1.
Fred Zinnemann
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Alfred Fred Zinnemann was an Austrian-born American film director. He won four Academy Awards for directing films in genres, including thrillers, westerns, film noir. He made 25 feature films during his 50-year career and he was among the first directors to insist on using authentic locations and for mixing stars with civilians to give his films more realism. According to one historian, Zinnemanns style demonstrated his sense of psychological realism, some of his most notable films were The Men, High Noon, From Here to Eternity, Oklahoma. The Nuns Story, A Man For All Seasons, The Day of the Jackal and his films have received 65 Oscar nominations, winning 24. Zinnemann was born in Rzeszów, the son of Anna and Oskar Zinnemann and his family was Jewish, and he had one younger brother. While growing up in Austria, he wanted to become a musician, while studying law, he became drawn to films and convinced his parents to let him study film production in Paris. After studying for a year at the Ecole Technique de Photographie et Cinématographie in Paris, he became a cameraman and found work on a number of films in Berlin, both of his parents were killed during the Holocaust. Zinnemann worked in Germany with several other beginners after he studied filmmaking in France, earlier in the decade, in fact, Zinnemann had worked with documentarian Robert Flaherty, probably the greatest single influence on my work as a filmmaker, he said. Although he was fascinated by the culture in Germany, with its theater, music and films. He became disenchanted with Berlin after continually seeing decadent ostentation and luxury existing alongside desperate unemployment, the wealthy classes were moving more to the political right and the poor to the left. Emotion had long since begun to displace reason, he said, Zinnemann, then only 21, got his parents permission to go to America where he hoped filmmaking opportunities would be greater. He arrived in New York at the end of October,1929 and it was as though I had just left a continent of zombies and entered a place humming with incredible energy and power. He took a Greyhound bus to Hollywood a few months following the completion of his first directorial effort for the Mexican cultural protest film, The Wave, in Alvarado. He established residence in North Hollywood with Henwar Rodakiewicz, Gunther von Fritsch and Ned Scott, One of Zinnemanns first jobs in Hollywood was as an extra in All Quiet on the Western Front. He says that many of the extras were former Russian aristocrats. He was twenty-two but he said he felt older than the forty-year-olds in Hollywood, but he was jubilant because he was then certain that this was the place one could breathe free and belong. But after a few years he became disillusioned with the talents of Hollywoods elites
2.
Stanley Kramer
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Stanley Earl Kramer was an American film director and producer, responsible for making many of Hollywoods most famous message films. As an independent producer and director, he brought attention to social issues that most studios avoided. Among the subjects covered in his films were racism, nuclear war, greed, creationism vs. evolution and his other notable films included High Noon, The Caine Mutiny, and Ship of Fools. Kramer was recognized for his independence as a producer-director, with author Victor Navasky writing that among the independents. None seemed more vocal, more liberal, more pugnacious than young Stanley Kramer and his friend, Kevin Spacey, during his acceptance speech at the 2015 Golden Globes, honored Kramers work, calling him one of the great filmmakers of all time. In 1961, he received the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award, in 1963, he was a member of the jury at the 3rd Moscow International Film Festival. In 1998, he was awarded the first NAACP Vanguard Award in recognition of the social themes that ran through his body of work. In 2002, the Stanley Kramer Award was created, to be given to recipients for work that dramatically illustrates provocative social issues, Stanley Kramer was born in Manhattan, New York, in a neighborhood known as Hells Kitchen due to its reputation as a tough, gang-ridden area. His parents were Jewish, and having separated when he was very young and his mother worked at a New York office of Paramount Pictures, during which time his grandparents took care of him at home. His uncle, Earl Kramer, worked in distribution at Universal Pictures, Kramer attended DeWitt Clinton High School in The Bronx, where he graduated at age fifteen. He then enrolled in New York University where he became a member of the Pi Lambda Phi fraternity and he graduated in 1933 at the age of nineteen with a degree in business administration. After developing a zest for writing with the newspaper, notes biographer Donald Spoto, he was offered an internship in the writing department of 20th Century Fox. Until receiving that writing job, he had planned to enroll in law school and those years as an apprentice writer and editor helped him acquire an exceptional aptitude in editing and develop the ability to understand the overall structure of the films he worked on. They enabled him to compose and edit in camera, as he shot scenes. He left the army with the rank of first lieutenant, after the war, Kramer soon discovered that there were no available jobs in Hollywood in 1947, so he created an independent production company, Screen Plays Inc. He partnered with writer Herbie Baker, publicist George Glass and producer Carl Foreman, Foreman justified the production company by noting that the big studios had become dinosaurs, which, being shocked by the onrush of television, jettisoned virtually everything to survive. But they failed to develop cadres of younger creative talent in their wake, Kramer also saw this as an opportunity to produce films dealing with subjects the studios previously avoided, especially those about controversial topics. However, Kramer soon learned that financing such independent films was a major obstacle, but with studios no longer involved, rival independent companies were created which all competed for those limited funds
3.
Carl Foreman
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Carl Foreman, CBE was an American screenwriter and film producer who wrote the award-winning films The Bridge on the River Kwai and High Noon among others. He was one of the screenwriters that were blacklisted in Hollywood in the 1950s because of their suspected Communist sympathy or membership in the Communist Party, Born in Chicago, Illinois, to a working-class Jewish family, he was the son of Fanny and Isidore Foreman. He studied at the University of Illinois, as a student in the 1930s, he became an advocate of revolutionary socialism and joined the American Communist Party. After graduating from university, Carl Foreman moved to Hollywood where he used his writing talents, from 1941 to 1942, he was involved with writing three films but his career was interrupted by service in the United States military during World War II. In 1951, during production of the film High Noon, Carl Foreman was summoned to appear before the House Committee on Un-American Activities. He testified that he had been a member of the American Communist Party more than ten years earlier while still a man but had become disillusioned with the Party. As a result of his refusal to give the names of fellow Party members, Foreman was labeled as an uncooperative witness, Carl Foreman was the screenwriter of High Noon, a film released in 1952 that is seen by some as an allegory for McCarthyism. The Western film is considered an American classic and was No.27 on American Film Institutes 100 Years,100 Movies and this would be the last film he would be allowed to work on by a Hollywood studio for the next six years. Unemployed, Foreman and some others who had also been blacklisted such as Ring Lardner, in 1956 he co-wrote the screenplay for the equally acclaimed The Bridge on the River Kwai with fellow blacklisted writer Michael Wilson. Based on the novel by Pierre Boulle, the two were not given screen credit and the Academy Award for Writing Adapted Screenplay went to Pierre Boulle and this was only rectified posthumously in 1984 and his name was added to the award. In addition to his writing of screenplays, Carl Foreman produced ten films and he also produced and scripted the 1961 smash hit World War II blockbuster The Guns of Navarone, starring Gregory Peck, David Niven, and Anthony Quinn, it remains one of his most popular pictures. He is credited as presenter on the smash hit 1966 film Born Free, in 1965, he was made a governor of the British Film Institute, serving until 1971. In 1970, Foreman was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire. Such is his influence on the British film industry, that from 1998 to 2009 there was a British Academy Film Award named in his honor, the Carl Foreman Award for the Most Promising Newcomer. Nearing the end of his life, Carl Foreman returned to the United States and his first marriage resulted in the birth of a daughter, Katie, to Estelle, his second marriage brought him two children, Amanda and Jonathan, born in London to Evelyn. Foremans daughter, Amanda Foreman, graduated from Columbia University and Oxford University, in 2008, he became one of the founders of the monthly British centre-right current affairs magazine Standpoint. High Noons production and release intersected with the second Red Scare. Foreman was called before HUAC while he was writing the film, Foreman had not been in the Communist Party for almost ten years, but declined to name names and was considered an un-cooperative witness by HUAC
4.
Gary Cooper
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Gary Cooper was an American film actor known for his natural, authentic, and understated acting style and screen performances. His career spanned thirty-five years, from 1925 to 1960, and he was a major movie star from the end of the silent film era through the end of the golden age of Classical Hollywood. His screen persona appealed strongly to men and women, and his range of performances included roles in most major movie genres. Coopers ability to project his own personality onto the characters he played contributed to his appearing natural, the screen persona he sustained throughout his career represented the ideal American hero. Cooper began his career as an extra and stunt rider. After establishing himself as a Western hero in his silent films, Cooper became a movie star in 1929 with his first sound picture. In the early 1930s, he expanded his heroic image to include more characters in adventure films and dramas such as A Farewell to Arms. In the postwar years, he portrayed more mature characters at odds with the world in such as The Fountainhead. In his final films, Cooper played non-violent characters searching for redemption in films such as Friendly Persuasion and he married New York debutante Veronica Balfe in 1933, and the couple had one daughter. Their marriage was interrupted by a three-year separation precipitated by Coopers love affair with Patricia Neal, Cooper received the Academy Award for Best Actor for his roles in Sergeant York and High Noon. He also received an Academy Honorary Award for his achievements in 1961. He was one of the top ten film personalities for twenty-three consecutive years, the American Film Institute ranked Cooper eleventh on its list of the twenty five greatest male stars of classic Hollywood cinema. Frank James Cooper was born on May 7,1901, at 730 Eleventh Avenue in Helena, Montana to English immigrants Alice and his father emigrated from Houghton Regis, Bedfordshire and became a prominent lawyer, rancher, and eventually a Montana Supreme Court justice. His mother emigrated from Gillingham, Kent and married Charles in Montana, in 1906, Charles purchased the 600-acre Seven-Bar-Nine cattle ranch about fifty miles north of Helena near the town of Craig on the Missouri River. Frank and his older brother Arthur spent their summers there and learned to ride horses, hunt, in April 1908, the Hauser Dam failed and flooded the Missouri River valley along portions of the Cooper property, but Cooper and his family were able to evacuate in time. Cooper attended Central Grade School in Helena, at Dunstable, Cooper studied Latin and French, and took several courses in English history. While he managed to adapt to the discipline of an English school and learned the requisite social graces, he never adjusted to the class structure. After completing confirmation classes, Cooper was baptized into the Anglican Church on December 3,1911, Coopers mother accompanied her sons back to the United States in August 1912, and Cooper resumed his education at Johnson Grammar School in Helena
5.
Thomas Mitchell (actor)
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Thomas John Mitchell was an American actor. Mitchell was the first male actor to win an Oscar, an Emmy, nominated twice for an Oscar, first for The Hurricane, he won the Best Supporting Actor award for Stagecoach, later, he would be nominated three times for an Emmy Award. He was nominated twice, in 1952 and 1953, for his role in the medical drama The Doctor, nominated again in 1955, for an appearance on a weekly anthology series, he did not win. In addition to being an actor, he was also a director, playwright, Mitchell was born to Irish immigrants in Elizabeth, New Jersey. He came from a family of journalists and civic leaders, both his father and brother were newspaper reporters, and his nephew, James P. Mitchell, later served as Dwight Eisenhowers Secretary of Labor. The younger Mitchell also became a reporter after graduating from St. Patrick High School in Elizabeth. However, Mitchell soon found that he enjoyed writing comic theatrical skits much more than chasing late-breaking scoops, in 1927 Mitchell joined The Lambs. He became an actor in 1913, at one point touring with Charles Coburns Shakespeare Company, even while playing leading roles on Broadway into the 1920s Mitchell would continue to write. One of the plays he co-authored, Little Accident, was made into a film by Hollywood. Mitchells first credited role was in the 1923 film Six Cylinder Love. Mitchells breakthrough role was as the embezzler in Frank Capras film Lost Horizon, following this performance, he was much in demand in Hollywood. That same year, he was nominated for a Best Supporting Actor Academy Award for his performance in The Hurricane, over the next few years, Mitchell appeared in many significant films. Forty-three of the films in which he acted, were made in the 10-year period from 1936-1946. In 1939 alone he had key roles in Stagecoach, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, Only Angels Have Wings, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, in his acceptance speech, he quipped, I didnt know I was that good. He is probably best known to audiences today for his role as sad sack Uncle Billy in Capras Christmas classic Its a Wonderful Life with James Stewart, in 1954, he starred in the television version of the radio program, Mayor of the Town. In 1955, he played Kris Kringle in The 20th Century-Fox Hour version of The Miracle on 34th Street opposite Teresa Wright, in 1959, he starred in thirty-nine episodes of the syndicated television series, Glencannon, which had aired two years earlier in the United Kingdom. In the early 1960s, Mitchell originated the stage role Columbo, later made famous on NBC and ABC television by Peter Falk, Mitchell died at age 70 from peritoneal mesothelioma in Beverly Hills, California. In 1953, Mitchell became the first person to win the crown of acting awards
6.
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
7.
Katy Jurado
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María Cristina Estela Marcela Jurado García, better known as Katy Jurado, was a Mexican-American film, stage and television actress. Jurado began her career in Mexico in 1943. During the 1940s and early 1950s, during the era called the Golden Age of Mexican cinema, Jurado achieved a great popularity, in 1951 she was discovered in Mexico by the filmmaker Budd Boetticher and began her career in Hollywood in the film The Bullfighter & the Lady. Her quality as an actress and her beauty attracted the attention of Hollywood producers. She acted in many Western films of the 1950s and 1960s, including classics of the genre like High Noon, Arrowhead, Broken Lance, One-Eyed Jacks, Jurado made seventy-one films during her career. Like many Latin actors, she was typecast to play roles in American films. By contrast, she had a variety of roles in Mexican films, sometimes she also sang. In her long and successful career, she dabbled in theater and television. Jurado was one of several Mexican actresses to succeed in Hollywood, Others are Dolores del Río, Lupe Vélez and Salma Hayek. Katy Jurado was born as María Cristina Jurado García in México City and her parents were Luis Jurado Ochoa and Vicenta Estela García de la Garza. Her brothers were Luis Raúl and Óscar Sergio and her great-grandfather was of Andalusian origin. She had a stable childhood. Her father was a lawyer, and her mother was a singer and worked for XEW and her mother was sister of the Mexican musician Belisario de Jesús García, author of popular Mexican songs like Las Cuatro Milpas. Jurados cousin Emilio Portes Gil was president of Mexico, Jurado carried out her first studies at a religious school run by nuns in the Guadalupe Inn neighborhood in Mexico City. Eventually she studied for bilingual secretary and she did not want to be an actress, she wanted to be a lawyer. As a beautiful teenager, Katy soon was invited by producers and filmmakers to work as an actress, among them was the popular Mexican filmmaker Emilio Fernández, who offered her a role in his first movie The Isle of Passion. Despite the fact her godfather was the famous Mexican actor Pedro Armendáriz, another filmmaker interested in her was Mauricio de la Serna, who offered Jurado a role in the film No matarás. She signed the contract without authorization from her parents, and when found out
8.
Grace Kelly
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Grace Patricia Kelly was an American actress who became Princess of Monaco after marrying Prince Rainier III, in April 1956. In October 1953, she gained stardom from her performance in the film Mogambo, which won her a Golden Globe Award, subsequently, she had leading roles in five films, including The Country Girl, for which her deglamorized performance earned her an Academy Award for Best Actress. Kelly retired from acting at the age of 26 to marry Rainier and they had three children, Caroline, Albert II, and Stéphanie. Kelly retained her American roots, maintaining dual U. S. and she died on September 14,1982, a day after suffering a stroke while driving her car, which caused a crash. Kelly was born on November 12,1929, at Hahnemann University Hospital in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to an affluent and influential family. Her father, Irish-American John B. Kelly Sr. had won three Olympic gold medals for sculling and owned a successful brickwork contracting company that was well-known on the East Coast. A registered Democrat, he was nominated to be mayor of Philadelphia for the 1935 election, in later years, he served on the Fairmount Park Commission and, during World War II, was appointed by President Roosevelt as National Director of Physical Fitness. Kellys mother was Philadelphia native Margaret Katherine Majer, the daughter of German immigrants, Margaret had taught physical education at the University of Pennsylvania and had been the first woman to coach womens athletics at the institution. She was noted for her beauty and modeled for a time in her youth, after marrying John B. Kelly in 1924, Margaret focused on being a housewife until all her children were of school age, following which she began actively participating in various civic organizations. Kelly had two siblings, Margaret and John Jr. and a younger sister, Elizabeth. The children were raised in the Roman Catholic faith, while attending Ravenhill Academy, a prestigious Catholic girls school, Kelly modeled fashions at local social events with her mother and sisters. In 1942, at the age of 12, she played the lead in Dont Feed the Animals, before graduating in May 1947 from Stevens School, a socially prominent private institution on Walnut Lane in the Northwest Philadelphia neighborhood of Germantown, she acted and danced. Her graduation yearbook listed her favorite actress as Ingrid Bergman and her favorite actor as Joseph Cotten, written in the Stevens Prophecy section was, Miss Grace P. Kelly – a famous star of stage and screen. Owing to her low mathematics scores, Kelly was rejected by Bennington College in July 1947, despite her parents initial disapproval, Kelly decided to pursue her dreams of being an actress. John was particularly displeased with her decision, he viewed acting as a cut above streetwalker. To start her career, she auditioned for the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York, although the school had already met its semester quota, she obtained an interview with the admission officer, Emile Diestel, and was admitted through the influence of George. She began her first term the following October, while at school, she lived in Manhattans Barbizon Hotel for Women, a prestigious establishment which barred men from entering after 10 pm, and she worked as a model to support her studies. Kelly worked diligently and practiced her speech by using a tape recorder and her early acting pursuits led her to the stage, most notably a Broadway debut in Strindbergs The Father alongside Raymond Massey
9.
Otto Kruger
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Otto Kruger was an American actor, originally a Broadway matinee idol, who established a niche as a charming villain in films, such as Hitchcocks Saboteur. He also appeared in CBSs Perry Mason and other TV series and he was the grandnephew of South African president Paul Kruger. Born in Toledo, Ohio, Kruger was of German descent and he was the son of Bernard Alben Kruger and Elizabeth Winers Kruger and the grandnephew of South African pioneer and president Paul Kruger. Otto was musically trained, but switched careers and became an actor, after studying engineering at the University of Michigan, he studied briefly at Columbia University. Making his Broadway debut at the age of fifteen, Kruger quickly became a matinee idol, though he started to get noticed in the early 1920s, it was the 1930s when his career was at its height. His screen debut came in Turn Back the Clock and he made an appearance in the film Chained, though he played the hero on occasion, for most of his career, he played the main villain or a charming or corrupt businessman. One of his best known roles was in the Douglas Sirk film Magnificent Obsession, Kruger played the supporting role of Judge Percy Mettrick, who unsuccessfully urges Will Kane to leave town in High Noon. Kruger is also remembered for playing the villain Tobin in Alfred Hitchcocks spy film Saboteur and his television roles included those of Dr. Jones. Kruger made four guest appearances on CBSs Perry Mason, in his first two appearances, The Case of the Grumbling Grandfather in 1961, and The Case of the Counterfeit Crank in 1962, he was cast as Masons client, and in both episodes was the title character. In his final appearance in 1964, he played Judge Norris in The Case of the Missing Button, on March 20,1920, Kruger secretly married Broadway actress Susan Sue MacManamy. Their daughter, Ottilie, was also an actress and was the first wife of pioneering cinematographer Gayne Rescher, Kruger died at the Motion Picture and Television Country House in Woodland Hills, California, on his 89th birthday. Kruger was granted two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, one for TV and one for film, Mr. Kruger appeared as Mr. Hardecker in After Dinner Story from the Suspense radio program series. Otto Kruger at the Internet Movie Database Otto Kruger at the Internet Broadway Database Otto Kruger at Find a Grave
10.
Lon Chaney Jr.
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He also portrayed Lennie Small in Of Mice and Men. Chaney had English, French, and Irish ancestry, and his career in movies and television spanned four decades and his parents troubled marriage ended in divorce in 1913 following his mothers scandalous public suicide attempt in Los Angeles. Young Creighton lived in homes and boarding schools until 1916. From an early age, he worked hard to get out of his famous fathers shadow, in young adulthood, his father discouraged him from show business, and he attended business college and became successful in a Los Angeles appliance corporation. Creighton, who had working for a plumbing company, married Dorothy Hinckley the daughter of his employer Ralph Hinckley. But Creightons life changed forever when his father was diagnosed with throat cancer, many articles and biographies over the years report that Creighton was led to believe his mother had died while he was a boy, and was only made aware she lived after his fathers death. Creighton always maintained he had a tough childhood and it was only after his fathers death that Chaney started acting in films, beginning with an uncredited bit part in the 1932 film Girl Crazy. He appeared in films under his name until 1935, when he began to be billed as Lon Chaney Jr. From 1942 onward, he was billed as Lon Chaney although the Jr. was usually added by others when they referred to him to him from his more famous father. Chaney first achieved stardom and critical acclaim in the 1939 feature film version of Of Mice and Men, Chaney was asked to test for the role of Quasimodo for the 1939 remake of The Hunchback of Notre Dame. The role went to Charles Laughton, with his third-billed character role in One Million B. C. as Victor Matures caveman father, Chaney began to be viewed as a character actor in the mold of his father. Put under contract by Universal Pictures Co. Inc, Chaney was cast in Man-Made Monster, a science-fiction horror thriller originally written with Karloff in mind. He also played the character, Count Alucard—Dracula spelled in reverse—in Son of Dracula. Chaney is thus the only actor to portray all four of Universals major horror characters, the Wolf Man, Frankensteins Monster, the Mummy and he also starred in a series of radio show appearances, including psychological mysteries on the Inner Sanctum radio show. Chaney also appeared in on the stage in productions as Born Yesterday. Kramer told the press at the time whenever a script came in with a role too difficult for most actors in Hollywood. He became quite popular with baby boomers after Universal released its back catalog of films to television in 1957. The series ended after 39 episodes, roger Smith played the young Creighton
11.
Harry Morgan
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Harry Morgan was an American actor and director whose television and film career spanned six decades. Morgan appeared in more than 100 films, Morgan was born in Detroit, Michigan, in 1915, the son of Hannah and Henry Bratsberg, who were of Swedish and Norwegian ancestry. In his interview with the Archive of American Television, Morgan spelled his Norwegian family surname as Bratsberg, many sources, however, including some family records, list the spelling as Bratsburg. According to one source, when Morgans father Henry registered at junior high school, Morgan was raised in Muskegon, Michigan, and graduated from Muskegon High School in 1933, where he achieved distinction as a statewide debating champion. He originally aspired to a J. D. degree, and he began acting on stage under his birth name, in 1937, joining the Group Theatre in New York City formed by Harold Clurman, Cheryl Crawford, and Lee Strasberg in 1931. Morgan also did summer stock at the Pine Brook Country Club located in the countryside of Nichols, Morgan made his screen debut in the 1942 movie To the Shores of Tripoli. His screen name later became Henry Harry Morgan and eventually Harry Morgan, in the same year, Morgan appeared in the movie Orchestra Wives as a young man pushing his way to the front of a ballroom crowd with his date to hear Glenn Millers band play. A few years later, still credited as Henry Morgan, he was cast in the role of pianist Chummy MacGregor in the 1954 biopic The Glenn Miller Story. In his later career, he appeared in Inherit the Wind, How the West Was Won, John Goldfarb, Please Come Home, Frankie and Johnny, The Flim Flam Man. Snowball Express, The Shootist, The Wild Wild West Revisited, Morgan hosted the NBC radio series Mystery in the Air starring Peter Lorre in 1947. On CBS, he played Pete Porter in Pete and Gladys, Pete and Gladys was a spin-off of December Bride, starring Spring Byington, a show in which Morgan had a popular recurring role. In 1950, Morgan appeared as an obtrusive, alcohol-addled hotel clerk in the Dragnet radio episode The Big Boys and that same year, he played the mobster Bugs Moran in an episode of ABCs The Untouchables, with Robert Stack. In 1963, he was cast as Sheriff Ernie Backwater on Richard Boones Have Gun - Will Travel Western series on CBS, in the 1964–1965 season, Morgan co-starred as Seldom Jackson in the 26-week NBC comedy/drama Kentucky Jones, starring Dennis Weaver, formerly of Gunsmoke. Morgan is even more widely recognized as Officer Bill Gannon, Joe Fridays partner in the version of Dragnet. Morgan later worked on two shows for Webb, 1971s The D. A. and the 1972–1974 Western series. Morgan also appeared in at least one episode of Gunsmoke, the following season, Morgan joined the cast of M*A*S*H as Colonel Sherman T. Potter. A fan of the sitcom, Morgan replaced McLean Stevenson, who left the show at the end of the previous season, unlike Stevensons character Henry Blake, Potter was a career Army officer who was a firm yet good-humored, caring father figure to those under his command. In 1980, Morgan won an Emmy award for his performance on M*A*S*H, when asked if he was a better actor after working with the shows talented cast, Morgan responded, I dont know about that, but its made me a better human being
12.
Eve McVeagh
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Eve McVeagh was an American actress of film, television, stage, and radio. Her career spanned 52 years from her first stage role through her last stage appearance, McVeaghs roles included leading and supporting parts as well as smaller character roles in which she proved a gifted character actress. After the well received Broadway run of Snafu, McVeagh took over the lead at The National Theater in Washington DC in 1945. In 1947, McVeagh played a role opposite Billie Burke. After this stage work, McVeagh traveled back to her base in Los Angeles. She starred in West Coast premieres of Broadway shows at the Pasadena Playhouse and her Hollywood theater work included one year as Martha in Whos Afraid of Virginia Woolf. Her stage career continued in Las Vegas in 1981 in The Ninety Day Mistress playing the mother of June Wilkinson, British actress and she continued to act in small stage productions including several with the award winning Theatre Forty Company in Beverly Hills. In Hollywood, her role was as a member of a lesbian couple in 1989 concluding an over 50 year stage career. McVeaghs first film appearance was a role in the classic High Noon in which she played Mildred Fuller alongside Gary Cooper. In the early 1950s she was under contract with Columbia Pictures, ms. McVeagh was also featured opposite Richard Widmark and Lauren Bacall in The Cobweb as Shirley Irwin. Her final co-starring film role was in the independent film Money to Burn as Vivian and her last onscreen appearance was a cameo role in Creator with Peter OToole. Ms. McVeaghs contributions to film were recognized by the bestowal of full voting membership in the branch of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts. Her contributions in film spanned 33 years, McVeaghs career in television began in 1946 as a primary cast member in the first American network Soap Opera, Faraway Hill. Other notable early television series on which she guest starred included Dragnet and she was featured in three episodes of Perry Mason and two episodes of The Twilight Zone, and was a regular guest on The Johnny Carson Show. Alfred Hitchcock notably hired actors he liked regularly, McVeagh was featured in four episodes of Alfred Hitchcock Presents and two episodes of The Alfred Hitchcock Hour. Additionally McVeagh co-starred on the Hitchcock-directed episode, Incident at a Corner, continuing in the 1970s, she appeared in the 1972 television movie The Daughters of Joshua Cabe. McVeagh was a regular on The Red Skelton Show for its last season and she also regularly performed in guest spots in Room 222 and McMillan & Wife. A favorite of Lucille Ball going back to I Love Lucy and she rounded out the 1970s on a high note as socialite Helen Carrington in the 1979 critically acclaimed television movie Murder by Natural Causes with Hal Holbrook
13.
Dimitri Tiomkin
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Dimitri Zinovievich Tiomkin was a Russian-American film score composer and conductor. Musically trained in Russia, he was best known for his scores, including Duel in the Sun, Red River, High Noon, The Big Sky, Gunfight at the O. K. Corral. Dimitri Tiomkin was born in Kremenchuk, Ukraine, then part of the Russian Empire and his family was of Jewish descent, his father Zinovy Tiomkin was a distinguished pathologist and associate of Professor Paul Ehrlich, and later a notable Zionist leader. His mother, Marie Tartakovskaya, was a musician who began teaching the young Tiomkin piano at an early age and her hope was to have her son become a professional pianist, according to Tiomkin biographer, Christopher Palmer. Tiomkin described his mother as being small, blonde, merry and he also studied piano with Isabelle Vengerova. He supported himself while living in St. Petersburg by playing piano accompaniment for numerous Russian silent films, because the revolution had diminished opportunities for classical musicians in Russia, he moved to Berlin after the Russian Revolution to live with his father. In Berlin, from 1921 to 1923, he studied with the pianist Ferruccio Busoni and Busonis disciples Egon Petri and he composed light classical and popular music, and made his performing debut as a pianist playing Franz Liszts Piano Concerto No.2 with the Berlin Philharmonic. He moved to Paris with his roommate, Michael Khariton, to perform a piano duo repertory together, Tiomkin and Raschs professional relationship evolved into a personal one, and they married in 1927. While in New York Tiomkin gave a recital at Carnegie Hall which featured music by Maurice Ravel, Alexander Scriabin, Francis Poulenc, and Alexandre Tansman. He and his new wife went on tour to Paris in 1928, after the stock market crash in October 1929 reduced work opportunities in New York, Tiomkin and his wife moved on to Hollywood, where she was hired to supervise dance numbers in MGM film musicals. He worked on minor films, some without being credited under his own name. Although he worked on smaller film projects, his goal was still to become a concert pianist. However, that ended abruptly in 1937 when he broke his arm. Tiomkin received his first break from Columbia director Frank Capra, who picked him to write, the film won Tiomkin significant recognition in Hollywood, and came out in the year he became a U. S. citizen. In his autobiography, Please Dont Hate Me, Tiomkin recalls how the assignment by Capra forced him to first confront a director in a matter of music style, e gave me the job without reservation. I could write the score without interference, and he would hear it when it was done, Lost Horizon offered me a superb chance to do something big. I thought I might be going a little too far in the matter of expense, No, Dimi, the lama is a simple man. His greatness is in being simple, for his death the music should be simple, nothing more than the muttering rhythm of a drum
14.
United Artists
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United Artists is an American film and television entertainment studio. The studio was bought, sold and restructured over the ensuing century. On December 14 of the year, however, MGM acquired the 48% stake of UAMG it did not own. UA was incorporated as a joint venture on February 5,1919, by Pickford, Chaplin, Fairbanks, each held a 20% stake, with the remaining 20% held by lawyer William Gibbs McAdoo. The idea for the venture originated with Fairbanks, Chaplin, Pickford, already Hollywood veterans, the four stars talked of forming their own company to better control their own work. They were spurred on by established Hollywood producers and distributors who were tightening their control over salaries and creative decisions. With the addition of Griffith, planning began, but Hart bowed out before anything was formalized, when he heard about their scheme, Richard A. Rowland, head of Metro Pictures, is said to have observed, The inmates are taking over the asylum. The four partners, with advice from McAdoo, formed their distribution company and its headquarters was established at 729 Seventh Avenue in New York City. The original terms called for each of the stars to produce five pictures each year, UAs first film was a success. Without selling stock to the public, following the other studios, as a result, production was slow and the company distributed an annual average of five films during its first five years. By 1924 Griffith had dropped out and the company was facing a crisis, veteran producer Joseph Schenck was hired as president. He had been producing pictures for a decade, and he brought commitments for films starring his wife, Norma Talmadge, his sister-in-law, Constance Talmadge, contracts were signed with independent producers, most notably Samuel Goldwyn, and Howard Hughes. In 1933, Schenck organized a new company with Darryl F. Zanuck, called Twentieth Century Pictures, Schenck formed a separate partnership with Pickford and Chaplin to buy and build theaters under the United Artists name. They began international operations, first in Canada and then in Mexico, by the end of the 1930s, United Artists was represented in over 40 countries. When he was denied a share in 1935, Schenck resigned. He set up 20th Century Pictures merger with Fox Film Corporation to form 20th Century Fox, al Lichtman succeeded Schenck as company president. Other independent producers distributed through United Artists in the 1930s including, Walt Disney Productions, Alexander Korda, Hal Roach, David O. Selznick, as the years passed, and the dynamics of the business changed, these producing partners drifted away. Samuel Goldwyn Productions and Disney went to RKO, and Wanger to Universal Pictures, in the late 1930s, UA turned a profit
15.
Western (genre)
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Cowboys and gunslingers typically wear Stetson hats, bandannas, spurs, cowboy boots and buckskins. Other characters include Native Americans, bandits, lawmen, bounty hunters, outlaws, mounted cavalry, settlers, Westerns often stress the harshness of the wilderness and frequently set the action in an arid, desolate landscape of deserts and mountains. Often, the vast landscape plays an important role, presenting a. mythic vision of the plains, specific settings include ranches, small frontier towns, saloons, railways and isolated military forts of the Wild West. Many Westerns use a plot of depicting a crime, then showing the pursuit of the wrongdoer, ending in revenge and retribution. The Western was the most popular Hollywood genre, from the early 20th century to the 1960s, Western films first became well-attended in the 1930s. John Fords landmark Western adventure Stagecoach became one of the biggest hits in 1939, Westerns were very popular throughout the 1950s and 1960s. Many of the most acclaimed Westerns were released during this time – including High Noon, Shane, The Searchers, the Western depicts a society organized around codes of honor and personal, direct or private justice–frontier justice–dispensed by gunfights. These honor codes are played out through depictions of feuds or individuals seeking personal revenge or retribution against someone who has wronged them. The popular perception of the Western is a story that centers on the life of a semi-nomadic wanderer, a showdown or duel at high noon featuring two or more gunfighters is a stereotypical scene in the popular conception of Westerns. In some ways, such protagonists may be considered the descendants of the knight errant which stood at the center of earlier extensive genres such as the Arthurian Romances. And like knights errant, the heroes of Westerns frequently rescue damsels in distress, similarly, the wandering protagonists of Westerns share many characteristics with the ronin in modern Japanese culture. The Western typically takes these elements and uses them to tell simple morality tales, Westerns often stress the harshness and isolation of the wilderness and frequently set the action in an arid, desolate landscape. Apart from the wilderness, it is usually the saloon that emphasizes that this is the Wild West, it is the place to go for music, women, gambling, drinking, brawling and shooting. The American Film Institute defines western films as those set in the American West that embodies the spirit, the struggle, the term Western, used to describe a narrative film genre, appears to have originated with a July 1912 article in Motion Picture World Magazine. Most of the characteristics of Western films were part of 19th century popular Western fiction and were firmly in place before film became an art form. Protagonists ride between dusty towns and cattle ranches on their trusty steeds, Western films were enormously popular in the silent film era. With the advent of sound in 1927-28, the major Hollywood studios rapidly abandoned Westerns, leaving the genre to smaller studios and these smaller organizations churned out countless low-budget features and serials in the 1930s. Released through United Artists, Stagecoach made John Wayne a mainstream star in the wake of a decade of headlining B westerns
16.
Marshal
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Marshal is a term used in several official titles in various branches of society. As marshals became trusted members of the courts of Medieval Europe, during the last few centuries, it has been used for elevated offices, such as in military rank and civilian law enforcement. Marshal is an ancient loanword from Old French, which in turn is borrowed from Old Frankish *marhskalk, being still evident in Middle Dutch maerscalc, marscal and it is cognate with Old High German mar-scalc id. modern German Marschall. It originally and literally meant horse servant, from Germanic *marha- horse and this horse servant origin is retained in the current French name for farrier, maréchal-ferrant. The late Roman and Byzantine title of comes stabuli was adopted as a Latin analogue, which has become the French connétable and, derived from the French, finally, in Byzantium a marshal with elevated authority, notably a borderlands military command, is also known as an Exarch. In many countries, the rank of marshal, cf. field marshal, is the highest army rank, the equivalent navy rank is often admiral of the fleet. Marshals are typically, but not exclusively, appointed only in wartime, in many countries, especially in Europe, the special symbol of a marshal is a baton, and their insignia often incorporate batons. In some countries, the marshal is used instead of general in the higher air force ranks. The four highest Royal Air Force ranks are marshal of the Royal Air Force, air marshal, air marshal. The five-star rank of marshal of the Air Force is used by some Commonwealth, in the French Army and most National Armies modeled upon the French system, maréchal des logis is a cavalry term equivalent to sergeant. Some historical rulers have used special marshal titles to reward certain subjects, though not strictly military ranks, these honorary titles have been exclusively bestowed upon successful military leaders, such as the famous grand marshal of Ayacucho Antonio José de Sucre. Most famous are the Marshals of France, not least under Napoléon I, in England during the First Barons War the title Marshal of the Army of God was bestowed upon Robert Fitzwalter by election. Both the Soviet Union and Russia have army general as well as marshal in their rank system, the relationships between them is unresolved. Marshal of the Soviet Union Chief marshal of an arm was used in five Soviet military branches – the air force, artillery, armoured troops, engineer troops. Marshal of an arm was used in five Soviet military branches – the air force, artillery, armoured troops, engineer troops. Marshal of an arm is considered equivalent to the rank general of the army, which was used in the infantry. The function of the Marshal of the Court varies according to national tradition, often, the charge includes also the honorary privilege as chief of the protocol to announce formally the arrival of VIP guests at audiences, state dinners, and conferences in the monarchs premises. This office was made hereditary in the high nobility, e. g. the English Earl Marshal
17.
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
18.
Golden Globe Award
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Golden Globe Awards are accolades bestowed by the 93 members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, recognizing excellence in film and television, both domestic and foreign. The annual ceremony at which the awards are presented is a part of the film industrys awards season. The 74th Golden Globe Awards, honoring the best in film, the 1st Golden Globe Awards, honoring the best achievements in 1943 filmmaking, was held in January 1944, at the 20th Century-Fox studios. Subsequent ceremonies were held at venues throughout the next decade, including the Beverly Hills Hotel. In 1950, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association made the decision to establish an honorary award to recognize outstanding contributions to the entertainment industry. Recognizing its subject as a figure within the entertainment industry. The official name of the award became the Cecil B. In 1963, the Miss Golden Globe concept was introduced, in its inaugural year, two Miss Golden Globes were named, one for film and one for television. The two Miss Golden Globes named that year were Eva Six and Donna Douglas, respectively, in 2009, the Golden Globe statuette was redesigned. It was unveiled at a conference at the Beverly Hilton prior to the show. The broadcast of the Golden Globe Awards, telecast to 167 countries worldwide, generally ranks as the third most-watched awards show each year, behind only the Oscars, gervais returned to host the 68th and 69th Golden Globe Awards the next two years. Tina Fey and Amy Poehler hosted the 70th, 71st and 72nd Golden Globe Awards in 2015, the Golden Globe Awards theme song, which debuted in 2012, was written by Japanese musician and songwriter Yoshiki Hayashi. On January 7,2008, it was announced due to the 2007–2008 Writers Guild of America strike. The ceremony was faced with a threat by striking writers to picket the event, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association was forced to adopt another approach for the broadcast. In acting categories, Meryl Streep holds the record for the most competitive Golden Globe wins with eight, however, including honorary awards, such as the Henrietta Award, World Film Favorite Actor/Actress Award, or Cecil B. DeMille Award, Barbra Streisand leads with nine, additionally, Streisand won for composing the song Evergreen, producing the Best Picture, and directing Yentl in 1984. Jack Nicholson, Angela Lansbury, Alan Alda and Shirley MacLaine have six awards each, behind them are Rosalind Russell and Jessica Lange with five wins. Meryl Streep also holds the record for most nominations with thirty, at the 46th Golden Globe Awards an anomaly occurred, a three way-tie for Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama
19.
National Film Registry
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The National Film Registry is the United States National Film Preservation Boards selection of films for preservation in the Library of Congress. The NFPB, established by the National Film Preservation Act of 1988, was reauthorized by acts of Congress in 1992,1996,2005, and again in October 2008. The NFPBs mission, to which the NFR contributes, is to ensure the survival, conservation, the 1996 law also created the non-profit National Film Preservation Foundation which, although affiliated with the NFPB, raises money from the private sector. To be eligible for inclusion, a film must be at least ten years old, for the first selection in 1989, the public nominated almost 1,000 films for consideration. Members of the NFPB then developed individual ballots of possible films for inclusion, the ballots were tabulated into a list of 25 films which was then modified by Librarian of Congress James H. Billington and his staff at the Library for the final selection. Since 1997, members of the public have been able to nominate up to 50 films a year for the NFPB, the NFR includes films ranging from Hollywood classics to orphan films. A film is not required to be feature-length, nor is it required to have been released in the traditional sense. As of the 2016 listing, there are 700 films preserved in the Registry, currently, the earliest listed film is Newark Athlete, and the most recent is 13 Lakes. Counting the 11 multi-year serials in the NFR once each by year of completion, the years with the most films selected are 1928,1939, the time between a films debut and its selection varies greatly. The longest span is 119 years, Newark Athlete was originally released in 1891, the shortest span is the minimum 10 years, this distinction is shared by Raging Bull, Do the Right Thing, Goodfellas, Toy Story, Fargo and 13 Lakes. For purposes of this list, multi-year serials are counted once by year of completion
20.
Library of Congress
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The Library of Congress is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the de facto national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the United States, the Library is housed in three buildings on Capitol Hill in Washington, D. C. it also maintains the Packard Campus in Culpeper, Virginia, which houses the National Audio-Visual Conservation Center. The Library of Congress claims to be the largest library in the world and its collections are universal, not limited by subject, format, or national boundary, and include research materials from all parts of the world and in more than 450 languages. Two-thirds of the books it acquires each year are in other than English. The Library of Congress moved to Washington in 1800, after sitting for years in the temporary national capitals of New York. John J. Beckley, who became the first Librarian of Congress, was two dollars per day and was required to also serve as the Clerk of the House of Representatives. The small Congressional Library was housed in the United States Capitol for most of the 19th century until the early 1890s, most of the original collection had been destroyed by the British in 1814, during the War of 1812. To restore its collection in 1815, the bought from former president Thomas Jefferson his entire personal collection of 6,487 books. After a period of growth, another fire struck the Library in its Capitol chambers in 1851, again destroying a large amount of the collection. The Library received the right of transference of all copyrighted works to have two copies deposited of books, maps, illustrations and diagrams printed in the United States. It also began to build its collections of British and other European works and it included several stories built underground of steel and cast iron stacks. Although the Library is open to the public, only high-ranking government officials may check out books, the Library promotes literacy and American literature through projects such as the American Folklife Center, American Memory, Center for the Book, and Poet Laureate. James Madison is credited with the idea for creating a congressional library, part of the legislation appropriated $5,000 for the purchase of such books as may be necessary for the use of Congress. And for fitting up an apartment for containing them. Books were ordered from London and the collection, consisting of 740 books and 3 maps, was housed in the new Capitol, as president, Thomas Jefferson played an important role in establishing the structure of the Library of Congress. The new law also extended to the president and vice president the ability to borrow books and these volumes had been left in the Senate wing of the Capitol. One of the only congressional volumes to have survived was a government account book of receipts and it was taken as a souvenir by a British Commander whose family later returned it to the United States government in 1940. Within a month, former president Jefferson offered to sell his library as a replacement
21.
New Mexico Territory
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In 1846, during the Mexican-American War, the U. S. provisional government of New Mexico was established. After the Mexican Republic formally ceded the region to the U. S. A. in 1848, earlier in the year 1850, a bid for New Mexico statehood was underway under a proposed state constitution prohibiting slavery. The request was approved at the time that the Utah Territory was created to the north. Texas raised great opposition to this plan, as it claimed much of the same territory, in addition, slaveholders worried about not being able to expand slavery to the west of their current slave states. The Compromise of 1850 put an end to the push for immediate New Mexico statehood, approved by the United States Congress in September 1850, the legislation provided for the establishment of New Mexico Territory and Utah Territory. It also firmly established the western boundary of Texas. The status of slavery during the territorial period provoked considerable debate, the granting of statehood was up to a Congress sharply divided on the slavery issue. Regardless of its status, slavery was rare in antebellum New Mexico. Black slaves never numbered more than about a dozen, as one of the final attempts at compromise to avoid the Civil War, in December 1860, a U. S. House of Representatives committee proposed to admit New Mexico as a slave state immediately. As in New Mexico, slavery was already limited, due to earlier Mexican traditions, laws. The northwestern corner of New Mexico Territory was included in Arizona Territory until it was added to the southernmost part of the newly admitted State of Nevada in 1864, eventually Arizona Territory was organized as the State of Arizona. The Purchase treaty defines the new border as up the middle of river to the point where the parallel of 31°47 north latitude crosses the same 31°47′0″N 106°31′41. Although this area was smaller than what had been included in the failed statehood proposal of early 1850, the Gadsden Purchase was acquired by the United States from Mexico in 1853/1854, arranged by the then-American ambassador to Mexico, James Gadsden. The land of 29,640 square miles provided an easily constructed route for a future southern transcontinental railroad line for the future Southern Pacific Railroad. The Colorado Territory was established by the Colorado Organic Act on February 28,1861 and this Act removed the Colorado lands from the New Mexico Territory. This Act left the New Mexico Territory with boundaries identical to the eventual State of New Mexico for a half-century until admitted to the Union in 1912 as the 47th state, as the route to California, New Mexico Territory was disputed territory during the American Civil War. S. Albuquerque, NM, University of New Mexico Press,2014
22.
Will Kane
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William Will Kane is the protagonist of the film High Noon. In High Noon, Will Kane is a marshal of the fictional Hadleyville. It is both his wedding day and his last day as a marshal, Kane, and the townsfolk who remember Miller, know Millers visit is for one reason, revenge. Upon his conviction years earlier, Miller swore he would kill Will Kane, Kanes friends tell him to leave town, which he does briefly, but he feels that running away is not a solution, so he returns to face Miller and the gang. Will tries to support from his friends and others. Will chooses to stand up against this gang alone, even though it could result in his own death, after a brief gun fight in town, Kane kills the four men. Amy also saves his life by giving up her pacifist religion to one of the men. As townspeople come out to offer congratulations, Kane takes off his tin star, contrary to popular myth, he does not step on it. The movie ends with Kane and his bride driving out of town to destinations unknown, despite the iconic portrayal of the character by Gary Cooper, Cooper was not producer Stanley Kramers first choice to play Marshal Will Kane. Nevertheless, Will Kane is one of Coopers most famous roles, Lee Majors explained that he accepted the role in the sequel, because Ive always admired Gary Cooper. And I wanted to do a Western again, ron Hardy, who directed the recent remake, argued that Tom Skerrit was an ideal actor to take over the role in the remake. Hardy explained that like Cooper, he is Mr. Everyday, people know who Tom Skerritt is. They dont treat him like a superstar, in 1952, Gary Cooper won a Golden Globe Award and his second Academy Award for his portrayal of Will Kane. The magazine included him on its list because in High Noon, Gary Coopers retiring lawman faces down a killer and his goons despite being deserted by the rest of the town. Entertainment Weekly went on to cite his most heroic move as when Kanes last ally gets cold feet, he tells him to go to his family, Kane was also ranked by the American Film Institute as the fifth greatest movie hero of all time. Nevertheless, although Coopers performance has received praise as indicated above, Majors. The New York Daily News referred to Lee Majors as sadly miscast as Kane in the sequel, Marshal Will Kane from High Noon, The Internet Movie Database
23.
Ian MacDonald (actor)
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Ian MacDonald was an American actor and producer during the 1940s and 1950s. He is perhaps best known as villain Frank Miller in High Noon, in the story line Dull Knife leads his Indians from their reservation in Oklahoma Territory to their previously promised homeland in Montana. McDonald also played the uncredited colonel in the movie Battleground who delivered the Nuts reply to the German officers demanding that the American forces surrender, the unknown colonel in reality was Col. Joseph W. Harper, commanding officer of the 327th Glider Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division
24.
Sheb Wooley
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Shelby Fredrick Sheb Wooley was a character actor and singer, best known for his 1958 novelty song The Purple People Eater. Wooley is also credited as the actor who produced the Wilhelm scream sound effect. Wooley was born in Erick, Oklahoma, and was raised on a ranch and he learned to ride horses at an early age and was a working cowboy and rodeo rider. As a teenager Sheb formed and played in a band named the Plainview Melody Boys. Wooley tried to enlist during World War II, but was turned down for service because of his rodeo injuries. Instead, he worked in the oil industry and as a welder, in 1946, he moved to Fort Worth, Texas, and became a country and western musician. He married Edna Ethel Bunt in Fort Worth and they moved to Hollywood in 1949, when they crossed the famous intersection of Hollywood and Vine on Christmas Day 1949, it was snowing. Wooley appeared in dozens of Western films from the 1950s through 1990s, in 1950, he appeared in Rocky Mountain with such veteran actors as Errol Flynn and Slim Pickens. In 1954, he played outlaw Jim Younger in the syndicated Western series Stories of the Century, Wooley appeared many times in the syndicated Western series, The Range Rider, starring Jock Mahoney and Dick Jones. He appeared in a 1953 episode of the The Lone Ranger entitled Wake of War and he appeared five times between 1951 and 1955 in another syndicated series, The Adventures of Kit Carson. He guest starred in The Cisco Kid in the role of Bill Bronson, in 1958, he played Baxter in the movie Terror in a Texas Town. He appeared twice in the ABC Western series, The Life, wooleys big break came when he was cast as the drover Pete Nolan in the CBS western Rawhide with Eric Fleming, Clint Eastwood, and Paul Brinegar. During this time Sheb wrote and directed some of the episodes, Wooley continued to act in major films including, The Outlaw Josey Wales and Giant. Wooley co-starred as Cletus Summers, the principal in the Gene Hackman film, in the 1940s, Wooley took an interest in his wifes young cousin, Roger Miller, who also grew up in Erick, Oklahoma. Wooley taught Miller how to play chords and bought him a fiddle. In the late 1950s, Wooley embarked on a career of his own with one of his HIT songs that helped him to become famous. He followed with a series of novelty hits as well as classic pop recordings and many recordings classified as Country and Country. Wooley wrote the song for the long-running television show Hee Haw as well as being a premiere regular on the hit television series HEE HAW that eventually made over 587 episodes
25.
Lee Van Cleef
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Van Cleef had suffered serious injuries in a car crash, and had begun to lose interest in his apparently waning career by the time Sergio Leone gave him a major role in For a Few Dollars More. The film made him a draw, especially in Europe. Van Cleef, born of Dutch ancestry on January 9,1925 in Somerville, New Jersey, was the son of Marion Van Fleet and Clarence LeRoy Van Cleef. At age 17, he obtained his high school early in his senior year in order to enlist in the United States Navy in September,1942. After basic training and further training at the Naval Fleet Sound School, he was assigned to a chaser and then to a minesweeper, USS Incredible. The ship initially patrolled the Caribbean, then moved to the Mediterranean, in January 1945, Incredible moved to the Black Sea, and performed sweeping duties out of the Soviet Navy base at Sevastopol, Crimea. Afterwards the ship performed air-sea rescue patrols in the Black Sea, before returning to Palermo, by the time of his discharge in March 1946, he had achieved the rank of Sonarman First Class, and earned his mine sweeper patch. He had been awarded the Bronze Star and the Good Conduct Medal, Van Cleef was a rare case of a person known to genuinely have heterochromatic eyes. After leaving the Navy, Van Cleef read for a part in Our Town at the Little Theater Group in Clinton, from there, he continued to meet with the group and audition for parts. The next biggest part was that of the boxer, Joe Pendleton, during this time he was observed by visiting talent scouts who were impressed by Van Cleefs stage presence and delivery. One of these scouts later took him to New York City talent agent Maynard Morris of the MCA agency who then sent him to the Alvin Theater for an audition. During a performance of Mister Roberts in Los Angeles, he was noticed by film director Stanley Kramer who offered Van Cleef a role in his upcoming film High Noon. Aside from westerns and the fiction films, three of his early major roles were in noir films, Kansas City Confidential, Vice Squad. Van Cleef appeared six times between 1951 and 1955 on the syndicated western series The Adventures of Kit Carson, starring Bill Williams. He was cast three times, including the role of Rocky Hatch in the episode Greed Rides the Range, of another syndicated western series, in 1952, he was cast in the episode Formula for Fear of the western aviation series Sky King. He appeared in episode 82 of the TV series The Lone Ranger in 1952, in 1954, Van Cleef appeared as Jesse James in the syndicated series, Stories of the Century. In 1955, he was cast twice on another syndicated western series and that same year, he guest-starred on the CBS western series, Brave Eagle. In 1955, he played one of the two villains in an episode of The Adventures of Champion the Wonder Horse
26.
Robert J. Wilke
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Robert J. Wilke was an American film and television actor noted primarily for his roles as villains, mostly in Westerns. Prior to his film and television career, Wilke was a star left half-back for the University of Notre Dame Fighting Irish and he was the rushing leader for Notre Dame in 1936 and 1937. He was an All-Star Game Participant in 1937, on November 21,1936, Wilke scored two touchdowns, both by way of Notre Dames famous Sucker Play or Perfect Play, versus then #1-ranked Northwestern, crushing Northwesterns Championship hopes. This game was ranked the #2 Greatest Victory in Notre Dame Stadium, after his collegiate football career, Wilke started as a stuntman in the 1930s and his first appearance on screen was in San Francisco. Unlike Lee Van Cleef, Wilke never got the big break but did appear in many, if not most television westerns, including seven episodes each of NBCs Laramie and CBSs Gunsmoke. Wilke appeared eight times from 1951 to 1953 on the western series The Range Rider, starring Jock Mahoney. Wilke appeared as a dishonest fight promoter in the 1958 episode The Fighter of NBCs western series, Bat Masterson, having engaged on screen in fisticuffs with Gene Barry, who played Masterson. In 1960, Wilke was cast as Red Dog Hanlon in the episode End of a Dream of the NBC western series, Riverboat, starring Darren McGavin and Noah Beery, Jr. In 1961, Wilke appeared as Gil Fletcher, a marshal in Billings, Montana. Series character Jess Harper, played by Robert Fuller, is riding shotgun on the stage, Kimball regrets taking part in the crime and tries belatedly to make amends, as Fletcher tries to seize the loot stashed in an abandoned mine by Darrin and Kimball. Series character Slim Sherman, played by John Smith, shoots Fletcher in self-defense and remarks that he had never before drawn on a lawman, ann Doran co-starred as the Jameses mother, Zerelda James Samuel. In 1960, Wilke had portrayed Jesse James associate, Cole Younger, in the short-lived NBC western series Overland Trail with William Bendix, in his only appearance on Perry Mason, Wilke played Deputy Sheriff Connors in the 1963 episode, The Case of the Drowsy Mosquito. Wilke played a hitman in The Far Country and continued to work steadily in films, more western credits followed in Man of the West and numerous lesser known films. In 1960, Wilke played a cameo in The Magnificent Seven as the bully, Wallace. He had a sympathetic role in Days of Heaven as farmer Sam Shepards ally. In 1966, Wilke was cast as the courageous Sheriff McBain in the episode Brute Angel of the western series Death Valley Days. In the story line McBain must arrest the young cut-throat Sam Bolt, McBain prays for divine intervention, his friend Pony Cragin hears the prayer and removes bullets from Bolts gun prior to the arrest attempt. Jean Engstrom is cast as McBains wife, Esther, outside of westerns, Wilke appeared in such films as From Here to Eternity and 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, in which he was cast as the first mate of the Nautilus
27.
Quaker
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Quakers are members of a historically Christian group of religious movements generally known as the Religious Society of Friends. They include those with evangelical, holiness, liberal, and traditional Quaker understandings of Christianity, to differing extents, the different movements that make up the Religious Society of Friends/Friends Church avoid creeds and hierarchical structures. In 2007, there were about 359,000 adult Quakers, in 2012, there were 377,055 adult Quakers. Some meetings of both types have Recorded Ministers in their meetings—Friends recognised for their gift of vocal ministry, the first Quakers lived in mid-17th century England. The movement arose from the Legatine-Arians and other dissenting Protestant groups, some of these early Quaker ministers were women. They emphasized a personal and direct experience of Christ, acquired through both direct religious experience and the reading and studying of the Bible. Quakers focused their private life on developing behaviour and speech reflecting emotional purity, in the past, Quakers were known for their use of thee as an ordinary pronoun, refusal to participate in war, plain dress, refusal to swear oaths, opposition to slavery, and teetotalism. & J. Clark and the big three British confectionery makers Cadbury, Rowntree and Frys, and philanthropic efforts, including abolition of slavery, prison reform, during and after the English Civil War many dissenting Christian groups emerged, including the Seekers and others. A young man named George Fox was dissatisfied with the teachings of the Church of England and he had a vision on Pendle Hill in Lancashire, England, in which he believed that the Lord let me see in what places he had a great people to be gathered. Following this he travelled around England, the Netherlands, and Barbados preaching and teaching with the aim of converting new adherents to his faith, the central theme of his Gospel message was that Christ has come to teach his people himself. His followers considered themselves to be the restoration of the true Christian church, in 1650, Fox was brought before the magistrates Gervase Bennet and Nathaniel Barton, on a charge of religious blasphemy. According to George Foxs autobiography, Bennet was the first that called us Quakers and it is thought that George Fox was referring to Isaiah 66,2 or Ezra 9,4. Thus, the name Quaker began as a way of ridiculing George Foxs admonition, Quakerism gained a considerable following in England and Wales, and the numbers increased to a peak of 60,000 in England and Wales by 1680. This was relaxed after the Declaration of Indulgence and stopped under the Act of Toleration 1689, with the restructuring of the family and household came new roles for women, Fox and Fell viewed the Quaker mother as essential to developing holy conversation in her children and husband. Quaker women were responsible for the spirituality of the larger community, coming together in meetings that regulated marriage. The persecution of Quakers in North America began in 1656 when English Quaker missionaries Mary Fisher and they were considered heretics because of their insistence on individual obedience to the Inner Light. They were imprisoned and banished by the Massachusetts Bay Colony and their books were burned, and most of their property was confiscated. They were imprisoned in terrible conditions, then deported, in 1660, English Quaker Mary Dyer was hanged on Boston Common for repeatedly defying a Puritan law banning Quakers from the colony
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Pacifism
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Pacifism is opposition to war, militarism, or violence. The word pacifism was coined by the French peace campaigner Émile Arnaud, a related term is ahimsa, which is a core philosophy in Buddhism, Jainism, and Hinduism. While modern connotations are recent, having been explicated since the 19th century, in Christianity, Jesus Christs injunction to love your enemies and asking for forgiveness for his crucifiers for they know not what they do have been interpreted as calling for pacifism. In modern times, interest was revived by Leo Tolstoy in his late works, Mohandas Gandhi propounded the practice of steadfast nonviolent opposition which he called satyagraha, instrumental in its role in the Indian Independence Movement. Its effectiveness served as inspiration to Martin Luther King Jr. James Lawson, James Bevel, Thich Nhat Hanh and many others in the Civil Rights Movement. Pacifism was widely associated with the much publicized image of Tiananmen Square Protests of 1989 with the Tank Man, historians of pacifism Peter Brock and Thomas Paul Socknat define pacifism in the sense generally accepted in English-speaking areas as an unconditional rejection of all forms of warfare. Philosopher Jenny Teichman defines the form of pacifism as anti-warism. Teichmans beliefs have been summarized by Brian Orend as, a pacifist rejects war and believes there are no moral grounds which can justify resorting to war. War, for the pacifist, is always wrong, in a sense the philosophy is based on the idea that the ends do not justify the means. Pacifism may be based on moral principles or pragmatism, principled pacifism holds that at some point along the spectrum from war to interpersonal physical violence, such violence becomes morally wrong. Pragmatic pacifism holds that the costs of war and interpersonal violence are so substantial that better ways of resolving disputes must be found, some pacifists follow principles of nonviolence, believing that nonviolent action is morally superior and/or most effective. Some however, support physical violence for emergency defence of self or others, by no means is all nonviolent resistance based on a fundamental rejection of all violence in all circumstances. Many leaders and participants in such movements, while recognizing the importance of using non-violent methods in particular circumstances, have not been absolute pacifists, sometimes, as with the civil rights movements march from Selma to Montgomery in 1965, they have called for armed protection. The interconnections between civil resistance and factors of force are numerous and complex, the principle is described as difficult to abide by consistently, due to violence not being available as a tool to aid a person who is being harmed or killed. It is further claimed that such a pacifist could logically argue that violence leads to undesirable results than non-violence. Although all pacifists are opposed to war between states, there have been occasions where pacifists have supported military conflict in the case of civil war or revolution. Following the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War, French pacifist René Gérin urged support for the Spanish Republic, Gérin argued that the Spanish Nationalists were comparable to an individual enemy and the Republics war effort was equivalent to the action of a domestic police force suppressing crime. Advocacy of pacifism can be found far back in history and literature, during the Warring States period, the pacifist Mohist School opposed aggressive war between the feudal states
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Crane shot
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In filmmaking and video production, a crane shot is a shot taken by a camera on a moving crane or jib. Most cranes accommodate both the camera and an operator, but some can be moved by remote control, camera cranes go back to the dawn of movie-making, and were frequently used in silent films to enhance the epic nature of large sets and massive crowds. Another use is to move up and away from the actors, crane shots are often found in what are supposed to be emotional or suspenseful scenes. One example of this technique is the shots taken by remote cranes in the sequence of the 1985 film To Live. Some filmmakers place the camera on a boom arm simply to make it easier to move around between ordinary set-ups. The major supplier of cranes in the cinema of the United States throughout the 1940s, 1950s, the traditional design provided seats for both the director and the camera operator, and sometimes a third seat for the cinematographer as well. Large weights on the back of the crane compensate for the weight of the riding the crane. During the 1960s, the tallest crane was the Chapman Titan crane, the crane operator and camera operator had to precisely coordinate their moves so that focus, pan, and camera position all started and stopped at the same time, requiring great skill and rehearsal. Camera cranes may be small, medium, or large, depending on the load capacity, historically, the first camera crane provided for lifting the chamber together with the operator, and sometimes an assistant. The range of motion of the boom was restricted because of the load capacity. In recent years a camera crane boom tripod with a control has become popular. The operator controls the camera from the ground through a motorized panoramic head, using remote control, a separate category consists of telescopic camera cranes. These devices allow setting an arbitrary trajectory of the camera, eliminating the characteristic jib crane radial displacement that comes with traditional spanning shots, large camera cranes are almost indistinguishable from the usual boom-type cranes, with the exception of special equipment for smoothly moving the boom and controlling noise. Small camera cranes and crane-trucks have a construction, often without a mechanical drive. The valves are controlled manually by balancing the load-specific counterweight, facilitating manipulation, to improve usability and repeatability of movement of the crane in different takes, the axis of rotation arrows are provided with limbs and a pointer. In some cases, the crane is mounted on a dolly for even greater camera mobility. Such devices are called crane trolleys, in modern films robotic cranes allow use of multiple actuators for high-accuracy repeated movement of the camera in trick photography. These devices are called tap-robots, some use the term motion control
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Harry Shannon (actor)
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Harry Shannon was an American character actor. He often appeared in Western films, Harry Shannon was born on a farm in Saginaw, Michigan. He began his career in theatre and vaudeville, and switched to the film industry in the 1930s. Although he played most frequently in Westerns, his film role was perhaps as Charles Foster Kanes rough father in Citizen Kane. Among his other films were Someone to Remember, Alaska Highway, San Quentin, in 1960, he was cast as the outlaw Clay Hooper in the episode Showdown at Goldtown of the ABC/Warner Brothers western television series, Colt.45. The guest cast included Robert Colbert, Ruta Lee, and Dan Sheridan, Shannon died at the age of seventy-four in Hollywood, California. Works by or about Harry Shannon at Internet Archive Harry Shannon at the Internet Movie Database
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Jack Elam
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William Scott Elam, known as Jack Elam, was an American film and television actor best known for his numerous roles as villains in Western films and, later in his career, comedies. His most distinguishing quality was his lazy left eye. Before his career in acting, he took jobs in finance. Elam played in 73 movies, and made an appearance in 41 television series and his best known works consist of Once Upon a Time in the West, High Noon and the television program The Twilight Zone. Jack Elam died in 2003 of congestive heart failure, leaving two daughters and one son. Elam was born in Miami in Gila County in south central Arizona, to Millard Elam and his mother died in 1922 when Jack was two years old. By 1930, he was living with his father, older sister Mildred and he grew up picking cotton and lost the sight in his left eye during a boyhood accident when he was stabbed with a pencil at a Boy Scout meeting. He was a student at both Miami High School in Gila County and Phoenix Union High School in Maricopa County, graduating there in the late 1930s. Elam attended Santa Monica Junior College in California, after that, he worked as a bookkeeper at the Bank of America in Los Angeles and as an auditor for the Standard Oil Company. In World War II, he served two years in the United States Navy and subsequently became an independent accountant in Hollywood, one of his clients was movie mogul Samuel Goldwyn, at one time, he was the manager of the Bel Air Hotel in Los Angeles. In 1949, Elam made his debut in She Shoulda Said No. an exploitation film where a chorus girls marijuana smoking ruins her career and he appeared mostly in westerns and gangster films playing villains. In 1961, Elam played a crazed character in an episode of The Twilight Zone entitled Will the Real Martian Please Stand Up. In 1963, Elam got a chance to play the good guy. Marshal and reformed gunfighter J. D. Smith, in the ABC/Warner Brothers series, The Dakotas and he played George Taggart, a gunslinger-turned-marshal in the NBC/WB western series, Temple Houston, with Jeffrey Hunter in the title role. Elam got this part after James Coburn declined the role, the series ran for only twenty-six weeks, in 1966, Jack Elam co-starred with Clint Walker in the western The Night of the Grizzly. In 1968, Elam had a cameo in Sergio Leones celebrated spaghetti western Once Upon a Time in the West, Elam spent a good part of the scene trying to trap an annoying fly in his gun barrel. In 1969, he was given his first comedic role, in Support Your Local Sheriff, which was followed two years later by Support Your Local Gunfighter, both opposite James Garner, after which he found his villainous parts dwindling and his comic roles increasing. In between those two films, he played a comically cranky old coot opposite John Wayne in Howard Hawkss Rio Lobo
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John Doucette
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John Doucette was an American film character actor. He was a balding, husky man, with a rich, deep voice, equally adept at Westerns and he is best remembered for playing mob muscle and western bad guys in movies. According to the Internet Movie Data Base, between 1943 and 1987, Doucette appeared in some 260 movies and television programs, with about 60 early roles uncredited, Doucette was born in Brockton, Massachusetts. Doucette served in the United States Army during World War II and he progressed to dramatic roles including a small part as an architect in The Fountainhead in and the 1970 epic Patton when he played 3rd Infantry Division Commander Maj. Gen. Lucian K. Truscott. His other notable performances included bit parts in High Noon, The Robe, Sierra, more familiarly, Doucette appeared in the John Wayne films The Sea Chase, The Sons of Katie Elder, True Grit, and Big Jake. Many baby boomers first saw John Doucette as the bad guy in several episodes of The Lone Ranger, a natural role considering his rough looks, commanding presence and he was considered by many to be one of the fastest draws in Hollywood. His roles, however, went well beyond that stereotype, between 1959-1961, Doucette played police Lt. Weston on the TV series Lock-Up_, starring MacDonald Carey. In 1959, Doucette played the bounty hunter Lou Gore in the episode Dead Aim of the ABC/WB series, Colt.45, starring Wayde Preston. Ken Osmond, Eddie Haskell on Leave It to Beaver, played the part of Tommy, oddly, in both programs, his co-star was the character actor Tom Greenway. In 1961, Doucette was cast as Captain Cardiff in The Americans, Doucette died at his home in Banning, California on Tuesday, August 16,1994. His mausoleum is at Holy Cross Cemetery in Culver City, California, cap Daniels Science Fiction Theatre - episode - Barrier of Silence - Nielsen Science Fiction Theatre - episode - Target Hurricane - Col. S. & To Sire, with Love, Parts 1 &2 - Colonel Von Klaus Heres Lucy - episode - Lucy and Mannix Are Held Hostage - Vernon The Partners -20 episodes - Capt
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Dick Elliott
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For the U. S. senator with the same name, see Dick Elliott. Richard Dick Elliott was an American character actor who played in over 240 films from the 1930s until the time of his death and he played many different roles, typically as a somewhat blustery sort, such as a politician. A short, fat man, Elliott played Santa Claus on the Jimmy Durante, Red Skelton and he also had a few memorable appearances in episodes of the Adventures of Superman television series. He appeared three times as Stanley on the CBS sitcom December Bride and on the ABC/Warner Brothers western series, Sugarfoot and he was cast as the prospector Peter Cooper and then as Sheriff Tiny Morris in two segments of CBSs Tales of the Texas Rangers. He appeared twice as Doc Thornton on ABCs The Real McCoys, Elliott is perhaps best known as Mayberrys Mayor Pike in early episodes of CBSs The Andy Griffith Show, one of his last screen works. In two of the episodes featuring Elliot as mayor, actress Josie Lloyd portrayed his daughter
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Virginia Christine
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Virginia Christine was an American stage, radio, film, television, and voice actress. Christine had a career as a character actress in film. She is particularly remembered as Mrs. Olson in a number of commercials for Folgers. Christine was born Virginia Christine Ricketts in Stanton in Montgomery County in southwestern Iowa, upon her mothers remarriage, she changed her last name to Kraft. The family later moved to Des Moines in Polk County, where Virginia attended Elmwood Elementary School, the family relocated again to Des Moines County in southeastern Iowa, not to be confused with the state capital in central Iowa. There Christine attended Mediapolis High School, where she aspired to be a concert pianist and her family later moved to California, where she enrolled at UCLA. Christine began working in radio during college and she began training for a theatrical career with actor/director Fritz Feld whom she married in 1940. In 1942, she made her debut in the Los Angeles production of Hedda Gabler. While performing in the play, she was spotted by an agent from Warner Bros. who signed her to a contract with the studio. Her first film for Warners was Edge of Darkness, in which she played a Norwegian peasant girl and she was dropped by Warner Bros. in 1943 and signed with Universal Pictures in 1944. That year, Christine had a role in The Mummys Curse and The Wife of Monte Cristo. In 1946, she appeared in The Scarlet Horseman, a 13-chapter film serial playing Carla Marquette, or Matosca, Christines next film for Universal was the film noir classic The Killers. She initially tested for the role of femme fatale Kitty Collins. The films producer, Mark Hellinger, was impressed with her test and cast her as Lilly Harmon Lubinsky, Christine also portrayed the role of Miss Watston in the 1964 remake of the film, starring Lee Marvin and Angie Dickinson. In 1950, she played an uncredited, supporting role in The Men, although the part was small and the film was not a commercial success, her performance impressed the films producer Stanley Kramer. She became a favorite of his and went on to appear in a number of his films including Cyrano de Bergerac, Kramer later cast her in the 1955 drama Not as a Stranger, where she played a countrywoman. She also coached the films star Olivia de Havilland on her Swedish accent, the following year, she co-starred in the horror film Invasion of the Body Snatchers. In 1961, Kramer cast her again as a German housekeeper in Judgment at Nuremberg, one of her most notable roles was as Hilary St. George, the bigoted co-worker of the Katharine Hepburn character in the 1967 film Guess Whos Coming to Dinner
