1.
Hugh O'Brian
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OBrian was born Hugh Charles Krampe in Rochester, New York, the son of Hugh John Krampe, a United States Marine Corps officer and executive at the Armstrong Cork Company, and Edith Lillian Krampe. His paternal grandparents were German immigrants, his mother was half German-Jewish, OBrian moved to Lancaster, Pennsylvania, with his parents around 1930 when he was approximately five-years old. His father was an executive with the Armstrong Cork Company, which was headquartered in the Pennsylvania city, the Krampe family first lived at the Stevens House Hotel before moving to the newly developed School Lane Hills houses on the citys West End. OBrian attended Lancaster city elementary schools, the Krampes resided in Lancaster for about four years before they moved to Chicago, where his father took another position with Armstrong Cork Company. Years later, Hugh OBrian was awarded the key to the city by Lancaster Mayor George Coe in 1963. OBrian first attended school at New Trier High School in Winnetka, Illinois, then the Kemper Military School in Boonville, Missouri, he lettered in football, basketball, wrestling, and track. OBrian dropped out of the University of Cincinnati after one semester to enlist in the Marine Corps during World War II, at seventeen, he became the youngest Marine drill instructor. After World War II ended, OBrian moved to Los Angeles and he had planned on becoming a lawyer and had been accepted at Yale University in the fall of 1947. He was dating an actress and attending her rehearsals of the Somerset Maughams play Home, director Ida Lupino asked him to read the lines. He got the part and the received a tremendous review. An agent offered to sign OBrian and he changed his name after the shows playbill misspelled his name as Hugh Krape. “I decided right then I didnt want to go through life being known as Huge Krape, so I decided to take my mothers family name, OBrien. But they misspelled it as OBrian and I just decided to stay with that. ”Lupino then signed him to Never Fear, a film she was directing, which led OBrian to a contract with Universal Pictures. He was chosen to portray legendary lawman Wyatt Earp on the ABC western series The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp, to help develop his character, OBrian bought Stuart N. Lakes book Wyatt Earp, Frontier Marshal. He also developed a relationship with Lake, who was a consultant on the show for the first two years. The series, alongside Gunsmoke and Cheyenne, which debuted the year, spearheaded the adult western television genre. It soon became one of the shows on television. During its six-year run, Wyatt Earp consistently placed in the top ten in the United States
2.
Rod Serling
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Serling was active in politics, both on and off the screen, and helped form television industry standards. He was known as the young man of Hollywood, clashing with television executives and sponsors over a wide range of issues including censorship, racism. Serling was born on December 25,1924, in Syracuse, New York and he was the second of two sons born to Esther and Samuel Lawrence Serling. Serlings father had worked as a secretary and amateur inventor before having children, sam Serling later became a butcher after the Great Depression forced the store to close. Rod had a brother, Robert J. Serling. Serling spent most of his youth 70 miles south of Syracuse in the city of Binghamton after his family moved there in 1926 and his parents encouraged his talents as a performer. Sam Serling built a stage in the basement, where Rod often put on plays. His older brother, writer Robert, recalled that, at the age of six or seven, Rod often talked to people around him without waiting for their answers. On a two-hour-long trip from Binghamton to Syracuse, the rest of the family remained silent to see if Rod would notice their lack of participation and he did not, talking nonstop through the entire car ride. In elementary school, Serling was seen as the class clown, however, his seventh-grade English teacher, Helen Foley, encouraged him to enter the schools public speaking extracurriculars. He joined the team and was a speaker at his high school graduation. He began writing for the newspaper, in which, according to the journalist Gordon Sander. He was also interested in sports and excelled at tennis and table tennis, when he attempted to join the varsity football team, he was told he was too small at 5 feet 4 inches tall. Serling was interested in radio and writing at an early age and he listened to various radio programs, especially thrillers with a fantasy or horror feel. Arch Oboler and Norman Corwin were two of his favorite writers and he also did some staff work at a Binghamton radio station. He was accepted into college during his year of high school. As editor of his school newspaper, Serling encouraged his fellow students to support the war effort. He wanted to leave school before graduation to join the fight, War is a temporary thing, Gus Youngstrom told him
3.
Lloyd Bridges
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Lloyd Vernet Bridges Jr. was an American film, stage and television actor who starred in a number of television series and appeared in more than 150 feature films. He was the father of actors Beau Bridges and Jeff Bridges, Bridges was born in San Leandro, California, to Lloyd Vernet Bridges, Sr. who was involved in the California hotel business and once owned a movie theater, and his wife Harriet Evelyn Bridges. His parents were natives of Kansas, and of English ancestry. Bridges graduated from Petaluma High School in 1930 and he then studied political science at UCLA, where he was a member of Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity. Bridges made his Broadway debut in 1939 in a production of Shakespeares Othello, in 1941, he joined the stock company at Columbia Pictures, where he played small roles in features and short subjects. He left Columbia Pictures during World War II to enlist in the United States Coast Guard, following his discharge, he returned to acting. In later years he was a member of U. S. Coast Guard Auxiliary, 11th District, because of his support, he was made an honorary commodore. Bridges sons, actors Beau and Jeff, also served in the Coast Guard and he returned to acting after he was cleared by the FBI, achieving his greatest success in television. Bridges gained attention in 1956 for his performance on live anthology program The Alcoa Hour, in an episode titled Tragedy in a Temporary Town. During the performance, Bridges inadvertently used profanity while ad-libbing, although the slip of the tongue generated hundreds of complaints, the episode won a Robert E. Sherwood Television Award, with Bridges slip being defended even by some members of the clergy. Bridges received an Emmy Award nomination for the role, Bridges gained wide recognition as Mike Nelson, the main character in the television series Sea Hunt, created by Ivan Tors, which ran in syndication from 1958–1961. He also wrote a book with a co-author about skin-diving entitled Mask, following that success, he starred in the eponymous CBS anthology series The Lloyd Bridges Show, which included appearances by his sons Beau and Jeff. Producer Gene Roddenberry, who worked with Bridges on Sea Hunt, in addition, he was a regular cast member in the Rod Serling western series The Loner, and in the two NBC failures San Francisco International Airport and a Police Story spin-off Joe Forrester. Later, he appeared in Paper Dolls and Capital News, both for ABC, and again with Harts of the West, this time for CBS, a comedy/western set on a dude ranch in Nevada. Son Beau Bridges co-starred, along with Harley Jane Kozak as Beaus wife, Alison Hart, Bridges played significant roles in several mini-series, including Roots, How the West Was Won and The Blue and the Gray. For more than years, Bridges was a frequent guest star on television series. He received a second Emmy Award nomination four decades after the first when he was nominated in 1998 for his role as Izzy Mandelbaum on Seinfeld and he portrayed Commander Cain in the original Battlestar Galactica television series, in the two-part episode The Living Legend. His fate was left unanswered, spurring fans to call for his return and this popularity led to a radically re-imagined Cain character in the 2004 series
4.
Bob Hope
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Bob Hope KBE, KC*SG, KSS was an American comedian, vaudevillian, actor, singer, dancer, athlete, centenarian and author. With a career spanning nearly 80 years, Hope appeared in over 70 feature films and short films, in addition to hosting the Academy Awards 19 times, he appeared in many stage productions and television roles and was the author of 14 books. The song Thanks for the Memory is widely regarded as Hopes signature tune, born in Eltham, Kent, Hope arrived in America with his family at the age of four and grew up in Cleveland, Ohio. He began his career in business in the early 1920s, initially on stage. He was praised for his timing, specializing in one-liners and rapid-fire delivery of jokes. He also appeared in numerous specials for NBC television, starting in 1950, Hope participated in the sports of golf and boxing and owned a small stake in his hometown baseball team, the Cleveland Indians. He died at age 100 at his home in Toluca Lake, Hope was born in Eltham, Kent the fifth of seven sons. They married in April 1891 and lived at 12 Greenwood Street in Barry, before moving to Whitehall, Bristol, and then St George, Bristol. In 1908, the family emigrated to the United States aboard the SS Philadelphia and passed through Ellis Island on March 30,1908, before moving to Cleveland, from age 12, Hope earned pocket money by busking, singing, dancing, and performing comedy. He entered many dancing and amateur talent contests and won a prize in 1915 for his impersonation of Charlie Chaplin, for a time, he attended the Boys Industrial School in Lancaster, Ohio. As an adult, he donated sizable sums of money to the institution, Hope had a brief career as a boxer in 1919, fighting under the name Packy East. He had three wins and one loss and participated in a few staged charity bouts later in life, Hope worked as a butchers assistant and a lineman in his teens and early twenties. Hope also had a stint at Chandler Motor Car Company. Deciding on a business career, he and his girlfriend signed up for dancing lessons. Encouraged after they performed in an engagement at a club, Hope formed a partnership with Lloyd Durbin. Silent film comedian Fatty Arbuckle saw them perform in 1925 and found work with a touring troupe called Hurleys Jolly Follies. Within a year, Hope had formed an act called the Dancemedians with George Byrne, Hope and Byrne had an act as a pair of Siamese twins as well and danced and sang while wearing blackface before friends advised Hope that he was funnier as himself. In 1929, Hope informally changed his first name to Bob, in one version of the story, he named himself after racecar driver Bob Burman
5.
John Williams
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John Towner Williams is an American composer, conductor, and pianist. T. The Extra-Terrestrial, the Indiana Jones series, Jurassic Park, Schindlers List, Williams has been associated with director Steven Spielberg since 1974, composing music for all but two of his feature films. Williams has won five Academy Awards, four Golden Globe Awards, seven British Academy Film Awards, with 50 Academy Award nominations, Williams is the second most-nominated individual, after Walt Disney. In 2005, the American Film Institute selected Williams score to 1977s Star Wars as the greatest American film score of all time. The soundtrack to Star Wars was additionally preserved by the Library of Congress into the National Recording Registry, for being culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant. Williams was inducted into the Hollywood Bowls Hall of Fame in 2000, and was a recipient of the Kennedy Center Honors in 2004, Williams composed the score for eight movies in the Top 20 highest-grossing films at the U. S. box office. John Towner Williams was born on February 8,1932 in Floral Park, New York, the son of Esther and Johnny Williams, Williams has said of his lineage, My father was a Maine man—we were very close. My fathers parents ran a department store in Bangor, Maine, people with those roots are not inclined to be lazy. In 1948, the Williams family moved to Los Angeles where John attended North Hollywood High School graduating in 1950 and he later attended the University of California, Los Angeles, and studied privately with the Italian composer Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco. Williams had originally briefly attended Los Angeles City College for one semester as the school had a Studio Jazz Band. In 1952, Williams was drafted into the U. S. Air Force, in 1955, following his Air Force service, Williams moved to New York City and entered The Juilliard School where he studied piano with Rosina Lhévinne. During this time Williams worked as a jazz pianist in the many jazz clubs. After moving to Los Angeles he began working as a session musician, Williams has two brothers, Donald and Jerry, both of whom work as percussionists in Los Angeles. After his studies at Juilliard, and the Eastman School of Music, Williams returned to Los Angeles, among other composers, Williams worked with Franz Waxman, Bernard Herrmann, and Alfred Newman, and also with his fellow orchestrators Conrad Salinger and Bob Franklyn. Williams was also a studio pianist, performing on film scores by composers such as Jerry Goldsmith, Elmer Bernstein, Williams recorded with Henry Mancini the film scores of 1959s Peter Gunn, 1962s Days of Wine and Roses, and 1963s Charade. Williamss first film composition was for the 1958 B movie Daddy-O and he soon gained notice in Hollywood for his versatility in composing jazz, piano, and symphonic music. Williams received his first Academy Award nomination for his score for 1967s Valley of the Dolls. Williams broke through to win his first Academy Award for his score in the 1971 film Fiddler on the Roof
6.
Benny Carter
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Bennett Lester Benny Carter was an American jazz alto saxophonist, clarinetist, trumpeter, composer, arranger, and bandleader. He was a figure in jazz from the 1930s to the 1990s. Carter performed with artists from several generations of jazz, and at major festivals. The National Endowment for the Arts honored Benny Carter with its highest honor in jazz, the NEA Jazz Masters Award for 1986. He was awarded the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1987, in 2000 he was awarded the National Endowment for the Arts, National Medal of Arts, presented by President Bill Clinton. Born in New York City in 1907, the youngest of six children, largely self-taught, by age fifteen, Carter was already sitting in at Harlem night spots. From 1924 to 1928, Carter gained professional experience as a sideman in some of New Yorks most prominent bands, as a youth, Carter lived in Harlem around the corner from Bubber Miley, who was Duke Ellingtons featured trumpeter. Carter was inspired by Miley and bought a trumpet, but when he found he couldnt play like Miley, johnson, Duke Ellington, and their respective groups. He first recorded in 1928 with Charlie Johnsons Orchestra, also arranging the titles recorded, Carters arrangements were sophisticated and very complex, and a number of them became swing standards which were performed by other bands. He also arranged for Duke Ellington during these years, Carter was noted for his arrangements. By the early 1930s he and Johnny Hodges were considered the leading players of the day. Carter also quickly became a leading trumpet soloist, having rediscovered the instrument and he recorded extensively on trumpet in the 1930s. Carters name first appeared on records with a 1932 Crown label release of Tell All Your Day Dreams to Me credited to Bennie Carter, Carters short-lived Orchestra played the Harlem Club in New York but only recorded a handful of records for Columbia, OKeh and Vocalion. The OKeh sides were issued under the name Chocolate Dandies and his trumpet solo on the October 1933 recording of Once Upon A Time by the Chocolate Dandies has long been considered a milestone solo achievement. These 14 sides plus four by Carters big band were only issued in England at the time, originally titled Spike Hughes, the musicians were mainly made up from members of Carters band. Two recordings that typify his sound are 1937s Honeysuckle Rose, recorded with Django Reinhardt and Coleman Hawkins in Europe, returning home in 1938, he quickly formed another orchestra, which spent much of 1939 and 1940 at Harlems famed Savoy Ballroom. His arrangements were much in demand and were featured on recordings by Benny Goodman, Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Lena Horne, Glenn Miller, Gene Krupa and he relocated to Los Angeles in 1943, and moved increasingly into studio work. Beginning with Stormy Weather in 1943, he arranged for dozens of feature films and television productions
