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
1-12 of 12
- Opulent French actress Suzanne Flon, who came from humble beginnings, evolved into a luminous stage and film star whose career lasted five decades. She was born near Paris, the daughter of a railway worker and a seamstress and at school developed an interest in writing poetry. Following high school she worked as an English interpreter at Au Printemps, a large Parisian department store, before finding a position with the famed songbird Édith Piaf as her personal secretary. Ms. Flon's first performance was as a mistress of ceremonies in a musical revue. She continued on stage and eventually developed an association with the noted playwright Jean Anouilh in the early 1940s; she played his heroine Ismene in "Antigone" and played Joan of Arc to great acclaim in "The Lark" in 1953. She also dabbled in avant garde works by Marguerite Duras as well as Shakespeare, Pirandello, Chekhov and Molliere and won a number of stage awards for her efforts. In 1959, she became a member of the Theatre National Populaire and appeared in several plays under the direction of René Clair.
Ms. Flon began in films with Capitaine Blomet (1947) before branching out internationally in the 1950s. She was an elegant standout as a free-spirited couture model who became the object of fascination and desire for the crippled painter Toulouse-Lautrec played by José Ferrer in John Huston's film Moulin Rouge (1952). She also impressed in friend Orson Welles' comedy-thriller Confidential Report (1955) as a listless patrician, and later played Miss Pittl for him in The Trial (1962) [The Trial]. War themes were prominent in her 1960s work. In Thou Shalt Not Kill (1961) [Thou Shalt Not Kill], she won the Venice Film Festival award for her resolute mother whose son resists the World War I draft. In The Train (1964) starring Burt Lancaster, Jeanne Moreau and Paul Scofield she had some excellent scenes as an art curator who becomes a detrimental figure in the Nazi's plans to secretly export masterpieces out of France during the French Resistance.
Awards continued to come her way with a number of stylish and sensitive "grande dame" roles. She won bookend César awards for One Deadly Summer (1983) [One Deadly Summer] as Isabelle Adjani's deaf but highly sensitized aunt, and as the mother of Lambert Wilson in La vouivre (1989) [The Dragon]. Her rich and soothing voice was also used frequently for French narratives in numerous documentaries. Ms. Flon continued to appear on stage, film and TV right up until her death of a stomach ailment at age 87 in 2005. - Actress
- Additional Crew
- Writer
Valeria Moriconi was born in Jesi, Marche region, in the centre of Italy. She was very young when she acted in an art company, but the success came with the movies "Gli Italiani si voltano" and "La Spiaggia". She won the Golden Grolla award for "Le soldatesse". She performed on stage in a lot of theatrical plays at Arlecchino Theater (now Flaiano), from "Girotondo" of Schnitzler and "Per un amore a Roma" of patti to "Arialda" of Testori and directed by Visconti. In the 60s she met the director Franco Enriquez and for him left her husband Aldo Moriconi, entwining a love affair. After Enriquez's death she loved Vittorio Spiga, a journalist of Bologna and at her death he was at her bed.
The president of Italian Republic, Oscar Luigi Scalfaro, elected her Great master of Republic. In 2000 she was the voice for Papa's comments during Via Crucis. In 1999 she took the Renato Simoni award. She worked until the end of her life, notwithstanding the illness, but on 7th of June 2005 she was forced to interrupt her theater tour with "Gli Spettri" of Ibsen.- Comedian Phil Ford was the epitome of the never-say-die entertainer who, over the course of a seven-decade-long career, played every place there was to play--from the most obscure dives to the top Vegas showrooms.
The wily, energetic vaudeville performer was born on June 21, 1919, in San Francisco and started out young (age 12) playing "big band" clarinet. A college student at the University of California at Berkeley, Phil joined the Army during World War II and, at one point, served as the military band leader while also seeing action. Following his discharge he returned to show business and hit the boards as a song-and-dance man and musician.
In 1952, while playing a gig in Alaska, Phil met the teenage singer/comedienne Mimi Hines, who was performing at a different Anchorage nightclub. Phil hired the much younger Mimi after his own female partner at the time broke her ankle. The sparks flew both on and off stage, and she stayed on as his new partner. In 1954 she became his second wife. The teaming of Ford and Hines was an inspired one. They built up their reputation alongside other formidable husband-and-wife acts of the era, including Burns and Allen, and Stiller and Meara. They were afforded their biggest break in 1958 when they appeared on Jack Paar's "Tonight Show." An instant hit, they started turning up regularly as guests for Johnny Carson, Ed Sullivan, Dean Martin, Bobby Darin, Jimmy Dean, Mike Douglas and Merv Griffin.
Phil wrote all of the material for the twosome, including the "little mouse" bit performed by the toothy, elastic-faced Mimi and the Asian-flavored "rotsa ruck" routine for himself. Phil saw to it that the pair stayed away from racy material so that their fun, innocuous routines could easily transfer from club to TV and back. All this success culminated with their Broadway debuts in the hit musical "Funny Girl" in 1965. Mimi stepped in for the departing Barbra Streisand as Fanny Brice. What was Hines without Ford at the time, so Phil was offered the supporting role of Eddie, Fanny's show biz buddy, for added marquee value. Mimi was a resounding hit and the couple stayed with the show for 18 months.
In the same year they made their one-and-only film vehicle starring in Saturday Night in Apple Valley (1965). The flimsy comedy concerned the shady goings-on of a big city land developer and shyster (Ford) who has nefarious Vegas-like designs on the peaceful little town--that is, until the townfolk (including Hines as both the mayor's daughter and a love interest) turn the tables on him. The film came and went very quickly despite featuring bucolic comedian Cliff Arquette, who offered up his "Charley Weaver" alter ego as one of the secondary citizens.
The opening act for many big stars, including Ella Fitzgerald, Paul Anka and Tony Bennett, Ford and Hines' comedy routines did not jell with the rebel-like seriousness of the Vietnam era and their careers took a steep decline, as did their marriage. Despite their divorce in 1972, they remained good friends and reunited many times over the years on the comedy stage (Waldorf Astoria, Copacabana) and in musical shows such as "No, No, Nanette," "Sugar Babies," "Hello, Dolly" and "I Do! I Do!"
On his own, Phil appeared in supper clubs and in Vegas book shows. At the Union Plaza Hotel in 1983, he did a hilarious turn as the lecherous millionaire in the musical "Sugar" (based on the classic film "Some Like It Hot") co-starring actor/friend Buddy Powell and Gary Howe Scott as the two drag musicians on the lam. Ford essayed the role played earlier by Joe E. Brown while enjoying the classic lines and burlesque situations his character was afforded. Phil and Mimi would reunite for charitable causes from time to time. One of their last appearances, in fact, was in 2002 at a Vegas benefit for homeless veterans.
Phil died peacefully in his sleep at age 85 in his beloved town of Las Vegas, where he remained a resident for over four and a half decades. Married four times in all (his last wife predeceased him), he was survived by a daughter, a sister and several step-grandchildren. - Additional Crew
- Actor
Brian Pohanka was born on 20 March 1955 in Washington, District of Columbia, USA. He was an actor, known for Cold Mountain (2003), Gettysburg (1993) and Gods and Generals (2003). He was married to Cricket Bauer Pohanka. He died on 15 June 2005 in Alexandria, Virginia, USA.- Make-Up Department
Katherine Kotarakos was born on 8 March 1943 in Santa Monica, California, USA. She is known for General Hospital (1963), Twins (1988) and Everybody Loves Raymond (1996). She was married to Richard Winchell, William Mougey and Michael Katarakos. She died on 15 June 2005 in Eugene, Oregon, USA.- Actor
- Soundtrack
Aleksandr Pavlovich Nazarov is Soviet and Russian film and theater actor. From 1964 to 1980 - artist of the Moscow Academic Theater named after Vladimir Mayakovsky. In 1980-1988 Nazarov worked under contracts (artist of films). In 1988-1996 he was an artist of the Moscow Odeon Theater under the direction of Yevgeniy Radomyslenskiy. From 1996 to 2005 - artist of the Theater "Taganka's Actors". He made his film debut in the role of Arkadiy Ershov in the film Rezo Chkheidze Father of a Soldier (1964). Starred in popular Soviet films and television films. He voiced father-wolf and Kaa in the first and fifth parts of the animated film of Roman Davydov The Adventures of Mowgli (1973).- Actress
- Writer
Kathi Norris was born on 1 June 1919. She was an actress and writer, known for TV Shopper (1948), I Married Joan (1952) and True Story (1957). She was married to Wilbur Stark, Guiterman, Richard L. and Carl Caruso. She died on 15 June 2005 in London, England, UK.- Art Department
- Production Designer
- Additional Crew
Senta Ochs was born on 3 January 1924. She was a production designer, known for Der Traum des Hauptmann Loy (1961), Das unsichtbare Visier (1973) and First Spaceship on Venus (1960). She died on 15 June 2005.- Josef Jíra was born on 11 October 1929 in Turnov, Czechoslovakia [now Czech Republic]. He died on 15 June 2005 in Malá Skála, Czech Republic.
- Veronika Vasilyeva was born on 20 September 1920 in Samara, RSFSR [now Russia]. She was an actress, known for Ya shagayu po Moskve (1964), Gorod na zare (1959) and Togda v Sevilye (1978). She died on 15 June 2005 in Moscow, Russia.
- Actor
- Make-Up Department
John Sahag was born on 2 January 1952 in Beirut, Lebanon. He was an actor, known for Year of the Dragon (1985), Eyes of Laura Mars (1978) and Nadja (1994). He died on 15 June 2005 in Bronx, New York, USA.- Jimmy Bays was born on 4 June 1927 in Detroit, Michigan, USA. He was an actor, known for That's Life (1968), Love Minus One (1972) and The Roaring 20's (1960). He died on 15 June 2005 in Bakersfield, California, USA.