Category: Profiles

Born February 14, 1902 in Brooklyn, New York, Thelma Ritter was a hard-working, albeit obscure stage and radio actress whose movie breakthrough came in her first film, in an unbilled bit role in 1947’s Miracle on 34th Street. Her portrayal of a mother who is sent to Gimbels by Macy’s Santa made such an impression on…

Born May 20, 1908 in Indiana, Pennsylvania, James Stewart was the son of a hardware store owner and his wife.  He was educated at a local prep school where he was an athlete (football and track), musician (singing and accordion), and sometime actor.  In 1929, he went to Princeton University where he studied architecture and…

Born December 24, 1896 in Budapest, Austria-Hungary (now Hungary), Mano Kaminer was born into a Jewish family with two brothers and a sister. His father was a carpenter, his mother an opera singer. A born actor and director, he built a theater in the basement of his house when he was 8, performing in plays…

Born September 4, 1901 in Evansville, Indiana to a Baptist minister and his wife, Paul Osborn graduated from the University of Michigan where he later taught English. He also studied drama and playwriting at Yale University before making his Broadway debut in 1928 with his play, Hotbed. Osborn achieved great success with 1930’s The Vinegar…

Born May 30, 1896 in Goshen, Indiana, Howard Winchester Hawks was the eldest of five children of one of the Midwest’s wealthiest families. The family moved to Pasadena, California due to his mother’s poor health after the birth of her fifth child in 1906. Hawks attended Cornell University in Ithaca, New York studying mechanical engineering…

Born December 28, 1934 in Essex, England, Maggie Smith made her stage debut in 1952, her TV debut in 1955 and her screen debut in 1958. She was the  recipient of seven BAFTAs, two Oscars, two Golden Globes, four Emmys and a Tony. She was made a Dame of the British Empire in 1990. Although…

Born in 1888, Beulah Bondi was a seasoned stage actress who made her film debut at 43, reprising her Broadway role as the neighborhood gossip in 1931’s Street Scene. After playing several other mean-spirited characters she moved up considerably on the likability scale as Rachel Jackson, Andrew Jackson’s pipe-smoking wife in 1936’s The Gorgeous Hussy, for which…

Born December 29, 1915 in Oakland, California, Catherine Josephine Van Fleet, known professionally as Jo Van Fleet, was the daughter of a railroad worker and his wife.  Her father died in 1919, after which Jo, her older sister, and her mother moved in with her mother’s parents. The budding actress was attracted to the stage…

Born January 17, 1931 in Arkabutla, Mississippi to actor Robert Earl Jones and his wife, James Earl Jones suffered from a childhood stutter that he studied dramatics to overcome. Writing and reading poetry in class helped him overcome the disability that he had all his life despite his reputation as the possessor of one of…