Advanced search

Michael Landon was born Eugene Maurice Orowitz, on Saturday, October 31st, 1936, in Forest Hills, Queens, New York. In 1941, he and his family moved to Collingswood, New Jersey.

When Eugene was in high school, he participated -- and did very well -- in track and field, especially javelin throwing, and his athletic skills earned him a scholarship to USC. However, an accident injured his arm, ending his athletic career -- and his term at USC -- and he worked a number of odd jobs and small roles to make ends meet and decided that acting was for him. However, he thought that his real name was not a suitable one for an aspiring actor, and so "Michael Landon" was born.

Two of his first big roles were as Tony Rivers in I Was a Teenage Werewolf (1957) and as Tom Dooley in the western The Legend of Tom Dooley (1959). That same year he was approached by producer David Dortort to star in a pilot called The Restless Gun (1957), which was renamed when the series was picked up to Bonanza (1959). Landon played Little Joe Cartwright, the youngest of the three Cartwright brothers, a cocky and somewhat rebellious youth nevertheless had a way with the ladies. For 14 years, Landon became the heart and soul of the show, endearing himself to both younger and older viewers, and he became a household name during the 1960s and 1970s.

In 1968, after almost ten years of playing Little Joe, he wanted an opportunity to direct and write some episodes of the show. After the season finale in 1972, Dan Blocker, who played his older brother Hoss and was also a close friend, died from a blood clot in his lung, after gall bladder surgery, but Michael decided to go back to work, revisiting his own character in a two-part episode called "Forever."

Bonanza (1959) was finally canceled in early 1973, after 14 years and 430 episodes. Michael didn't have to wait long until he landed another successful role that most TV audiences of the 1970s would thoroughly enjoy, his second TV western, for NBC, Little House on the Prairie (1974). That show was based on a popular book written by Laura Ingalls Wilder, and he played enduring patriarch and farmer Charles Ingalls. Unlike Bonanza (1959), where he was mostly just a "hired gun," on this show he served as the producer, writer, director, and executive producer. By the end of its eighth season in 1982, Landon decided to step down from his role on "Little House" as he saw his TV children grown up and moved out of their father's house, and a year later, the show was canceled. After 14 years on Bonanza (1959) and 8 years on Little House on the Prairie (1974), it was about time to focus on something else, and once again, he didn't have to wait too long before Highway to Heaven (1984) came along. Unlike the western shows that he did for 23 years, this NBC fantasy/drama show focused on Jonathan Smith, an angel whose job was to save peoples' lives and work for God, his boss. Victor French played ex-cop Mark Gordon, who turned down a fortune but had redeemed himself by meeting Jonathan.

By the end of the fifth season in 1989, French was diagnosed with lung cancer and died in June of that same year. Landon was devastated by the loss and pulled the plug on Highway to Heaven (1984). In early 1991, after 35 years of working on NBC, he was axed by the network, so he moved to CBS to star in the pilot of a two-hour movie, Us (1991), in which he played Jeff Hayes, a man freed from prison by new evidence after 18 years wrongfully spent inside. This was going to be another one of Landon's shows but, in April 1991, he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. He later appeared on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (1962) to talk about his battle with the disease, and many people in the audience were affected by the courage and energy he showed. Unfortunately, he was already terminally ill by that time, and on Monday, July 1st, 1991, after a three-month battle, he finally succumbed to the disease. His family, his colleagues, and his children were all by his side. His life-time: Saturday, October 31st, 1936 to Monday, July 1st, 1991, was 19,966 days, equaling 2,852 weeks & 2 days.

His low-keyed intensity, deep-voiced somberness, pale skin, puffy-eyed baby face and crop of carrot-red hair are all obvious and intriguing trademarks of TV star David Caruso. A hugely popular item in the 1990s as a result of a smash crime series, he got way too caught up in all the hoopla surrounding him. Those working with him on the innovative cop series were not exactly unhappy when he decided to abandon ship after only one season in order to pursue movie star fame. Despite his own predictions, the show prospered quite well after the loss of his focal character...but it would be a major understatement to state that Caruso did not fare as well.

TV to film crossover fame is tricky and David did not have the right formula to pull it off. Bad judgment calls, bad publicity after his departure from his TV series, a couple of poor film vehicles, and virtual unemployment in its wake eventually led him back to the small screen again a somewhat humbler person. Not many are given a second chance but Caruso, the enigmatic talent that he is, found gold a second time as (again) a wan, brooding lead in a hip, unconventional cop series.

David Stephen Caruso was born in Forest Hills, Queens, New York, the son of Charles Caruso, a magazine and newspaper editor, and Joan, a librarian. The Irish Catholic youngster attended elementary and middle school at Our Lady Queen of Martyrs and then Archbishop Molloy High School, both in Queens.

Following high school graduation in 1974, he toyed with some commercial work. A few years later he began to make a slight dent in films. He first appeared in Getting Wasted (1980) and Without Warning (1980), which led to a succession of secondary roles in such 80s movies as An Officer and a Gentleman (1982), First Blood (1982) (as a sheriff's deputy), Thief of Hearts (1984), Blue City (1986), China Girl (1987) and Twins (1988). But the break into full-fledged TV stardom proved elusive. It was argued that the thin and lanky actor was not handsome enough to become a leading man in film and didn't have the charisma credentials to carry a big movie.

Making his unbilled debut in a daytime episode of "Ryan's Hope", TV proved to be a more inviting medium and police stories seemed to be the name of the game for him. He had a strong recurring role as a gang leader on Hill Street Blues (1981) and showed to good advantage in the series Crime Story (1986). This sudden notoriety on police TV gave way to some even stronger stuff in streetwise film crimers such as King of New York (1990) as a cop gone bad, and Mad Dog and Glory (1993), in which he earned excellent marks as a cynical urban cop. But his star-making role came via TV and his portrayal of Detective John Kelly the critically-acclaimed series NYPD Blue (1993). Audience adoration was immediate.

His volatile but principled character on the gritty, boldly-written, unconventional show earned him impressive and sexy notices with a Golden Globe Award and Emmy nomination placed in his hands. Confident now that he could be a magnetic force in front of a movie camera, stories began to circulate that the instant fame had gone to his head, that he was moody, demanding and difficult on the set, and that he was quickly alienating not only his co-stars but the show's directors and writers.

Ready to prove all those naysayers wrong about his chances in film, Caruso made tabloid headlines when he announced his decision to leave the highly-rated show after only one season (and only four episodes into the second season) to pursue film stardom. Rumors also bounced around that he left following unresolved salary negotiations. For whatever reason, he wasted no time in scouting out movie vehicles for himself. Again, he focused on his specialty -- crime thrillers. The first, Kiss of Death (1995), in which he played a petty thief trying to go straight, did not go over well box-office-wise despite its good reviews, and the second, Jade (1995), in which he portrayed a homicide detective, was a grisly, unappetizing thriller that was given the thumbs down almost immediately. As a comeuppance for coming up short, he was nominated for the dubious "Razzie" award as the "Worst New Star" of those two films. With no movie releases at all in 1996, by the time Cold Around the Heart (1997) was released, in which he played a jewel thief who is betrayed by his sexy partner-in-crime (Kelly Lynch), the TV star had lost all of his movie star momentum.

In 1997, Caruso made an inauspicious return to the small screen as the placid title prosecutor Michael Hayes (1997), a law series, but it was a very short-lived experience. Audiences had become fickle and indifferent to his "heralded comeback". Finding a serious lack of offers, he returned to supporting others in films such as Russell Crowe in Proof of Life (2000), and copped a couple of leads for himself in such low-budgeted films as Session 9 (2001) and the Canadian film Black Point (2001).

But in 2002, he found TV magic once again behind a badge as Lt. Horatio Caine in the popular CSI spin-off series CSI: Miami (2002). Strongly anchoring the show, which focuses more on crime methodology and whodunnit twists than character development, Caruso has nevertheless earned cult fame for his slick demeanor and deliberately slow speech patterns, reminding one of William Shatner's heady, methodical approach to Captain Kirk. Known for his deep, dry tones and parade of droll one-liners, many of which include him slipping on his dark shades during mid-sentence, he has been the subject of many a late-nite parody and satire.

A difficult interviewee who has admitted to keeping his monumental ego in check since his return to TV, he has been little seen since the "Miami" series ended in 2012 after ten season. David has been married and divorced three times, which includes a brief 1980s union to actress Rachel Ticotin. He has a daughter, Greta, from that union. On the sly, Caruso was a co-owner of now long-defunct Steam, a clothing and furniture store in Miami, Florida. He and his current girlfriend (since 2005), Liza Marquez, have two children -- son Marquez Anthony and and daughter, Paloma Raquel.

Leslie Howard Steiner was born in London to Lilian (Blumberg) and Ferdinand "Frank" Steiner. His father was a Hungarian Jewish immigrant, and his English mother was of German Jewish and mostly English descent. Leslie went to Dulwich College, then worked as a bank clerk until the outbreak of World War I, when he went into the army. In 1917, diagnosed as shell-shocked, he was invalided out and advised to take up acting as therapy. In a few years, his name was famous on the stages of London and New York. He made his first movie in 1914: (The Heroine of Mons (1914)). He became known as the perfect Englishman (slim, tall, intellectual, and sensitive), a part that he played in many movies which set women to dreaming about him. His first sound movie came out in 1930: Outward Bound (1930), an adaptation of the stage play in which he starred. In Never the Twain Shall Meet (1931) and Smilin' Through (1932), he played the Englishman role to the hilt. His screen persona could perhaps best be summed up by his role as Sir Percy Blakeney in The Scarlet Pimpernel (1934), a foppish society gentleman.

It was Howard who insisted that Humphrey Bogart get the role of Duke Mantee in The Petrified Forest (1936), a role that Bogart had played in the stage production. As he became more successful, he also became quite picky about which roles he would do, and usually performed in only two films a year. In 1939, he played the character that will always be associated with him, that of Ashley Wilkes, the honor-bound, disillusioned intellectual Southern gentleman, in Gone with the Wind (1939).

However, war clouds were gathering over England, and he devoted all his energy on behalf of the war effort. He directed films, wrote articles and made radio broadcasts. He died in 1943, when the KLM plane he was in was shot down by German fighters over the Bay of Biscay.

Zany, extrovert, sometimes blonde, sometimes brunette, sometimes red-haired character comedienne Joan Shawlee began her performing career as a fourteen-year old Powers model. At sixteen, she sang in New York night spots and was proclaimed one of "the six most beautiful girls in Manhattan". Hollywood noticed in due course and 20th Century Fox signed her under contract. However, Joan was soon revealed to be under-age. Having failed to get into films, Joan returned to New York to live with her mother. In 1945, as luck would have it, she was spotted singing at the famous Copacabana by comedian Lou Costello. On the condition that her mother could join her in Hollywood, Joan signed a new contract with Universal. She appeared in thirteen films as 'Joan Fulton', culminating in a leading role in Buck Privates Come Home (1947).

Having married the businessman Walter Shawlee, Joan changed her surname. She also henceforth specialised in playing wisecracking, streetwise 'dames', often guest starring with her erstwhile mentors in The Abbott and Costello Show (1952), or as a favorite stock character in the comedies of Billy Wilder. Her roles were generally small, but tended to be memorable: as 'Sweet Sue', tough leader of an all-girl band infiltrated by Jack Lemmon and Tony Curtis in drag in Some Like It Hot (1959); as Sylvia in The Apartment (1960), as the hooker Amazon Annie in Irma la Douce (1963)), and as wicked Momma Monahan in Roger Corman's cult biker flic The Wild Angels (1966). Joan also starred in her own (short-lived) half-hour British comedy series, Aggie (1956), as a somewhat accident-prone fashion model on international assignments. Her co-star was (future "Danger Man") Patrick McGoohan. She was a frequent guest on 60's and 70's TV shows, with small recurring roles as ex-showgirl Pickles in The Dick Van Dyke Show (1961) and as Margo, one of The Feather and Father Gang (1976). Joan died of cancer in March 1987 in Hollywood, aged 61.

Raised in New Jersey and New York, Overton comes from a musical family. His father, Hal Overton, was Thelonious Monk's big band arranger as well as a music teacher at the Juilliard Institute. His mother, Nancy Overton aka Anne Swain Overton, sang in personal appearances as a member of The Chordettes, the girl group most famous for their singles "Lollipop" and "Mr. Sandman". Rick has dabbled in the music industry himself as he plays the harmonica occasionally with local blues bands. Rick began his stand-up career while in high school as one half of the comedy team "Overton & Sullivan" but eventually went solo as he broke in at the New York Improvisation in the early 1970s.

With his bald head, firm jawline and bristling moustache, Lionel Jeffries played a nice line of English eccentrics. This belied his RADA training. Following military service in WWII, he played his major roles - everything from Grandpa Potts in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (1968) to the Marquis of Queensberry in The Trials of Oscar Wilde (1960) - in the 1960s.

His surprisingly brief career as a director included the highly popular family films The Railway Children (1970) and The Amazing Mr. Blunden (1972).

Hayley Squires was born on 16 April 1988 in Forest Hill, London, England, UK. She is an actress and writer, known for I, Daniel Blake (2016), Beau Is Afraid (2023) and Adult Material (2020).

Art Garfunkel was born on 5 November 1941 in Forest Hills, New York, USA. He is a music artist and actor, known for Carnal Knowledge (1971), Catch-22 (1970) and The Rebound (2009). He has been married to Kim Garfunkel since 18 September 1988. They have two children. He was previously married to Linda Grossman.

Sarah Natochenny is a Voice Arts® Award-winning actor best known for her work in the role of Ash Ketchum and 30 other characters on Pokémon since 2006. She is also an on-camera actor and film editor, working in comedy and horror. She splits her time between LA and NYC when not on location or meeting fans at conventions.

Robin Ruzan was born on 22 February 1964 in Forest Hills, New York, USA. She is a producer and writer, known for Wayne's World (1992), Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me (1999) and Austin Powers in Goldmember (2002). She was previously married to Mike Myers.

Madeleine Taylor Holmes was born on 6 August 1914 in Forest Hills, New York, USA. She was an actress, known for The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976), Pumpkinhead (1988) and Fatso (1980). She was married to Victor Osorio. She died on 18 December 1987 in Los Angeles, California, USA.

A comic actor and writer from Forest Hills, NY. Voted Top Ten Comics to watch by Variety Magazine in 2013. Best known most recently for his roles in Wolf of Wall Street (2013), Conan (TV Series) and MTV's Punk'd (2011). He began his career performing at the Upright Citizens Brigade in NYC in the early 2000's while also touring the country performing stand up comedy. He splits his time between NY and Los Angeles.

Todd Strauss-Schulson was born on 24 June 1980 in Forest Hills, New York, USA. He is a director and producer, known for The Final Girls (2015), Isn't It Romantic (2019) and A Very Harold & Kumar Christmas (2011).

David Horowitz was born on 10 January 1939 in Forest Hills, Queens, New York City, New York, USA. He was married to April Mullvain, Shay Marlowe, Sam Moorman and Elissa Krauthamer. He died on 29 April 2025 in Denver, Colorado, USA.

Emil Beheshti was born on 15 July 1971 in Forest Hills, Queens, New York, USA. He is an actor and producer, known for Ford v Ferrari (2019), The Magnificent Seven (2016) and The Little Things (2021).

Jack Fletcher was born on 21 April 1921 in Forest Hills, Queens, New York, USA. He was an actor, known for Elvira: Mistress of the Dark (1988), Calucci's Department (1973) and Once Upon a Mattress (1964). He died on 15 February 1990 in Los Angeles, California, USA.

Roone Arledge was born on 8 July 1931 in Forest Hills, New York, USA. He was a writer and producer, known for ABC's Wide World of Sports (1961), NFL Monday Night Football (1970) and 19th Summer Olympic Games (1968). He was married to Gigi Shaw, Ann Fowler and Joan Heise. He died on 5 December 2002 in New York City, New York, USA.

J. Neil Schulman is a writer, publisher, radio personality, composer, prophet, filmmaker, and actor.

He was born in Forest Hills, New York, the only son of Julius Schulman, a renowned concert violinist who won CBS's Arthur Godfrey Talent Scouts competition, and to Betty Schulman, a painter. He grew up in New York City, New Orleans, and Massachusetts, and beginning in high school, regularly sold sports and event photography to newspapers, and once had his art photography submitted to New York's Museum of Modern Art. After dropping out of City University of New York, he pursued a career as a writer, making his first professional sale to the New York Times Book Review in 1973.

Schulman's journalism includes humor sold to Reader's Digest and the Los Angeles Times Book Review, op-eds in the Los Angeles Times and Orange County Register, and feature articles in magazines as diverse as National Review and Cult Movies.

In 1975 he moved to Southern California, living in Long Beach, Hollywood, and Venice, and settling in Culver City. In 1985 he married singer/composer Kate O'Neal, and lived bi-coastally between California and New York for five years. Their daughter, Soleil O'Neal-Schulman, was born in Culver City in 1991. They divorced the following year. During these years he worked as an assistant to a Hollywood talent agent, as a first reader for a New York book publisher, as a literary agent, and as a raunchy humor magazine editor. He produced classical music for Texas cable television, traveled as a researcher for a Pennsylvania public television station, taught a graduate course in media studies for the New School in New York City, and produced original radio drama for the Pacifica Radio Network. In 1989 he founded the first of two book publishing companies which made bestselling authors' books available either by on-demand print or for download, and he's been called a pioneer of the eBook by the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and Esquire. In 1990 he began a career as a radio talk show host.

He's the author of ten books including three novels. His career as an author began with his novel Alongside Night published in 1979, which won endorsements from Anthony Burgess and Nobel laureate Milton Friedman, and went on to win the Prometheus Hall of Fame Award. His 1983 novel, The Rainbow Cadenza, also won the Prometheus Award, and inspired a Laserium show. His latest novel, Escape from Heaven, was a finalist for the Prometheus Award, and is currently being developed as a feature film. Other books include a collection of short stories, a book which concludes that both of O.J. Simpson trials failed to reach the truth, a widely cited study of gun-control laws, and an omnibus collection including an essay on the meaning of life and eight of his poems. His latest book tells of his conversion from lifelong atheism to being a firm believer in God who still distances himself from religion.

His screen-writing career began with an original feature-film treatment sold to Herb Jaffe's Vista Films in 1983, and in 1986 he sold two original scripts to CBS's revived Twilight Zone, one of which, "Profile in Silver," was produced. The outlines and first two drafts of that teleplay are included in his 1999 book, Profile In Silver And Other Screenwritings. The book also includes the bulk of Schulman's early works written for the screen as well as commentaries about his adventures and trials in the film and TV industries.

In 2005 he began a producing partnership with Nichelle Nichols, and produced, wrote, and directed his first feature film, Lady Magdalene's.

Micky Shiloah was born in Forest Hills, Queens, New York, USA. He is an actor and producer, known for Mistresses (2013), Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders (2016), Westworld (2016) and NCIS: Los Angeles. Micky got his start performing in the off-Broadway play "God is Nearer Than The Door" as well as in front of an audience of 5,000 at Radio City Music Hall for the show "A Time For Music". After finishing at Queens College, Micky moved to Los Angeles where he booked his first lead in a feature film, "The Party is Over", with Kathy Baker.

Jeff Wayne was born on 1 July 1943 in Forest Hills, Queens, New York City, New York, USA. He is a composer and writer, known for Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of 'The War of the Worlds' (2006), The War of the Worlds: The Musical Drama (2018) and War of the Servers (2007).

Nathan Schiff was born in Forest Hills, New York, USA. He is known for Abracadaver! (2008), Weasels Rip My Flesh (1979) and Vermilion Eyes (1990).

Jamie Colby was born on 21 December 1970 in Forest Hills, New York, USA. She is an actress, known for One Angry Man (2010), Strange Inheritance (2015) and Fox Magazine (2001). She was previously married to Marc K. Wallack.

Lillian Wells was born on 26 August 1927 in Forest Hills, New York, USA. She was an actress. She was married to Richard J. Cole and Lee Vines. She died in December 1977.

Danny Troob was born on 28 February 1949 in Forest Hills, New York, USA. He is a composer, known for Hercules (1997), Beauty and the Beast (1991) and Last Action Hero (1993).

John J. Schneider was born on 8 January 1969 in Forest Hills, Queens, New York, USA. He is an actor, known for Salt (2010), Going the Distance (2010) and Get Him to the Greek (2010).