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1-15 of 15
- Actress
- Soundtrack
Eleanor Jean Parker was born on June 26, 1922, in Cedarville, Ohio, the last of three children born to a mathematics teacher and his wife. Eleanor caught the acting bug early and began performing in school plays. She was was so serious about becoming an actor, that she attended the Rice Summer Theatre on Martha's Vineyard in Massachusetts, beginning when she was 15 years old. She was offered her first screen test by a 20th Century-Fox talent scout while attending Rice, but turned the opportunity down to gain professional stage experience in Cleveland after graduating from high school.
She moved on to California to continue her acting studies at the Pasadena Playhouse. It was there, while sitting in the audience of a play being put on at the Playhouse, that she was again offered a screen test - this time from a Warner Brothers' scout - and again declined, wanting to finish her first year at the Playhouse. When the year was up, Eleanor contacted Warner Brothers to take them up on their offer of a screen test and was signed as a contract player two days after it was shot.
She was cast in Raoul Walsh's They Died with Their Boots On (1941), but her performance was left on the cutting room floor.
She was then cast in short subjects and given other assignments typical of novice film actors, to enable them to learn their craft, such as voice-acting and appearances in other actors' screen tests. Finally, she was promoted to the B-picture unit, making her feature debut in Busses Roar (1942).
Her beauty meant she was not forgotten, and she was cast in one of Warner Brothers' biggest productions for the 1943 season, the pro-Soviet Mission to Moscow (1943), directed by Michael Curtiz and starring Walter Huston as the U.S. ambassador to the USSR. Eleanor played his daughter in the film, which became notorious in the McCarthy era for its glorification of "Uncle Joe" Stalin. The film proved significant to Eleanor, as she met a future husband on the set, Navy Lieutenant. Fred L. Losse, Navy dentist. The marriage was a brief wartime affair, lasting from March 21, 1943, to December 5, 1944.
She went back to the B's with The Mysterious Doctor (1943), then bounced back to the A-list for Between Two Worlds (1944), a remake of the Leslie Howard vehicle Outward Bound (1930) in which she played Paul Henreid's fiancee (both die from suicide, but in Hollywood logic that didn't mean they couldn't frolic together on the silver screen). Eleanor then made two more B-quickies in 1944, Crime by Night (1944) and The Last Ride (1944), before graduating to the A-list for good with Pride of the Marines (1945) with John Garfield.
In the 1946 Warner Bros. remake of Of Human Bondage (1946), she took the role that Bette Davis had made good in 1934 (ironically, at rival RKO). Though Parker would be gaining kudos and Oscar nominations by the beginning of the next decade, her portrait of Mildred was weak in comparison with Davis's dynamic performance.
Parker received the first of her three Best Actress Oscar nominations for playing a prisoner in Caged (1950), and won the best actress award at the Venice Film Festival. She was also nominated the next year for playing the cop's wife who shared a secret with the neighborhood abortionist in William Wyler's Detective Story (1951). Her third and last Oscar nod came for Interrupted Melody (1955), wherein she played an opera singer struck down by polio. She could easily have been nominated that same year for her portrayal of Frank Sinatra's faux crippled wife in Otto Preminger's brooding masterpiece The Man with the Golden Arm (1955), adapted from the novel by Nelson Algren.
Parker proved herself to be a supremely talented and very versatile lead actress. The versatility was likely one of the reasons she never quite became a major star. Audiences attending a movie starring Parker never knew quite what to expect of her; if they even remembered she was the same actress they had seen before in a different type of role in another picture. Her turns in Detective Story (1951) and The Man with the Golden Arm (1955) could not have been more different. Parker's stardom and subsequent fame (and remembrance) suffered from her focusing on being a serious actress and creating a character who fit the motion picture she was in, rather than playing a character over and over, as most actors do. She probably best remembered for the relatively tame part as the Baroness in The Sound of Music (1965).
She received an Outstanding Lead Actress Emmy nomination in 1963 for her appearance in The Eleventh Hour (1962) episode Why Am I Grown So Cold? Despite the success of The Sound of Music (1965) being completely attributed to #1 box office sensation Julie Andrews, it's probably Parker's best-remembered role.
Her appearances in such fare as The Oscar (1966) (the cast of which the Playboy Magazine reviewer derided as "has-beens and never-will-bes") and the movie adaptation of Norman Mailer's indescribable existential potboiler An American Dream (1966) with fellow Oscar-nominee Stuart Whitman signaled that Miss Parker was now inscribed on the list of the has-beens.
She had one last hurrah, winning a Golden Globe nomination in 1970 as best lead actress for her role in the TV series Bracken's World (1969), but unfortunately times had changed during the tumultuous 1960s. Her last film role was in a Farrah Fawcett bomb, Sunburn (1979). Subsequently, she appeared very infrequently on TV, most recently in Dead on the Money (1991).
Eleanor Parker retired far too soon for those who were her fans, and those who appreciated a superb actress.- Actor
- Director
- Script and Continuity Department
Kees Brusse was born on 26 February 1925 in Rotterdam, Zuid-Holland, Netherlands. He was an actor and director, known for Dagboek van een herdershond (1978), Mensen zoals jij en ik (1981) and Ciske de Rat (1955). He was married to Sonja Boerrigter, Marlou Peters, Mieke Verstraete, Pam Ingenegeren and Joan st. Clair. He died on 9 December 2013 in Laren, Noord-Holland, Netherlands.- Abella Wyss was born on 10 August 2002 in Orange County, California, USA. She was an actress, known for Playing for Keeps (2012). She died on 9 December 2013 in Aliso Viejo, California, USA.
- Lloyd Pye was born on 7 September 1946 in Houma, Louisiana, USA. He was a writer, known for Scarecrow and Mrs. King (1983), Lost Tapes (2008) and Alien Origins by Lloyd Pye (2009). He died on 9 December 2013 in the USA.
- Abiola Ogunsola was born on 2 November 1953 in London, Greater London, England, UK. She died on 9 December 2013 in London, Greater London, England, UK.
- John Wilbur was born on 21 May 1943 in San Diego, California, USA. He died on 9 December 2013 in Honolulu, Oahu, Hawaii, USA.
- Actress
Lia Kopetti was born on 21 December 1942 in Budapest, Hungary. She was an actress, known for Kölyök (1959), Szomszédok (1987) and Gyökér és vadvirág (1988). She was married to Ervin Kautzky. She died on 9 December 2013 in Vác, Hungary.- Shane Kalani del Rosario was an American kick-boxer, Muay Thai fighter and Mixed Martial Artist who competed in the heavyweight division. In 2006, he successfully debuted in MMA with a knockout of Gabor Nemeth in the King Of The Cage promotion. The next year he defeated Gilbert Carreto and made the first of three appearances for Elite XC (2007).First he beat Amedeo Viola, then, in 2008, he defeated Analu Brash and Carl Seumautafa in the same promotion. In 2009, Del Rosario next competed for Russia's M-1 Global, defeating Dool Hee Lee in the first round. His undefeated streak continued in M-1 Global with early first round wins with punches and a knee strike respectively over Maxim Grishin and Lloyd Marshbanks. That same year he made his Strikeforce (2006) promotional debut at Strikeforce Challengers 4 (2009), where he submitted Brandon Cash in the first round. In his second bout in that promotion, he defeated Lolohea Mahe with knees and punches in the first round during Strikeforce Challengers 9 (2010). At Strikeforce: Fedor vs. Silva (2011), he beat Lavar Johnson with an arm-bar submission in the first round.
Del Rosario was booked to face Daniel Cormier for an alternate spot in Strikeforce's Heavyweight Grand Prix tournament. But on April 4, 2011, while in his vehicle, Del Rosario was crashed into by a drunk driver. The ensuing back injury forced him out of the bout with Cormier. Fourteen months after the accident, in 2012, he was booked to fight Gabriel Gonzaga in UFC. Gonzaga was scheduled against a new opponent, and Del Rosario fought Stipe Miocic at UFC 146: Dos Santos vs. Mir (2012). Del Rosario lost due to elbow strikes during round two, experiencing his first MMA loss. For his second UFC bout, he fought Pat Barry and lost by punches in round two. A rib injury forced Del Rosario from a return bout with Dave Herman the following year. A similar injury also forced him from fighting Guto Inocente, who was also injured.
On Tuesday, November 26, 2013, Del Rosario collapsed at home and was found unconscious by his roommate and fellow MMA fighter, Ian McCall. Del Rosario was admitted to Hoag Memorial Presbyterian Hospital due to cardiac arrest where his condition stabilized. Doctors diagnosed him with Long QT Syndrome, which is the abnormal beating of the heart. On December 3, 2013, Del Rosario was declared brain dead. Six days later, his family allowed his removal from life support. - Director
- Cinematographer
- Camera and Electrical Department
Anna Minkiewicz was born on 8 June 1934 in Warsaw, Mazowieckie, Poland. Anna was a director and cinematographer, known for Television Theater (1953), Bar Atlantic (1996) and Kto zabil Sw. Mikolaja? (1972). Anna died on 9 December 2013 in Warsaw, Mazowieckie, Poland.- Director
- Writer
Shiva Regmi was a director and writer, known for Kaha Bhetiyela (2008), Hasi Deu Ek Phera (2010) and Duniya (2006). He died on 9 December 2013 in Kathmandu, Nepal.- Marek Ronec was born on 16 February 1965 in Sokolov, Czechoslovakia [now Czech Republic]. He was an actor, known for Le sourire du clown (1999), Expozitura (2008) and Milenci & vrazi (2004). He died on 9 December 2013 in Prague, Czech Republic.
- Peter Urban was a director and writer, known for Abladeplätze - Der Maler Leonid Sejka (2002). He died on 9 December 2013 in Nösberts-Weidmoos, Hesse, Germany.
- Peter Urban was born on 16 July 1941 in Berlin, Germany. He was a writer, known for Onkel Wanja (1979), Onkel Wanja (1983) and Drei Schwestern (1986). He died on 9 December 2013 in Grebenhain, Hesse, Germany.
- Jacq Firmin Vogelaar was born on 3 September 1944 in Tilburg, Noord-Brabant, Netherlands. He was an actor, known for Vergeet niet te lezen (1955). He died on 9 December 2013 in Utrecht, Netherlands.
- Peter Michalove was born on 22 March 1951 in Greensboro, North Carolina, USA. Peter was a composer, known for The Lasting (2014) and The Apollo Deception (2011). Peter was married to Sharon Michalove. Peter died on 9 December 2013 in Champaign, Illinois, USA.