Advanced search
- TITLES
- NAMES
- COLLABORATIONS
Search filters
Enter full date
to
or just enter yyyy, or yyyy-mm below
to
Only includes names with the selected topics
to
or just enter yyyy, or yyyy-mm below
to
1-38 of 38
- Actor
- Soundtrack
He moved to Dayton, Ohio, with his family when he was 7. He was working as an MC at at club there during the 1950s when he entered the US Air Force. After his discharge, he continued to pursue his show business career. In films, he portrayed Bitterman in Arthur (1981) and its sequel Arthur 2: On the Rocks (1988).
Other films include The Wiz (1978), Ragtime (1981), Amityville II: The Possession (1982), Police Academy (1984), The Fisher King (1991) and Stealing Home (1988). Television roles included a recurring role as Dean Harris on A Different World (1987) and The Cosby Show (1984) along with appearing in numerous shows such as The Jeffersons (1975), Benson (1979) and "The Equalizer" (1985).- Actor
- Stunts
- Soundtrack
Diminutive American actor Billy Curtis avoided the usual onus of freak-show employment as a youth, opting for a mainstream job as a shoe clerk. Encouraged by stock company actress Shirley Booth to take a little person role in a stage production, Curtis soon became a professional actor, with numerous Broadway musical productions to his credit. Curtis' big movie season was 1938-39: he was cast in The Wizard of Oz (1939) (albeit with voice dubbed by Pinto Colvig) and as the cowboy hero of the all-dwarf western The Terror of Tiny Town (1938). This last epic was one of the few instances that Curtis was cast as a good guy; many of his screen characters were ill-tempered and pugnacious, willing to bite a kneecap if unable to punch out an opponent. Seldom accepting a role which demeaned or patronized little people, Curtis played an obnoxious vaudeville performer compelled to sit on Gary Cooper's lap in Meet John Doe (1941), a suspicious circus star willing to turn Robert Cummings over to the cops in Saboteur (1942), and one of the many fair-weather friends of The Incredible Shrinking Man (1957). Billy Curtis' career thrived into the 1970s, notably with solid parts in the Clint Eastwood western High Plains Drifter (1973) and the crime-caper melodrama Little Cigars (1973), in which he had second billing as a diminutive criminal mastermind. Billy Curtis retired in the 1980s, except for the occasional interview or Wizard of Oz cast reunion.- Doug Grant was born on 10 May 1959 in Columbus, Ohio, USA. He was an actor, known for Stag Night of the Dead (2010), The Landlord (1970) and Night Eyes (1990). He was married to Eileen Elizabeth Smith. He died on 27 May 2018 in Dayton, Ohio, USA.
- Marcus A. York was born on 27 November 1965 in Arcanum, Ohio, USA. He was an actor, known for Fighting Words (2006), CSI: NY (2004) and The Office (2005). He died on 19 May 2021 in Dayton, Ohio, USA.
- Actress
- Additional Crew
Barbara O was born on 6 December 1941 in Asheville, North Carolina, USA. She was an actress, known for Maangamizi: The Ancient One (2001), The Quest (1976) and Bush Mama (1979). She was married to Robert Earl "Bashiri" Price and William Jones. She died on 16 April 2024 in Dayton, Ohio, USA.- Actor
- Composer
- Music Department
Roger Troutman was born on 29 November 1951 in Dayton, Ohio, USA. He was an actor and composer, known for Venom (2018), Iron Man 2 (2010) and Pixels (2015). He died on 25 April 1999 in Dayton, Ohio, USA.- Actor
- Additional Crew
Scott Wells was born on 4 July 1961 in Dayton, Ohio, USA. He was an actor, known for Superboy (1988), The Taking of Beverly Hills (1991) and The Bionic Woman (1976). He died on 28 October 2015 in Dayton, Ohio, USA.- Actor
- Producer
- Director
Andrew Mark Copp was born in Dayton, Ohio, USA. He was an actor and producer, known for "The Mutilation Man" (1998), "Consumption of the Heart" (2012) and "Church of the Eyes" (2013). He died on 19 January 2013 in Dayton. Andy was preceded in death by his mother, Charlotte Copp; aunts: Betty Metzger and Ruth Hildebran; cousins: Dale Hildebran and Mark Metzger.
Andy is survived by sister and brother-in-law: Anna and Patrick Ernst; brother, Paul Copp; niece, Jennifer; nephew, Paul, Jr.; loving companion, Kristi Derr; dog, Nappy Pete; and many co-workers and friends.
Andy was part of the Dayton Access Television "DATV" family for many years, hosting many on air cable television shows and coordinating behind the scenes production. Andy had his own production company, Copp Films, in which he produced, directed and distributed independent films.- Ahad Israfil was born on 23 August 1972 in Dayton, Ohio, USA. He died on 18 October 2019 in Dayton, Ohio, USA.
- William Jennings Bryan is an American orator and politician from Nebraska. Beginning in 1896, he emerged as a dominant force in the Democratic Party, running three times as the party's nominee for President of the United States in the 1896, 1900, and 1908 elections. He served in the United States House of Representatives and as the United States Secretary of State under Woodrow Wilson.
Born and raised in Illinois, WilliamBryan moved to Nebraska in the 1880s. He won election to the House of Representatives in the 1890 elections, serving two terms before making an unsuccessful run for the Senate in 1894. The Democratic convention nominated Bryan for president, making Bryan the youngest major party presidential nominee in U.S. history. Subsequently, Bryan was also nominated for president by the left-wing Populist Party, and many Populists would eventually follow Bryan into the Democratic Party. In the intensely fought 1896 presidential election, Republican nominee William McKinley emerged triumphant. Bryan gained fame as an orator, as he invented the national stumping tour when he reached an audience of 5 million people in 27 states in 1896.
Bryan retained control of the Democratic Party and won the presidential nomination again in 1900. In the election, McKinley again defeated Bryan, winning several Western states that Bryan had won in 1896. Bryan's influence in the party weakened after the 1900 election and the Democrats nominated the conservative Alton B. Parker in the 1904 presidential election. Bryan regained his stature in the party after Parker's resounding defeat by Theodore Roosevelt and voters from both parties increasingly embraced the progressive reforms that had long been championed by Bryan. Bryan won his party's nomination in the 1908 presidential election, but he was defeated by William Howard Taft. Along with Henry Clay, Bryan is one of the two individuals who never won a presidential election despite receiving electoral votes in three separate presidential elections.
After the Democrats won the presidency in the 1912 election, Woodrow Wilson rewarded Bryan's support with the important cabinet position of Secretary of State. Bryan helped Wilson pass several progressive reforms through Congress. Bryan resigned from his post in 1915. - Barry Lee Hobart passed away on 14 January 2011 in Dayton, Ohio, USA. Hobart was a local television celebrity and late night horror movie host, nationally known as "Dr. Creep".
As founder of the Montgomery County project "Christmas Smiles" Barry helped over 93,000 families over 33 years. He used his celebrity status to raise contributions in the Muscular Dystrophy telethon each Labor Day. Barry was a 1959 Graduate of Middletown High School, and a 1963 Graduate of the University of Cincinnati majoring in Television and Radio Broadcasting. After his college graduation he entered the USA Air Force and served overseas in service broadcasting during the Vietnam War era. After his honorable discharge he was employed by Channel 22 as a camera specialist and master control operator before creating the host of "Shock Theatre" as "Dr. Creep,".
Barry Hobart was inducted into the "Horror Host Hall of Fame" in 2011 for his horror host character "Dr. Creep" in the television series "Shock Theater" on DATV TCI Channel 20 Dayton, Ohio. - Composer
- Actor
- Music Department
Larry Troutman was born on 12 August 1944 in Hamilton, Ohio, USA. He was a composer and actor, known for Iron Man 2 (2010), Battle Los Angeles (2011) and Chef (2014). He died on 25 April 1999 in Dayton, Ohio, USA.- Actress
- Soundtrack
Virginia Karns was born on 30 May 1907 in Dayton, Ohio, USA. She was an actress, known for March of the Wooden Soldiers (1934), Stanley and Ginger (1929) and The Revenge of the Sons of the Desert (1987). She died on 21 June 1990 in Dayton, Ohio, USA.- Wilbur Wright was born on 16 April 1867 in Indiana, USA. He died on 30 May 1912 in Dayton, Ohio, USA.
- Alan Crofoot was born on 2 June 1929 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. He was an actor, known for A Cool Sound from Hell (1959), Welcome to Blood City (1977) and High-Ballin' (1978). He was married to Dodi Protero. He died on 5 March 1979 in Dayton, Ohio, USA.
- A stage player before the days of movies, a pioneer in the industry that has made Hollywood famous, Miss Lucille Ward, a native of Dayton, Ohio Her stage career began in New York in 1907 and like many other players she was called upon in her younger years to play older parts. Thus, through her twenties, her first role was that of La Corante, a 70 year old character in "Monte Cristo." The next year she was colored mammy in "Under Southern Skies" and in 1909 we find her doing a mother part in "The Man of the Hour" company, a Brady production. In 1910 she toured with the "Stronger Set" company, a Henry W. Savage production, Here too she had a mother part. She was, in fact, playing mother parts on stage to men and women twice her age. Miss ward next accepted the lead role in "The New Clerk," a musical comedy with Harry Fischer, the star. These plays were all on tour during the winter season. The summer found miss Ward with first-class stock companies or with vaudeville acts. During 1910 she came back to Dayton and held an engagement with the stock company at Fairview Park. That was in the day when Tommy Meighan, who later made a name for himself in the movies; John Sainpolis and Lucille Spinney were members of the troupe. Later Miss Ward came back to fill and engagement with the Rod Players at the Victoria Theater. This she calls one of her most joyous seasons. She also played a summer engagement with the Colonial stock company in Columbus. It was after this engagement that she returned to New York and joined the James P. Leonard act for a full season's engagement, after this going on tour with Homer Lind company. Both these acts were headliners in the major circuit of vaudeville in those days. It was during her engagement in the "Miss 318" act, which had a run in the Fifth Avenue Theater, in New York, that producer Rupert Hughes, became so pleased with her work that he wrote a special part for her in another act that was to be produced that fall. However, before that materialized, the office of Lew Fields asked Miss Ward if she would play the lead in an act to be sent over to the Orpheum circuit. It was to be the boat scene from the play "Tillie's Nightmare," in which Marie Dressler appeared a lead feminine player for a run of two years in New York. Though the part was a rather small one, Miss Ward accepted it. As she related it, "There were 21 people in a 23 minute sketch; I had only 11 speeches, but I managed to get 13 laughs out of my part." at any rate, Feilds was so please with her work that he asked Miss War to play the star part in a revival of miss Dressler's play. Miss Ward accepted and it was in this role that she achieved the distinction of being the only woman to follow Miss Dressler in one of the latter's star parts. The road tour of "Tillie's Nightmare" began September 2, 1912, at the Colonial theater in Indianapolis and was a grand success, being booked for many return engagements before it wound up its season in New York. It was at this point that Miss Ward made her entry into the movies. In New York the old Imp company offered her a character lead in a short comedy to be made at the Universal Studios in New York city, she accepted. Later she received an offer to go to California and in the early winter of 1913 she traveled to the west coast. After six months with the Universal company, she sign a contract with the Mack Sennett company, playing comedy leads. Miss Ward made the first comedy ever played for more than one week, called "Cohen's Outings." Its success resulted in a series of Jewish stories. Later, Mack Sennett offered her a five year contract, assuring her that he would make her the most advertised woman in the world. Work in the movies was pretty rough in those days. Comedies were mostly slapstick and there was no such thing as a stand-in. She refused the Sennett offer but continued in pictures and in those early days and was associated with such players as Ford Sterling, Chester Conklin, Wallace Reid, Francis X. Bushman, Charlie Chaplin and "Fatty" Arbuckle. She appeared in Arbuckles last picture "The Traveling Salesman." She worked with him many times on sets and locations and says that as far as she knows he always conducted himself as a gentleman. While she was working with Mack Sennett in Hollywood, she received and accepted an offer from American Film company and remained with it for three years. She would not renew her contract because the company had given her society parts to play and she preferred comedy roles. She was granted a release with the agreement that she would return from time to time whenever the company had such parts as she liked. This experience caused her to become a free lance player, choosing such roles offered her as she cared to accept. She kept busy most of the time, she has played with nearly all the big screen stars and says by being a free lance player she is far ahead when to comes to money. Among the many stars whom she has supported or with whom she has played she names Lionel Barrymore, Gene Raymond, William Powell, Herbert Marshall, Reginald Denny, the late Will Rogers, Robert Young, Douglas Fairbanks Jr., Grace Moore, Barbara Stanwick, Shirley Temple, Clark Gable, and the late Jean Harlow. She worked with Francis Lederer in both "One Rainy Afternoon" and "It's All Yours." She played feature parts opposite Reginald Denny in "California Straight Ahead, "Oh Doctor," Sporting Youth," and "Skinner Steps out." Submitted by David Kemper Great Great nephew of Lucille Ward
LEONARD MALTIN CLASSIC MOVIE GUIDE, COPYRIGHT 2005, 2010. USED B - Jane Wicker was born on 29 June 1967 in Bristow, Virginia, USA. Jane died on 22 June 2013 in Dayton, Ohio, USA.
- Music Department
- Soundtrack
Composer, songwriter ("Hot Lips"), conductor and pianist, educated in public schools and a private music student of Arthur Kortheur, Max Ecker and Herman Wasserman. He was a pianist in the Paul Whiteman Orchestra and made a European tour between 1920 and 1924. The following year, he formed his own orchestra and was appointed the music director for Baker Hotels in Texas, and toured in vaudeville. In 1936, he was the director of a radio station. Joining ASCAP in 1924, his other popular-song compositions include "I Adore You", "Yes Sir, That's Lazybones", "Regret", and "On Sunday Night".- Steve Yano was born on 22 June 1982 in Cleveland, Ohio, USA. He died on 7 December 2004 in Dayton, Ohio, USA.
- Additional Crew
Dean Elmer Hess was born in Marietta, Ohio, becoming a minister of the Disciples of Christ Church. He enlisted in the Army Air Forces' Aviation Cadet Program after the attack on Pearl Harbor, and flew more than 60 combat missions over Germany including one in which he inadvertently bombed an orphanage in Kaiserslautern. Recalled by the Air Force for the Korean Conflict, he was supposed to train the nascent South Korean Air Force but teamed up a Fifth Air Force chaplain and other airmen, and together with Korean social workers began a program to rescue children orphaned and displaced by the war. Hess and the others evacuated children from Seoul, Incheon and other places on the peninsula in what became known as "Operation Kiddy Car." After the Korean War ended, he remained in the Air Force in recruiting and public affairs billets until retiring as a lieutenant colonel in 1969. He and his wife, the former Mary Lorentz, had three sons and a daughter.- Music Department
Charles Wendelken-Wilson is known for The Daughter of the Regiment (1974). He died on 3 May 2009 in Dayton, Ohio, USA.- Composer
- Soundtrack
Clarence Satchell was born on 15 April 1940 in Cleveland, Ohio. He was a composer, known for Reindeer Games (2000), The Italian Job (2003) and Romeo Must Die (2000). He died on 30 December 1995 in Dayton, Ohio, USA.- Actor
- Writer
Tommy Henrich was born on 20 February 1913 in Massillon, Ohio, USA. He was an actor and writer, known for Martin Kane (1949), Crawford Mystery Theatre (1951) and 1949 World Series (1949). He was married to Eileen O'Reilly. He died on 1 December 2009 in Dayton, Ohio, USA.- Music Department
- Soundtrack
Ralph Marterie (born as Ralph Martire in Naples, Italy) was a trumpet player. As a child he came to the USA and got his first job in a band in Ohio. In 1937 he played for the radio and in 1949 he created his own big band. His hits were "Crazy Man", "Pretend", "Caravan", "Lili Marlene" and "Skokiaan", recorded for Mercury Records, Musico and United Artists.
Some of his lead singers were Vic Damone, Rusty Draper and the Harmonicats. Marterie and his band was very active up till the 60s. He also had bit parts as a musician in some movies.- Writer
- Soundtrack
Paul Laurence Dunbar was born on 27 June 1872 in Dayton, Ohio, USA. Paul Laurence was a writer, known for The Sport of the Gods (1921), Cotton Comes to Harlem (1970) and The Scapegoat (1917). Paul Laurence was married to Alice Ruth Moore. Paul Laurence died on 9 February 1906 in Dayton, Ohio, USA.