1.
Leila Hyams
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Leila Hyams was an American model, vaudeville and film actress. Her relatively short career began in the 1920s during the era of silent films. Although her career only lasted ten years, she appeared in more than 50 film roles. She was born in New York City to vaudeville comedy performers John Hyams, both parents appeared in films and mother Leila Senior was also a noted stage performer, her parents can later be seen together in several Hollywood films such as in 1939s The Housekeepers Daughter. Hyams appeared on-stage with her parents while still a child, as a teenager, she worked as a model and became well known across the United States after appearing in a successful series of newspaper advertisements. This success led her to Hollywood and she proved herself capable of handling the small roles she was assigned, and over a period of time, she came to be taken seriously as an actress. By 1928, she was playing starring roles, achieving success in MGMs first talkie release, Alias Jimmy Valentine opposite William Haines, Lionel Barrymore, and Karl Dane. The following year, she appeared in the murder mystery The Thirteenth Chair. At Fox that same year, she appeared in director Allan Dwans now lost romantic adventure The Far Call opposite Charles Morton, Hyams was the original choice to play Jane in Tarzan the Ape Man, but turned it down. The role was played by Maureen OSullivan. After 10 years and 50 films, Hyams retired from acting in 1936 and she was married to agent Phil Berg from 1927 until her death in the Bel-Air neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, in 1977, aged 72
2.
Academy Awards
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The various category winners are awarded a copy of a golden statuette, officially called the Academy Award of Merit, which has become commonly known by its nickname Oscar. The awards, first presented in 1929 at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, are overseen by AMPAS, the awards ceremony was first broadcast on radio in 1930 and televised for the first time in 1953. It is now live in more than 200 countries and can be streamed live online. The Academy Awards ceremony is the oldest worldwide entertainment awards ceremony and its equivalents – the Emmy Awards for television, the Tony Awards for theater, and the Grammy Awards for music and recording – are modeled after the Academy Awards. The 89th Academy Awards ceremony, honoring the best films of 2016, were held on February 26,2017, at the Dolby Theatre, in Los Angeles, the ceremony was hosted by Jimmy Kimmel and was broadcast on ABC. A total of 3,048 Oscars have been awarded from the inception of the award through the 88th, the first Academy Awards presentation was held on May 16,1929, at a private dinner function at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel with an audience of about 270 people. The post-awards party was held at the Mayfair Hotel, the cost of guest tickets for that nights ceremony was $5. Fifteen statuettes were awarded, honoring artists, directors and other participants in the industry of the time. The ceremony ran for 15 minutes, winners were announced to media three months earlier, however, that was changed for the second ceremony in 1930. Since then, for the rest of the first decade, the results were given to newspapers for publication at 11,00 pm on the night of the awards. The first Best Actor awarded was Emil Jannings, for his performances in The Last Command and he had to return to Europe before the ceremony, so the Academy agreed to give him the prize earlier, this made him the first Academy Award winner in history. With the fourth ceremony, however, the system changed, for the first six ceremonies, the eligibility period spanned two calendar years. At the 29th ceremony, held on March 27,1957, until then, foreign-language films had been honored with the Special Achievement Award. The 74th Academy Awards, held in 2002, presented the first Academy Award for Best Animated Feature, since 1973, all Academy Awards ceremonies always end with the Academy Award for Best Picture. The Academy also awards Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting, see also § Awards of Merit categories The best known award is the Academy Award of Merit, more popularly known as the Oscar statuette. The five spokes represent the branches of the Academy, Actors, Writers, Directors, Producers. The model for the statuette is said to be Mexican actor Emilio El Indio Fernández, sculptor George Stanley sculpted Cedric Gibbons design. The statuettes presented at the ceremonies were gold-plated solid bronze
3.
Edward Brophy
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Edward Santree Brophy was an American character actor, voice artist, and comedian. Small of build, balding, and raucous-voiced, he frequently portrayed dumb cops and gangsters and he is best remembered for his roles in the Falcon film series, based on the suave detective of the same name, and for voicing Timothy Q. Edward Santree Brophy was born in New York City and his screen debut was in Yes or No. As two clients in a bath-house, Brophy and Keaton attempt to undress and put on bathing suits while sharing a single tiny changing room. Each time Keaton attempts to hang his clothes on one hook, Brophy removes the clothes and hands back to Keaton. He manhandles the smaller, more slender Keaton, at one point picking him up by the feet, appearing only in this one brief scene, Brophy attracted enough attention to receive more and better roles. Though he did appear in a few roles, most of his long. Brophy made an impression on Disney fans as the voice of Timothy the mouse in Dumbo. He also made appearances in the films of director John Ford. Edward Brophy died on May 27,1960 during the production of Fords Two Rode Together and he was buried in Santa Monicas Woodlawn Cemetery next to his wife Ann S. Brophy. Edward Brophy at the Internet Movie Database Edward S. Brophy at AllMovie Edward Brophy at Find a Grave 1920 passport photo for Edward Brophy
4.
George "Gabby" Hayes
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George Francis Gabby Hayes was an American radio, film, and television actor. He was best known for his numerous appearances in Western films as the sidekick of the leading man. Hayes was born the third of seven children in his fathers hotel in Stannards, New York and he was the son of Elizabeth Morrison and Clark Hayes. His mothers brother was George F. Morrison, vice president of General Electric, Hayes did not come from a cowboy background, he did not know how to ride a horse until he was in his forties and had to learn for film roles. His father, Clark Hayes, operated the Hayes Hotel in Stannards and was involved in oil production. George Hayes grew up in Stannards and attended Stannards School and he played semiprofessional baseball while in high school. He ran away from home in 1902, at 17, joined a company, apparently traveled for a time with a circus. Hayes married Olive E. Ireland, the daughter of a New Jersey glass finisher and she joined him in vaudeville, performing under the name Dorothy Earle. Hayes had become so successful that by 1928, at age 43, he was able to retire to a home on Long Island in Baldwin and he lost all his savings the next year in the 1929 stock-market crash. Earle persuaded Hayes to try his luck in films, and the moved to Los Angeles. They remained together until her death on July 5,1957, after his move to Los Angeles, according to later interviews, Hayes had a chance meeting with the producer Trem Carr, who liked his look and gave him 30 roles over the next six years. In his early career, Hayes was cast in a variety of roles, including villains and he found a niche in the growing genre of Western films, many of which were series with recurring characters. Ironically, Hayes would admit he had never been a big fan of Westerns, from 1935 to 1939, Hayes played the part of Windy Halliday, the sidekick to Hopalong Cassidy. In 1939, Hayes left Paramount Pictures in a dispute over his salary, Paramount held the rights to the name Windy Halliday, so the nickname Gabby was created for Hayess character. Hayes was also repeatedly cast as a sidekick of the Western stars Randolph Scott, Hayes played Waynes sidekick in Raoul Walshs Dark Command, which featured Roy Rogers in a supporting role. Hayes became a performer and consistently appeared among the 10 favorite actors in polls taken of moviegoers of the period. The Western film genre declined in the late 1940s, and Hayes made his last film appearance in The Cariboo Trail. He moved to television and hosted The Gabby Hayes Show, a Western series, from 1950 to 1954 on NBC and, in a new version in 1956, on ABC
5.
Sterling Holloway
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Sterling Price Holloway Jr. was an American actor and voice actor who appeared in over 100 films and 40 television shows. He was also an actor for The Walt Disney Company, well known for his distinctive tenor voice. Born in Cedartown, Georgia, Holloway was named after his father, Sterling Price Holloway and he had a younger brother named Boothby. The family owned a store in Cedartown, where his father served as mayor in 1912. After graduating from Georgia Military Academy in 1920 at the age of fifteen, he left Georgia for New York City, while there, he befriended actor Spencer Tracy, whom he considered one of his favorite working colleagues. A talented singer, he introduced Manhattan in 1925, and the following year sang Mountain Greenery and he moved to Hollywood in 1926 to begin a film career that lasted almost 50 years. His bushy red hair and high pitched voice meant that he almost always appeared in comedies and his first film was The Battling Kangaroo, a silent picture. Over the following decades, Holloway would appear with Fred MacMurray, Barbara Stanwyck, Lon Chaney Jr, Clark Gable, Joan Crawford, Bing Crosby, and John Carradine. In 1942, during World War II, Holloway enlisted in the United States Army at the age of 37 and was assigned to the Special Services. He helped develop a show called Hey Rookie, which ran for nine months, in 1945, Holloway played the role of a medic assigned to an infantry platoon in the critically acclaimed film A Walk in the Sun. During 1946 and 1947, he played the sidekick in five Gene Autry Westerns. Walt Disney originally considered Holloway for the voice of Sleepy in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, holloways voice work in animated films began in 1941 when he was first heard in Dumbo, as the voice of Mr. Stork. Holloway was the voice of the adult Flower in Bambi, the narrator of the Antarctic penguin sequence in The Three Caballeros and the narrator in the Peter and he is perhaps best remembered as the voice of Winnie the Pooh in Disneys Winnie-the-Pooh featurettes through 1977. He was honored as a Disney Legend in 1991, the first one to receive the award in the Voice category. In the late 1940s, he could be heard in various roles on NBCs Fibber McGee and his distinctive tenor voice retained a touch of its Southern drawl and was very recognizable. Holloway was chosen to narrate many childrens records, including Uncle Remus Stories, Mother Goose Nursery Rhymes, Walt Disney Presents Rudyard Kiplings Just so Stories and Peter, Holloway easily made the transition from radio to television. He appeared on the Adventures of Superman as Uncle Oscar, an eccentric inventor, during the 1970s, Holloway did commercial voice-overs for Purina Puppy Chow dog food and sang their familiar jingle, Puppy Chow/For a full year/Till hes full-grown. He also provided the voice for Woodsy Owl in several 1970s and 1980s United States Forest Service commercials, in 1982 he auditioned for the well known comic book character Garfield but lost to Lorenzo Music
6.
Edgar Kennedy
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Edgar Livingston Kennedy was an American comedic film character actor, known as Slow Burn. A slow burn is a facial expression, performed very deliberately, Kennedy embellished this by rubbing his hand over his bald head and across his face. Kennedy is best known for a role as a lemonade vendor in the Marx Brothers film Duck Soup. Kennedy was born on April 26,1890 in Monterey County, California to Canadian-born Neil Kennedy and he attended San Rafael High School before taking up boxing. He was a light-heavyweight and once went 14 rounds with Jack Dempsey, after boxing, he worked as a singer in vaudeville, musical comedy and light opera. He was also one of the original Keystone Kops, kennedys burly frame originally suited him for villainous or threatening roles in silent pictures. By the 1920s Kennedy was working for producer Hal Roach, who kept the actor busy playing supporting roles in short comedies, Kennedy starred in one short, A Pair of Tights, in which he plays a tightwad determined to spend as little as possible on a date. His antics with comedian Stuart Erwin are reminiscent of Roachs Laurel and Hardy comedies, Roach also used Kennedy as a director on half a dozen two-reeler comedies. In 1930, Edgar Kennedy was featured by RKO-Pathe in a pair of comedies, Next Door Neighbors and Help Wanted. Kennedys characterization of a short-tempered householder was so effective that RKO built a series around it, Kennedy pioneered the kind of domestic situation comedy that later became familiar on television. Each installment would end with Edgar embarrassed, humbled or defeated, looking at the camera, the Edgar Kennedy Series, with its theme song Chopsticks, became a standard part of the movie-going experience, Kennedy made six Average Man shorts a year for 17 years. In 1938, Kennedy worked as a man for British comedian Will Hay in Hey. Kennedy became so identified with frustration that practically every studio hired him to play hotheads and he often played dumb cops, detectives, and even a prison warden, sometimes he was a grouchy moving man, truck driver, or blue-collar workman. His character usually lost his temper at least once, in Diplomaniacs, Kennedy presides over an international tribunal, where Wheeler & Woolsey want to do something about world peace. Well, ya cant do anything about it here, yells Kennedy, Kennedy died of throat cancer at the Motion Picture Hospital, San Fernando Valley on 9 November 1948. He was interred at the Holy Cross Cemetery, Culver City, Los Angeles County, Edgar Kennedy, Master of the Slow Burn. Albany, BearManor Media ISBN 1-59393-018-6 Edgar Kennedy at the Internet Movie Database Edgar Kennedy at The Way Out West Tent, The Sons of the Desert
