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1-12 of 12
- Music Artist
- Actor
- Producer
After high school Gene Autry worked as a laborer for the St. Louis and San Francisco Railroad in Oklahoma. Next he was a telegrapher. In 1928 he began singing on a local radio station, and three years later he had his own show and was making his first recordings. Three years after that he made his film debut in Ken Maynard's In Old Santa Fe (1934) and starred in a 13-part serial the following year for Mascot Pictures, The Phantom Empire (1935). The next year he signed a contract with Republic Pictures and began making westerns. Autry--for better or worse--pretty much ushered in the era of the "singing cowboy" westerns of the 1930s and 1940s (in spite of the presence in his oaters of automobiles, radios and airplanes). These films often grossed ten times their average $50,000 production costs. During World War II he enlisted in the US Army and was assigned as a flight officer from 1942-46 with the Air Transport Command. After his military service he returned to making movies, this time with Columbia Pictures, and finally with his own company, Flying A Productions, which, during the 1950s, produced his TV series The Gene Autry Show (1950), The Adventures of Champion (1955), and Annie Oakley (1954). He wrote over 200 songs. A savvy businessman, he retired from acting in the early 1960s and became a multi-millionaire from his investments in hotels, real estate, radio stations and the California Angels professional baseball team.- Music Department
- Actor
- Composer
Korla Pandit was a musician and a Mesmerist, famous for his lips, his eyes, his turban with the Smokey Topaz jewel and hypnotic dangling Diamond, his beautifully-inspirational music, and the fact that for all his years on radio and Television, he never spoke a word, gazing dreamily, instead, into the camera and into the hearts and imaginations of millions upon millions of viewers over the years. Pandit was born John Roland Redd September 16, 1921 in St. Louis, Missouri, to Doshia O'Nina Johnson Redd 1885-1977, and Baptist Minister Rev. Ernest S. Redd 1883-1966. One of seven children, young John displayed incredible musical abilities by the age of two. In 1937 he graduated from high school in Columbia, Missouri, and moved to Omaha, Nebraska. In 1938 he moved to Ottumwa, Iowa, and worked for the Central Broadcasting Company in Des Moines, Iowa. By 1939 he was living in Los Angeles, California with his sister Frances, an actress in The Midnight Shadow, Sack Film Company, 1938, wearing what would become his trademark turban, similar to the one worn by Black actor John Criner in his sister's film, playing in clubs under the name Juan Rolando. He became known for playing both the organ and grand piano at the same time, the piano with his right hand and the organ with his left, and was first billed as Juan Rolando, the One-Man Combo. In 1941 Juan Rolando, nee John Roland Redd, yet to become Korla Pandit, met and developed a life-long love affair with statuesque blonde Beryl June DeBeeson, a Disney artist, whom he married on July 21, 1944, in Tijuana, Mexico due to the fact mixed marriages were not yet allowed in California. They remained married until his death in 1998. Under Beryl's artistic direction, Juan Rolando became Korla Pandit, and Korla Pandit in turn became the mysterious symbol for and creator of Exotica, in 1948 conjuring up musically on radio as organist for Chandu, the Magician, all manner of inventive, never-before-heard orchestration, first on the Nova Chord Organ, then on the Hammond C-3 Electronic Organ.) At the age of twenty-two, he was discovered by Television pioneer Klaus Landsberg, creator of KTLA Television Station, and in February of 1949 the handsome young man in a turban was captivating audiences as Korla Pandit with his own Universal Language of Music KTLA Television show, playing his self-styled music of the Exotic East with a blend of waltzes, tangos, cha-cha-cha's and other tunes of the 40s and 50s, as well as an occasional classic like Claire de Lune or The Swan. He never uttered a single word on his show, leaving the talking to an off-screen announcer who would quote poetry and introduce and close the program. Viewers were entertained by alternating shots of Pandit's face, the musician seated at his instruments, and shots of Pandit's hands on the keyboards. He frequently played both organ and piano simultaneously. During this time he also supplied the music for Bob Clampett's hit KTLA-TV puppet show Time For Beany. When Korla split with KTLA, San Francisco Television station KGO signed him. His KGO Adventures In Music show was directed by newcomer Marty Pasetta, who would later gain fame directing the Academy Awards shows in Hollywood from 1970 to 1979. Six months after his show left the air in 1957, Korla Pandit's immense popularity was declared by his fan following when a TV Guide Most Popular Performer poll voted him the local personality most deserving of national recognition. Eventually Pandit was seen and heard around the world with his organ and piano music segments, by way of the fledgling Louis D. Snader Telescriptions filmed at Hollywood's Goldwyn Studios in August of 1951. It was on these filmed musical clips produced for Television that Pandit preceded Liberace, eventually giving the glitzy pianist his big break when the young organist broke ties with Snader, who then hired Liberace to take Korla's place. By the mid-seventies Pandit had for the most part disappeared from Television screens, but cashed in on his sizable fan following by performing live in theater organ concerts, giving lecture/concert seminars and individual instruction, in home organ concerts, and, eventually, playing at super market openings, automobile dealership promotional events, organ and piano trade shows, and popular Pipes & Pizza Parlours. He appeared in several motion pictures, most prominent among them Tim Burton's 1994 Ed Wood starring Johnny Depp, with whom Korla Pandit shares a scene. In what can only be described as a comeback near the end of his life, he performed in small clubs and restaurants, then, in January of 1996, with entrepreneur Joey Seehee Cheezhee, headlined The Wonderful World Of Joey lounge revival show at Bimbos 365 in San Francisco, California, followed by similar shows at retro nightspots such as Kelbos, and the House of Blues jazz club, both in Southern California. His final public performance was February 14, 1997, at The Luna Park Club in Los Angeles, California. He passed away October 1, 1998, at the age of 76 in a Petaluma, California nursing home of myocardial infarction/coronary disease.- Writer
- Producer
- Actor
Adrian Spies was born on 17 April 1920 in Newark, New Jersey, USA. He was a writer and producer, known for Studio One (1948), Saints and Sinners (1962) and Dark of the Sun (1968). He died on 2 October 1998 in Los Angeles, California, USA.- Jerzy Binczycki was born on 6 September 1937 in Witkowice, Kraków, Malopolskie, Poland. He was an actor, known for Nights and Days (1975), Pan Tadeusz (1999) and Na odsiecz Wiedniowi (1983). He died on 2 October 1998 in Kraków, Malopolskie, Poland.
- With his flat cap, droll line in delivery and catch-phrase "I won't take me coat off - I'm not stopping!" Ken Platt was one of the last links with music hall and variety in Great Britain. Born in Leigh, Lancashire, Platt decided to become a comedian at the age of just 15. He bought a ukelele and performed at local concert parties where he was billed as 'the Pocket George Formby', in homage to his idol.
He joined the Army in 1942 and was posted to North Africa where he appeared in a concert party, The Forest Mummers. Demobbed five years later he tried his hand at showbusiness with little succes and so, disillusioned bought a grocery store in his home town.
A chance audition with the BBC in 1950 led to him being eventually asked to be resident comedian on the BBC's popular radio show Variety Fanfare. It was on radio that Platt was in his true element with his immaculate timing, brilliant ad-libbing.
Variety Fanfare ran for two years and made Platt a household name. He was a guest comedian on numerous radio variety shows and later topped the bill in pantomimes and summer seasons throughout Great Britain. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s he was a regular guest star on television programmes such as Big Night Out, Spot the Tune and The Liver Birds. He evoked considerable nostalgia by a memorable appearance on BBC's The Good Old Days using much of his material from his days on steam radio. - Lon Clark was born on 12 January 1911 in Frost, Minnesota, USA. He was an actor, known for The Doctor and the Playgirl (1965), The Gentle Rain (1966) and Armstrong Circle Theatre (1950). He was married to Michelle Trudeau Clark. He died on 2 October 1998 in New York City, New York, USA.
- Raymond Montgomery Raikes was born on the 13th of September 1910 in Putney south west London to a classical, upper middle class family. His Father Charles was a court Judge and in his spare time a West End theatre stage and set designer, whilst his Mother was a classical opera singer. He could not escape being stage-struck from an early age. Although a philanthropic forebear, Robert Raikes, had helped to found the Sunday School movement, his father, a man of private means In 1925 built himself a private theatre in the semi-basement of his Upper Norwood house and here the young Raymond worked as actor, director, stagehand and administrator.
He was educated at Lambrook prep school, then Uppingham. After school he went to Exeter College, Oxford to read classics and there came under the influence of Nevill Coghill and the Oxford University Dramatic Society (Ouds). In one of the society's productions, James Elroy Flecker's Hassan with music by Delius, he played the lead opposite Peggy Ashcroft. On leaving university and after a year with the Birmingham Rep, in 1935 he joined Stratford's Shakespeare Memorial Theatre, where he played in his beloved Shakespeare for several seasons. Among his roles were Mercutio in Romeo and Juliet and Laertes to Donald Wolfit's Hamlet. Returning to London he played romantic leads such as the young naval officer in the West End success While Parents Sleep (1931)(that success saw it adapted into the film While Parents Sleep (1935)). His first film role (uncredited) was in the classic The Water Gipsies (1932) produced by the now legendary Maurice Elvey followed by The Poisoned Diamond (1933). His next role was as a white-uniformed Ruritanian in April Blossoms (1934) starring Richard Tauber and then It's a Bet (1935).
War interrupted his theatrical career. A friend who had worked with him at his father's theatre was the BBC announcer Alvar Liddell. He suggested that Raikes enter a competition being held by Forces Broadcasting, who were looking for announcers. Raikes was co-winner with Franklyn Engelman and spent two years in BBC Presentation before joining the Royal Signals, with whom he served in Italy and North Africa. On his return to London he followed George Melachrino, the band leader, as RSM of his unit where most of the personnel under him were members of dance bands of the period. Whilst an officer by day he was translating plays from Greek into English by night. One of these, Iphigeneia in Aulis by Euripides, was to be his farewell BBC radio production in 1975.
On demobilisation in 1947 he was appointed to the BBC Drama Department. First he worked on the soap opera The Robinson Family, and then Dick Barton, Special Agent, the hugely popular daily thriller serial and precursor for James Bond. Having served an apprenticeship at the coalface of popular radio, Raikes found his true niche producing plays for the new Third Programme, for the "World Theatre" series of great international classics and for the "National Theatre of the Air", of which he became executive producer in 1961.
One of his last productions was to produce and direct Sir Ian McKellen in Henry V in London in 1974.
He regularly worked with Richard Burton Sir Ralph Richardson, Sir Laurence Olivier, Dame Peggy Ashcroft among others
He made the process of realising the most arcane minor Jacobean script into a piece of fun. He introduced audiences to the wealth of our more obscure English heritage with plays like The London Cuckolds by Edward Ravenscroft (performed in 1999 at the Royal National Theatre), Arden of Faversham, A Woman Killed by Kindness, A Journey to London, Love in a Village, Lionel and Clarissa and Nathaniel Lee's Lucius Julius Brutus.
He directed 17 of Shakespeare's plays on radio, the Agammemnon trilogy of Aeschylus, The Wasps and Lysistrata by Aristophanes, The Bacchae, Medea and Hippolytus by Euripides. He had the ability to make the most flamboyant, theatrical Restoration comedies comprehensible and acceptable in a medium best suited to the understated and the quiet in drama.
Raikes had begun his career as a man of the theatre and, for him, radio drama was another form of theatre. Most continental broadcasters have a Drama Department, involved with specially written works, and a Radio Theatre department, which concentrates on existing literature. He preferred the absent author to the present one, because the absent cannot interfere.
He was no academic purist, but a scion of show business who always referred to a production as "the show". He rewrote parts of plays by absent playwrights for the sake of clarification, "improved" contemporary translations of Greek texts and "eased" translations by living French writers such as Henry de Montherlant or Jean Anouilh. The works of the latter he did much to promote via radio before his meeting popular success in the West End theatre of the Fifties. A scholar would note that the hand of Raikes is evident in most of the Shakespeare texts he directed. For the average listener this blasphemy would only make things clearer.
With the arrival of stereophony he felt the requirements of the stage could even more easily be transferred to the radio studio and he pursued the innovation with enthusiasm, often in the face of managerial opposition. His first stereo experiment, scenes from Sherlock Holmes, was transmitted well after midnight on 6 July 1958. His innovative endeavours received international recognition when his production of The Foundling by Peter Gurney, with music by Humphrey Searle, received the Prix Italia for stereophonic production in 1965. In this annus mirabilis for him he was also awarded the Prix Italia for his production of The Anger of Achilles by Robert Graves, with music by Roberto Gerhard.
No tangible award was accorded to his greatest achievement, in which his desire to educate and inform combined with his need to entertain. This was a mammoth survey, in 13 parts, of English drama from its earliest beginnings to the present day entitled The First Stage. Written with John Barton and presented by him, this was broadcast on the Third Programme, 1956-57.
While Raymond Raikes was working at the BBC, the kind of plays and programmes he produced was staple diet on radio and remained so until the Birtian revolution of recent years. The enthusiasm of this one man was trusted and encouraged by successive controllers and two heads of Radio Drama - Val Gielgud (though not without some struggle) and Martin Esslin.
Audiences were made aware of a wealth of dramatic literature which they would not otherwise have encountered in performances either because of the prohibitive costs of production in other media or because of the absence of a nearby theatre.
There would be no place for such as him in the non-smoking, accountancy-led BBC of today in which a mere 30 new drama productions per year appear on Radio 3 and only a handful of plays longer than one hour's duration are made for Radio 4. Those who are old enough must be grateful for the riches they have enjoyed. For the young it is another matter. And will there ever be anything again on radio to thrill us as did Dick Barton, Special Agent..."Produced by Raymond Raikes "? - Leafie Mason was born on 15 August 1911. She died on 2 October 1998 in Cass County, Texas, USA.
- Olivier Gendebien was born on 12 January 1924 in Brussels, Belgium. He was married to Marie Claire Ango de la Motte de Flers. He died on 2 October 1998 in Les Baux-de-Provence, Bouches-du-Rhône, France.
- Actor
- Animation Department
- Art Department
Dondi was born on 7 April 1961 in Manhattan, New York, USA. He was an actor, known for Wild Style (1982), Dreams Don't Die (1982) and Style Wars (1983). He died on 2 October 1998 in New York City, New York, USA.- Actor
- Soundtrack
Jimmy Caesar was born on 5 May 1935 in Buffalo, New York, USA. He was an actor, known for The New Dick Van Dyke Show (1971), City (1990) and The Keane Brothers Show (1977). He died on 2 October 1998 in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA.- Enrico Pagani was born on 7 September 1929 in Shanghai, China. He was an actor, known for Fenomenal and the Treasure of Tutankamen (1968), Peggio per me... meglio per te (1968) and I sogni nel cassetto (1957). He died on 2 October 1998 in Milan, Lombardy, Italy.