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 …
On the advice of a numerologist, Terry Garr changed her name to “Teri,” a name containing no repeating letters. She was told this would lead to a successful career. Teri appeared as an uncredited go-go dancer in a number of youth-oriented film and television productions, including Shindig!, Hullabaloo, Shivaree, as well as a musical special …
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. …
See if you can follow this….. When Aynsley Dunbar left John Mayall and The Bluesbreakers to form Faces with Jeff Beck and a young singer named Rod Stewart, guitarist Eric Clapton suggested drummer Mick Fleetwood as a replacement. Clapton then asked Peter Green to fill in for him for a few gigs with The Bluesbreakers. …
Week 3 of the “Horror Actors of the 1940s” series in JPiC’s “Inktober” continues with Rondo Hatton. Rondo Hatton was a star athlete at Hillsborough High School in Tampa, Florida, excelling in track and football. He was also voted Most Handsome Boy in his senior year. After high school, he worked as a sportswriter for …
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 …
The third entry in JPiC’s Inktober 2024 in the “Regional TV Horror Hosts” series continues with Philadelphia’s Dr. Shock. Philadelphia native John Zacherle was an announcer and actor at WCAU-TV, portraying various characters, as needed, in the station’s home-grown Action in the Afternoon Western series. He also hosted the popular Mad Theater at the station, …
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 …
