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1-50 of 216
- Angus Cloud was born on 10 July 1998 in Oakland, California, USA. He was an actor, known for Abigail (2024), Your Lucky Day (2023) and Freaky Tales (2024). He died on 31 July 2023 in Oakland, California, USA.
- Actor
- Soundtrack
Leo Gorcey's parents were actor Bernard Gorcey (born 1888) who stood 4' 10", and Josephine Condon (born 1901), who stood 4' 11" and weighed 95 pounds; they worked in vaudeville in New York. In 1915, 14-year-old Josephine gave birth to Fred. In 1917, Leo was born, a large baby at 12 lb. 3 oz.; as an adult he would be 5' 6". In 1921 his brother David Gorcey was born. In 1935, Leo and David appeared in the stage play "Dead End." In 1937, this was made into a movie, and Leo became one of the busiest actors for the next 20 years -- from 1937-1939 he starred in seven Dead End Kids movies, from 1940-1945 in 21 East Side Kids films, from 1946-1956 in 41 Bowery Boys movies.
In 1939, Leo married 17-year-old dancer Kay Marvis, who appeared in four of his movies. They divorced in 1944 after five years of marriage; she went on to marry Groucho Marx. In 1945, Leo married Evalene Bankston; they divorced in 1948. Leo was to have paid her $50,000 in a divorce settlement; however, when two detectives she hired broke into his home, he retaliated by firing his gun at them. They sued, and Leo countersued for illegal entry and won $35,000 back. In 1949, Leo married Amelita Ward, whom he met while filming Smugglers' Cove (1948). Their marriage produced Leo Gorcey Jr. in 1949, and a baby girl they named Jan (after Leo's producer and manager, Jan Grippo) in 1951. They divorced in 1956. That year Leo married his young nanny, Brandy, who was taking care of his two kids. They had a baby girl, Brandy Jo, in 1958. The couple divorced in 1962. Leo went to the altar one last time in February, 1968, marrying Mary Gannon. He stayed married to her until his death on June 2, 1969.- Actress
- Director
Paton was described as a "natural comic" and one of the "legends of the local stage" of San Francisco. She is a veteran of the American Conservatory Theater (A.C.T.), and also one of A.C.T.'s leading actresses in its first few seasons. After leaving A.C.T. in the early 1970s, Paton and her husband founded and ran the Berkeley Stage Company for a number of years.
Since then, she and her husband, theatre director Robert Goldsby, moved to Malibu, CA, where they lived until 2015. Paton appeared in 38 films and over 50 TV series. She also continued her decades-long run of regional theatre work across the country, including her 2014 role in the Broadway play, Harvey.- Actor
- Additional Crew
- Producer
Sonny Barger was born on 8 October 1938 in Modesto, California, USA. He was an actor and producer, known for Sons of Anarchy (2008), Gimme Shelter (1970) and Angels from Hell (1968). He was married to Zorana Barger and Sharon Barger. He died on 29 June 2022 in Oakland, California, USA.- Actress
- Soundtrack
Lovely Madge Evans was the perennial nice girl in films of the 1930s. By then, she had been in front of the camera for many years, starting with Fairy Soap commercials at the age of two (she sat on a bar of soap holding a bunch of violets with the tag line reading "have you a little fairy in your home?"). 'Baby Madge' also lent her name to a children's hat company. In 1914, aged five, she was picked out by talent scouts to appear in the William Farnum movie The Sign of the Cross (1914), followed by The Seven Sisters (1915) with Marguerite Clark.
By the end of the following year, she had amassed some twenty film credits, appearing with such noted contemporary stars as Pauline Frederick or Alice Brady. All of her early films were made on the East Coast, at studios in Ft.Lee, New Jersey. In 1917 (aged eight), Madge made her Broadway debut in Peter Ibbetson with John Barrymore and Lionel Barrymore. She resumed her stage career in 1926 as an ingenue with Daisy Mayme and the following year appeared with Billie Burke in Noël Coward's costume drama The Marquise (1927).
Her pleasing looks and personality soon attracted the attention of Hollywood and she was eventually signed by MGM in 1931. During the next decade, she appeared in several A-grade productions, notably as Lionel Barrymore's daughter in MGM's Dinner at Eight (1933) and as the dependable Agnes Wickfield in one of the best-ever filmed versions of David Copperfield (1935). She co-starred opposite James Cagney in the gangster movie The Mayor of Hell (1933), Spencer Tracy in The Show-Off (1934) and listened to Bing Crosby crooning the title song in Pennies from Heaven (1936). Madge received praise for her performance as the star of Beauty for Sale (1933) and The New York Times review of January 13 1934 described her acting in Fugitive Lovers (1934) (opposite Robert Montgomery ) as 'spontaneous and captivating'. Many of her 'typical American girl' roles did not allow her to express aspects of the greater acting range she undoubtedly possessed. Too often she was cast as the 'nice girl' - and those rarely make much of a dramatic impact. On the few occasions she was assigned the role of 'other woman', such as the Helen Hayes-starrer What Every Woman Knows (1934), audiences found her character difficult to believe and disassociate from her all-round wholesome image. When her contract with MGM expired in 1937, Madge wound down her film career and, following her 1939 marriage, concentrated on being the wife of celebrated playwright Sidney Kingsley. She last appeared on stage in one of his plays, "The Patriots", in 1943.- Actor
- Producer
- Additional Crew
American actor who had early success as a sunny juvenile, but whose career declined following World War II, in which he was a highly-decorated hero. A native of Los Angeles, Morris played football at Los Angeles Junior College, then worked as a forest ranger. Returning to school, he studied acting at Los Angeles Junior College and at the acclaimed Pasadena Playhouse. A Warner Bros. talent scout spotted him at the Playhouse and he signed with the studio in 1936. Blond and open-faced, he was a perfect type for boy-next-door parts and within a year had made a success in the title role of Kid Galahad (1937). While filming Flight Angels (1940), Morris became interested in flying and became a pilot. With war in the wind, he joined the Naval Reserve and became a Navy flier in 1942, leaving his film career behind for the duration of the war. Assigned to the carrier Essex in the Pacific, Morris shot down seven Japanese planes and contributed to the sinking of five ships. He was awarded four Distinguished Flying Crosses and two Air Medals. Following the war, Morris returned to films, but his nearly four-year absence had cost him his burgeoning stardom. He continued to topline movies, but the pictures, for the most part, sank in quality. Losing his boyish looks but not demeanor, Morris spent most of the Fifties in low-budget Westerns. A wonderful performance as a weakling in Stanley Kubrick's Paths of Glory (1957) might have given impetus to a new career as a character actor, had Morris lived. However, he suffered a massive heart attack while visiting aboard the aircraft carrier Bon Homme Richard in San Francisco Bay and was pronounced dead after being transported to Oakland Naval Hospital in Oakland, California. He was 45. His last film was not released until two years after his death.- Writer
- Actor
- Additional Crew
Paul Mooney was born on 4 August 1941 in Shreveport, Louisiana, USA. He was a writer and actor, known for Bamboozled (2000), Brewster's Millions (1985) and Pryor's Place (1984). He was married to Yvonne Mooney. He died on 19 May 2021 in Oakland, California, USA.- Allen 'Farina' Hoskins was born on 9 August 1920 in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. He was an actor, known for Reckless (1935), Love Business (1930) and Moan & Groan, Inc. (1929). He was married to Frances. He died on 26 July 1980 in Oakland, California, USA.
- Kumar Pallana was born on 23 December 1918 in Indore, Indore State, Central India Agency, British India. He was an actor, known for The Terminal (2004), The Royal Tenenbaums (2001) and Bottle Rocket (1996). He was married to Ranjana Jethwa. He died on 10 October 2013 in Oakland, California, USA.
- Actor
- Director
- Writer
Handsome, dark wavy-haired leading man who appeared on the New York stage, starred in early silent films (1-3 reelers) as well as directed and wrote scenarios. Worked for various studios including Edison, American, Powers, Rex, Big U (Universal), Laemmle, Nestor and Selig. Still working until the year of his death, he passed away at the age of 37 from paralysis associated with multiple sclerosis which affected his spinal cord. He left his wife Ann and their two year old daughter as well as his parents and two sisters.- Howland Chamberlain was born on 2 August 1911 in The Bronx, New York, USA. He was an actor, known for The Best Years of Our Lives (1946), Kramer vs. Kramer (1979) and Electric Dreams (1984). He died on 1 September 1984 in Oakland, California, USA.
- Actress
- Producer
- Additional Crew
Gloria Sevilla was born on 31 January 1932 in the Philippines. She was an actress and producer, known for Madugong paghihiganti (1963), Badlis sa kinabuhi (1969) and Gimingaw ako (1973). She was married to Amado Cortez. She died on 16 April 2022 in Oakland, California, USA.- John Schnabel was born on 11 February 1920 in Kansas, USA. He was married to Erma Dire. He died on 18 March 2016 in Oakland, California, USA.
- Harriet C. Leider was born on 5 October 1944. She was an actress, known for Torch Song Trilogy (1988), Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987) and Dream Lover (1993). She was married to Jenny Wrenn. She died on 12 February 2004 in Oakland, California, USA.
- Huey P. Newton, the co-founder and inspirational leader of the Black Panther Party, was born in Monroe, Louisiana, on February 17, 1942. He was named after governor Huey P. Long. Newton's family moved to Oakland, California early in his childhood.
He attended Merritt College, earning an Associate of Arts degree. He also studied law at Oakland City College and at San Francisco Law School.
While at Oakland City College, Newton had become involved in the radical politics that were dominating the Bay Area. He joined the Afro-American Association and played a role in getting the first black history course adopted as part of the college's curriculum. He read the works of Malcolm X, Che Guevara and Mao Tse-tung. During his time at Oakland City College, he met a young man named Bobby Seale.
Newton and Seale decided early on that the police must be stopped from harassing Oakland's African-Americans and they organized the Black Panther Party for Self Defense (October 1966), with Seale as Chairman and Newton as Minister of Defense.
From his study of the law, Newton was familiar with the California Penal Code and the state's law regarding weapons and was thus able to convince a number of African-Americans of their constitutional right to bear arms. Armed members of the Black Panther Party for Self Defense began patrolling the Oakland police. In addition to patrolling, Newton and Seale were responsible for writing the Black Panther Party Platform and Program.
Newton was accused of murdering Oakland police officer John Frey and in September 1968 was convicted of voluntary manslaughter and was sentenced to two to 15 years in prison. In May 1970, the California Appellate Court reversed Newton's conviction and ordered a new trial. The State of California dropped its case against Newton after two subsequent mistrials.
While he had been imprisoned, party membership had decreased significantly in several cities, and the FBI had been involved in a campaign to disrupt the Black Panthers through a program called COINTELPRO. Newton concentrated on community outreach programs and the Black Panthers sponsored sickle-cell anemia tests, free food and shoes. In January, 1969, the first Panther's Free Breakfast for School Children Program was initiated at St. Augustine's Church in Oakland. By the end of the year, the Panthers set up kitchens in cities across the nation, feeding over 10,000 children every day before they went to school. Funding for several of their programs were raised as the result of the co-operation of drug dealers and prostitution rings.
Due to the popularity of the programs started by Newton and the Black Panthers, J. Edgar Hoover (who was head of the FBI), stated publicly that the Panthers are the "greatest threat to the internal security of the country".
In 1971, between his second and third trials for the murder of John Frey, he visited China for ten days, where he met with Premier Chou En-lai and Chiang Ch'ing, the wife of Chairman Mao Tse-tung. While there he was offered political asylum.
In 1974 several assault charges were filed against him and he was also accused of murdering a 17-year-old prostitute, Kathleen Smith. Newton failed to make his court appearance. His bail was revoked, a bench warrant issued, and his name added to the Federal Bureau of Investigation's most wanted list. Newton had jumped bail and escaped to Cuba, where he spent three years in exile. He returned home in 1977 to face murder charges because he said, the climate in the United States had changed and he believed he could get a fair trial. He was acquitted of the murder of Kathleen Smith after two juries were deadlocked.
In 1989 he was convicted of embezzling funds from a school run by the Black Panthers, supposedly to support his alcohol and drug addictions. By this time the Panthers had turned to less violent activism.
On August 22, 1989, Newton was shot at the age of 47 during a drug deal gone bad. - Additional Crew
Frank Ward was born on 20 May 1940 in Alabama, USA. He is known for The Mack (1973). He died on 9 October 1972 in Oakland, California, USA.- Actor
- Sound Department
- Soundtrack
Doug Boyd was born on May 23, 1952 to John D. Boyd and Dorothy E. Boyd (Smith), the youngest of four siblings. He spent his childhood and adolescence in Culver City, CA, where he met some of his closest lifelong friends. From a young age Doug showed talent in singing and acting. In his youth he was a singing waiter at the Great American Food and Beverage Company in Los Angeles, and he won the television competition The Gong Show for his musical performance.
Doug graduated from Sonoma State University in 1975 with a B.A. in English, and subsequently began his 40-year career as a studio actor and vocalist. His vast portfolio included singing radio jingles, on-camera acting, and print modeling. Doug was an accomplished voice-over artist, his work featured in video games such as BioShock and Syphon Filter, national advertisements, TV shows, films, and educational games. Doug married Lori A. Boyd (Owens) in 1983, and they raised two daughters in Richmond, CA. He moved to Oakland in 2002 where he spent the remainder of his life.- David Zelag Goodman was born on 15 January 1930 in Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA. He was a writer, known for Logan's Run (1976), Straw Dogs (2011) and Straw Dogs (1971). He was married to Marjorie Goodman. He died on 26 September 2011 in Oakland, California, USA.
- Actor
- Producer
- Writer
Violinist and cellist, singer, actor, composer and songwriter ("Shame On You"), conductor, arranger and inventor who popularized western swing music on film and recordings, in person and on radio and television. When Spade was four, he and his parents John and Emma Cooley moved to Oregon where he studied classical violin and cello, and at the age of eight he began performing at community dances and hoedowns with his father. At age 22, his parents moved to Modesto, California where he earned a modest living playing in bars and outdoor events as well as in nearby Fresno and Stockton for polka parties and square dances. A persistent search for film work landed him a job at Republic Pictures as a stand-in for Roy Rogers with whom he shared a slight resemblance. Soon he was singing with the Riders of the Purple Sage and made his first recording in 1941 with the Cal Shrum. The Spade Cooley Orchestra was formed soon afterward as a headline attraction at the Venice Pier Ballroom and later at the Riverside Rancho in Los Angeles (where the popular Carolina Cotton joined the band as a bass fiddler, singer and yodeler), and the band opened the doors at the new Santa Monica Ballroom while recording for RCA Victor.
His eleven-year television career started at KTLA on August 5, 1948 where he broadcast live from the Santa Monica Ballroom, capturing seventy-five percent of the viewership. The orchestra dissolved in 1959 and Cooley began planning a never-built amusement park for Kern County to be called Water Wonderland which would feature boat races and swimming and incorporate a broadcast studio for a new television series. But health and financial problems ensued while at the same time his popularity was quickly fading.
Spade Cooley was always a driven man and a classic Type A personality; but alcohol became an issue as did marital discord and personal anger, and several heart attacks weakened him. According to reports, Spade was increasingly frustrated over the growing distance in his marriage and he exploded in shock, horror and violence at the moment his wife told him she had secretly been a part of a sex-love cult. (This may have been a partial or total fiction she created to get Spade to divorce her.) At that moment he lashed out blindly at her, rupturing her aorta which caused her death. Cooley, now frail and in a wheelchair throughout the first-degree murder trial, never forgave himself and refused a sanity hearing, but the judge imposed a life sentence at the California State Prison Medical Facility at Vacaville where Cooley, a model prisoner, founded a music program with a band and then an orchestra which gave concerts. He learned to play guitar and developed an electric violin.
In August 1969 Spade Cooley won a unanimous vote for parole to take effect the following February, and he was granted a three-day work furlough for his Vacaville orchestra to do an Alameda County Deputy Sheriff's Association concert at the Oakland Auditorium. Greeted with thunderous applause as in the old days, the officials and guests cheered Cooley throughout and, at the concert's conclusion, three thousand law-enforcement officers roared a thunderous standing ovation as Spade took bow after bow while friends, fans, prison guards and even relatives crowded the stage. Spade Cooley, out of breath, sat down in a chair, and then fell forward onto the floor, already dead.
His body was returned to the prison and was cremated. From that point, no one knows for certain what became of the remains of Spade Cooley.- Actor
- Music Department
- Composer
Brownie McGhee was born on 30 November 1915 in Knoxville, Tennessee, USA. He was an actor and composer, known for Angel Heart (1987), The Jerk (1979) and Adventures in Babysitting (1987). He died on 16 February 1996 in Oakland, California, USA.- Casting Director
- Casting Department
- Producer
Louis DiGiaimo was born on 20 October 1938 in Paterson, New Jersey, USA. He was a casting director and producer, known for Thelma & Louise (1991), Gladiator (2000) and Homicide: Life on the Street (1993). He was married to Lee. He died on 19 December 2015 in Oakland, New Jersey, USA.- Larry Grey was born on 23 March 1895 in Leeds, Yorkshire, England, UK. He was an actor, known for Alice in Wonderland (1951) and Mr. Celebrity (1941). He was married to Carlotta Dale Garrison. He died on 5 May 1951 in Oakland, California, USA.
- Edward Proudfoot was born on 23 September 1943. He was an actor, known for The Last Outlaw (1993), Hells Angels Forever (1983) and Good Night America (1973). He died on 4 July 2009 in Oakland, California, USA.
- Director
- Producer
- Writer
Marlon Riggs was born on 3 February 1957 in Texas, USA. He was a director and producer, known for Tongues Untied (1989), Color Adjustment (1992) and Black Is... Black Ain't (1994). He died on 5 April 1994 in Oakland, California, USA.- Writer
- Location Management
Sidney Kingsley was born on 22 October 1906 in New York City, New York, USA. He was a writer, known for Detective Story (1951), Dead End (1937) and Men in White (1934). He was married to Madge Evans. He died on 20 March 1995 in Oakland, New Jersey, USA.