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- Actress
- Producer
Dichen Lachman was born in Kathmandu, Nepal, to a Tibetan mother and Australian father. Until the age of seven, she lived in Kathmandu with her parents and extended family. Following that, she moved to Adelaide, Australia, with her parents. After dropping out of university, Dichen took up acting and then moved to Sydney to pursue her career. Her first major role was in Aquamarine (2006), followed by a 14-month stint on the Australian series Neighbours (1985), for which she moved to Melbourne. In December 2009, she completed two seasons of the Fox series Dollhouse (2009).- Producer
- Actress
- Director
Since melting filmgoers' hearts at the tender age of six in Steven Spielberg's beloved sci-fi blockbuster, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982), Drew Barrymore has emerged as one of the most iconic and singularly gifted talents of her generation. Born in Culver City, California to John Drew Barrymore and Jaid Barrymore, the clutches of fame were virtually inescapable for young Drew, her father being a member of the esteemed showbiz dynasty fronted by stage star Maurice Barrymore, his thespian wife Georgiana, and their three children: Lionel Barrymore, Ethel Barrymore, and John Barrymore.
In the wake of a challenging era fuelled by addiction and media vitriol, an industrious Barrymore threw herself into her work during the early-mid nineties, first with an assortment of "bad girl" parts in cultish B-pics like Poison Ivy (1992), Guncrazy (1992), Doppelganger (1993), and - befittingly - Bad Girls (1994); then, warmly received supporting roles in mainstream fare such as Boys on the Side (1995), Batman Forever (1995), Woody Allen's Everyone Says I Love You (1996), and Wes Craven's game-changing horror megahit, Scream (1996). Equal portions of goofball - The Wedding Singer (1998), Never Been Kissed (1999), Charlie's Angels (2000) - and gravitas - Riding in Cars with Boys (2001), Donnie Darko (2001), Confessions of a Dangerous Mind (2002) - came next, with a Golden Globe-grabbing pièce de résistance - her divine incarnation of Edith Bouvier Beale in Grey Gardens (2009) - confirming that her skill set was every bit as broad and robust as imagined.
Having already birthed an array of projects through Flower Films, the production house she co-formed with Nancy Juvonen in '95, Barrymore fastened an additional string to her bow when she spearheaded the sports dramedy Whip It (2009), her richly appraised directorial debut. Following a steady run of star vehicles at the front end of the 2010s, her tour de force turn as walking-dead suburban realtor Sheila Hammond - on Netflix's Santa Clarita Diet (2017) - saw her step with trademark resolve into newer territory still: the flourishing world of the small screen, a metamorphosis she continues to espouse with her role as compère of spirited daytime staple, The Drew Barrymore Show (2020).- Actress
- Soundtrack
Jeri Ryan was born Jeri Lynn Zimmerman on February 22, 1968 in Munich, West Germany, to Gerhard Florian Zimmerman, a Master Sergeant in the United States Army, and his wife Sharon, a social worker. She and her older brother Mark grew up on several military bases, including Kansas, Maryland, Hawaii, Georgia and Texas. Finally, at age 11, her father retired from the Army and her family settled down in Paducah, Kentucky. After graduating from Lone Oak High School in 1986, she attended Northwestern University Chicago as a National Merit Scholar. While studying there, she won a number of beauty contests (a.o.- sixth annual Miss Northwestern Alpha Delta Phi Pageant in 1989).
With a B.S. degree in Theatre, she came to Los Angeles, California and since then she has been on several television series and films - including popular series like Matlock (1986), Melrose Place (1992) and Star Trek: Voyager (1995) as well as Dark Skies (1996). Her television experience also includes roles in a variety of telefilms including Nightmare in Columbia County (1991), NBC's In the Line of Duty: Ambush in Waco (1993), Co-ed Call Girl (1996), The Sentinel (1996), Men Cry Bullets (1998), Dracula 2000 (2000), The Last Man (2000) and Down with Love (2003). Jeri Ryan resides in an area of Los Angeles, California with her husband chef Christophe Eme, her son Alex and daughter Gisele.- Actor
- Director
- Soundtrack
The "boy next door, if that boy spent lots of time alone in the basement", is how Rich Cohen described Kyle MacLachlan in a 1994 article for "Rolling Stone" magazine. That distinctly askew wholesomeness made MacLachlan a natural to become famous as the alter ego of twisted director David Lynch.
MacLachlan was born and raised in Yakima, Washington, to Catherine Louise (Stone), a public relations director, and Kent Alan McLachlan, a lawyer and stockbroker. He has Scottish, English, Cornish, and German ancestry. MacLachlan graduated from the University of Washington in 1982. The darkly handsome actor made his feature film debut when he starred in the big-budget David Lynch adaptation of Frank Herbert's Dune (1984), but only enjoyed real success after appearing in a second Lynch project, the moody and perverse classic, Blue Velvet (1986).
The following year saw MacLachlan appearing as an otherworldly FBI agent in the cult classic sci-fi film, The Hidden (1987). This turned out to be a sign of things to come, as MacLachlan soon took on another oddball G-man, "Special Agent Dale Cooper", on Lynch's cryptic ABC-TV series, Twin Peaks (1990), perhaps, along with Blue Velvet (1986), his most famous role. MacLachlan's remarkable work as Agent Cooper earned him a Golden Globe award and a pair of Emmy nominations, as well as steady work in television and films, including a part as Ray Manzarek in the Oliver Stone film, The Doors (1991), and villain "Cliff Vandercave" in the live action version of The Flintstones (1994).
His career took a hit after he appeared in the infamous flop, Showgirls (1995). However, MacLachlan returned to prominence in the early 2000s with a re-occurring role on HBO's Sex and the City (1998), as well as a starring role in the TV movie, The Spring (2000), and a turn as "Claudius" in director Michael Almereyda's version of Hamlet (2000). MacLachlan later took advantage of his resemblance to Cary Grant, when he played the classic actor's spirit in Touch of Pink (2004).
MacLachlan has remained a popular actor with independent filmmakers, and he has also been a familiar face on television, appearing on the ABC-TV shows, In Justice (2006) and Desperate Housewives (2004).- Actor
- Producer
- Director
Thomas Jane is an American actor who is known for portraying Frank Castle from the 2004 Marvel Comics film The Punisher and the 2012 fan film Dirty Laundry. He also was in Boogie Nights, The Thin Red Line, Deep Blue Sea, The Predator, 1922, The Mist and Evening Raga of the West.- Actress
- Producer
- Director
Elodie Yung was born in Paris, France, of Cambodian and French descent. She grew up in Seine-saint-Denis, in Le Bourget, where she practiced karate and obtained her black belt. She graduated from University of La Sorbonne in Paris and has a law degree. She then decided to study acting at London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art in London.- Actor
- Producer
- Writer
James Hong was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA. He studied civil engineering at the University of Minnesota, but at some point along the way became interested in acting. He graduated from the University of Southern California and practiced for 1½ years as a road engineer with the County of Los Angeles. He took sick leaves and vacation time to do films. He finally quit engineering to focus on acting full time.
He is one of the founders of the East-West Players, the oldest Asian American theater in Los Angeles. He served as president and charter member of the Association of Asian Pacific American Artists.
Hong is one of the most prolific and well-recognized Asian-American character actors of movies and television. He currently lives in Los Angeles and is planning to produce and direct his own films.- Actress
- Soundtrack
For decades, British actress and comedienne Dame Julie Walters has served as a sturdy representation of the working class with her passionate, earthy portrayals on England's stage, screen and television. A bona fide talent, her infectious spirit and self-deprecating sense of humor eventually captured the hearts of international audiences. The small and slender actress with the prominent cheekbones has yet to give an uninteresting performance.
She was born Julia Mary Walters on February 22, 1950 in Edgbaston, England, the youngest of three children and only daughter of Mary Bridget (O'Brien), an Irish-born postal clerk from County Mayo, and Thomas Walters, an English-born builder, from Birmingham. Convent schooled in Birmingham, she expressed an early desire to act. However, her iron-willed mother had other ideas and geared her towards a nursing career. Dutifully applying at Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham, Julie eventually gave up nursing when the pull to be an actress proved too strong.
Studying English and Drama at Manchester Polytechnic, she subsequently joined a theatre company in Liverpool and apprenticed as a stand-up comic. A one-time company member of the Vanload improv troupe, she made her London stage debut in the aptly-titled comedy "Funny Peculiar" in 1975, and went on to develop a successfully bawdy act on the cabaret circuit. While at Manchester, Julie befriended aspiring writer/comedienne Victoria Wood and the twosome appeared together in sketch comedy. A couple of their works, "Talent" and "Nearly a Happy Ending", transferred to television and were accompanied by rave reviews. Eventually, they were handed their own television series, Wood and Walters (1981).
In 1980, Julie scored a huge solo success under the theatre lights when she made her London debut in Willy Russell's "Educating Rita". For her superlative performance, she won both the Variety Critic's and London Critic's Circle Awards as the young hairdresser who vows to up her station in life by enrolling in a university. She conquered film as well when Educating Rita (1983) transferred to the big screen opposite Michael Caine as her Henry Higgins-like college professor, collecting a Golden Globe Award and Oscar nomination. Reuniting with Victoria Wood in 1984, the pair continue to appear together frequently on television, most recently with the award-winning series dinnerladies (1998). On stage, Julie has impressed in a variety of roles ranging from the contemporary ("Fool for Love", "Frankie and Johnny at the Clair de Lune") to the classics ("Macbeth", "The Rose Tattoo" and "All My Sons"), winning the Laurence Olivier Award for the last-mentioned play.
Following her success as Rita, she immediately rolled out a sterling succession of film femmes including her seedy waitress-turned successful brothel-owner in Personal Services (1987); the unsophisticated, small-town wife of Phil Collins in Buster (1988); a boozy, man-chasing mum in Killing Dad or How to Love Your Mother (1989); and Liza Minnelli's abrasive tap student in Stepping Out (1991). Playing a wide variety of ages, she also mustered up a very convincing role as the mother of Joe Orton in the critically-acclaimed Prick Up Your Ears (1987).
Julie capped her career in films as the abrasively stern but encouraging dance teacher in Billy Elliot (2000) which earned her a second Oscar nomination and a healthy helping of quirky character roles, including her charming, charity-driven widow who poses à la natural in Calendar Girls (2003), and the maternal witch-wife Molly Weasley in the J.K. Rowling "Harry Potter" series beginning with Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (2001) and ending with Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 (2011). For her work on film and television, the British Academy of Film and Television Arts has honored Julie five times, including four awards in a row (2001-2004).
Married to Grant Roffey since 1997 after a 12-year relationship, the couple tend to a 70-acre organic farm they bought in Sussex. They have one daughter, Maisie Mae Roffey (born 1988). In 1999, Julie was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) at the Queen's Birthday Honours for her services to drama, and in 2008, was made Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE). In 2017, she was appointed Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire.
Other more recent millennium films for Dame Julie include Wah-Wah (2005), Becoming Jane (2007) (as Jane Austen's mother), Mamma Mia! (2008), Paddington (2014), Brooklyn (2015), Paddington 2 (2017), Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again (2018), Mary Poppins Returns (2018) and The Secret Garden (2020) as Mrs. Medlock.- Leslie Charleson was born on 22 February 1945 in Kansas City, Missouri, USA. She is an actress, known for General Hospital (1963), Kung Fu (1972) and Cannon (1971). She was previously married to G. William Demms.
- Actress
- Music Department
- Soundtrack
Ellen Greene was performing as a nightclub singer in several New York City clubs and treading the boards in New York City theater before her friend and mentor, filmmaker Paul Mazursky cast her in her first motion picture, Next Stop, Greenwich Village (1976), she was awarded the part of Sarah, opposite Lenny Baker. Four years after she originated the role of Audrey, the lovably ditzy, golden-hearted, sweetest masochist in musical-comedy history in Howard Ashman's 1982 Off-Broadway play, The Little Shop of Horrors, the actress reprised the role in Frank Oz's film adaptation, Little Shop of Horrors (1986) (in which she starred opposite Rick Moranis and Steve Martin). Up to the present time, this is the actress's most talked-about and celebrated role.
A few years later, Greene starred in the American drama film Talk Radio (1988), she played the part of Ellen, opposite Eric Bogosian and Alec Baldwin. Aside from the actress's work in these two motion pictures, and ABC's fantasy mystery comedy-drama television series, Pushing Daisies (2007), in which she and Swoosie Kurtz play Lily and Vivian Charles, the agoraphobic sisters. Greene has also provided her talent to Law & Order (1990), The X-Files (1993), Heroes (2006), and The Young and the Restless (1973).
In July 2015, Greene brought back Audrey for a two-night revival of Little Shop of Horrors at New York City Center. She starred opposite Jake Gyllenhaal (who replaced Moranis). The revival received rave reviews, and according to The New York Times, when Greene made her entrance on stage, she received the kind of entrance applause you might imagine greeting the resurrection of Maria Callas at the Metropolitan Opera for a beyond-the-grave performance of "Norma."- Actor
- Director
- Writer
Miko started his acting career in a public service announcement when he was 22 months old and followed that up by appearing in his first feature film at 27 months old. Since that early start Miko has consistently been one of the busiest young actors in Hollywood. Miko is best known on film for his dramatic portrayal of an autistic boy opposite Bruce Willis in the blockbuster hit Mercury Rising (1998). In addition, he has also starred on film in Spawn (1997), Zeus and Roxanne (1997), Apollo 13 (1995), Kindergarten Cop (1990) and Pet Sematary (1989).
Miko has also appeared in numerous television movies. He has also been a series regular, recurring character or guest star on many television series including Baywatch (1989), Touched by an Angel (1994) and The Nanny (1993). Miko received an Emmy certificate for his participation as the voice of "Tommy" in the number one rated Fox animated TV series Life with Louie (1994). His other voice-over credits include the voice of "Sly" and "Witt," twin babies in the feature film Baby Geniuses (1999).
Miko is of Native American heritage and his name means "Chief" in Chickasaw. Miko is also a beekeeper and counts his 30,000 bees as pets. He has two older brothers (Mikhael and Mitchel) and one older sister (Molly). He lives in Apple Valley, California when working but considers his permanent address to be Oklahoma.- Actress
- Additional Crew
- Producer
Rachel Dratch grew up in Lexington, Massachusetts. After graduating from Dartmouth College with a degree in Drama and Psychology, she moved to Chicago, where she studied with Del Close at Improvolympic. She was on the house team, "Victim's Family", with Adam McKay. Rachel went on to tour with the Second City Touring Company and eventually advanced to the Second City Mainstage, where she appeared in four revues: "Pinata Full of Bees", "Citizen Gates", "Paradigm Lost", and "Promisekeepers Losers Weepers". For the latter two, she received the Joseph Jefferson Award for Best Actress in a Revue. After leaving the mainstage, she wrote and performed in the two-person sketch show, "Dratch and Fey", with Tina Fey. The show was seen at Second City, Upright Citizens Brigade Theater in NYC, and the Aspen Comedy Festival. In the fall of 1999, Rachel joined the cast of Saturday Night Live (1975), where she performed for seven years. Her memorable characters include Boston teen Denise, the Lovers professors with Will Ferrell, junior high school student Sheldon, and Debbie Downer.- Actor
- Soundtrack
John has appeared in over 200 stage, film, and television productions throughout his more than 50 year illustrious career. His first professional acting role was in the premier production of "Othello" at the Hartford Stage Company at a young age. He then went on to perform in summer stock on Cape Cod, MA, starring in "Dark at the Top of the Stairs" and "The Gazebo". Within a few years he was touring Europe with the USA Festival Theater Tour performing in Germany, Cambridge, London, and the prestigious Edinburgh Arts Festival in Scotland, performing in 15 different productions in repertory. While a member of the Company of Angels in Los Angeles, CA, he received the Los Angeles Drama Critics Award for his performance as Camille in the production of "A Flea in Her Ear, and also for the ensemble of "The Last Meeting of the Knights of the White Magnolia" at the Coronet Theater. He later won the award for his critically acclaimed performance as Lee in Sam Shepard's "True West", with Ed Harris at the South Coast Repertory Theater in Costa Mesa, CA.
John branched out into television and motion pictures and performed guest starring roles in many hit television series such as "Kojak", "Columbo", "Police Story", "Police Squad", "Law and Order: SVU", and a recurring role as Willie Joe Garr in the hit series "Dallas". He also starred in the mini-series "A Death in California", "Love , Lies, and Murder", "The Tommyknockers". and the critically-acclaimed "I Know My First Name is Steven". He later starred in the series "Hardball" as Charlie Battles, for NBC.
John's numerous film credits include the award-winning "Breaking Away", "Some Kind of Wonderful", "She's Having a Baby", and "Little Big League", and "Instinct" with Sir Anthony Hopkins. His most well known, critically-acclaimed, hit films are "Beverly Hills Cop", I and II, as Sgt. John Taggart, with Eddie Murphy, and "Midnight Run", as Marvin Dorfler, with Robert DeNiro. For his critically-acclaimed film, "Once Upon a River", he received the LA Method Fest award for Best Supporting Actor.
John received his BA degree in Theater Arts from the University of Southern California, and proudly worked in the profession he loved to the end of his life. His motto, taken from his high school drama teacher, is "Think Big, Work Hard, Have a Dream, and Make a Difference" !!.- Sophie Wilde was born on 22 February 1998 in Sydney, Australia. She is an actress, known for Talk to Me (2022), Boy Swallows Universe (2024) and The Portable Door (2023).
- Actor
- Director
- Writer
Josh Helman was born on 22 February 1986 in Adelaide, South Australia, Australia. He is an actor and director, known for Mad Max: Fury Road (2015), X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014) and Jack Reacher (2012).- Jeremy Shamos was born on 22 February 1970 in Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA. He is an actor, known for Ma Rainey's Black Bottom (2020), Better Call Saul (2015) and Bad Education (2019). He is married to Nina Hellman. They have two children.
- Actor
- Producer
- Director
Sir John Mills, one of the most popular and beloved English actors, was born Lewis Ernest Watts Mills on February 22, 1908, at the Watts Naval Training College in North Elmham, Norfolk, England. The young Mills grew up in Felixstowe, Suffolk, where his father was a mathematics teacher and his mother was a theater box-office manager. The Oscar-winner appeared in more than 120 films and TV movies in a career stretching over eight decades, from his debut in 1932 in Midshipmaid Gob (1932) through Bright Young Things (2003) and The Snow Prince (2009).
After graduating from the Norwich Grammar School for Boys, Mills rejected his father's academic career for the performing arts. After brief employment as a clerk in a grain merchant's office, he moved to London and enrolled at Zelia Raye's Dancing School. Convinced from the age of six that performing was his destiny, Mills said, "I never considered anything else."
After training as a dancer, he started his professional career in the music hall, appearing as a chorus boy at the princely sum of four pounds sterling a week in "The Five O'Clock Revue" at the London Hippodrome, in 1929. The short, wiry song-and-dance man was scouted by Noël Coward and began to appear regularly on the London stage in revues, musicals and legitimate plays throughout the 1930s. He appeared in a score of films before the war, "quota quickies" made under a system regulating the import of American films designed to boost local production. He was a juvenile lead in The Ghost Camera (1933), appeared in the musical Car of Dreams (1935), and then played lead roles in Born for Glory (1935), Nine Days a Queen (1936) and The Green Cockatoo (1937). His Hollywood debut was in Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1939) with Robert Donat, but he refused the American studios' entreaties to sign a contract and stayed in England.
Mills relished acting in films, finding it a challenge rather than the necessary economic evil that many English actors at the time, such as Laurence Olivier, felt it was, and it was the cinema that would make him an internationally renowned star. He anchored his film career in military roles, such as those in his early pictures Born for Glory (1935) (a.k.a. "Forever England") and Raoul Walsh's You're in the Army Now (1937). He appeared in the classic In Which We Serve (1942), where he worked with his mentor Coward and with Coward's co-director David Lean, who would go on to direct Mills in some of his most memorable performances.
Throughout his film career Mills played a wide variety of military characters, portraying the quintessential English hero. He later tackled more complex characterizations, such as the emotionally troubled commander in Tunes of Glory (1960). He also played Field Marshal Haig in the satire Oh! What a Lovely War (1969) that mocked the entire genre. However, it was in his World War II films, which included We Dive at Dawn (1943), Waterloo Road (1945) and Johnny in the Clouds (1945), that Mills established himself as an innovative English film star.
With his ordinary appearance and everyman manner, Mills seemed "the boy-next-door," but the Mills hero was decent, loyal and brave, as well as tough and reliable under stress. In his military roles, he managed throughout his career to include enough subtle variations on the Mills heroic type to avoid appearing typed. He could play such straight heroes as Scott of the Antarctic (1948) as well as deconstruct the type in Ice Cold in Alex (1958) and "Tunes of Glory." The latter film features one of his finest film roles, that of the brittle Col. Basil Barrow, the new commander of a Scots battalion. Mills superbly played an emotionally troubled martinet in a role originally slated for Alec Guinness, his Great Expectations (1946) co-star, who decided to take the flashier role of the colonel's tormentor. It was one of Mills' favorite characters.
No male star of English cinema enjoyed such a long and rewarding career as a star while appearing predominantly in English films. As an actor, Mills chose his roles on the basis of the quality of the script rather than its propriety as a "star" turn. Because of this, he played roles that were more akin to character parts, such as shoemaker Willy Mossop in Hobson's Choice (1954). As he aged, his proclivity for well-written roles enabled him to make a seamless transition from a lead to character lead to character actor from the 1950s to the 1960s.
Almost 40 years after his film debut, Mills won the Best Supporting Actor Academy Award for playing the mute village idiot in Lean's Ryan's Daughter (1970), an uncharacteristic part. In addition to "In Which We Serve" and "Ryan's Daughter," Lean had also directed Mills in memorable performances in This Happy Breed (1944) and "Hobson's Choice". He gave one of his finest turns as Pip in Lean's masterpiece "Great Expectations", in which Mills' performance was central to the success of the picture.
Other significant films in which Mills appeared include The Rocking Horse Winner (1949), King Vidor's War and Peace (1956), The Chalk Garden (1964), King Rat (1965), The Wrong Box (1966), Lady Caroline Lamb (1972), Young Winston (1972) and Stanley Kramer's Oklahoma Crude (1972). He also appeared with his daughter Hayley Mills in Tiger Bay (1959) and The Family Way (1966) and had a cameo in her Disney hit The Parent Trap (1961). Mills appeared in a Disney hit of his own, Swiss Family Robinson (1960), as the paterfamilias. He had one of the better cameo parts in producer Mike Todd's epic Around the World in 80 Days (1956), playing a carriage driver, and appeared in a non-speaking part as Old Norway in Kenneth Branagh's Hamlet (1996).
In 1967 he appeared in the short-lived American TV series Dundee and the Culhane (1967) on CBS. In the hour-long series Mills played an English lawyer named Dundee who roamed the Wild West with a young American lawyer named Culhane, who was also a fast draw with a six-gun. The network was disappointed with the quality of the show's writing and cancelled it after 13 episodes. One of the series' directors was Ida Lupino, who played Mills' sister in "The Ghost Camera" over 30 years before (Lupino also directed Hayley in The Trouble with Angels (1966)). Mills' most famous television role was probably the title character in ITV's Quatermass (1979).
He appeared on Broadway during the 1961-62 season as the lead character in Terence Rattigan's "Ross," a fictionalization of the life of T.E. Lawrence, for which he was nominated for a Best Actor Tony Award. His only other Broadway appearance was in the 1987 revival of George Bernard Shaw's "Pygmalion," in which he played Alfred Doolittle. The play was nominated for a Tony for Best Revival, and Amanda Plummer, playing his character's daughter, Eliza, also received a Tony nomination.
After divorcing Aileen Raymond, whom he had married at the age of 19, Mills married playwright Mary Hayley Bell on January 16, 1941. Since he was serving in the army, they could not have a church service, and they renewed their vows at St. Mary's Church, next to their home, Hills House, in Denham, England, in 2001.
Mills has worked as both producer and director: in 1966, he directed daughter Hayley in Gypsy Girl (1966) (a.k.a. "Gypsy Girl), from a script written by his wife. He produced "The Rocking Horse Winner" and The History of Mr. Polly (1949), the latter film featuring his older daughter Juliet Mills as a child. Whistle Down the Wind (1961) in which Hayley's character mistakes a runaway convict played by Alan Bates for Jesus Christ, was based on a novel written by Mary.
Living in Hollywood during the 1960s where his daughter Hayley enjoyed her own Oscar-winning career as a child star, Mills and his wife became very popular with members of the movie colony. After Hayley grew out of her child actress roles, Mills returned to England, where he continued his film work. He became a council member of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and a life patron of the Variety Club.
Mills was appointed a Commander of the British Empire in 1960 and was knighted in 1976. Although he suffered from deafness and failing eyesight and went almost completely blind in 1990, he continued to act, playing both blind and sighted characters with his customary joie de vivre and panache. The British Academy of Film and Television Arts honored him with a Special Tribute Award in 1987 and a Fellowship, its highest award, in 2002. He was honored with a British Film Institute Fellowship in 1995 and was named a Disney Legend by The Walt Disney Co.
After a brief illness, Sir John Mills died at the age of 97 on April 23, 2005, in Denham, Buckinghamshire, England. He was survived by his widow (who survived him by eight months), his son Jonathan, his daughters Juliet and Hayley, and his grandson Crispian Mills, the lead singer of the hit pop music group Kula Shaker. He was the author of an autobiography, "Up in the Clouds, Gentleman Please," published in 1981.- Actor
- Producer
Zachary George Roerig plays Matt Donovan on The Vampire Diaries, and is also known for his roles on TV series As The World Turns and One Life To Live. Roerig was born in Montpelier, Ohio to Daniel and Andrea Roerig in 1985. He attended Montpelier High school where he played both football and was also a wrestler. While he was growing up, Zach worked for his dad and grandpa at Fackler Mounuments, a place where they make gravestones. Zach also has a younger sister named Emily who was born in 1989. While Zach is technically bi-coastal, he will always consider New York his home.
Roerig has a daughter with Alanna Turner.- Director
- Producer
- Writer
Jonathan Demme was born on 22 February 1944 in Baldwin, Long Island, New York, USA. He was a director and producer, known for The Silence of the Lambs (1991), Rachel Getting Married (2008) and Philadelphia (1993). He was married to Joanne Howard and Evelyn Purcell. He died on 26 April 2017 in Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA.- Producer
- Director
- Writer
Sheldon Leonard was born in New York City's lower Manhattan, the son of Jewish parents. He studied acting at Syracuse University and, after graduating, landed a job on Wall Street. Following the Wall Street crash of 1929, he found himself unemployed and resolved to become a professional actor on the stage. The road was hard, since it took him five years to first appear on Broadway in "Hotel Alimony" (1934). While this production was universally slammed by the critics, the next plays he appeared in, "Having Wonderful Time" (1937) and "Kiss the Boys Goodbye" (1938), were unqualified successes, the former running for 372 performances.
Movie offers followed, and from 1939 he became one of Hollywood's most recognizable screen tough guys, the names of his characters evocative of the roles he played: Pretty Willie in Tall, Dark and Handsome (1941), Slip Moran in Lucky Jordan (1942), Lippy Harris in Jinx Money (1948), Jumbo Schneider in Money from Home (1953) and, famously, Harry the Horse in Guys and Dolls (1955). There was also an assortment of minor henchmen and western heavies named Blackie or Lefty, and he was Nick, the sneering, humorless barkeeper who tosses James Stewart into the snow in It's a Wonderful Life (1946).
Having had his fill of acting in those kinds of parts, Leonard began a new career as a television producer in the 1950s and went on to become one of the most successful TV producer/directors of the 1950s and 1960s. Four of his productions (all on CBS)--The Danny Thomas Show (1953), Gomer Pyle: USMC (1964), The Dick Van Dyke Show (1961) (which won 21 Emmy Awards) and The Andy Griffith Show (1960)--were rated in the Top Ten. He had a further success with I Spy (1965), championing the cause of racial equality over the (initial) objections of the network by being the first series to have an African-American (Bill Cosby) in an equal co-starring dramatic role with a white actor. Leonard is also regarded as having invented the television spin-off.- Writer
- Actress
- Producer
Iliza Vie Shlesinger is an American comedian, actress and television host. She was the 2008 winner of NBC's Last Comic Standing and went on to host the syndicated dating show Excused and the TBS game show Separation Anxiety. In 2017, Shlesinger hosted her own late-night talk show called Truth & Iliza on Freeform. As of 2020, she has released five comedy specials on Netflix. Her sketch comedy show The Iliza Shlesinger Sketch Show premiered on Netflix in April 2020.- Actor
- Writer
- Producer
Dooley was a keen cartoonist as a youth and drew a strip for a local paper in Parkersburg, West Virginia. He joined the Navy before discovering acting while at college. Moving to New York, he soon found success as a regular on the stage. Also having an interest in comedy, Dooley was a stand-up comedian for five years, as well as having brief stints as a magician and as a clown. Unafraid of trying different areas of entertainment, he was also a writer. After appearing in many movies, including most notably Popeye (1980), Dooley has appeared as recurrent characters on various shows, including My So-Called Life (1994), Dream On (1990), Grace Under Fire (1993), and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993).- Actress
- Writer
- Producer
Sheila Hancock was born February 22, 1933. on the Isle of Wight. She later moved to King's Cross in London, where her mother and father ran a pub. Sheila went to Dartford Grammar School, and then with a grant she went to RADA. She then went into nine years of weekly repertory around the country. While in repertory in Bath she met actor Alec Ross, whom she married in 1955, and had a daughter, Melanie Thaw (aka "Ellie Jane") on July 15, 1964.
Her first big TV hit was her appearance in The Rag Trade (1961). Her first theatrical success was in "Rattle of a Simple Man" at the Garrick Theatre London. In 1969 she starred in the West End hit "So What About Love?", where she met actor John Thaw. The same year her mother died of cancer, followed nearly nine months later by Alec's tragic death. On December 24, 1973, she married Thaw, with their daughters Melanie and Abigail present. On July 27. 1974, at Queen Charlotte's Hospital, Hammersmith, Sheila gave birth to her only child with John, Joanna Suzy Thaw.
In the 1980s Sheila toured the UK with the Royal Shakespeare Company and later with the National Theatre. In 1988 she was told she had breast cancer, but she fought and won her battle against it. She and Thaw split briefly during this period.
In the early 1990s Sheila and John bought a house in Luckington Wiltshire, as well as a farmhouse in Provence, France. In 2001 John was told he had cancer. For nine months he fought against it, and with Sheila's help his privacy was protected. John died in Sheila's arms the day before her 69th birthday.
Since his death Sheila has written a book called "The Two of Us: My Life with John Thaw", and has made numerous TV and stage appearance talking about the book and her life with John.
Sheila lives in Hammersmith near her daughters and grandchildren.- Producer
- Actor
- Writer
Paul Bevan Lieberstein is a Jewish-American writer, director, producer and actor from Connecticut who is known for his work on The Office and King of the Hill. In The Office, he also played Toby Flenderson, a frequently bullied HR department head who is targeted by Michael Scott at Dunder Mifflin Scranton.- Michelle Stacy was a cute, prolific & popular child actress of the 70s who acted in films & TV shows for 6 years. She's perhaps best known as the voice of Penny in the Disney animated feature The Rescuers (1977). She also had memorable small parts in the science fiction pictures Logan's Run (1976) & Demon Seed (1977). She was excellent in a sizable supporting role as a traumatized mute girl who's rescued & protected by Jon Cedar in Day of the Animals (1977). She also did guest spots on such TV shows as Mannix (1967) (playing a girl with autism, in a pioneering role), The Waltons (1972), The Incredible Hulk (1977), Eight Is Enough (1977) & B.J. and the Bear (1978). She also starred in a bunch of TV commercials for Peter Pan Peanut Butter in the late 70s. Following her cameo as the little girl who likes black coffee in Airplane! (1980), she suddenly quit acting.