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1-50 of 56
- Actor
- Director
- Music Department
Dennis Weaver first became familiar to television audiences as Matt Dillon's assistant Chester Goode in Gunsmoke (1955). After playing the part for nine years, he moved on to star in his own series, Kentucky Jones (1964). However, the show failed to find mass appeal and was cancelled after just one season. Weaver had to wait another five years before finally emerging as a TV star in his own right. Beginning in 1971, he portrayed the titular Marshal Sam McCloud, a lawman from Taos, New Mexico, working in New York to learn the ways of policing in Manhattan's 27th Precinct under the auspices of a frequently apoplectic Chief of Detectives, Peter Clifford (J.D. Cannon). Accented in a slow Texan drawl (his regular catchphrase was "There you go..") and decked out with cowboy hat, lasso and sheepskin jacket, McCloud went about his tasks pretty much the same way he would have done out in the West -- often to the chagrin of his boss, nevertheless always apprehending the villain in the end (sometimes on horseback). His fractious relationship with Clifford provided much of the enjoyment inherent in the show. Weaver later recalled "McCloud was the kind of role I left Gunsmoke to get... I wanted to be a leading man instead of a second banana." Between 1971 and 1977, McCloud (1970) (based in part on the Clint Eastwood film Coogan's Bluff (1968)) was part of Universal's "Mystery Movie" which filled a slot at NBC with films lasting from 74 to 97 minutes (longer than your average TV episode) and which rotated several productions, the most important being Columbo (1971) (Peter Falk), Banacek (1972) (George Peppard), McMillan & Wife (1971) (Rock Hudson) and Hec Ramsey (1972) (Richard Boone).
Weaver hailed from Joplin, Missouri, where his father (who was of mixed English, Irish, Scottish, Cherokee, and Osage ancestry) worked for the local electric company. Young Dennis proved himself a gifted track and field athlete while studying for a degree in fine arts at the University of Oklahoma. During World War II, he served as a fighter pilot in the U.S. Navy. After the war, Weaver forsook sports for a career on the stage, undertaking further drama classes at the Actor's Studio in New York. One of his fellow alumni was actress Shelley Winters who later helped him to get into films. Following his Broadway debut in "Come Back, Little Sheba", Weaver found work in plays by Tennessee Williams off-Broadway and then made his movie debut at Universal in the western Horizons West (1952). He made several more pictures, mostly westerns, but was largely cast in minor roles. He languished in relative obscurity until he landed several guest spots on Jack Webb's Dragnet (1951). His career really took off with McCloud and with the Steven Spielberg-directed Duel (1971), a thriller made for the small screen (essentially a one-man show) in which a lone driver is menaced by a sinister petrol tanker driven by an unseen force. He later found other regular television work (Stone (1979), Emerald Point N.A.S. (1983) and Buck James (1987)), but none of these managed to recapture his earlier successes. In Lonesome Dove: The Series (1994), he was true to his colors, playing western hero Buffalo Bill Cody, a.k.a. Buffalo Bill.
Weaver served as President of the Screen Actors Guild from 1973 to 1975. He was in the forefront of environmental activism, a proponent of alternative energy and recycling (his Colorado home, called "Earthship", was primarily constructed from recycled tires and aluminium cans).- Actor
- Director
- Producer
Effective light comedian of '30s and '40s films and '50s and '60s TV series, Robert Cummings was renowned for his eternally youthful looks (which he attributed to a strict vitamin and health-food diet). He was educated at Carnegie Tech and the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. Deciding that Broadway producers would be more interested in an upper-crust Englishman than a kid from Joplin, Missouri, Cummings passed himself off as Blade Stanhope Conway, British actor. The ploy was successful. Cummings decided that if it worked on Broadway, it would work in Hollywood, so he journeyed west and assumed the identity of a rich Texan named Bruce Hutchens. The plan worked once more, and he began securing small parts in films. He soon reverted to his real name and became a popular leading man in light comedies, usually playing well-meaning, pleasant but somewhat bumbling young men. He achieved much more success, however, in his own television series in the '50s, The Bob Cummings Show (1955) and My Living Doll (1964).- Actor
- Soundtrack
John Beal was born James Andrew Bliedung on August 13, 1909, in Joplin, Missouri. The son of a department store owner and concert pianist, he began acting in school and church plays and decided to pursue it as a career following his B.S. degree in economics from the University of Pennsylvania. The more marquee-friendly stage moniker of "John Beal" came from the names of two close college friends that same year.
Following repertory theatre work, he began his Broadway run as an understudy and walk-on before earning his first lead in the short-lived play "Wild Waves" in 1932. Following excellent notices in the hit play "Another Language," John repeated his showcase role in the film version of Another Language (1933) opposite Helen Hayes. Declining a Hollywood contract at the time, he returned to Broadway in 1933 for "She Loves Me Not". It wasn't long, however, before he was front-and-center again in films and showing great promise in RKO movie parts opposite Katharine Hepburn in both The Little Minister (1934) and Break of Hearts (1935), the title role in Laddie (1935) co-starring Gloria Stuart, and in the prime role of Marius in the Charles Laughton/Fredric March version of Les Misérables (1935).
Briefly signed by MGM, in which his best role was as Gladys George's son in the studio's classic, tear-stained drama Madame X (1937), WWII took the wind out of his career sails, serving as a staff sergeant in the motion picture unit of the Army Air Force. Theatre, radio and film would take up much of his time in the post-WWII years. Prestigious stage productions over time included "The Voice of the Turtle," "Lend an Ear," "The Teahouse of the August Moon," "Our Town," "The Long Christmas Dinner," "The Front Page," "To Be Young Gifted and Black" and "The Little Foxes". Excellent performances on TV in "A Trip to Bountiful," "Twelve Angry Men" and "The Long Way Home" added flavor and distinction to his later career.
Sporadic film roles included I Am the Law (1938), The Cat and the Canary (1939), One Thrilling Night (1942), My Six Convicts (1952), The Vampire (1957), The Sound and the Fury (1959), The Bride (1973), Amityville 3-D (1983), and his last, The Firm (1993), in which he played a bearded villain. He was never able again to achieve his early cinematic prowess of the early 1930s. In the 1960s Beal made a dent in daytime soap dramas, in particular his Judge Vail in the cult vampire series Dark Shadows (1966).
Long married (1934-1986) to actress Helen Craig and the father of two daughters, he focused on his passion for portrait painting in later years. Beal died in 1997 at age 87 in Santa Cruz, California, from the lingering effects of a stroke.- Actress
- Soundtrack
- Music Department
Asia'h Epperson was born in Joplin, Missouri, USA. She is an actress, known for Greenleaf (2016), Straight Outta Compton (2015) and American Idol (2002).- Pauline Starke was born on 10 January 1901 in Joplin, Missouri, USA. She was an actress, known for Captain Salvation (1927), A Royal Romance (1930) and Salvation Nell (1921). She was married to Jack White and George Sherwood. She died on 3 February 1977 in Santa Monica, California, USA.
- Camera and Electrical Department
- Additional Crew
- Producer
Benjamin Steeples primarily works as a Digital Imaging Technician in multi-cam television. His work includes 'The Big Bang Theory' 'Mom' 'B Positive' 'The Upshaws' 'Tosh.0' and various other productions. Additional work includes Camera Assistant, Camera Utility, Video Engineer, and various other video related positions in a variety of genres including feature film, television, commercials, music videos, talk shows, reality TV, and live events.- Stanley Davis Jr. was born on 6 March 1967 in Joplin, Missouri, USA. He is an actor, known for Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982), Leon the Pig Farmer (1992) and CHiPs (1977).
- Actress
- Soundtrack
Barbara Heller was born on 7 March 1926 in Joplin, Missouri, USA. She was an actress, known for Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre (1963), Hey Boy! Hey Girl! (1959) and The Comic (1969). She was married to Chris O'Hara. She died on 20 September 1995 in Los Angeles, California, USA.- Actress
- Soundtrack
Betty Brewer was born on 23 November 1923 in Joplin, Missouri, USA. She was an actress, known for Rangers of Fortune (1940), Juke Girl (1942) and Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch (1942). She died on 2 December 2006 in Oakland, California, USA.- Actor
- Additional Crew
- Executive
Tony Black was born on 23 December 1978 in Joplin, Missouri, USA. He is an actor and executive, known for Skyline (2010), Crash (2004) and Peaceful Warrior (2006).- Writer
- Music Department
- Actor
The son of teacher Carrie Langston and James Nathaniel Hughes, James Mercer "Langston" Hughes was born in Joplin, Missouri. His father abandoned the family and left for Cuba, then Mexico, due to enduring racism in the United States. Young Langston was left to be raised by his grandmother in Lawrence, Kansas. After her death, he went to live with family friends. Due to an unstable early life, his childhood was not a happy one but it heavily influenced the poet he would become. Later, he lived again with his mother--who had remarried--in Lincoln, Illinois, and eventually in Cleveland, Ohio. During high school he wrote for the school newspaper, edited the yearbook and began to write short stories, poetry, and dramatic plays. His first piece of jazz poetry, "When Sue Wears Red," was written during his high school years. Hughes was influenced by American poets Paul Laurence Dunbar, Carl Sandburg and Walt Whitman. He also briefly lived in Mexico with his father, who did not support his son's desire to be a writer. Langston studied engineering at Columbia University for a year (1921-22), eventually leaving because of racial prejudice at the school as well as his growing desire to return to Harlem and write poetry.
Hughes worked various odd jobs, including a brief tenure as a crewman aboard the SS Malone in 1923, spending six months traveling to West Africa and Europe. In Europe he stayed for a while in Paris, becoming part of the black American expatriate community. In November 1924 he returned to the US to live with his mother in Washington, DC. While working as a busboy at a restaurant, Hughes tucked a few of his poems under the dinner plate of then-reigning poet Vachel Lindsay. Lindsay shared the poems during his reading that night, and in the morning Hughes was crowned Lindsay's new discovery, the "busboy poet."
The following year Hughes enrolled at historically black Lincoln University, where he became a member of the Omega Psi Phi Fraternity and befriended classmate Thurgood Marshall. Hughes received a B.A. in 1929 and a Litt.D. in 1943. Except for travels to the Caribbean and West Indies, Harlem was Hughes' primary home for the rest of his life.
Hughes achieved fame as a literary luminary during the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s. In 1930 his first novel, "Not Without Laughter", won the Harmon gold medal for literature. Hughes was particularly known for his insightful, colorful portrayals of black life in America from the 1920s through the 1960s. His work was also known for his engagement with the world of jazz and the influence it had on his writing, as in "Montage of a Dream Deferred." His life and work were enormously important in shaping the artistic contributions of the Harlem Renaissance. Unlike other notable black poets of the period, Hughes refused to differentiate between his personal experiences and the common experience of black America. He told stories of people in ways that reflected their actual culture, including their suffering and their love of music, laughter and language itself.
In addition to leaving us a large body of poetic work, Hughes wrote 11 plays and countless works of prose, including the well-known "Simple" books: "Simple Speaks His Mind," "Simple Stakes a Claim," "Simple Takes a Wife," and "Simple's Uncle Sam." He edited numerous poetry anthologies, wrote an acclaimed autobiography ("The Big Sea"), and co-wrote the play "Mule Bone" with Zora Neale Hurston.
In 1967 Hughes died from complications following abdominal surgery, related to prostate cancer, at the age of 65. His ashes are interred beneath the foyer floor of the Arthur Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in Harlem. The design on the floor medallion reads, "My soul has grown deep like the rivers."- Actor
- Stunts
Robert Locke Lorraine was born on 7 November 1902 in Joplin, Missouri, USA. He was an actor, known for Clown Alley (1966). He died on 6 January 1989 in Riverside, California, USA.- Lorin Raker was born on 8 May 1891 in Joplin, Missouri, USA. He was an actor, known for The Mystery of the Yellow Room (1919), California Straight Ahead! (1937) and I've Been Around (1935). He was married to Mildred Roberts. He died on 25 December 1959 in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, California, USA.
- Cinematographer
- Camera and Electrical Department
- Additional Crew
Cinematographer George T. Clemens was born on July 26, 1902 in Joplin, Missouri. Clemens started out in the film industry in 1923 as an assistant cameraman and camera operator for many of the leading cinematographers of the silent movie era. George spent the bulk of his career at Paramount, where he was a second cameraman to acclaimed cinematographer Karl Struss. Clemens worked on more than fifty Paramount features between the years 1929 and 1931. Moreover, George holds the distinction of shooting more episodes of The Twilight Zone (1959) than any other cinematographer and even won a well-deserved Emmy Award for his outstanding visual contributions to this particular TV series in 1961. Clemens died of a heart attack at age 90 while vacationing on a cruise ship off the East Coast on October 29, 1992.- Producer
- Director
- Composer
In the last 20 years Chip Gubera directed and/or produced 7 feature films and over 40 short films, 15 of which have been accepted at film festivals around the world. 8 of these films have won awards at festivals worldwide. He lives in Columbia, Missouri where he is a professor teaching media technology in the IT Program at the University of Missouri. Gubera's first international success was the short film Song of the Dead that was released in 2004 on "Fangoria Magazine's Blood Drive" hosted by Rob Zombie. From the short came the feature length zombie-musical Song of the Dead. Song of the Dead, Gubera's first feature film won several national and international festivals and was released worldwide. His next two feature films were the internationally award-winning, high-flying luchador, horror packed Academy of Doom and Mil Mascaras vs. the Aztec Mummy. In 2012, Gubera produced and directed the Mid-America Emmy nominated documentary Joplin, Missouri - A Tornado Story. His most recent horror feature Slasher.com burned up the festival circuit racking up several awards and is available on DVD and VOD worldwide.- Lisa Myers was born in Joplin, Missouri, USA.
- Actor
- Producer
- Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Fred is a born entertainer, but did not discover acting until his senior year in High School. After studying theater in college at Missouri Southern State University, he eventually earned a bachelor's degree in sociology, got married and shortly after 9/11 joined the US Air Force. It wasn't until 2006, while stationed at Holloman AFB in New Mexico that he was pulled back into acting, this time in front of a camera working for Michael Bay on "Transformers" (his first acting on film). Shortly after that, Fred deployed to Afghanistan working for 10th Mountain under a joint arrangement. After returning he separated from the service and relocated to Texas. He is the only actor to have been killed by both the Decepticons and Cobra on the big screen. He has worked in film as a producer, director and assistant director in addition to being an actor. He and his wife, Andrea (a writer and artist) have two children and presently reside in Texas.- Actor
- Additional Crew
Mickey Mantle Jr. was born on 12 April 1953 in Joplin, Missouri, USA. He was an actor, known for 61* (2001). He died on 20 December 2000 in Dallas, Texas, USA.- Costume Designer
- Costume and Wardrobe Department
Bernard Newman was born on 18 November 1903 in Joplin, Missouri, USA. He was a costume designer, known for You Can't Take It with You (1938), Top Hat (1935) and Swing Time (1936). He was married to Helen Keeler. He died on 30 November 1966 in New York City, New York, USA.- Lisa Adams was born on 1 March 1972 in Joplin, Missouri, USA. She is an actress, known for Floaters (2006), Pokémon (1997) and Pokémon the Movie: The Power of Us (2018).
- Actress
- Soundtrack
Mrs. Elva Miller rates highly as one of the single most colorful, unlikely, and hence oddly endearing musical celebrities to ever achieve a considerable amount of fame in the mid-1960's. Armed with an off-key, quivering, sub-Ethel Mermanesque operatic vibrato soprano voice, a sweetly humble, matronly, and old-fashioned persona, and a delightfully dotty penchant for strange bird-like wobbly whistling, Mrs. Miller belted out renditions of such songs as Petula Clark's "Downtown," "A Hard Day's Night" by The Beatles, Nancy Sinatra's "These Boots Are Made for Walkin'," and "A Lover's Concerto" by The Toys with an enthusiastic ineptitude that was truly something to behold.
She was born as Elva Ruby Connes on October 5, 1907 in Joplin, Missouri. Elva was the third of seven children born to Edward Connes and Ada Martin. Mrs. Miller grew up in Kansas and began her music career as a member of a Lutheran church choir (she also did some broadcasting on the radio station KGNO in Dodge City, Kansas). She moved to Oklahoma after graduating from high school and worked as a live-in housekeeper for a minister's family. Elva married her much older investor husband John Richardson Miller in 1934. The couple moved to Claremont, California in 1935. Mrs. Miller studied music theory, voice, and composition at Pomona College and sang in the choir at the Claremont Presbyterian Church. It was during this time that Elva began recording 45 singles of gospel, classical, and children's songs as a hobby.
Mrs. Miller was discovered by organist/pianist/arranger Fred Bock, who in turn convinced her to record a cover of "Downtown." Capitol Records A&R man Lex de Azevedo heard a demo recording of "Downtown" and signed Elva to a contract with the label. Her debut album "Mrs. Miller's Greatest Hits" was released in 1966, when Elva was 59 years old. It went on to sell over 250,000 copies within the first three weeks of its release. Mrs. Miller became an immediate star: Her rendition of "Downtown" cracked the Billboard charts at #82 in 1966, she appeared on such TV programs as "The Ed Sullivan Show," "Toast of the Town," "Malibu U.," "The Mike Douglas Show," and "The Hollywood Palace" (she sang a duet with host Jimmy Durante for the song "Inka Dinka Do"!), performed at the Hollywood Bowl, the Coconut Grove, and the Sahara Club (she shared a bill with the Kingston Trio on this latter gig!), entertained American troops in Vietnam as part of a two week USO show with Bob Hope, and pops up as herself singing "It's Magic" in the 1967 comedy feature "The Cool Ones." Capitol Records released her second album "Will Success Spoil Mrs. Miller?" in late 1966. Alas, her third and last album for Capitol "The Country Soul of Mrs. Miller" proved to be a flop when it was issued in 1967. Elva's fourth and final album "Mrs. Miller Does Her Thing" was released by the obscure Amaret record label in 1968. Undaunted, Mrs. Miller recorded two unsuccessful 45 singles on her own label called Mrs. Miller's Records in the early 1970's. She spent her latter years living in Hollywood, where she took care of her niece and nephews, frequently contributed to many local charities and organizations, and regularly attended the LA Music Center's Dorothy Chandler Pavillion. Elva Ruby Miller died at age 89 on July 5, 1997 at the Garden Terrace Retirement Center in Vista, California.
Although she's sadly no longer with us, Mrs. Miller's unique brand of lovably amateurish singing and genuine (if misguided) passion for music shall continue to amuse and entertain countless folks for all eternity.- Actress
- Additional Crew
Ilene Brewer was born on 19 September 1926 in Joplin, Missouri, USA. She was an actress, known for The Devil and Miss Jones (1941) and Riders of the Badlands (1941). She died on 26 March 2007 in Belen, New Mexico, USA.- Garry Smith was born on 29 April 1937 in Joplin, Missouri, USA. He was married to Bonnie Smith. He died on 28 February 2006 in Denver, Colorado, USA.
- Camera and Electrical Department
- Actor
- Producer
Jeremy Scherle was born on 1 January 1990 in Joplin Missouri. He is an actor and producer, known for Strangers Within (2017), The Haunter of the Dark and Asking for It (2021).- Bryce Lee was born on 17 April 1996 in Joplin, Missouri, USA. He is an actor, known for Abundant Sunshine (2009), The Abattoir (2008) and The Lutheran (2008).