles in Hollywood-produced films. He played the "smooth-talking hypnotist David Korvo" in the film noir "Whirlpool" (1949), and dictator Raoul Farrago in the film noir "Crisis". He had a career highlight with a film adaptation of the play "Cyrano de Bergerac", where he played the title role. For this role, he won the Academy Award for Best Actor.

His next critically successful role was that of artist Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (1864-1901) in the historical drama "Moulin Rouge" (1952). For this role, Ferrer was again nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor. The award was instead won by rival actor Gary Cooper (1901-1961). The film also marked a financial success for Ferrer, who received 40% of the film's profits.

Ferrer also appeared in other box office hits of the 1950s, such as the musical "Miss Sadie Thompson" (1953), the Navy-themed drama "The Caine Mutiny" (1954), and the biographical film "Deep in My Heart" (1954). Ferrer was also interested in becoming a film director. He made his directing debut with the film noir "The Shrike" (1955). His subsequent directing efforts included war film "The Cockleshell Heroes" (1955), the film noir "The Great Man" (1956), the biographical film I Accuse! (1958), and the comedy film "The High Cost of Loving" (1958). While still critically well-received, several of these films were box office flops. He took a hiatus from films productions.

Ferrer attempted a comeback as a film director with the sequel film "Return to Peyton Place" (1961) and the musical film "State Fair" (1962). Both films were box office flops. As an actor, Ferrer had a supporting role as a Turkish Bey in the historical drama "Lawrence of Arabia" (1962). While a relatively minor role, Ferrer considered the finest role of his film career.

In television, Ferrer gained a notable role as the narrator in the pilot episode of the hit sitcom "Bewitched" (1964-1972). In films, Ferrer started playing mostly supporting roles. He briefly returned to the role of Cyrano de Bergerac in the French adventure film "Cyrano and d'Artagnan". He had another notable role as a historical monarch, playing Herod Antipas, Tetrarch of Galilee and Perea (reigned 4 BC-39 AD) in the Biblical epic "The Greatest Story Ever Told" (1965).

Ferrer had his first notable role as a voice actor, playing the villain Ben Haramed in the Rankin/Bass Christmas "The Little Drummer Boy" (1968). But at this time, he started having legal troubles. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) accused Ferrer of still owing unpaid taxes since 1962.

Ferrer had many film roles in the 1970s, but no outstanding highlights. As a voice actor, he voiced Cyrano de Bergerac in an episode of "The ABC Afterschool Special". In the 1980s, Ferrer played a monarch again, playing Padishah Emperor Shaddam IV in the science fiction film "Dune". The film was an adaptation of the 1965 novel "Dune" by Frank Herbert (1920-1986), and Shaddam was one of the film's villains. This was among the last notable roles of Ferrer's long career.

Ferred retired from acting entirely in 1991, due to increasing health problems. His last theatrical performance was a production of the generation-gap drama "Conversations with My Father". Ferrer died in 1992, due to colorectal cancer. He was 80-years-old. He died in Coral Gables, Florida, but was buried in the Santa María Magdalena de Pazzis Cemetery of Old San Juan, Puerto Rico. Several of his children had acting careers of their own.

Sam Moore was born on 12 October 1935 in Miami, Florida, USA. He was an actor, known for The Great Outdoors (1988), Blues Brothers 2000 (1998) and Julia (2008). He was married to Joyce McRae. He died on 10 January 2025 in Coral Gables, Florida, USA.

American leading lady, born Rosemary LaBie in Chicago, Illinois, and educated at Our Lady of Loretto Academy. Diana came equipped with some stage training (from a stint with Chicago's Goodman Theatre) and had won several beauty contests before moving to Los Angeles as a high fashion model. She also posed for commercial artists. Before long, she was noticed by talent scouts and spent most of the 1930s as a minor starlet at Universal and RKO. Unfortunately, her one leading role was in what some regard as John Wayne's worst-ever film, Adventure's End (1937), effectively short-circuiting Diana's career. She made several more films until exiting stage right to become a bigger fish in a smaller pond, as Mrs. Rosemary Schropp (wife of John Jack Schropp), resident of Mount Gretna, Pennsylvania, where she performed to great acclaim in such local stage productions as 'Tillie the Mennonite Maid'.

Cuban singer, musician, and entertainer who left an indelible mark in the history of Cuban popular music. At age 9, Rolando taught himself how to play percussion and it was obvious he had a great ear for music and Afro Cuban rhythms. As a teenager, he was good enough to play with the Municipal Band of Santa Clara and the famed Arcaño Orchestra.

In 1946 he decided to try his luck in Havana and became the percussionist of the Hermanos Palau Orchestra, moving later to the popular Beny Moré's Banda Gigante in which he played "timbales" and sang background vocals. Slowly, Rolando became aware he had a singing voice with a unique sound, and decided he could express himself better as a vocalist. With the help of musician and arranger Ernesto Duarte, Rolando defined a singing style that, at the beginning was controversial, but it would prove to be extremely commercial. Duarte introduced him to his partner Guillermo Álvarez Guedes, an actor turned record mogul, and together they recorded Rolando in a bolero titled "Mentiras tuyas". As soon as the single was released, radio DJs began playing it, and audiences loved it so much that the single sold 30,000 copies in a few days.

More recordings followed and a superstar had been born. Rolando had a big open voice which was "slightly hoarse and aggressive" according to the New York Times, but most important, he lived the lyrics to his songs and delivered his feelings with such a resolved bravado that audiences could not help but be impacted. In order to highlight the message of a song, Rolando included some ad libs that quickly became part of popular Cuban culture. During his singing, which was always up-tempo and effervescent, he would utter phrases like "de película!" meaning "this is like a movie!" or "mira esto Tita" meaning "can you believe it Tita? (Tita was his pet name for wife Gisela, a marriage that lasted for 55 years). With hit platters constantly playing on radio stations earning him several gold records, he was in great demand on television, theaters, night clubs and he did them all with a vengeance.

If his sound and style made his fortune in the recording studio, performing live Rolando Laserie acquired an extra dimension. First of all it was his looks, always smartly dressed in fashionable suits, matching ties or bows, and topping it all with a mischievous cap on his head which became his trademark. He also demonstrated being a consummate performer with his up-tempo singing even on romantic songs which was a marvel of improvisation and sound. His attack and enthusiasm earned him the nickname ''El Guapo de la Canción,'' and "El Guapachoso" which in Cuban slang translates as valiant or bold singer.

In 1959, at the top of his fame and popularity, Rolando's world changed dramatically almost overnight when Cuba fell to a communist dictatorship. All freedoms were abolished on the island and he decided he could not live under the repression and mandates of the new regime. Like thousands of his compatriots, Rolando went into exile which meant leaving behind all he had earned and starting again from scratch. It helped that his name and prestige were fairly well established in other Latin American countries and, after a couple of years struggling to relaunch his career, Rolando received valuable support from record labels in Mexico and Argentina.

He kept releasing singles and albums that became huge hits and had long residencies in various Latin American countries, always with wife Gisela by his side. He toured extensively throughout the continent and Spain appearing in theaters, night clubs and television, ratifying time and again his immense popularity. As time moved on he settled down in Miami which had become the center of the Cuban exile community and where he felt more at home. It was said that Rolando never overcame his sadness at having to abandon his homeland but always hoped to see a free Cuba during his lifetime. Unfortunately, it never happened and Rolando developed a form of heart decease that curtailed his artistic activity. His heart finally gave out at Healthsouth Doctors' Hospital in Coral Gables, Florida on November 22, 1998 at age 75. The unique Cuban vocalist stills lives through his recordings and in the memory of a faithful public.

Delia Fiallo was born on 4 July 1924 in Havana, Cuba. She was a writer, known for Triunfo del amor (2010), The One Who Couldn't Love (2011) and Don't Mess with an Angel (2008). She was married to Pascual, Bernardo. She died on 29 June 2021 in Coral Gables, Florida, USA.

Doris Dawson was born on 16 April 1909 in Goldfield, Nevada, USA. She was an actress, known for The Little Shepherd of Kingdom Come (1928), His Captive Woman (1929) and Broadway Scandals (1929). She was married to Robert Davis Levy. She died on 20 April 1986 in Coral Gables, Florida, USA.

Fernando Hidalgo was born on 18 September 1942 in Marianao, Havana, Cuba. He was an actor and producer, known for Ernesto's Manifesto (2019) and La goajirita (1982). He was married to Nereida Dellan. He died on 15 February 2021 in Coral Gables, Florida, USA.

Dinorah Judith was born on 9 February 1941 in Mexico, D.F., Mexico. She was an actress, known for La virgen de la calle (1967), Las pasiones infernales (1969) and Leyendas macabras de la colonia (1974). She died on 21 October 2005 in Coral Gables, Florida, USA.

Shirley Evans was born on 29 January 1932 in Birkenhead, Merseyside, England, UK. She was an actress, known for Magical Mystery Tour (1967) and Tele-Variety (1957). She died on 10 July 2010 in Coral Gables, Florida, USA.

J. Burgi Contner was born on 8 April 1906. J. Burgi was a cinematographer, known for Janet Dean, Registered Nurse (1954), Green Fields (1937) and The Marines Come Thru (1938). J. Burgi died on 20 May 1973 in Coral Gables, Florida, USA.

Butch Brickell was born on 18 April 1957 in Florida, USA. He was an actor, known for Bad Boys (1995), The Specialist (1994) and Wild Things (1998). He died on 13 October 2003 in Coral Gables, Florida, USA.

Cachao was born on 14 September 1918 in Havana, Cuba. He was an actor, known for Things to Do in Denver When You're Dead (1995), The Birdcage (1996) and The Lost City (2005). He was married to Ester Buenaventura. He died on 22 March 2008 in Coral Gables, Florida, USA.

Nelson Rodríguez joined the Cuban film institute in 1960 as production assistant and then producer, working with Santiago Álvarez. By mid-1960's he was editing features and co-writing scripts, mainly with his friend Humberto Solás, though he also worked with Tomás Gutiérrez Alea, Manuel Octavio Gómez and Sergio Giral. His work extended to a new generation of Cuban filmmakers, and with the top directors of Latin American cinema, as Miguel Littin, Jaime Humberto Hermosillo, Patricio Guzmán, Lisandro Duque Naranjo and María Novaro. In 1983 he fulfilled an old dream when he directed Amada (1983), an adaptation of Miguel de Carrión's novel "La esfinge", but due to the Cuban film institute's policy, the direction credit was given to Solás. He taught at the International School of Film and Television in Havana, worked as editor in Spain, Chile, Mexico, Argentina, Bolivia and Panama; and received many awards for his work. Nelson Rodríguez died in 2020.

Armando Roblan was born on 4 February 1931 in Bejucal, Cuba. He was an actor and writer, known for The Disciples (1999), Los metiches (2001) and Camaleon: Atentado a Castro (1992). He was married to Gloria Lau Rodríguez. He died on 9 January 2013 in Coral Gables, Florida, USA.

Eva Prout was born on 9 October 1894 in Zanesville, Ohio, USA. She was an actress, known for Little Red Riding Hood (1911), The New Church Organ (1912) and Margaret's Awakening (1912). She was married to Earnest Bailey Geiger. She died on 12 November 1980 in Coral Gables, Florida, USA.

Mary Thelma Lange was born in 1912 in Carnegie, Pennsylvania. Her family was wealthy and she attended the Divine Providence academy in Pittsburgh. At the age of nineteen Mary moved to New York city and joined the chorus of the Ziegfeld Follies. In 1931 she appeared in the Broadway show Music In The Air. During this time she also pose semi-nude for photographer Alfred Cheney Johnston. A talent scout saw her on stage and offered her a film contract. Mary made her film debut in the 1932 short Poor Little Rich Boy. Soon after she was chosen to be one Sam Goldwyn's dancing Goldwyn Girls. The lovely brunette had bit parts in more than a dozen films including Kid Millions, Dames, and Roman Scandals.

She got to play a Ziegfeld Girl in the 1936 musical The Great Ziegfeld. Mary married Frank Kolb, a marketing executive for Standard Oil, on November 5, 1938. Then she decided to give up her show business career to be a housewife. In an interview she said "I'm not sorry I'm giving up my career. I'm looking forward to making a happy home." She and Frank had one son named Daniel. The family lived in Florida for many years and later moved to Ohio. On April 13, 1973 she died suddenly at the age of sixty. Her cause of death was not revealed to the public. Mary was buried at All Saints Cemetery in Northfield, Ohio.

Manuel Guara was born on 1 January 1930 in Valencia, Spain. He was married to Elsie Dobal. He died on 19 March 2011 in Coral Gables, Florida, USA.

Edward Brooke was born on 26 October 1919 in Washington, District of Columbia, USA. He was married to Anne Lee Fleming and Remigia Ferrari-Scacco. He died on 3 January 2015 in Coral Gables, Florida, USA.

Stephen I. Diener, international music and entertainment executive, and media entrepreneur. After graduating from Tulane University, he began his professional career in New York City at Young & Rubicam and Revlon. Pursuing a love for the arts and entertainment, he entered the music industry and held various executive positions at CBS Records International before departing to Paris to head CBS Records France.

Diener relocated to Los Angeles where he was named President of ABC Records in 1977. At the time, the ABC roster included such multi-platinum recording artists as Steely Dan, Tom Petty, Jimmy Buffett and The Commodores, among many others. Subsequently, he would lead and oversee the sale of the ABC record label to MCA Corporation.

Returning to CBS International in the early 80s, relocating to Miami as Executive Vice President where he oversaw the marketing operations of the European and Latin American divisions. Later, as a pioneer in the home video business, he was named President of 20th Century Fox Video at the birth of the industry.

In the mid-80s, he served as Chairman/CEO of Heron Communications, a privately-owned home entertainment company, after which he led a private-equity acquisition of the legendary Fred Astaire Dance Studios where he also served as Chairman/CEO.

Loren Welch was born on 10 March 1922 in Ontario, California, USA. He was an actor, known for G.I. Jane (1951), The Admiral Broadway Revue (1949) and Julie and Carol at Carnegie Hall (1962). He died on 21 February 2004 in Coral Gables, Florida, USA.

David Cabrera was an actor, known for Bumping Off Burt (2009), Jungle Curse (2013) and Bigfoot and Other Adventures (2012). He died on 7 October 2013 in Coral Gables, Florida, USA.

Susan Sutton was born on 20 August 1947 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA. She died on 22 August 2004 in Coral Gables, Florida, USA.

Edith Stockton was born on 5 February 1896 in Rock Island, Illinois, USA. She was an actress, known for Should a Wife Work? (1922), Out of the Chorus (1921) and Through the Storm (1922). She was married to Monroe Kaplan a/k/a John Porter Monroe and William E. Rexses. She died on 21 April 1968 in Coral Gables, Florida, USA.

Billy Vessels was born on 22 March 1931 in Cleveland, Oklahoma, USA. He was married to Suzanne Wilson. He died on 17 November 2001 in Coral Gables, Florida, USA.

Ramon Segarra was born on 26 November 1940 in Mayaguez, Puerto Rico. He was an actor, known for El amor empieza en sábado (1961), Teatro catalán (1964) and Ten Blocks on the Camino Real (1966). He died on 23 September 1984 in Coral Gables, Florida, USA.