Kevin McCarthy

For the past seven decades, Kevin McCarthy has had a long and distinguished career on stage, television and in film. He is one of the most in demand character actors.



Kevin McCarthy was born on February 15, 1914 in Seattle, Washington the son of Martha Therese Preston and Roy Winfield McCarthy. Kevin McCarthy was orphaned at the age of four when both his parents died in the great flu epidemic of 1918. He was raised by his father's parents in Minneapolis, Minnesota and later by an uncle and aunt.

In 1938, Kevin McCarthy made his Broadway debut in Abe Lincoln in Illinois. Kevin McCarthy's Broadway credits include Flight to the West, Joan of Lorraine, Cactus Flower, and Advise and Consent.

In 1944, Kevin McCarthy made his film debut in an uncredited role in Winged Victory.

In 1949, Kevin McCarthy was cast as Biff Loman in the London company production of Death of a Salesman. He reprised his role in the 1951 film version, and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor and won a Golden Globe Award for New Star of the Year.

Kevin McCarthy has appeared in films such as Drive a Crooked Road (1954), The Gambler from Natchez (1954), An Annapolis Story (1955), Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956), The Misfits (1961), The Hell with Heroes (1968), The Howling (1981), Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983), Hostage (1987), Love or Money (1990), The Distinguished Gentleman (1992), Fallen Angels (2006)and Her Morbid Desires (2008).




Kevin McCarthy has appeared on episodes of Boston Common, Dream On, Tales From The Crypt, Murder She Wrote, Matlock, China Beach, Simon & Simon, In The Heat of the Night, The Colbys, The Golden Girls, The Love Boat, Fantasy Island and Flamingo Road.

Kevin McCarthy's made for television movies include Rosie: The Rosemary Clooney Story (1982), Deadly Intentions (1985), Poor Little Rich Girl: The Barbara Hutton Story (1987) Liz: The Elizabeth Taylor Story (1995) and The Second Civil War (1997).




At age 96, Kevin McCarthy has no intention of retiring. He is currently filming
The Ghastly Love of Johnny X (2010) in which he will play The Grand Inquisitor.

Kim Novak

Kim Novak was born Marilyn Pauline Novak on February 13, 1933 in Chicago, Illinois. The daughter of Joseph Novak, a railroad clerk, and Blanche, a teacher.




Kim Novak won a scholarship to the Art Institute of Chicago. After leaving school, she began a career modeling teen fashions for a local department store. She later received a scholarship at a modeling academy and continued to model part-time. She worked as an elevator operator, a sales clerk and a dental assistant.

She also toured the country as a spokesman for a refrigerator manufacturer, "Miss Deepfreeze."

After moving to Los Angeles, Kim Novak landed her first film role in an uncredit part in The French Line (1954).

Kim Novak's big break came when she was cast opposite Fred MacMurray in Pushover (1953). Kim Novak captured the attention of critics and audiences alike as femme fatale Lona McLane.

In 1955, Kim Novak won the Golden Globe award for Most Promising Newcomer - Female.


Kim Novak was one of the biggest box office stars of the 1950s and 1960s. She appeared films such as Phffft! (1954), Picnic (1955), The Man with the Golden Arm (1955), Pal Joey (1957), Vertigo (1958), Bell, Book and Candle (1958), Strangers When We Meet (1960), Boys' Night Out (1962), Of Human Bondage (1964), Kiss Me, Stupid (1964), The Amorous Adventures of Moll Flanders" (1965) and The Great Bank Robbery (1969).




After 1969, Kim Novak appeared in barely a dozen films and television appearances. She played Kit Marlowe during the fourth season of Falcon Crest.

In 1991, she made her final appearance in the film Liebestraum.

For her contribution to motion pictures, Kim Novak was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.




Kim Novak married veterinarian Dr. Robert Malloy on March 12, 1976. The couple met when he treated her sick horse.

The couple now reside on a ranch where they raise horses and llamas. Kim is an accomplished artist who expresses herself in oil paintings and sculptures.




Kim Novak began writing her autobiography in 2000, but it was lost when her house caught on fire, destroying the computer that contained her only draft. Included in the loss were scripts to some of her movies (Vertigo (1958) and Picnic (1955)). Spared, however, were her menagerie of animals.

Ronald Reagan

Long before becoming Governor of California and President of the United States, Ronald Reagan graced the silver screen.





Ronald Wilson Reagan was born on February 6, 1911 in Tampico, Illinois. The son of John Edward "Jack" Reagan and Nelle Wilson.

After high school, Ronald Reagan attended Eureka College where he was a member of the Tau Kappa Epsilon fraternity where he majored in economics and sociology. He was very active in sports especially football.

After graduating from Eureka College in 1932, Reagan drove himself to Iowa, where he auditioned for a job at many small-town radio stations. He was hired by the University of Iowa to broadcast home football games for the Hawkeyes.

Aided by his persuasive voice,he moved to WHO radio in Des Moines as an announcer for Chicago Cubs baseball games.

After completing fourteen home-study Army Extension Courses, Ronald Reagan enlisted in the Army Enlisted Reserve, as a private assigned to Troop B, 322nd Cavalry at Des Moines, Iowa. He was appointed Second Lieutenant in the Officers Reserve Corps of the Cavalry on May 25, 1937, and on June 18 was assigned to the 323rd Cavalry.

In 1937, while traveling with the Cubs in California, Ronald Reagan took a screen test in 1937which led to a seven-year contract with Warner Brothers studios.

Ronald Reagan made his movie debut in Love is on the Air (1937).

In 1938, Ronald Reagan co-starred in the film Brother Rat with actress Jane Wyman. They were married on January 26, 1940. Jane and Ronald would make four more movies together: Brother Rat and a Baby (1940), Tugboat Annie Sails Again (1940), An Angel from Texas (1940) and It's a Great Feeling (1949).




Following arguments about Ronald Reagan's political ambitions, Jane Wyman filed for divorce in 1948, citing a distraction due to her husband's Screen Actors Guild union duties, the divorce was finalized in 1949.

Ronald Reagan was ordered to active duty for the first time on April 18, 1942. Due to his nearsightedness, he was classified for limited service only, which excluded him from serving overseas. Reagan was assigned to AAF Public Relations and subsequently to the 1st Motion Picture Unit where he was promoted to First Lieutenant. By the end of the war, his units had produced some 400 training films for the AAF and Ronald Reagan left the service at the rank of Captain.

After his military service in World War II, Ronald Reagan returned to motion pictures.

Between 1937 and 1964, Ronald Reagan made over 50 films including Sergeant Murphy (1938), Boy Meets Girl (1938), Brother Rat (1938), Secret Service of the Air (1939), Dark Victory (1939), Murder in the Air (1940), Knute Rockne All American (1940), Kings Row (1942), Desperate Journey (1942), The Hasty Heart (1949), Bedtime for Bonzo (1951), Law and Order (1953), Cattle Queen of Montana (1954) and his final film The Killers (1964).












Ronald Reagan has a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for television. His television credits include Wagon Train, General Electric Theater, The Dick Powell Show and Death Valley Days.

Ronald Reagan was the first to be elected to the Board of Directors of the Screen Actors Guild and would later serve as President.

In 1949, Ronald Reagan met actress Nancy Davis. She contacted him in his capacity as president of the Screen Actors Guild to help her with issues regarding her name appearing on a communist blacklist in Hollywood (she had been mistaken for another Nancy Davis). The couple married in 1952 and were married 52 years until his death.





Ronald Reagan was originally a Democrat and an admirer of Franklin D. Roosevelt, and supporter of the New Deal. During the 1950s, his political leanings began to shift more conservatively. As a result, he endorsed the presidential candidacies of Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1952 and 1956 as well as Richard Nixon in 1960 while remaining a Democrat. In 1962, Ronald Reagan formally switched to the Republican Party.

California Republicans were impressed with Reagan's political views and charisma after his "Time for Choosing" speech, they nominated him for Governor of California in 1966. He was elected as Governor of California and served until 1975.




In 1976, Ronald Reagan challenged incumbent President Gerald Ford in a bid to become the Republican Party's candidate for president. In 1980 he successfully gained the nomination of the Republican party and won the 1980 Presidential election. He would serve as President of the United States until 1989.



On March 30, 1981, Reagan, along with his press secretary James Brady and two others, were shot by a would-be assassin, John Hinckley, Jr. Missing Reagan's heart by less than one inch, the bullet instead pierced his left lung.

Ronald Reagan was the first and only President of the United states to be divorced. He was also the first and only President to have been a member of a Union. To date, Ronald Reagan is the oldest man elected to President of the United States, being 69 at the time he was elected.




Ronald Reagan died on June 5, 2004 at the age of 93 due to complications from pneumonia and Alzheimer's disease.

Katharine Ross

Katharine Juliet Ross was born on January 29, 1940 in Hollywood, California. Her father was in the US Navy and was away when she was born. His navy career shuttled the family around to Virginia, then Palo Alto and finally to Walnut Creek, outside of San Francisco, where Ross grew up.




Katherine Ross made her debut in an episode of Sam Benedict in 1962. She appeared on episodes of The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, Ben Casey, The Virginian, Wagon Train and Gunsmoke before making her movie debut in 1965.



In 1965, she was cast to play James Stewart's daughter-in-law in the film Shenandoah.

She next appeared in The Singing Nun in 1966 an Mister Buddwing (1966) before getting her big break.

In 1967, she played Elaine Robinson in The Graduate. She was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance. She won the Golden Globe for Most Promising Newcomer.




In 1969, she would play Etta Place in Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid.








She also appeared in The Stepford Wives (1975) as Joanna Eberhart.

In 1976 she would win the Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in Voyage of the Damned.


During the 1980s, she was Francesca "Frankie" Colby on the drama The Colbys.




Katherine Ross is an accomplished author of children's books. Her books include
"The Baby Animals' Party," "Mama Loves," "Bear Island," "The Little Ballerina,"
and "My Favorite Things."

Katherine Ross currently resides in Malibu, California with her husband of 24 years, Sam Elliot.

Patricia Neal

Patricia Neal was born Patsy Louise Neal on January 20, 1926 in Packard, Kentucky.





She grew up in Knoxville, Tennessee and studied drama at Northwestern University.

After moving to New York, she accepted her first job as understudy in the Broadway production of The Voice of the Turtle.

She made her Broadway debut in Another Part of the Forest (1946), winning a Tony Award as Best Featured Actress in a Play. She also appeared in the Broadway productions of The Miracle Worker, A Roomful of Roses, and The Children's Hour.




She often appears on the Tony Awards telecast, as she is the only surviving winner from the very first ceremony.


In 1949, Patricia Neal made her film debut in John Loves Mary. She next appeared in The Fountainhead (1949). Her film credits include The Hasty Heart (1949), The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951), Operation Pacific (1951), Washington Story (1952), A Face in the Crowd (1957), Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961), Hud (1963), In Harm's Way (1965) and The Subject Was Roses (1968).





In 1963, Patricia Neal won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance in Hud, co-starring Paul Newman.





She was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress for The Subject Was Roses.

Patricia Neal was offered the role of "Mrs. Robinson" in The Graduate (1967), but turned it down, feeling it had come too soon after her strokes.




She later starred as Olivia Walton in the television movie The Homecoming: A Christmas Story (1971), which was the pilot episode for The Waltons. She was nominated for an Emmy Award for her performance and won the Golden Globe.

In 1975, Patricia Neal played a dying widowed mother trying to find a home for her three children in a moving episode of NBC's Little House on the Prairie.

In 1978, Fort Sanders Regional Medical Center in Knoxville dedicated the Patricia Neal Rehabilitation Center in her honor.

Patricia Neal's most recent role was Margie in Flying By (2009).



Patricia Neal was married to Roald Dahl from July 2, 1953 until their divorce on November 17, 1983, they had five children. She also has seven grandchildren.

Luise Rainer

Luise Rainer was born on January 12, 1910 in Düsseldorf, Germany. The daughter of Heinz Rainer and Emmy Koenigsberger.



As a young girl, Luise was a terrific athlete, becoming a champion runner and an intrepid mountain climber.

Luise's training began in Germany from the age of 16 by leading stage director Max Reinhardt. After a few years, she became recognized as a "distinguished Berlin stage actress", acting with Reinhardt's Vienna theater ensemble. Critics "raved" at her stage and film acting quality.




She made her first appearance on the stage at the Dumont Theater in Düsseldorf in 1928, followed by appearances at various theaters in Jacques Deval's play Mademoiselle, Kingsley's Men in White, George Bernard Shaw's Saint Joan, Measure for Measure, and Pirandello's Six Characters in Search of an Author.

She later appeared in several German language films before being discovered in 1935 by MGM talent scout Phil Berg. Her first American role was in the film Escapade (1935).

She next appeared in a relatively small part in the musical biopic The Great Ziegfeld (1936). Despite her limited appearances in the film, she "so impressed audiences" that she won the Academy Award for Best Actress. For her dramatic telephone scene in the film, she was later dubbed "the Viennese teardrop".




In her next role, producer Irving Thalberg was convinced, despite the studio's disagreement, that she could play the part of a poor uncomely Chinese peasant in The Good Earth (1937), based on Pearl Buck's novel about hardship in China. She won her second Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance as O-Lan.




Luise Rainer also appeared in The Emperor's Candlesticks (1937) Big City (1937) The Toy Wife (1938) The Great Waltz (1938) and Hostages (1943). Her final film appearance was in The Gambler (1997).


Luise Rainer also appeared in the Broadway productions of The Lady from the Sea (1950) and A Kiss for Cinderella (1942).

Luise has a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for motion pictures.




Luise Rainer accomplished several Academy Award firsts:

1) She was the first actress/actor to win consecutive Oscars.

2) She was the first actress/actor to win two Academy Awards.

3) She was the first actor to achieve the perfect Oscar track record (two nominations-two wins).

4) She was the first and to date only German actress to win an Academy Award.

5) She was the first actress to win an Academy Award for portraying a real-life person (The Great Ziegfeld (1936).




Of all the living winners of a competitive Oscar she has had hers the longest, 74 years.

Currently lives in Eaton Square, London, in an apartment once occupied by Vivien Leigh.

She will be appearing at the Royal National Theatre in London on Monday February 1st, to talk about her extraordinary life and career.





A non-conformist to the MGM star-system, she used to parade around Hollywood untidily dressed, usually with no make-up and wearing pants. Her non-conformist style of behavior cost her contract with MGM in the late '30s

Luise Rainer has been married twice. First to Clifford Odets (January 8, 1937 to May 14, 1940, divorced) and to Robert Knittel (July 12, 1945 to June 15, 1989, his death). She has a daughter, Francesca Knittel-Bowyer, with Robert Knittel.

Sal Mineo

Sal Mineo was born Salvatore Mineo, Jr. on January 10, 1939 in The Bronx. The son of Josephine and Sal Sr., Sicilian coffin makers.




Sal Mineo was enrolled by his mother in dancing and acting school at the age of three. Sal was thrown out of parochial school and, by age eight, was a member of a street gang in a tough Bronx neighborhood. After being arrested for robbery at age 10, he was given a choice of juvenile confinement or professional acting school.

In 1951, Sal Mineo made his Broadway debut in The Rose Tattoo. He next appeared in The King and I with Yul Brynner. Yul took a liking to Sal and helped Sal better himself as an actor.

Sal Mileno's film debut was in Six Bridges to Cross (1955) and his next film was The Private War of Major Benson (1955).




Sal Mileno's breakthrough film was Rebel Without a Cause (1955) in which he played John Plato Crawford. This role would earn him an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor.




During the 1950s, Sal Mileno appeared in such films as Somebody Up There Likes Me (1956), Giant (1956), Crime in the Streets (1956), The Young Don't Cry (1957) and A Private's Affair (1959).

The 1960s brought Sal roles in The Exodus (1960), The Longest Day (1962), Cheyenne Autumn (1964), and The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965). He would be nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor and won the Golden Globe for his role in The Exodus.




A small role in Escape from the Planet of the Apes (1971) as chimpanzee Dr. Milo would be Mineo's last movie appearance.

Sal Mileno's career also included frequent television roles. In 1948, he was nominated for an Emmy Award for Best Single Performance by an Actor for Studio One.

He also appeared on television shows as Columbo, Hallmark Hall of Fame, Kraft Television Theatre, The Ann Sothern Show, Dr. Kildare, My Three Sons, Hawaii Five-O, and Police Story.

In 1957, Sal Mileno recorded a handful of sons and an album. Two of his singles reached the Top 40 pop charts.

In addition to acting and singing, Sal Mileno also directed theater productions of Fortune and Men's Stages, The Medium, and The Children's Mass.

In 1976, Sal Mineo was playing the role of a gay burglar in the stage comedy P.S. Your Cat Is Dead in which he received substantial publicity from many positive reviews.

On February 12, 1976, Sal Mileno was arriving home after a rehearsal when he was stabbed to death in the alley behind his West Hollywood apartment building. He was 37years old. Sal Mineo was stabbed just once, but the blade struck his heart, leading to immediate and massive internal bleeding.

A pizza deliveryman, Lionel Ray Williams, was sentenced to in 1979 to 57 years in prison for killing Mineo and committing 10 robberies in the same vicinity. He was paroled in 1990.