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Al Bain was born on 5 October 1907 in Vilna, Russia. He was an actor, known for Hollywood Stadium Mystery (1938) and Butch Minds the Baby (1942). He died on 7 April 1993 in DeLand, Florida, USA.

Romain Gary was born on 8 May 1914 in Vilna, Russian Empire [now Vilnius, Lithuania]. He was a writer and actor, known for The Longest Day (1962), Kill! Kill! Kill! Kill! (1971) and Birds in Peru (1968). He was married to Jean Seberg and Lesley Blanch. He died on 2 December 1980 in Paris, France.

Maurice Cass was born on October 12, 1884, in Vilnius, Lithuania (then Vilno, Russian Empire). He emigrated to the USA, and in his pursuit of an acting career, he began as announcer and comedian in New York. Cass had a pleasant face, a small body and a big voice.

With his nearsightedness and his inevitable pince-nez adding weight to his intelligent face, Cass was destined to play professors, doctors, writers, and managers with his special brand of genial, slightly absent-minded officiousness. He started playing bit parts, often uncredited, and made a career as a character actor in more than 120 film and television productions. His best known work was Professor Newton, a supporting role in a series of space adventure movies made for TV and shown over the period from 1954 to 1956. Cass's snow-white haired Professor Newton could always be counted on to provide the scientific explanation for all the fantastic events that unfolded before the viewer. Professor Newton had his own observatory (which was filmed at the Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles) and although elderly, he would often accompany the astronauts on their adventurous space flights.

Maurice Cass's character, Professor Newton, was replaced by Professor Mayberry upon Cass's death of a heart attack, at the age of 69, on June 8, 1954, in Hollywood, California.

Jascha Heifetz came to the USA in 1917, became a citizen in 1925, and joined ASCAP in 1937. He was educated at the Royal School of Music in Vilna (which he entered at five and from which he graduated at nine), the St. Petersburg Conservatory (with Leopold Auer, earning an Honorary Music Degree), the New York College of Music, and Northwestern University. His first professional appearance was at age five, during which he gave his first concert, then at St. Petersburg, in 1911, in Berlin in 1912, and at Carnegie Hall in 1917. Eventually he concertized throughout the world, and made many recordings, becoming also a Commander in the French Legion of Honor. He also composed several popular songs, among them "When You Make Love to Me" and "So Much in Love".

Carl Sklover was born on 1 September 1904 in Vilna, Russia. He was an actor, known for Meet Danny Wilson (1952), Playgirl (1954) and Dragnet (1951). He died on 24 April 1999 in Palm Springs, California, USA.

Shimen Ruskin was born on 25 February 1907 in Vilna, Russian Empire [now Vilnius, Lithuania]. He was an actor and assistant director, known for Fiddler on the Roof (1971), The Producers (1967) and Love and Death (1975). He was married to Kate Urkowitz and Rae Spiegel. He died on 23 April 1976 in Los Angeles, California, USA.

Although his name nowadays means very little except to animation buffs (and even they have to be pretty well informed), Wladyslaw Starewicz ranks alongside Walt Disney, as one of the great animation pioneers, and his career started nearly a decade before Disney's. He became an animator by accident - fascinated by insects, he bought a camera and attempted to film them, but they kept dying under the hot lights. Stop-motion animation provided an instant (if slow) solution, and Starewicz discovered that he had a natural talent for it. He subsequently made dozens of short films, mostly featuring his trademark stop-motion puppets, but also live action films (some blending live action and animation), moving to France after the Russian Revolution to continue his career. His longest and most ambitious film was the feature-length 'Tale of the Fox', which took ten years to plan and eighteen months to shoot. Starewicz' films were virtually one-man shows (writer/director/cameraman/designer/animator), though other important contributions (in front of and behind the camera) were made by his daughters.

Shmuel Rodensky was born on 10 December 1904 in Smorgon, Vilna Governorate, Russian Empire [now Smarhon, Grodno Oblast, Belarus]. He was an actor, known for The Odessa File (1974), Tuvia Vesheva Benotav (1968) and Moses the Lawgiver (1974). He was married to Nyura Shein. He died on 18 July 1989 in Tel Aviv, Israel.

Clara Rockmore studied violin in Leningrad with Leopold Auer, and both emigrated in the mid 20s to the USA. Her violin career was stopped due to muscular problems, but due to the fact that she knew Leon Theremin, who had recently developed his Theremin, she soon became a virtuoso on this new electronic instrument, performing with the first orchestras of the USA.

Saul Martell was born on 22 September 1901 in Vilna, Russian Empire [now Vilnius, Lithuania]. He was an actor, known for The Man Called X (1956), The Ford Television Theatre (1952) and Celebrity Playhouse (1955). He died on 1 July 1973 in Los Angeles, California, USA.

Joseph Buloff was born on 20 January 1899 in Vilna, Russian Empire [now Vilnius, Lithuania]. He was an actor, known for Silk Stockings (1957), Somebody Up There Likes Me (1956) and The Loves of Carmen (1948). He was married to Luba Kadison. He died on 27 February 1985 in New York City, New York, USA.

Dagmar Godowsky was born on 24 November 1897 in Vilna, Russian Empire [now Vilnius, Lithuania]. She was an actress, known for The Story Without a Name (1924), In Borrowed Plumes (1926) and Virtuous Liars (1924). She was married to Frank Mayo. She died on 13 February 1975 in New York City, New York, USA.

Józef Klemens Pilsudski (5 December 1867 - 12 May 1935) was a Polish statesman who served as the Chief of State (1918-1922) and First Marshal of Poland (from 1920). He was considered the DE factors leader (1926-35) of the Second Polish Republic as the Minister of Military Affairs. After World War I, he held increasing dominance in Polish politics and was an active player in international diplomacy. He is viewed as a father of the Second Polish Republic re-established in 1918, 123 years after the final Partition of Poland in 1795.

Avrom Morewski was born on 18 March 1886 in Vilna, Russian Empire [now Vilnius, Lithuania]. He was an actor, known for The Dybbuk (1937), Al khet (1936) and Der Turm des Schweigens (1925). He died on 3 October 1964 in Warsaw, Mazowieckie, Poland.

Czeslaw Wollejko was born on 17 March 1916 in Vilna, Russian Empire [now Vilnius, Lithuania]. He was an actor, known for Young Chopin (1952), Lalka (1978) and Gniazdo (1974). He died on 7 February 1987 in Warsaw, Mazowieckie, Poland.

Abram Room was born on 28 June 1894 in Vilna, Russian Empire [now Vilnius, Lithuania]. He was a director and writer, known for Nashestvie (1945), Sud chesti (1949) and Belated Flowers (1970). He died on 26 July 1976 in Moscow, Russian SFSR, USSR [now Russia].

Waclaw Zastrzezynski was born on 22 March 1900 in Vilna, Russian Empire [now Vilnius, Lithuania]. He was an actor, known for Ashes and Diamonds (1958) and Poscig (1954). He died on 22 November 1959 in Katowice, Slaskie, Poland.

Alexander Asro was born on 10 February 1888 in Vilna, Russian Empire [now Vilnius, Lithuania]. He was an actor, known for Room Service (1938) and Bashful Ballerina (1937). He was married to Sonia Asro. He died in January 1963 in Flushing, Queens, New York City, New York, USA.

Rose Caylor was newspaper reporter, author, screenwriter and playwright. She was born in Vilna, Russia (now Vilnius, Lithuania) in 1898, the daughter of Morris and Elizabeth Libman. Her father came to America in 1906 where he found work in Chicago as a department store salesman. Rose, her mother and two sisters joined him there the following year. Rose's older sister was the author and Jewish historian Anita Libman Lebeson (abt. 1897-1987) and her younger sister, Minna Libman Emch (abt 1904-1958), was a noted Chicago psychiatrist and psychoanalyst.

Rose graduated second in her class at the University of Chicago and went on to work as a journalist for the Chicago Daily News. While at the Daily News she met and fell in love with writer Ben Hecht and moved to New York City with him in 1924. The next year they married after his divorce from writer Mary Armstrong was finalized. Over their almost forty year marriage Rose collaborated on a number of projects with her husband and helped as his assistant.

In 1930 she translated and adapted for Broadway Anton Chekhov's play "Uncle Vanya". Among her novels are "The Woman on the Balcony" (1927) and "The Journey" (1933).

Her only child Jenny Hecht was an actress who died of a drug overdose in 1971. Rose Caylor Hecht passed away in 1979. Her headstone at the Oak Him Cemetery in Nyack, New York bears the inscription "and rooks in families homeward go, and so do I." from the Thomas Hardy poem "Weathers".

Alexander Schneider was born on 21 October 1908 in Vilna, Russian Empire [now Vilnius, Lithuania]. He was married to Geraldine Page and Gerda Benfey. He died on 2 February 1993 in Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA.

Born in Russia in 1869, Ivan Abramson emigrated to the US while in his 20s. He went to work for Jewish newspapers. He became interested in the film business and in 1914 founded Ivan Film Productions. He produced several successful films, and even went into business with William Randolph Hearst to form the Graphic Film Corp.

Abramson's films were more on the "risque" side--for the times--with titles like A Child for Sale (1920), The Sex Lure (1916) and Enlighten Thy Daughter (1917). He made his last film, Meddling Women (1924), in 1924. He died in New York City in 1934.

Vasili Kachalov was born on 11 February 1875 in Vilna, Russian Empire [now Vilnius, Lithuania]. He was an actor, known for The White Eagle (1928), Mastera stseny (1947) and Road to Life (1931). He died on 30 September 1948 in Moscow, RSFSR, USSR [now Russia].

Sergei Yermolinsky was born on 14 December 1900 in Vilna, Russian Empire [now Vilnius, Lithuania]. He was a writer, known for Doroga (1955), Neulovimye mstiteli (1967) and Robinzon Kruzo (1947). He died on 18 February 1984 in Moscow, RSFSR, USSR [now Russia].

Horace Goldin was born on 17 December 1873 in Vilna, Russian Empire [now Vilnius, Lithuania]. He was married to Helen Levy (dancer). He died on 22 August 1939 in New York City, New York, USA.

Leonidas Ossetynski was born on 22 October 1910 in Vilna, Russian Empire [now Vilnius, Lithuania]. He was an actor, known for Mission: Impossible (1966), Night Gallery (1969) and The Man in the Glass Booth (1975). He died on 28 April 1989 in Los Angeles, California, USA.