Have you ever watched an old movie on television and a nameless character actor prompts the rhetorical question, “How did this guy ever become an actor?” I’m sure Dwight Frye and Skelton Knaggs have evoked that query many times. Dwight Frye made a career playing mentally unbalanced and deranged characters. He earned himself the nickname …
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What if super hero costumes were just another option for everyday clothing available to everyone? I guess super heroes would seem less super.
While visiting her aunt in New York City, 16 year-old Peggy Shannon (then, just little Winona Sammon from Pine Bluff, Arkansas) was hired for the Ziegfeld Follies. She was spotted on Broadway by a production head from Paramount Pictures and was offered a contract. Whisked off to Hollywood, she was touted as the next “It” …
In the late 70s, Glenn Shadix left his Bessemer, Alabama roots behind him and headed to New York City with dreams of a career in show business. While working as a production assistant at the St. James Theater in Manhattan, Glenn began a friendship with legendary playwright Tennessee Williams. Young Glenn spent long hours at the …
Michael Dunn wasn’t going let a little thing like dwarfism stand in the way of his career aspirations. A veritable child prodigy (reading at one; spelling bee champ at 13), Michael also began to develop his entertainment skills as a youngster. He would often gather small audiences on street corners and give an impromptu singing …
During his two and a half seasons on the Cincinnati Reds, Willard Hershberger primarily served as the back-up catcher for Hall-of-Famer Ernie Lombardi. Though not an everyday player, he had a .316 lifetime batting average and even had two at-bats with an RBI in the 1939 World Series. However, Willard holds a singular, albeit dubious, distinction among ballplayers, …
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With initial plans to become a writer, Yvette Vickers took an acting class at UCLA and enjoyed it so much, she switched her major to drama. While still a student, she began making commercials. During a trip to New York, she was cast as “The White Rain Girl” in hairspray ads and commercials. She soon …
Billy Booth made a handful of appearances on television in the early 1960s, including an uncredited role in the classic Twilight Zone episode “A Stop at Willoughby.” Soon, Billy was cast in the role for which he was best known. He played Dennis’s best friend “Tommy” in 112 installments of the sitcom Dennis the Menace. …
Donald Turnupseed inherited his father’s electrical contracting business, turning it into a multi-million dollar enterprise known all over parts of California. He married twice, had three children and five grandchildren. He passed away from lung cancer in 1995 at age 63. When Donald was 23 he was a student at California Polytechnic State University. On …
Hollywood is a fickle, fickle place. As presented countless times in this blog, the entertainment business can be cruel, heartless, unrelenting and unforgiving. Beginning way back in the infancy of the motion picture business, hundreds and hundreds of eager young actors and actresses have had their dreams dashed and have been cast aside when the …
