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
1-15 of 15
- Lee Chamberlin was born on 14 February 1938 in New York City, New York, USA. She was an actress, known for All My Children (1970), Loving (1983) and Great Performances (1971). She was married to Daniel Edward Chamberlin. She died on 25 May 2014 in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA.
- Actor
- Composer
- Director
This velvet-toned jazz baritone and sometime actor was (and perhaps still is) virtually unknown to white audiences. Yet, back in the late 1930s and early 1940s, Herb Jeffries was very big...in black-cast films. Today he is respected and remembered as a pioneer who broke down rusted-shut racial doors in Hollywood and ultimately displayed a positive image as a black actor on celluloid.
The Detroit native was born Umberto Alejandro Ballentino on September 24, 1911 (some sources list 1914). His white Irish mother ran a rooming house, and his father, whom he never knew, was of mixed ancestry and bore Sicilian, Ethiopean, French, Italian and Moorish roots. Young Herb grew up in a mixed neighborhood without experiencing severe racism as a child. He showed definitive interest in singing during his formative teenage years and was often found hanging out with the Howard Buntz Orchestra at various Detroit ballrooms.
After moving to Chicago, he performed in various clubs. One of his first gigs was in a club allegedly owned by Al Capone. Erskine Tate signed the 19-year-old Herb to a contract with his Orchestra at the Savoy Dance Hall in Chicago. While there Herb was spotted by Earl 'Fatha' Hines, who hired him in 1931 for a number of appearances and recordings. It was during the band's excursions to the South that Jeffries first encountered blatant segregation. He left the Hines band in 1934 and eventually planted roots in Los Angeles after touring with Blanche Calloway's band. There he found employment as a vocalist and emcee at the popular Club Alabam. And then came Duke Ellington, staying with his outfit for ten years. Herb started his singing career out as a lyrical tenor, but, on the advice of Duke Ellington's longtime music arranger, Billy Strayhorn, he lowered his range.
The tall, debonair, mustachioed, blue-eyed, light-complexioned man who had a handsome, matinée-styled Latin look, was a suitable specimen for what was called "sepia movies" -- pictures that played only in ghetto and/or segregated theaters and were advertised with an all-black cast. Inspired by the success of Gene Autry, Herb made his debut as a crooning cowboy with Harlem on the Prairie (1937), which was considered the first black western following the inauguration of the talkies. Dark makeup was applied to his light skin and he almost never took off his white stetson which would have revealed naturally brown hair. A popular movie, Herb went on to sing his own songs (to either his prairie flower and/or horse) in both The Bronze Buckaroo (1939) and Harlem Rides the Range (1939). Outside the western venue, he starred in the crimer Two-Gun Man from Harlem (1938). As the whip-snapping, pistol-toting, melody-gushing Bronze Buckaroo, Jeffries finally offered a positive alternative to the demeaning stereotypes laid on black actors. Moreover, he refused to appear in "white" films in which he would have been forced to play in servile support.
In the midst of all this, Herb continued to impress as a singer and made hit records of the singles "In My Solitude", "I Got It Bad and That Ain't Good", "When I Write My Song", Duke Ellington's "Jump for Joy" and his signature song "Flamingo", which became a huge hit in 1941. Some of the songs he did miss out on which could have furthered his name, were "Love Letters" and "Native Boy". During the 1950s Herb worked constantly in Europe, especially in France, where he owned his own Parisian nightclub for a time. He also starred in the title film role of Calypso Joe (1957) co-starring Angie Dickinson and later appeared on episodes of "I Dream of Jeannie", "The Virginian" and "Hawaii Five-0".
Although he very well could have with his light skin tones, the man dubbed "Mr. Flamingo" never tried to pass himself off as white. He was proud of his heritage and always identified himself as black. In the mid-1990s, westerns returned in vogue and Herb recorded a "comeback album" ("The Bronze Buckaroo Rides Again") for Warner Western. During this pleasant career renaissance he has also been asked to lecture at colleges, headline concerts and record CDs. In 1999-2000, at age 88, he recorded the CD "The Duke and I", recreating songs he did with Duke. It also was a tribute honoring the great musician's 100th birthday.
His five marriages, including one to notorious exotic dancer Tempest Storm, produced five children. At age 90-plus, Herb "Flamingo" Jeffries, lived in the Palm Springs area with significant other (and later his fifth wife) Savannah Shippen, who is 45 years his junior, remaining one of the last of the original singing cowboys still alive (along with Monte Hale) until he finally passed away on May 25, 2014, having hit the century mark.
In 2003 he was inducted into the Cowboy Hall of Fame and was invited to sing for President Bush at the White House. He is also the last surviving member of The Great Duke Ellington Orchestra, and certainly deserves proper credit for his historic efforts in films and music.- Camera and Electrical Department
- Actress
- Producer
Buxom and beautiful blonde bombshell Bunny Yeager always aspired to be a pin-up model. She was born Linnea Eleanor Yeager on March 13, 1929 in Wilkinsburg, Pennsylvania. Her father Raymond Conrad Yeager worked in an office for the telephone company and later was an electrical engineer for Westinghouse Electric while her mother Linnea was a stay-at-home housewife. Bunny grew up in the small rural town of Pitcairn, Pennsylvania. The Yeager family moved to Miami, Florida right before Bunny's senior year in high school. She attended Miami Edison High School in Miami and began participating in numerous beauty pageants in her late teens (she was crowned Miami Sports Queen in 1949 by Joe DiMaggio). She took a fashion modeling course at Coronet Modeling School and Agency and soon became a hugely popular glamor model in Miami who was featured in countless swimsuit magazines.
In the early 1950s Bunny decided to switch gears and become a glamor photographer. She was named the Prettiest Photographer in the World by "US Camera" magazine in August 1953. She took pictures of lovely model Maria Stinger; one of these pictures was published as the cover photo for the March 1954 issue of the men's magazine "Eye." Bunny discovered legendary pin-up queen Bettie Page in 1954. Her photo of Page posing in nothing but a fur-trimmed Santa hat was published as the centerfold in the January 1955 special holiday issue of "Playboy." This photo, along with other pictures of Bettie taken by Bunny, played a key role in establishing Page's iconic status. Other notable models Yeager has discovered are "Playboy" Playmate L.A. Winters and Carol Jean Lauritzen. Her photographs were featured in a huge array of men's magazines throughout the years. Moreover, Bunny also published over 20 books on photography.
Among the indelible images Bunny turned out are that of Ursula Andress coming out of the ocean water in a revealing bikini for the James Bond movie Dr. No (1962). Bunny got in front of the camera on occasion as well: She appeared in a few films by noted Florida exploitation producer/director Barry Mahon and has a small role as Swedish masseuse Bunny Fjord in the Frank Sinatra detective picture Lady in Cement (1968).
Yeager died of congestive heart failure at age 85 on May 25, 2014 in North Miami, Florida.- Actor
- Writer
- Producer
Karl David Schanzer was born on November 25, 1932 in Hartford, Connecticut. Schanzer attended Los Angeles City College, where his roommates were James Coburn and Robert Vaughn. Following graduation from college Karl embarked on a brief acting career; he's especially memorable as sleazy lawyer Mr. Schlocker in Spider Baby or, The Maddest Story Ever Told (1967). To make ends meet Karl worked as a private detective on the side and told Francis Ford Coppola a story about how disappointed he was when a man he had tailed for months failed to recognize him at a party; this story in turn served as the inspiration for Coppola's film The Conversation (1974). After calling it quits as an actor, Schanzer went on to work as a reader for Jeffrey Katzenberg at Paramount -- he found what would become the smash action/comedy hit 48 Hrs. (1982) -- and a creative executive at 20th Century Fox. In addition, Karl co-wrote the book "American Screenwriters" with Thomas Lee Wright. Karl died at age 81 on May 25, 2014 in Studio City, California. He was survived by his wife Marilyn and sons Adam and Aaron.- Actor
- Soundtrack
Tommy Blom was born on 3 March 1947 in Gothenburg, Västra Götalands län, Sweden. He was an actor, known for Monica Z (2013), Dagmar's Hot Pants, Inc. (1971) and Rolling Like a Stone (2005). He was married to Maj Nielsen. He died on 25 May 2014 in Stockholm, Sweden.- Wojciech Jaruzelski was born on 6 July 1923 in Kurów, Lubelskie, Poland. He was married to Barbara Jaruzelska. He died on 25 May 2014 in Warsaw, Mazowieckie, Poland.
- Larry Evers was born on 18 April 1951 in Germany. He was an actor, known for Guess What We Learned in School Today? (1970) and Das Sonntagskonzert (1969). He died on 25 May 2014 in Husum, Schleswig-Holstein, Germany.
- Music Department
- Composer
- Soundtrack
John Leach was born on 29 July 1931 in Hammersmith, London, England, UK. John was a composer, known for Se7en (1995), Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018) and Fight Club (1999). John died on 25 May 2014 in England, UK.- Matthew Saad Muhammad was born on 5 August 1954 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. He died on 25 May 2014 in Chestnut Hill, Pennsylvania, USA.
- Peter Dunfield was born in 1931 in Canada. He was married to Sonya Dunfield. He died on 25 May 2014 in Seattle, Washington, USA.
- Valeri Nikiforov was born on 8 October 1951 in Stalino Oblast, Ukrainian SSR, USSR [now Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine]. He was an actor, known for Khochu byt ministrom (1978) and When We Grow Up (1980). He died on 25 May 2014.
- David Allen was born on 29 October 1935 in Bristol, England, UK. He was married to Joyce Allen. He died on 25 May 2014 in Thornbury, South Gloucestershire, England, UK.
- Director
- Actor
- Editor
Chris Maher was a director and actor, known for The Heart of No Place (2009), Eau No (2008) and Nightwood (2007). He died on 25 May 2014 in Los Angeles, California, USA.- Caroline Christensen was born on 9 September 1925 in Stockholm, Sweden. She was an actress, known for Epiheirisis Apollon (1968), Company Party (1972) and 47:an Löken (1971). She died on 25 May 2014.
- Camera and Electrical Department
- Cinematographer
- Additional Crew
Volker Rodde was a cinematographer, known for The Restless Conscience: Resistance to Hitler Within Germany 1933-1945 (1992), The Burning Wall (2002) and Anna - annA (1992). He died on 25 May 2014 in Cologne, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.