Victor Jory was a Canadian actor. Born in Dawson City, Yukon, Jory was the boxing and wrestling champion of the Coast Guard during his military service, and he kept his burly physique. He toured with theater troupes and appeared on Broadway, before making his Hollywood debut in 1930. He initially played romantic leads, but later was mostly cast as the villain. He made over 150 films and dozens of TV episodes, as well as writing two plays. His long career in radio included starring in the series Dangerously Yours.

He is remembered for his role as Jonas Wilkerson, the brutal and opportunistic overseer, in Gone with the Wind and as Lamont Cranston, aka ‘The Shadow’ in the 1942 serial film The Shadow. He also portrayed Oberon in Max Reinhardt’s 1935 film adaptation of Shakespeare’s play A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

From 1959-1961, he appeared with Patrick McVey in the syndicated television police drama, Manhunt. Jory played the lead role of Detective Lieutenant Howard Finucane. McVey was cast as police reporter Ben Andrews.

Near the end of his career, Jory guest starred as an aging FBI agent in The Rockford Files episode, “The Attractive Nuisance”.

Vera Ralston was a Czech figure skater and actress. She later became a naturalized American citizen. She worked as an actress during the 1940s and 1950s. Ralston was born V?ra Helena Hrubá to a wealthy jeweler in Prague, Czechoslovakia. Her age was uncertain; Ralston at various times gave 1919, 1920, 1921, and 1923 as her year of birth.

As a figure skater, she represented Czechoslovakia in competition under her birth name Vera Hrubá.

She competed at the 1936 European Figure Skating Championships and placed 15th. Later that season, she competed at the 1936 Winter Olympics, where she placed 17th. During the games, she personally met and insulted Adolf Hitler. Hitler asked her if she would like to “skate for the swastika.” As she later recalled, “I looked him right in the eye, and said that I’d rather skate on the swastika. The Führer was furious.”

Hruba competed at the 1937 European Figure Skating Championships and placed 7th.

Veronica Lake was an American film actress and pin-up model. She enjoyed both popular and critical acclaim, most notably for her femme fatale roles in film noir with Alan Ladd during the 1940s, as well as her peek-a-boo hairstyle. Her success did not last. Following a string of broken marriages and long struggles with mental illness and alcoholism, she died of hepatitis.

Lake was born as Constance Frances Marie Ockelman in Brooklyn, New York. Her father, Harry E. Ockelman, of Danish-Irish descent, worked for an oil company onboard a ship. Her father died in an industrial explosion in Philadelphia in 1932 when she was ten. Her mother, née Constance Charlotta Trimble, , married family friend Anthony Keane, a newspaper staff artist, a year later, and Lake began using his last name.

Lake was sent to Villa Maria, an all-girls Catholic boarding school in Montreal, Canada, and from which she was expelled. The Keane family later moved to Miami, Florida. Lake attended high school in Miami, where she was known for her beauty. She had a troubled childhood and was, according to her mother, diagnosed as schizophrenic.

In 1938, Lake moved with her mother and stepfather to Beverly Hills, where her mother enrolled her in the Bliss-Hayden School of Acting. Her first appearance on screen was for RKO, playing a small role among several coeds in the 1939 film, Sorority House. Similar roles followed, including All Women Have Secrets and Dancing Co-Ed. During the making of Sorority House, director John Farrow first noticed how her hair always covered her right eye, creating an air of mystery about her and enhancing her natural beauty. She was then introduced to the Paramount producer Arthur Hornblow, Jr. He changed her name to Veronica Lake because the surname suited her blue eyes. She was still a teenager.