On This Day

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On this day 26 November

122 years ago the actors Gordon Hart and Hughie Mack were born the first appeared in Overland Stage Raiders, the second played the innkeeper in John Fords picture Four Sons in which John Wayne was an extra.

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Arthur

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On this day 27th November

81 years ago the actor Michael Tolan was born . he played Lazarus in The Greatest Story Ever Told.
From IMDB

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Stage-trained actor Michael Tolan was born Seymour Tuchow on November 27, 1927, in Detroit, Michigan. During and following graduation from Wayne State University, he appeared in radio serials and in such classic theater productions as "Uncle Vanya," "Candida," "The Importance of Being Earnest," "Oedipus," "Coriolanus" and "The Grass Is Always Greener." He made his debut on Broadway in the 1955 hit George Axelrod comedy "Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?" This, in turn, led to a rise in stature with strong assignments in "A Hatful of Rain," "Romanoff and Juliet," "A Majority of One" and "The Far Country." He began on film with several bit roles between the years 1951 and 1953, but was not given the breaks to rise to feature status and quickly left the medium.
Tolan instead focused on TV as a utility player, playing a wide range of roles over a long period of time. His strong voice also proved capable for narrative projects. Following a year's stint on both "The Nurses" (1962), his momentum started to pick up. He played Lazarus in the all-star biblical epic The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965), appeared in support of Dustin Hoffman on stage with "The Journey of the Fifth Horse" and in the film John and Mary (1969), and was a regular on "The Bold Ones: The Senator" (1970). He essayed a number of authoritative/professional roles (doctors, psychiatrists, military brass, etc.) throughout the 1970s and narrated the successful miniseries "The Adams Chronicles" (1976) (mini). Although his acting load has tapered off into the 1980s, he can still be seen from time to time in guest parts. He was once married to actress Rosemary Forsyth

28 years ago the actor Richard Kelton died aged 35 he was a radical in McQ.
From IMDB

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Richard Duane Kelton was born in Lincoln, Nebraska, and was the only child of Fred and Glenna Kelton. While growing up in Miami, Oklahoma, he remembered watching James Dean and cites him as his main influence on becoming an actor. After studying drama at The University of Kansas, he made his way to California where he made his debut playing "Bud" in an episode of "Gunsmoke" (1955). Soon after that he made his TV movie debut as "Lieutenant Charring" in Wild Women (1970) (TV). He continued in numerous other guest starring roles and a movie roles. He also played the role of "Nick" in the Broadway revival of "Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf" in 1976. He made his starring role as "Ficus" in the short-lived science fiction series "Quark" (1978). Later that year he was invited back to The University of Kansas to give a short seminar on films. He continued his career until his death in 1978.
Richard Kelton was born in Lincoln, Nebraska on April 29, 1943 to (Alvis) Fred and Glenna Kelton, where his father was stationed and served as a flight instructor and engineer for the army air corps. After World War II, his father began a career as a teacher and school principal. While growing up in Miami, Oklahoma, Richard remembered seeing such movies as_Rebel Without A Cause (1955)_ ,East of Eden (1955), and Giant (1956). He cites James Dean as the main influence on his decision to become an actor.

While studying drama at the University of Kansas, Richard made his movie debut with a small part in the movie In Cold Blood (1967) as Nancy's boyfriend. Soon after arriving in California in 1967, he got his first guest-starring role in 'Heroic Mission'. He went on to make many more guest appearances and movies. He was cast as Nick, in the 1976 Broadway revival of "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf", directed by Edward Albee, and toured the country with Katherine Hepburn in "A Matter of Gravity".

After returning to California, he had a guest-starring role in "Charlie's Angels". His performance was so well liked by the producers of _"Quark" (1978)_ , they offered him the role as Ficus Pandorata, but unfortunately the series did not last long. Later that same year he returned to University of Kansas to teach a seminar on movie making. He then returned to California and continued acting until his untimely death at age 35.
Auditioned for the role of "Captain Willard Decker" for the movie "Star Trek The Motion Picture".
One child, Zachary
Father was a flight instructor during WWII.
Lived in Denver, Colorado during WWII.
Held first job at 14 years old.
1976 Winner of the Theater World Award for his work on "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?"
Shares the same birthday as Elmer Kelton
Was a James Dean fan.
Died after one day of filming the movie "How the West was Won."
Shakespearean trained.

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8 years ago the actor Richard LaPore died aged 71 he had featured in In Harms Way.

64 years ago Lana Turner married Fred May he was her fifth husband and the marriage lasted 2 years

57 years ago the actor Ralph Bellamy married Alice Murphy she was his fourth and final wife the marriage lasting until Bellamy's death in 1991.

Regards

Arthur

Hi

Even in adversity I suppo0se the best way to answer these people s to show that life goes on . So a day late:

On this day 28th November

118 years ago the actress Jane cCawley was born she appeared in The Long Voyage Home & They Were Expendable.

97 years ago the director David Miller was born he directed Flying Tigers

95 years ago the minor actress Carmen d'Antonio was born she also appeared in The Long Voyage Home.

29 years ago the actor Trevor Bardette died aged 75 he was in Dark Command

6 years ago the actor Gregg Barton died aged 88 an MP in Jet Pilot and a pilot in Flying Tigers

Regards

Arthur

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On this day 29th November

97 years ago the actor and stunt man Dale van Sickel was born he appeared in The Wings of Eagles Reap the Wild Wind and the Fighting Kentukian and as an un-credited stunt man in The Searchers.

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Arthur

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On this day 30th November

132 years Winston Churchill was born while he never appeared in a John Wayne movies Churchill was one of Dukes favourite characters. The reason I mentiopn this is not because I'm struggling to find someone, but on the same day the actor Lloyd Ingraham was also born, and he apppeared in seven John Waynes films included among them The Spoilers Winds of the Wasteland and Dark Command.

53 years ago the director Mack D'Agastino died aged 53 he directed Duke in The Voice of Hollywood No 13.

11 years ago Til Kiwe died aged 80 he was in The Longest Day.

Regards

Arthur

Hi

On this day 1st December

122 years ago the actor Tobin Meyer was born he played a scribe in The Conqueror.

116 years ago Etta mcDaniel was born she appeared in The Lonely Trail and The Lawless Nineties

115 years ago James Bell was born he was in The Flying Leathernecks

114 years ago the editor Otho Lovering was born he worked on The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance and The Green Berets

105 years ago the cinematographer William H Daniels was born He worked on Bardleys the Magnificent and shot the plains section of How the West was Won.

104 years ago the actor Harold Goodwin was born he played swede in Island in the Sky

89 years ago the actor William Tracey was born he was in The Wings of Eagles
From IMDB

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Pittsburgh-born actor William Tracy was born on December 1, 1917, and began performing professionally as a youth. Trained at the American Academy of Dramatic Art, he appeared in musical and comedy roles until his big break arrived in 1937 at age 19 when he took over the role of fidgety military school "plebe" Misto Bottome in the hit Broadway show "Brother Rat." The following year he recreated the role in the film version of Brother Rat (1938) that had him in good standing company alongside up-and-coming Warner Bros. actors 'Wayne Morris' (I) , Priscilla Lane, Eddie Albert (also from the Broadway show) and both Ronald Reagan and Jane Wyman, who would marry a short time later. William's second film assignment for Warners was playing 'Pat O'Brien' (I) 's as a young adult in the classic yarn Angels with Dirty Faces (1938).

84 years ago the actor Paul Picerni was born he was in Operation Pacific.

Regards

Arthur

Hi

On this day 2nd December

97 years ago the actress June Clyde was born she starred in Arizona.

85 years ago the actress Marjorie Maine married Stanley LeFevre Krebs.
From IMDB

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Her father was a minister, and when she joined a local stock company as a youngster she changed her name to avoid embarrassing her family. She worked in vaudeville and debuted on Broadway in 1916. Her film debut was in "A House Divided" (1931). She repeated her stage role in "Dead End" (1937) as Baby Face Martin (Humphrey Bogart)'s mother, which led to a number of slum mother parts. She played very strong role of Lucy, the dude ranch operator in "The Women" (1939). She achieved popularity as a comedienne in six 1940s movies made with Wallace Beery e.g., "Barnacle Bill" (1941). The character which would dominate her remaining career was established when she played Ma Kettle in "The Egg and I" (1947), for which she received an Academy Award nomination for best supporting actress. She began her co-starring series with Percy Kilbride the following year in "Feudin', Fussin' and A-Fightin'" and continued through seven more. Her last movie was a "Kettles", though without Kilbride: "The Kettles on Old MacDonald's Farm" (1957).

and for Vera
52 years ago the Senator mcCarthy witchhunts came to an end when he was declared unfit to hold the office of a United Staes Senator.

Regards

Arthur

Hi

On this day December 3

127 years ago the writer Marion Jackson was born she wrote the filmography for The Big Stampede.

122 years ago the actress Jessie arnold was born she appeared in nearly 150 pictures including In Old California.

37years ago the actress Ruth White died aged 55 she had been in Cast A Giant Shadow.
From IMDB

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Her death, from cancer, was sudden and unexpected.

Ruth White spent the final decade of her life as one of New York's most highly praised character actresses. White had sacrificed her career to care for an ailing parent, and when she returned to acting, she was in her mid-thirties, overweight, and hardly exhibiting much promise. However, she soon scored great successes in the off-Broadway plays of Samuel Beckett (most notably "Happy Days"), appeared in Edward Albee's "Malcolm" (1966) and "Box" (1968), and earned a Tony nomination for her role in Harold Pinter's "The Birthday Party" (1968). White earned an Emmy for her sole nomination, in the Hallmark Hall of Fame production of "Little Moon of Alban". She was unforgettable in the films "Up the Down Staircase", "No Way To Treat A Lady" and "Midnight Cowboy."
Studied acting with Maria Ouspenskaya
She was awarded an Emmy Award in 1964 for Best Supporting Actress in the Hallmark Hall of Fame Prodcution of "Little Moon of Alban."
She is the sister of actors Charles White and Richard White.
Was nominated for Broadway's 1968 Tony Award as Best Supporting or Featured Actress (Dramatic) for Harold Pinter's "The Birthday Party."

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Regards

Arthur

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On this day 4th December

72 years ago Victor French was born, as well as the Little house on the Prairie and H
Highway to Heaven he was also Ketchum in Rio Lobo.

14 years ago William Cabane died aged 72 he was in Reap The Wild Wind

56 years ago the writer James Kevin McGuiness died. He worked closely with John Ford writing the screenplays for Rio Grande salute and Men Without Women.

Regards

Arthur

Hi

On this day 5th December

128 yuears ago the actor Frank LaRue was born he was in Overland Stage Raiders and Westward Ho.

48 years ago the Stunt Man Fred Kennedy died from a broken neck following a mistimed stunt whilst making The Horse Soldiers.

Regards

Arthur

Hi

On this day 6th December

113 years ago the actor Edward Brady was born in his career he appeared in 303 films and was still working at the time of his death. Amont the John Wayne Films he appeared in were In Old California, The Spoilers, Reap the Wild Wind and Stagecoach.

103 years ago the actor Millard Webb was born never a great star he onl made 20 pictures one of which was The Drop Kick.

99 years ago Frank Melto was born he was in Stand Up & Cheer and A Lady Takes A Chance.

90 years ago Judson Pratt Sgt Maj Kirby in The Horse Soldiers was born

98 years ago the writer William P McGivern was born he did the filmography for Brannigan.

and

14 years ago the actor Hank Worden died aged 97.

Regards

Arthur

Hi

On this day 7th December we remember those who passed on rather than those who came into the world.

50 years ago the actor Huntley Gordon died aged 69 he was in Idol of the Crowds

57 years ago the writer Rex Beach committed suicide he was the writer on the Spoilers.

25 years ago William Edmonds died aged 95 he was in 90 pictures including Re-Union in France.

10 years ago the actor Phillip Reed died aged 88 he appeared in College Coach.

Regards

Arthur

Hi

On this day 8th December

107 years ago the actor John Qualen was born. One of John Ford's 'Stock Company' he appeared in a number of films with the Duke.

101 years ago the actor Frank Faylen appeared of reddish/ ginger hair he normally appeared in gangster pictures playing policemen etc, but occasionally he made the foray into westerns and was in North to Alaska.

95 years ago Lee J Cobb was born, often a heavy he was in How The West Was Won.

73 years ago the actor Flip Wilson was born he appeared in Cancel My Reservation.

68 years ago Jose Ferrer of the Greatest Story Ever Told married Uta Hagen

57 years ago Red Buttons of Hatari and The Longest Day married Helayne McNorton

22 years ago the actor Luther Adler died aged 81, prominent in The Wake of The Red Witch he was also in Cast A Giant Shadow.

Regards

Arthur

Hi

On this day 9th December

95 years ago the actor Broderick Crawford was born, best known for his role in Highway patrol he made many fine pictures and was in Seven Sinners with John Wayne and Marlene Dietrich.

31 years ago the director William Wellman died aged 79 he made The high and the Mighty, Island in the Sky and Blood Alley.
From IMDB

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William Wellman, the Oscar-winning screenwriter-director of the original A Star Is Born (1937), was called "Wild Bill" during his World War I service as an aviator, a nickname that persisted in Hollywood due to his "larger-than-life" personality and lifestyle). A leap year baby born in 1896 on the the 29th of February to a stockbroker father in Brookline, Massachusetts, Wellman was the great-great-great grandson of Francis Lewis, one of the men who signed the Declaration of Independence. His mother, the former Cecilia McCarthy, was born in Ireland.

Despite an upper-middle class upbringing, the young Wellman was a hell-raiser. He excelled as an athlete, and particularly enjoyed playing ice hockey, but he also enjoyed joy-riding in stolen cars at nights.

Cecilia Wellman served as a probation officer for "wayward boys" (juvenile delinquents) for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and was such a success in her field, she was asked to address Congress on the subject of delinquency. One of her charges was her own son, as the young Bill Wellman was kicked out school at the age of 17 for hitting his high school principal on the head with a stink bomb. He tried making a living as a candy and a cotton salesman, but failed. He then worked for a lumber yard, but was fired after losing control of a truck and driving it through the side of the barn. Eventually, he wound up playing professional ice hockey in Massachusetts, and a young actor playing at the Colonial Theatre in Boston named Douglas Fairbanks noticed Wellman while attending the games.

Impressed by his good looks and the figure he cut on ice, the soon-to-be silent film superstar Fairbanks suggested to Wellman that he had what it took to become a movie actor. But Wellman's youthful dream was to become an aviator, but since his father "didn't have enough money for me to become a flier in the regular way...I went into a war to become a flier."

When he was 19 years old, through the intercession of his uncle, Wellman joined the air wing of the French Foreign Legion, where he learned to fly. In France, Wellman served as a pilot with the famous Lafayette Flying Corps (Lafayette Escadrille), where he won his nickname "Wild Bill due to his "devil-may-care" style in the air. He and fellow pilot Tom Hitchcock, the great polo player, were in the "Black Cat" group. Wellman was shot down by anti-aircraft and injured during the landing of his plane, which had lost its tail section. Out of 222 Escadrille pilots, 87 were killed, but Wellman was fated to serve out the duration with the French. In the spring of 1918, Wellman was recruited by the U.S. Army Air Corps, joining "because I was broke and they were trying to get us in." Commissioned an officer, he was sent back to the states and stationed at Rockwell Field, in San Diego, California, to teach combat fighting tactics to the new AAC pilots.

During the weekends, Wellman would fly up to Hollywood and land on Douglas Fairbanks' polo fields to spend the weekend with him. Fairbanks said that he would help the returning hero break into the movies when the war was over, and he was as good as his word. Fairbanks envisioned Wellman as an actor, and cast him as the juvenile in The Knickerbocker Buckaroo (1919) and as a young officer in Evangeline (1919), but acting was something Wellman grew to hate (a hatred he later transferred to actors). He was fired by fellow he-man director Raoul Walsh from "Evangeline" for slapping the lead actress, who Wellman didn't know was Walsh's wife. Disgusted with acting, Wellman told Faribanks he wanted to be a director, and Fairbanks helped him into the production end of the business. It was a "purely financial" decision, he later recalled, as the director made more money than did supporting actors at the time.

Goldwyn Pictures hired him as a messenger in 1920, and he soon made his way up the ladder, first as an assistant cutter, then as an assistant property man, then as a property man, assistant director and second unit director, before making his uncredited directorial debut later that year at Fox with The Twins of Suffering Creek (1920) (starring Dustin Farnum (the silent film B-Western star whom Dustin Hoffman's star-struck mother named the future double-Oscar winner after). Wellman later remembered the film as awful, along with such other B-Westerns as _Cupid's Fireman (1923)_ starring Buck Jones, whose Westerns he began directing in 1923 after serving his apprenticeship.

Fox Studio gave him his first directing credit in 1923 with the Buck Jones' hoss opera Second Hand Love (1923), and other than one more Dustin Farnum picture The Man Who Won (1923), he turned out Jones pictures for the rest of his time at Fox. The studio fired him in 1924 after he asked for a raise upon completing The Circus Cowboy (1924), another Buck Jones oater. He moved to Columbia to helm When Husbands Flirt (1925), then over to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer for the slapstick comedy The Boob (1926) before landing at Famous Players-Lasky (now known as Paramount Pictures after its distribution unit) where he directed You Never Know Women (1926) and The Cat's Pajamas (1926). It was as a contract director at the now renamed Paramount Famous Lasky Corp. that he had his breakthrough, due to his flying background. Paramount entrusted its epic World War One flying epic Wings (1927) to Wellman, the film that went on to become what is now recognized as the first Academy Award-wining Best Picture, Wings (1927).

Paramount paid Wellman $250 a week to direct "Wings" (he also appeared one-time as a stunt-pilot, flying one of the German planes that landed and rolled over). The production that employed 3,500 soldiers, 65 pilots, and 165 airplanes. The massive production went over-budget and over-schedule due to Wellman's perfectionism, and he came close to being fired more than once. It took a year to film "Wings", but when it was released, it turned out to be one of the most financially successful silent pictures ever released and helped put Gary Cooper, whom Wellman personally cast in a small role, on the path to stardom. "Wings" and Wellman's next flying picture, _Legion of the Condemned, The (1928)_ (which starred Gary Cooper), initiated the genre of World War One aviation movie, which included such famous works as Howard Hughes' ' Hell's Angels (1930) and Howard Hawks's The Dawn Patrol (1930). Despite his success in bringing in the first "Best Picture" Oscar winner, Paramount did not keep Wellman under contract.

Wellman's disdain for actors already was flourishing by the time he wrapped "Wings". Many actors appearing in his pictures intensely disliked Wellman's method of bullying them to elicit a performance.

Wellman was a macho man's man who hated male actors due to their narcissism, yet preferred to work with them because he despised the preparation that actresses had to go through with their make-up and hairdressing before each scene. Wellman shot his films fast. The hard-drinking Wellman usually oversaw a riotous set, in line with his own life-style. He married five women, including a Zeigfeld Follies showgirl, before settling down with Dorothy Coonan Wellman, a former Busby Berkeley dancer. Wellman believed that his Dorothy saved him from becoming a caricature of himself.

She appeared in as a tomboy in Wild Boys of the Road (1933), a Depression Era social commentary picture made for the progressive Warner Bros. The film is a favorite of Martin Scorsese. It came two years after Wellman's masterpiece of the era, The Public Enemy (1931), one of the great early talkies, one of the great gangster pictures, and the film that made James Cagney a superstar. Scorsese says that Wellman's use of music in the film influenced his own first "gangster" picture. Mean Streets (1973).

Wellman was equally adept at comedy as he was with macho material, helming the original A Star Is Born (1937) (for which won his only Oscar, for Best Original Story) and the biting satire "Nothing Sacred" (1997) -- both of which starred Fredric March -- for producer David O. Selznick. Both movies were dissections of the fame game, as was his satire Roxie Hart (1942), which reportedly was one of Stanley Kubrick's favorite films.

During the World War Two-era, Wellman continued to make outstanding films, including The Ox-Bow Incident (1943) and G.I. Joe: The Ernie Pyle Story (1998) (TV), as well as Battleground (1949) after the war. In the 1950s, Wellman's best films starred John Wayne, including the influential aviation picture _High and the Mighty, The (1954) , for which he received his third and last Best Director Oscar nomination. His final film hearkened back to his World War One service, Lafayette Escadrille (1958), which featured the unit in which Wellman had flown. He retired as a director after making the film, reportedly enraged at Warner Bros.'s post-production tampering with a film that meant so much to him.

Other than David O. Selznick, the hell-raising iconoclast Wellman was not well-liked. Louis B. Mayer's daughter Irene Mayer Selznick, the first wife of David O. Selznick, said that Wellman was "a terror, a shoot-up-the-town fellow, trying to be a great big masculine I-don't-know-what."

The first Mrs. Selznick didn't like Wellman. And although the Directors Guild of America in 1973 honored him with its Lifetime Achievement Award, he has been ignored by cineastes since his death in 1975 from leukemia, despite the many masterpieces of his oeuvre which put to shame many of the rediscovered "masters" of film.

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Arthur

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On this day 10th December

132 years ago the actor Alphonz Ethiers was born he appeared in Baby Face.

117 years ago the actor Arthur Vinton was born he only made 38 pictures and was in The Life of Jimmy Dolan and Central Airport.

66 years ago the actor William V Mong died aged 65 he was in The Big Trail

27 years ago the actress Ann Dvorak died aged 67 she starred in Flame of the Barbary Coast.

Regards

Arthur

Hi

On this day 11th December

123 years ago the actor and director Moward M Mitchell was born. He entered films in 1910 and went on to appear in 243 pictures until 1952. Included among these was Lady For a Night. He also directed 36 pictures.

87 years ago Marie Windsor was born
she appeared in The Fighting Kentuckian and Cahill.
From IMDB

Quote

A product of Marysvale, Utah, Marie Windsor attended Brigham Young University and trained for the stage under Maria Ouspenskaya before she began playing leading roles in B pictures in the late 1940s. Her best work was in the "film noir" category, most notably her role as the manipulative, double-crossing wife of Elisha Cook Jr. in The Killing (1956) (which earned her "Look" magazine's Best Supporting Actress award). Her favorites among her own films, in addition to "The Killing", are The Narrow Margin (1952) and Hellfire (1949).

Regards

Arthur

Hi

On this day 12th December

125 years ago the actor Charles Murphy was born during his career he made 81 pictures included among which were New Frontier and Santa Fe Stampede.

112 years ago the director D. Ross Lederman was born he directed John Wayne in two westerns Two Fisted Law and Range Feud

106 years ago the actor and stunt man Eddie Parker was born he appeared in 249 films and television programes as an actor and almost as many as a stunt man. Among the films he appeared in with John Wayne were Flame of the Barbary Coast The New Frontier Raibow Valley The Lucky Texan and The Hurricane Express.

Regards

Arthur

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A day late but on this day 13th December

136 years ago the actor Ed Le Saint was born he appeared in 305 pictures as an actor and directed 92 films. He appeared with John Wayne in The Oregon Trail and Baby Face.

104 years ago the actor Harry strang was born he appeared in Without Reservations and A Man Betrayed during his career he appeared in 441 film and television credits.

104 years ago Jack Gardner was born he was in Pitsburgh

96 years ago Van Heflin was born, a star of many pictures he was in The Greatest Story Ever Told.

80 years ago the actor and stunt man Don Nagel was born. he didn't appear in many films and as was the case in She Wore A Yellow Ribbon he was an un-credited stuntman.

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Arthur

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On this day 14th December

105 years ago te actor Jack Raymond was born he made 100pictures including In Old Okahoma, Lady From Louisiana and A Man Betrayed.

93 years ago the actor singer and dancer Dan Dailey was born he was in Wings of Eagles.

Regards

Arthur