Category: Profiles

James Whale was born in Dudley, England, a poor mining town, in 1889. He learned to direct as a prisoner of war in a German prison camp during World War I. That experience led him to the London stage, Broadway and eventually a Hollywood contract with Universal, where he made most of his films. Although…

Born November 10, 1925 in Pontrhydyfen, Wales to Welsh speaking parents, Richard Walker Jenkins, Jr. was the twelfth of thirteen children. His mother died shortly after giving birth to his younger brother when Richard was just two years old. His father, a coal miner, soon abandoned the family and he was raised by his older…

Born October 1, 1935 in Walton-on-Thames, Surrey, England as Julia Elizabeth Wells, the internationally acclaimed superstar known professionally as Julie Andrews took the last name of her stepfather (Ted Andrews) when her mother remarried in 1944. Andrews began performing at early age with her mother and stepfather who were both music hall performers. Just after…

Born August 25, 1908 in Haverstraw, New York, Ray(mond) John Heindorf worked as a pianist in a silent movie house in Mechanicville in his early teens.  In 1928, he moved to New York City, where he landed a job as a musical arranger before moving to Hollywood in February 1929. Heindorf’s first job in Hollywood was as an orchestrator…

Born October 3, 1896, (Thomas) Leo McCarey began in films as Assistant Director to horror legend Tod Browning in 1920, but soon found his niche as a comedy writer for Hal Roach’s Our Gang comedies. He later brought Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy together and guided their early joint career. By 1929 he was VP in charge…

Born March 18, 1905 in Manchester, England, Robert Donat‘s carefully honed speaking voice was a result of the elocution lessons he took as a boy to overcome a terrible stammer. Unfortunately, he never outgrew his other childhood affliction, an asthmatic condition that caused him to turn down more film roles than he accepted. On stage…

Born June 3, 1929 in London, England, William Desmond Williams, known professionally as Billy Williams, was the son of a cinematographer also known as Billy. Williams left school at 14 to go to work for his father as an apprentice cameraman, working with him for four years.  At 18, he joined the RAF as a…

In recognition of Father’s Day coming up on June 15, now is a great time to focus on actors who’ve either been nominated or won Oscars for playing fathers on screen. Actors who’ve won Best Actor Oscars for playing characters on screen whose role as a father is important to the plot, include George Arliss…

Born August 18, 1969 in Boston, Massachusetts, Edward Harrison Norton is the son of an environmental attorney who was a prosecutor in the Carter administration and an English teacher whose father, James Rouse, was a famed real estate developer known as the father of the modern shopping mall. Norton was attracted to acting at an…