DCS: mary webster

Chicago transplant Mary Webster — in all honesty — had a pretty unremarkable career. As a twenty-year old aspiring actress, she took roles portraying teenage characters in episodic television. She made her big screen debut in 1957 opposite Jerry Lewis in The Delicate Delinquent, his first full-length motion picture after his split with partner Dean …

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DCS: maylia fong

Budding actress Gloria Chin was in the Paramount Pictures commissary when she was spotted by the wife of Hollywood screenwriter and producer Sidney Buchman. Gloria was quickly cast in the 1947 film noir Singapore alongside Ava Gardner and Fred MacMurray. Gloria was also given a new name — the exotic-sounding mononym “Maylia.” Favorable reviews led …

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inktober 2024: series 2 week 4

The second series — “Horror Actors of the 1940s” — concludes with George Zucco. British actor George Zucco gained fame as an upper-crust, but often villainous, character in dozens of dramas, mysteries and serials of the 30s and 40s. He was cast as the nefarious “Professor Moriarty” in The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes in 1939. …

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DCS: ken page

After making his Broadway debut in The Wiz, Ken Page took the featured role of “Nicely-Nicely” in a Broadway revival of the Damon Runyon musical Guys and Dolls. He followed that up with a turn in Ain’t Misbehavin’, the acclaimed musical biography of jazz pianist Fats Waller. Ken reprised the role in a television broadcast …

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inktober 2024: series 2 week 2

Week 2 Series 2 of JPiC’s “Inktober” continues with with Fay Wray. Moving to Hollywood from Alberta, Canada, 16-yrear old Vina Fay Wray made her film debut in  an historical film sponsored by a local newspaper. Bitten by the acting bug, Fay landed a number of uncredited roles with the Hal Roach Studios in the …

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inktober 2024: series 2 week 1

Week 1 of series 2 – “Horror Actors of the 1940s.” – of JPiC’s “Inktober” starts with Colin Clive. A prominent stage actor in his native London, Colin Clive made his Hollywood debut in 1930’s Journey’s End, a drama about an alcoholic British Navy officer, a role that eerily mirrored his own life. The film …

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DCS: mary miles minter

Entering show business as a child using a doctored birth certificate, Mary Miles Minter fit the mold of perceived innocence. With blonde curls and soulful eyes, she was groomed by studio heads to rival — and hopefully replace — Mary Pickford. In spite of her youth, Mary had nearly 30 films to her credit when …

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