William Collier, Jr. was an American film and stage actor who appeared in 89 films.
Collier was born as Charles F. Gal, Jr. in New York City. When his parents divorced, his mother married actor William Collier, Sr., who adopted Charles and gave the boy the new name William Collier Jr. Collier’s stage experience helped him to get his first movie role in 1916, The Bugle Call, at the age of 14.
Wesley Trent Snipes is an American actor, film producer, and martial artist. He has starred in numerous action-adventures, thrillers, and dramatic feature films and is well known for his role as Blade in the Blade trilogy. Snipes formed a production company titled Amen-Ra Films in 1991 and a subsidiary, Black Dot Media, to develop projects for film and television. Snipes has been training in martial arts since age twelve, earning a high ranking 5th dan black belt in Shotokan Karate. He has also trained as a student of Capoeira under Mestre Jelon Vieira and in a number of other disciplines including various styles of kung fu and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.
Snipes was born on July 31, 1962, in Orlando, Florida, the son of Marian, a teacher’s assistant, and Wesley R. Snipes, an aircraft engineer. He grew up in the Bronx, New York City. Snipes graduated from I.S. 131 an underprivileged middle school in the south Bronx and also attended the famed Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing, but moved to Florida before he could graduate. After graduating from Jones High School in Orlando, Snipes returned to New York and attended the State University of New York at Purchase, before being asked to leave the prestigious Acting Conservatory his junior year. Snipes also attended a few years at Southwest College in Los Angeles.
A 23-year-old Snipes was discovered by an agent while performing in a competition. He made his film debut in the 1986 Goldie Hawn vehicle Wildcats. Later that year he appeared on the trendy 1980’s TV show Miami Vice as a drug-dealing pimp in the episode ‘Streetwise’. In 1987, he appeared as Michael Jackson’s nemesis in the Martin Scorsese directed music video “Bad” and the feature film Streets of Gold. That same year, Snipes was also considered for the role of Geordi La Forge in the TV series .
Snipes’ performance in the music video “Bad” caught the eye of director Spike Lee. Snipes turned down a small role in Lee’s Do the Right Thing for the larger part of Willie Mays Hayes in Major League, beginning a succession of box-office hits for Snipes. Lee would later cast Snipes as the jazz saxophonist Shadow Henderson in Mo’ Better Blues and as the lead in the interracial romance drama Jungle Fever. Another important role for Snipes was the powerful drug lord Nino Brown in New Jack City, which was written specifically for him by Barry Michael Cooper. Another film in which his character was involved in drugs was the somber movie Sugar Hill.
Wendell Niles was one of the great announcers of the golden age of radio. He was an announcer on such shows as The Bob Hope Show, The Burns & Allen Show, The Milton Berle Show and The Chase & Sanborn Show.
He got his start touring in the 1920s with his own orchestra, playing with the Dorsey Brothers and Bix Beiderbecke.
Niles moved to Los Angeles, California in 1935 to join George Burns and Gracie Allen.
He and his brother, Ken, developed one of the first radio dramas, which eventually became Theatre of the Mind.
Wendell Reid Corey was an American actor and politician.
He was born in Dracut, Massachusetts, the son of Milton Rothwell Corey and Julia Etta McKenney. His father was a Congregationalist clergyman. Wendell was educated in Springfield.
Corey began his acting career on the stage, doing a number of productions in summer stock. While appearing with a Works Progress Administration theatre company in the late 1930s, he met his future wife, Alice Wiley. Corey and Wiley had one son and three daughters, Jonathan, Jennifer, Bonnie Alice, and Robin.
His Broadway debut was in Comes the Revelation. After appearing in a number of supporting roles, he scored his first hit as a cynical newspaperman in Elmer Rice’s comedy Dream Girl. While appearing in the play, Corey was seen by producer Hal Wallis, who persuaded him to sign a contract with Paramount and pursue a motion picture career in Hollywood.
Hollywood make-up pioneers, the Westmores, were honored with the 2,370th star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Marvin and Michael Westmore accepted the award on the behalf of their family. Leron Gubler, Hollywood Chamber of Commerce President and CEO, presided over the ceremony. Guest speaker was motion picture producer, A.C. Lyles.
1645 Vine Street on October 3, 2008.
BIOGRAPHY
The Westmores, a legendary family dynasty of makeup artists have defined beauty and glamour and set the trends over the decades. George Westmore and his six sons, Monte, Ern, Perc, Wally, Bud, and Frank changed the face of Hollywood, literally.
Pioneers of their industry, the Westmores not only created, but they defined the role of makeup artists in Motion Pictures. George Westmore opened the very first makeup department at Selig Studios in 1917. Whether it was First National, Selznick, Eagle-Lion, MGM, or at Warner Brothers, Paramount, 20th Century-Fox, and Universal, the brothers were responsible for creating the signature looks for stars like Rudolph Valentino, Clara Bow, Elizabeth Taylor, Bette Davis, Audrey Hepburn, and even the teenage fashion doll, Barbie.
Wally received acclaim for his work on Dr. Jekel and Mr. Hyde where he was able to create Neanderthal-like characteristics with wax and further evolve his actor gruesome transformation on film with the use of colored lens filters.
In 1931, Ern Westmore received the Academy Cup, the first award ever presented to a makeup artist for his work on Cimarron starring Richard Dix and Irene Dunne.
On the epic film, Gone with the Wind, it was Monte that made Vivian Leigh's hazel eyes appear green at the request of the Director, David O. Selznick.
In 1936, Paul Muni won the Best Actor award for The Story of Louis Pasteur. He thanked only one person, "Perc Westmore deserves as much credit as I for this award."
Together, in 1935, the Westmore brothers opened the most prestigious salon of it's time, the House of Westmore on 6638 Sunset Strip.
Most notable of all of Bud's creations was the molded foam rubber suit he designed for the cult classic The Creature from the Black Lagoon. Bud was also the makeup genius behind The Munsters.
Frank, the youngest of the brothers, was the first Westmore to receive an Emmy award for his ground-breaking work on the television feature film, Kung Fu in 1972. He was nominated for the Kung Fu television series the following year and for his work in 1983 for A Love Affair: The Eleanor and Lou Gehrig Story. He was also the makeup supervisor for the epic film, The Ten Commandments.
Currently, this family's remarkable achievements continue through the work of 3rd and 4th generation Westmore's as notable makeup artists, hairstylists, performers, and producers.
The youngest of Monte Sr.'s three sons, Michael, received an Oscar and a British Academy Award nomination in 1986 for his artistry on Mask, also nine Emmy statuettes and an impressive 42 Emmy nominations over the course of his career. To date, he holds the record for more Emmy nominations than any other makeup artist. Academy Award nominations include 2010, Clan of the Cave Bear and Star Trek: First Contact. Michael designed 18 years of the Star Trek Universe, the Rocky films and Raging Bull.
Marvin Westmore has a British Academy Award nomination for his work on the future noir film, Blade Runner (1983) and has six Emmy nominations for TV series and specials; The Rat Pack, Space Rangers,"V" The Rescue, "V" The Final Battle, Elvis, and Frankenstein. He is the Founder and CEO for both the Westmore Academy of Cosmetic Arts and The George Westmore Research Library and Museum in Burbank, California.
With 57 years experience in the industry, the late Monty Jr.'s remarkable work can be seen in films Where the Money Is, Se7en, The Shawshank Redemption, Jurassic Park, and The Towering Inferno. He was Oscar nominated for his work in 1991 for Hook and received Emmy nominations for The Late Shift and Who Will Love My Children.
Collectively, this family has delivered believable characters that we love in over 1,500 movies, television shows, and specials. Their artistic hand has influenced Hollywood in film and in television where stars were made, and most, were made up by the Westmores.
Wesley Ruggles was an American film director.
He was born in Los Angeles, a younger brother of actor Charles Ruggles. He began his career in 1915 as an actor, appearing in a dozen or so silent films, on occasion with Charles Chaplin.
In 1917, he turned his attention to directing, making more than 50 mostly forgettable films — including a silent film version of Edith Wharton's novel The Age of Innocence — before he won acclaim with Cimarron in 1931. The adaptation of Edna Ferber's novel Cimarron, about homesteaders settling in the prairies of Oklahoma, was the first Western to win an Academy Award as Best Picture.
Although Ruggles followed this success with the light comedy No Man of Her Own with Clark Gable and Carole Lombard, the comedy I'm No Angel with Mae West and Cary Grant, College Humor with Bing Crosby, and Bolero with George Raft and Carole Lombard, few of his later films were in any way memorable .
Wendy Barrie was a British actress who worked in British and American films.
Marguerite Wendy Jenkins was born in Hong Kong to British parents. Her father was a successful lawyer, and she was educated in elite schools in England and Switzerland.
While still in her teens, she began pursuing a career as an actress, helped by her red-gold hair and blue eyes. Adopting the stage name Wendy Barrie, she began her acting life in English theatre then in 1932 made her screen debut in the film Threads, which was based upon a play.
Barrie went on to make a number of motion pictures for London Films under the Korda brothers, Alexander and Zoltan, the best-known of which is 1933’s The Private Life of Henry VIII which starred Charles Laughton, Robert Donat, Merle Oberon, and Elsa Lanchester. Barrie portrayed Jane Seymour.
William Harrison Hays, Sr., was the namesake of the Hays Code for censorship of American films, chairman of the Republican National Committee and U.S. Postmaster General from 1921 to 1922.
Hays was born in Sullivan, Indiana. He was the manager of Warren G. Harding’s successful campaign for the Presidency of the United States in the 1920 election and subsequently was appointed by Harding as Postmaster General. After a year in office, he resigned to become the choice of the Hollywood movie studios to become the first president of the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America until he retired in 1945. In the postwar period, this organization would be renamed the Motion Picture Association of America. Hays resigned his cabinet position on January 14, 1922, in order to become the President of the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America shortly after the organization’s founding. He began his new job, at a $100,000 annual salary, on March 6 of that year. The goal of the organization was to renovate the image of the movie industry in the wake of the Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle rape and murder scandal and amid growing calls by primarily Protestant groups for federal censorship of the movies. Hiring Hays to “clean up the pictures” was, at least in part, a public relations ploy and much was made of his conservative credentials, including his roles as a Presbyterian deacon and past chairman of the Republican Party.
Whoopi Goldberg is an American comedian, actress, singer-songwriter, political activist, and talk show host.
Goldberg made her film debut in The Color Purple playing Celie, a mistreated black woman in the south. She received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress and won her first Golden Globe Award for her role in the film. In 1990, she starred as Oda Mae Brown, a psychic helping a slain man find his killer in the blockbuster film Ghost. This performance won her a second Golden Globe and an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. Notable later films include Sister Act and Sister Act 2, The Lion King, Made in America, How Stella Got Her Groove Back, Girl, Interrupted and Rat Race. She is also acclaimed for her roles as the bartender Guinan in and as Terry Dolittle in Jumping Jack Flash. Her latest role is the voice of ‘Stretch’ in Toy Story 3.
Goldberg has been nominated for 13 Emmy Awards for her work in television. She was co-producer of the popular game show Hollywood Squares from 1998-2004. She has been the moderator of the daytime talk show The View since 2007. Goldberg has a Grammy, seven Emmys, two Golden Globes, a Tony, and an Oscar. In addition, Goldberg has a British Academy Film Award, four People’s Choice Awards and has been honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Goldberg was born as Caryn Elaine Johnson in New York City and raised in Manhattan’s Chelsea neighborhood, the daughter of Emma, a nurse and teacher, and Robert James Johnson, Jr., a clergyman. Goldberg has described her mother as a “stern, strong, and wise woman” who raised her as a single mother after Goldberg’s father had left the family. Goldberg’s recent ancestors migrated north from Faceville, Georgia, Palatka, Florida, and Virginia. Results of a DNA test, revealed in the 2006 PBS documentary African American Lives, traced most of her ancestry to the Papel and Bayote people of modern-day Guinea-Bissau. Her racial admixture test revealed her genetic makeup to be 92
Wayne F. Newton is an American singer and entertainer based in Las Vegas, Nevada. He performed over 30,000 solo shows in Las Vegas over a period of over 40 years, earning him the nickname Mr. Las Vegas. His well known songs include 1972's "Daddy Don't You Walk So Fast", "Years", and his vocal version of "Red Roses for a Blue Lady". He is best known for his signature song, "Danke Schoen". Newton was born Carson Wayne Newton' in Norfolk, Virginia to Evelyn Marie "Smith" and Patrick Newton, who was an auto mechanic. His father was of Irish-Powhatan descent and his mother of German-Cherokee ancestry. While his father was in the U.S. Navy, Newton spent his early childhood in Roanoke, learning the piano, guitar, and steel guitar at the age of six.
When Wayne was a child performer he had to dye his hair blonde so he would be accepted by the public.
While Newton was still a child, his family moved to a home near Newark, Ohio. He began singing in local clubs, theaters, and fairs with his older brother, Jerry. Because of his connection with Newark, the city selected Newton to be the grand marshal of its bicentennial parade in 2002. Wayne's severe asthma forced the family to move to Phoenix, Arizona in 1952, where he later attended North High School. The brothers, as the Rascals in Rhythm, appeared with the Grand Ole Opry roadshows and on ABC-TV's Ozark Jubilee; and performed for the president and auditioned unsuccessfully for Ted Mack's Original Amateur Hour.