25 Oct 2019
Motion Pictures, Radio Permalink

Raymond Knight

October 25, 2019

Raymond Knight was an actor, comedian and comedy writer, best known as a pioneer in satirical humor for network radio.

Born in Salem, Massachusetts, Knight studied law at Boston University and passed the Massachusetts bar, but he returned to school to study theater and writing at Harvard’s 47 Workshop, followed by more studies at Yale. In 1927 he performed in the Broadway musical revue The Manhatters.

Knight was writing continuity and commercials for NBC in 1929, when NBC programmer Bertha Brainard asked him to devise “something cuckoo” for the Blue Network. He responded with the zany The Cuckoo Hour, aka The KUKU Hour, as a showcase for his comedy. One of his characters on the series was Professor Ambrose J. Weems, who ran a radio station where he would give his views on current events and chat with his sidekick, Mrs. Pennyfeather.

Radio historian Billy Jack Long described the unique aspects of Knight’s satirical series:

25 Oct 2019
Motion Pictures, Television Permalink

Raymond Massey

October 25, 2019

Raymond Hart Massey was a Canadian-born American actor.

Massey was born in Toronto, Ontario, the son of Anna and Chester Daniel Massey, the wealthy owner of the Massey-Ferguson Tractor Company. Massey’s family could trace their ancestry back to the American Revolutionary War. He attended secondary school briefly at Upper Canada College, before transferring to Appleby College in Oakville, Ontario, and graduated from university at University of Toronto where both he and his cousin were active members in The Kappa Alpha Society, and Balliol College, Oxford.

At the outbreak of World War I, he joined the Canadian Army, serving with the artillery on the Western Front. He returned to Canada suffering shell-shock and was engaged as an army instructor for American officers at Yale. In 1918, he was sent to serve at Siberia, where he made his first stage appearance, entertaining American troops on occupation duty. Severely wounded in action in France, he was sent home, where he eventually worked in the family business, selling farm implements.

Drawn to the theatre, in 1922, he appeared on the London stage. His first movie role was High Treason in 1927. In 1929 he directed the London premiere of The Silver Tassie. He played Sherlock Holmes in The Speckled Band in 1931, the first sound film version of the story. In 1934, he starred in The Scarlet Pimpernel and, in 1936, he starred in H. G. Wells’s Things to Come. Despite being Canadian, Massey became famous for his quintessential American roles such as abolitionist John Brown in 1940’s Santa Fe Trail and again as John Brown in the 1955 low-budget film Seven Angry Men. His second portrayal of Brown was much more sympathetic, presenting him as a well-intentioned, but misguided figure, while in Santa Fe Trail he was presented as a wild-eyed lunatic.

25 Oct 2019
Motion Pictures, Radio Permalink

Randolph Scott

October 25, 2019

Randolph Scott was an American film actor whose career spanned from 1928 to 1962. As a leading man for all but the first three years of his cinematic career, Scott appeared in a variety of genres, including social dramas, crime dramas, comedies, musicals, adventure tales, war films, and even a few horror and fantasy films. However, his most enduring image is that of the tall-in-the-saddle Western hero. Out of his more than 100 film appearances more than 60 were in Westerns; thus, “of all the major stars whose name was associated with the Western, Scott most closely identified with it.”

Scott’s more than thirty years as a motion picture actor resulted in his working with many acclaimed screen directors, including Henry King, Rouben Mamoulian, Michael Curtiz, John Cromwell, King Vidor, Alan Dwan, Fritz Lang, and Sam Peckinpah. He also worked on multiple occasions with some noted directors: Henry Hathaway, Ray Enright, Edwin R. Marin, Andre DeToth, and most notably, his seven film collaborations with Budd Boetticher.

Scott also worked with a diverse array of cinematic leading ladies, from Shirley Temple and Irene Dunne to Mae West and Marlene Dietrich. He also appeared with Gene Tierney, Ann Sheridan, Maureen O’Hara, Nancy Carroll, Donna Reed, Gail Russell, Margaret Sullavan, Virginia Mayo, Bebe Daniels, Carole Lombard, and Joan Bennett.

Tall, lanky, and handsome, Scott displayed an easygoing charm and courtly Southern drawl in his early films that helped offset his limitations as an actor, where he was frequently found to be stiff or “lumbering”. As he matured, however, Scott’s acting improved while his features became burnished and leathery, turning him into the ideal “strong, silent” type of stoic hero. The BFI Companion to the Western noted:

25 Oct 2019
Motion Pictures, Television Permalink

Randy Newman

October 25, 2019

Composer Randy Newman was honored with the 2,411th star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Leron Gubler, President and CEO of the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce, presided over the ceremony. Guests included John Lasseter, Eric Idle, and Woody and Buzz Lightyear from Toy Story. HOLLYWOOD LOVES RANDY NEWMAN!

6667 Hollywood Boulevard on June 2, 2010.

BIOGRAPHY

Randy Newman is an Oscar®-, Grammy®- and Emmy®-winning composer and songwriter whose numerous film credits include "James and the Giant Peach" (1996), "A Bug's Life," "Monsters, Inc." and "Cars." Earlier this year, he received two Oscar® nominations in the Best Song category for his contribution to Disney's acclaimed animated feature, "The Princess & the Frog."

Newman's music was heard again in Disney Pixar's "Toy Story 3."

Newman has been nominated for 19 Academy Awards® including two each for "Ragtime" (1981), "Monsters, Inc." and "Toy Story." He won his first Oscar® in 2002 for the song "If I Didn't Have You" from "Monsters Inc." The song also earned him his second of five Grammy Awards®. Newman's song "When She Loved Me," written for "Toy Story 2," won a Grammy for Best Song Written for a Motion Picture, Television or other Visual Media.

Newman's other film scores include "The Natural," "Avalon," "Parenthood," "Seabiscuit," "Awakenings," "The Paper," "Pleasantville," "Meet the Parents" and "Meet the Fockers." He has also written songs for television, including the Emmy Award®-winning "Monk" theme song, "It's a Jungle Out There."

The multi-talented Newman co-wrote the screenplay for "Three Amigos!" (1986) with Steve Martin and Lorne Michaels and also wrote three songs for the film.

Born in 1943 into a famously musical family, Newman began his professional songwriting career at 17, knocking out tunes for a Los Angeles publishing house. His uncles Alfred, Lionel and Emil were all well-respected film composers and conductors. His father Irving Newman—a prominent physician—wrote a song for Bing Crosby.

In 1968, Newman made his recording debut with the lushly orchestrated album "Randy Newman." Before long, his extraordinary and evocative compositions were being covered by a wide range of top artists, from Pat Boone and Peggy Lee to Ray Charles and Wilson Pickett.

Critics raved about his 1970 sophomore effort "12 Songs," and increasingly the public started to take notice of his sly, satirical songwriting with albums such as 1970's "Live," the 1972 classic "Sail Away" and the acclaimed and provocative 1974 release, "Good Old Boys." His 1977 album, "Little Criminals," included the left-field smash hit "Short People." His song, "I Love L.A." is a popular standard here in Los Angeles.

In the 1980s, Newman divided his time between film composing and recording his own albums, including 1988's "Land of Dreams," another breakthrough work marked by some of his most personal and powerful work.

The '90s saw the release of Newman's comedic take on "Faust," which included performances by Don Henley, Elton John, Bonnie Raitt, Linda Ronstadt and James Taylor, the compilation "Guilty: 30 Years of Randy Newman," and a 1999 album for DreamWorks, "Bad Love."

Newman's studio album "Harps and Angels" was produced by Mitchell Froom and Lenny Waronker and released in August 2008.

25 Oct 2019
Motion Pictures, Recording Permalink

Randy Quaid

October 25, 2019
Randy Randall Rudy Quaid is an American actor best known for his role as Cousin Eddie in the National Lampoon’s Vacation movies, as well as his numerous supporting roles in films such as The Last Detail, Independence Day, Kingpin and Brokeback Mountain. He has won a Golden Globe Award, and has been nominated for an Academy Award, an Emmy Award and a BAFTA Award.

Randy Quaid was born in Houston, Texas, the son of Juanita Bonniedale “Nita”, a real estate agent, and William Rudy Quaid, an electrician. He is the older brother of actor Dennis Quaid. Quaid is married to former Helmut Newton model Evi Quaid. Randy attended Pershing Middle School and Bellaire High School. His brother Dennis stated that his father was a “frustrated actor” and that his third cousin was Gene Autry.

Quaid has appeared in over 90 movies. Peter Bogdanovich discovered him when Quaid was a student at the University of Houston, and he received his first exposure in Bogdanovich’s The Last Picture Show. His character escorts Jacy Farrow to late-night indoor skinny-dipping at a swimming pool. It was the first of his several roles directed by Bogdanovich and/or based on the writings of Larry McMurtry.

Quaid’s first major role was in the critically acclaimed The Last Detail. He played a young US Navy sailor on his way to serve a harsh sentence for stealing $40 from an admiral’s wife’s pet charity. Jack Nicholson played the Navy sailor assigned to transport him to prison. Nicholson’s character eventually becomes his friend and mentor, helping him experience different aspects of life before he goes behind bars.

25 Oct 2019
Motion Pictures Permalink

Raoul Walsh

October 25, 2019

Raoul Walsh was an American film director, actor, founding member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and the brother of silent screen actor George Walsh. Certain of Raoul Walsh’s film related material and personal papers are contained in the Wesleyan University Cinema Archives to which scholars and media experts from around the world may have full access.

Born Albert Edward Walsh, as a young man he was a close friend of Virginia O’Hanlon of “Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus” fame. Like his younger brother he was part of Omega Gamma Delta during his high school days. Growing up in New York Walsh was also a friend of the Barrymore family. John Barrymore recalled spending time reading in the Walsh family library as a youth.

Walsh began as a stage actor in New York City, quickly progressing into film acting. Walsh was educated at Seton Hall College and began acting in 1909. In 1914, he became an assistant to D.W. Griffith and made his first full-length feature film The Life of General Villa, followed by the critically-acclaimed Regeneration in 1915, possibly the earliest gangster film. Walsh played John Wilkes Booth in Griffith’s epic The Birth of a Nation for which he was also Assistant Director. Walsh later directed The Thief of Bagdad, starring Douglas Fairbanks and Anna May Wong.

In Sadie Thompson starring Gloria Swanson as a prostitute seeking a new life in Samoa, Walsh starred as Swanson’s boyfriend in his first acting role since 1915; he also directed the film. Walsh was then hired to direct and star in In Old Arizona, a film about The Cisco Kid. While on location for that film Walsh suffered a car accident in which he lost his right eye. He gave up the part, and never acted again. Walsh would wear an eyepatch for the rest of his life.

25 Oct 2019
Motion Pictures Permalink

Raquel Welch

October 25, 2019

Raquel Welch is an American actress, author and sex symbol. Welch was born Jo Raquel Tejada in Chicago, Illinois, the older sister to brother James and sister Gayle. She was the daughter of Josephine Sarah with English ancestry dating back to John Quincy Adams and the Mayflower, and Armando Carlos Tejada Urquizo, a Bolivian. Her father, an aeronautical engineer, emigrated from La Paz, Bolivia at age 17; her mother was American, the daughter of architect Emery Stanford Hall and wife Clara Louise Adams. Raquel was raised in the Presbyterian religion and continues to go to church every Sunday. Raquel changed her family name to that of her first husband, James Welch, in 1959.

In 1959, Welch played the title role in The Ramona Pageant, a yearly outdoor play at Hemet, California, which is based on the novel Ramona by Helen Hunt Jackson and Bob Biloe.

She became a weather forecaster at KFMB, a local San Diego television station. Because of her heavy schedule, she decided to leave her studies at San Diego State University. Her first marriage broke up and she moved with her two children, Damon and Latanne, to Dallas, Texas, where she modeled for Neiman Marcus and worked as a cocktail hostess, intending to move on to New York City from there.

25 Oct 2019
Motion Pictures, Recording Permalink

Ray Anthony

October 25, 2019

Ray Anthony is an American bandleader, trumpeter, songwriter and actor.

As a child Anthony moved with his family to Cleveland, Ohio, where he began studying the trumpet with his father. He played in Glenn Miller’s band from 1940-1941 and appeared in the Glenn Miller movie Sun Valley Serenade in 1941 before joining the U.S. Navy during World War II. After the war he formed his own group. The Ray Anthony Orchestra became very popular in the early 1950s, with recordings that included Anthony’s classic dance songs “The Bunny Hop” and the “Hokey Pokey,” as well as the theme music from Dragnet. He had a #2 chart hit with a remake of the Glenn Miller tune, “At Last” in 1952.

From 1953-1954 Anthony was the musical director on the television series TV’s Top Tunes, and he also appeared as himself in the 1955 film Daddy Long Legs. In 1955 Anthony married sex symbol actress Mamie Van Doren and began expanding his own acting career. He starred in a short-lived television 1956-1957 variety show, The Ray Anthony Show. Anthony also appeared in several films during the late 1950s, including The Five Pennies, and Van Doren’s movies High School Confidential as “Bix” and Girls Town. In the 1959-1960 television season, he guest starred in the episode “Operation Ramrod” of David Hedison’s espionage series Five Fingers on NBC.

Anthony and Van Doren divorced in 1961, and Anthony’s brief film career ended at about the same time. However, he continued his musical career and had another hit record with the theme from Peter Gunn, which reached #8 on Billboard’s pop chart. Among his pianists was Allen “Puddler” Harris, a native of Franklin Parish, Louisiana, who had been a member of the original Ricky Nelson band and Kellie Green, who also played the vibraphone.

25 Oct 2019
Motion Pictures, Television Permalink

Ray Bolger

October 25, 2019

Raymond Wallace “Ray” Bolger was an American entertainer of stage and screen, best known for his portrayal of the Scarecrow and Kansas farmworker Hunk in the 1939 film, The Wizard of Oz.

Bolger was born Raymond Wallace Bolger to an Irish Catholic family in Dorchester, Massachusetts, the son of Anne and James Edward Bolger. He was inspired by the vaudeville shows he attended when he was young to become an entertainer himself. He began his career in a vaudeville tab show, creating the act “Sanford & Bolger” with his dance partner. In 1926, he danced at New York City’s Palace Theatre, the top vaudeville theatre in the country. His limber body and ability to ad lib movement won him many starring roles on Broadway in the 1930s. Eventually, his career would also encompass film, television and nightclub work.

Bolger’s film career began when he signed a contract with MGM in 1936. His best-known film appearance prior to The Wizard of Oz was The Great Ziegfeld, in which he portrayed himself. But he also appeared in Sweethearts, the first MGM film in Technicolor, starring Nelson Eddy, Jeanette MacDonald, and Bolger’s future Oz co-star, Frank Morgan, as well as the 1937 Eleanor Powell vehicle Rosalie, which also starred Eddy and Morgan.

Bolger toured in the USO shows with Joe E. Lewis in the Pacific Theater during World War II, was featured in the United Artists war-time film Stage Door Canteen and returned to MGM for a featured role in The Harvey Girls .

25 Oct 2019
Motion Pictures, Radio Permalink

Ray Briem

October 25, 2019

Ray Briem is a radio personality who worked in Los Angeles most of his career, most notably at KABC. He was noted for his conservative viewpoints, historical knowledge, polished delivery, and love of Big Band music. He was especially capable of debating liberal callers and guests, but his shows were not limited to politics. He interviewed a wide range of celebrities primarily from the golden age of radio, music, movies and television. He occupied the overnight shift and dominated the ratings. He had a brief stint as a nationally syndicated host for a number of years, a time which he has recalled fondly for the variety and quality of callers.

On his overnight program he was able to persuade many news and opinion makers to stay up late, or, if on the east coast, get up early, to make appearances. A frequent guest was Howard Jarvis, who used the show as a platform to promote California’s historic property tax limitation initiative, Proposition 13.

Over the years, he received many honors, including a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. He is currently enjoying his retirement from a long and illustrious career. On September 19, 2008 Briem was honored by Pacific Pioneer Broadcasters when their president, Chuck Southcott, presented him with the organization’s Diamond Circle Award.