Clark Gable

William Clark Gable was an American film actor, nicknamed “The King of Hollywood” in his heyday. In 1999, the American Film Institute named Gable seventh among the greatest male stars of all time.

Gable’s most famous role was Rhett Butler in the 1939 Civil War epic film Gone with the Wind, in which he starred with Vivien Leigh. His performance earned him his third nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actor; he won for It Happened One Night and was also nominated for Mutiny on the Bounty. Later performances were in Run Silent, Run Deep, a submarine war film, and his final film, The Misfits, which paired Gable with Marilyn Monroe in her last screen appearance.

During his long film career, Gable appeared opposite some of the most popular actresses of the time. Joan Crawford, who was his favorite actress to work with, was partnered with Gable in eight films, Myrna Loy was with him seven times, and he was paired with Jean Harlow in six productions. He also starred with Lana Turner in four features, and with Norma Shearer in three. Gable was often named the top male star in the mid-30s, and was second only to the top box-office draw of all, Shirley Temple.

Gable was born in Cadiz, Ohio to William Henry “Bill” Gable, an oil-well driller, and Adeline, who was of German and Irish descent. He was mistakenly listed as a female on his birth certificate. His original last name was Goebel, but this was considered too German during World War I because of anti German sentiment. Birth registrations, school records and other documents contradict one another. “William” would have been in honor of his father. “Clark” was the maiden name of his maternal grandmother. In childhood he was almost always called “Clark”; some friends called him “Clarkie,” “Billy,” or “Gabe”.

Claude Rains

Claude Rains was an English stage and film actor whose career spanned 47 years; he later held American citizenship. He was known for many roles in Hollywood films, among them the title role in The Invisible Man, a corrupt senator in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, and, perhaps his most notable performance, as Captain Renault in Casablanca. Rains was born William Claude Rains in Camberwell, London. He grew up, according to his daughter, with “a very serious cockney accent and a speech impediment”. His father was British stage actor Frederick Rains, and the young Rains made his stage debut at 11 in Nell of Old Drury.

His acting talents were recognised by Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree, founder of The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. Tree paid for the elocution lessons Rains needed in order to succeed as an actor. Later, Rains taught at the institution, teaching John Gielgud and Laurence Olivier, among others.

Rains served in the First World War in the London Scottish Regiment, with fellow actors Basil Rathbone, Ronald Colman and Herbert Marshall. Rains was involved in a gas attack that left him nearly blind in one eye for the rest of his life. However, the war did aid his social advancement and, by its end, he had risen from the rank of Private to Captain.

Claudette Colbert

Claudette Colbert was a French-born American stage and film actress.

Born in Saint-Mandé, France and raised in New York City, Colbert began her career in Broadway productions during the 1920s, progressing to film with the advent of talking pictures. She established a successful film career with Paramount Pictures and later, as a freelance performer, became one of the highest paid entertainers in American cinema. Colbert was recognized as one of the leading female exponents of screwball comedy; she won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her comedic performance in It Happened One Night, and also received Academy Award nominations for her dramatic roles in Private Worlds and Since You Went Away. Her film career began to decline in the 1950s, and she made her last film in 1961. Colbert continued to act in theater and, briefly, in television during her later years. After a career of more than 60 years’ duration, Colbert retired to her home in Barbados, where she died at the age of 92, following a series of strokes.

Colbert received theatre awards from the Sarah Siddons Society, a lifetime-achievement award at the Kennedy Center Honors, and, in 1999, the American Film Institute placed her at number twelve on their “AFI’s 100 Years. 100 Stars” list of the “50 Greatest American Screen Legends”.

Clayton Moore – The Lone Ranger

Clayton Moore was an American actor best known for playing the fictional western character Lone Ranger from 1949-1951 and 1954-1957 on the television series of the same name.

Born Jack Carlton Moore in Chicago, Illinois, Moore became a circus acrobat by age 8 and appeared at the Century of Progress exposition in Chicago in 1934 with a trapeze act.

As a young man, Moore worked successfully as a John Robert Powers model. Moving to Hollywood in the late 1930s, he worked as a stunt man and bit player between modeling jobs. According to his autobiography, around 1940 Hollywood producer Edward Small persuaded him to adopt the stage name “Clayton” Moore. He was an occasional player in B westerns and the lead in four Republic Studio cliffhangers, and two for Columbia. Moore served in the U.S. Army Air Forces during World War II and made training films with the First Motion Picture Unit.

Moore’s career advanced in 1949, when George Trendle spotted him in Ghost of Zorro. As creator/producer of The Lone Ranger radio show, Trendle was about to launch the television version. Moore landed the role.

Chris Rock

Christopher Julius "Chris" Rock III is an American comedian, actor, screenwriter, television producer, film producer and director. He was voted as the fifth greatest stand-up comedian of all time by Comedy Central.

Rock was born in Andrews, South Carolina. Shortly after his birth, his parents moved to Crown Heights, Brooklyn, New York. A few years later, they relocated and settled in the working-class area of Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn. His mother, Rosalie, was a teacher and social worker for the mentally handicapped; his father, Julius Rock, was a former truck driver and newspaper deliveryman. Julius died in 1988 after ulcer surgery. His younger brothers Tony, Kenny and Jordan are also in the entertainment business. His older half-brother, Charles, died in 2006 due to a long struggle with alcoholism. Rock has said that he was influenced by the performing style of his paternal grandfather, Allen Rock, a preacher.

Rock was bussed to schools in predominately white neighborhoods of Brooklyn where he endured racist bullying and beatings from white students. As he got older, the bullying became worse and Rock's parents pulled him out of James Madison High School. He decided to drop out of high school altogether and later received a GED. Rock worked menial jobs at various fast-food restaurants.

Rock began doing stand-up comedy in 1984 in New York City's Catch a Rising Star. He slowly rose up the ranks of the comedy circuit in addition to earning bit roles in the film I'm Gonna Git You Sucka and the TV series Miami Vice. Upon seeing his act at a nightclub, Eddie Murphy befriended and mentored the aspiring comic. Murphy gave Rock his first film role in Beverly Hills Cop II.

Christopher Reeve

Christopher D’Olier Reeve was an American actor, film director, producer, screenwriter and author. He achieved stardom for his acting achievements, including his notable motion picture portrayal of the superhero Superman.

On May 27, 1995, Reeve became a quadriplegic after being thrown from a horse in an equestrian competition in Virginia. He required a wheelchair and breathing apparatus for the rest of his life. He lobbied on behalf of people with spinal cord injuries, and for human embryonic stem cell research afterward. He founded the Christopher Reeve Foundation and co-founded the Reeve-Irvine Research Center.

Reeve married Dana Morosini in April 1992, and they had a son, William, born that June. Reeve had two children, Matthew and Alexandra, from his previous relationship with his longtime girlfriend, Gae Exton.

Reeve was born in New York City on September 25, 1952, the son of Barbara Pitney, a journalist, and Franklin D’Olier Reeve, who was a teacher, novelist, poet and scholar. His paternal grandfather, Colonel Richard Henry Reeve, had been the CEO of Prudential Financial for over twenty-five years, and his great-grandfather, Franklin D’Olier, was a prominent businessman, veteran of The Great War, and the first national commander of the American Legion. Reeve’s father was also descended from a sister of statesman Elias Boudinot, as well as from Massachusetts governors Thomas Dudley and John Winthrop, Pennsylvania deputy governor Thomas Lloyd, and Henry Baldwin, a US Supreme Court Justice. Reeve’s mother was the granddaughter of Mahlon Pitney, another US Supreme Court Justice, and was also a descendant of William Bradford, a Mayflower passenger.

Chuck Berry

In memory of Walk of Famer and Father of Rock & Roll Chuck Berry, flowers were placed on his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on Monday, March 20, 2017 at 1 p.m. PDT. The star in the category of Recording is located at 1779 Vine Street. He was honored on September 28, 1987. “Chuck, Heaven has another Rock & Roll angel, RIP!” Ana Martinez, Producer of the Hollywood Walk of Fame signed the card on behalf of the Hollywood Historic Trust and the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce.

BIOGRAPHY

Chuck Berry honored with 1,857th Star on the famous Hollywood Walk Of Fame Boulevard

The "King of Rock and Roll," Chuck Berry was honored with the 1,857th star on the world famous Hollywood Walk of Fame on Thursday, October 8, 1987 at 12:30 p.m. The star ceremony was held at 1777 N. Vine Street in front of the Capezio Dance Store.

Johnny Grant, Honorary Mayor of Hollywood and Chairman of the Walk of Fame Committee, served as Master of Ceremonies with Bill Welsh, President of the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce (sponsoring organization of the Walk of Fame) officiating.

The son of a carpenter, Charles Edward Anderson Berry, was born on October 18, 1926 in San Jose, California. Shortly after his birth, his family moved to Missouri, where he and his three sisters and two brothers grew up in Wentzville and in St. Louis.

Upon finishing high school, Berry worked on a factory assembly line and then, after taking a night course in cosmetology became a hairdresser. In the early 1950's, already married and the father of two children, he supplemented his income by taking a job as a guitarist. In 1952, he formed a trio with pianist Johnnie Johnson and drummer Ebby Harding and the combo began playing regular weekend gigs at the Cosmopolitan Club in East St. Louis.

While vacationing in Chicago in 1955, Berry met blues singer Muddy Waters, who introduced him to Leonard Chess, President of Chess Records. Berry auditioned two songs he had written, and one of them, "Maybelline," caught the attention of disc jockey Alan Freed who plugged the song on his New York radio show. Within weeks, "Maybelline" became one of the most popular songs in the country and one of the first to win a triple crown on the Billboard charts: number one in rhythm-and-blues, number one in country-and-western, and number one in pop. "Roll Over Beethoven" soon followed in 1956, a song which influenced millions of teenagers in America.

Berry made his first national appearance in 1956, at the Brooklyn Paramount Theatre in Brooklyn, New York. It was at this show that Berry created his now-famous "duck walk." Formed while playing the most complex patterns on his electric guitar, Berry flashed across the stage with his knees bent and a fluid grace that quickly became his trademark.

Among the greatest hits which Berry created include "Rock and Roll Music" (later recorded by the Beatles), "Round and Round," "You Can't Catch Me," "Johnny B. Goode," "Sweet Little Sixteen," "Nadine," "Back In The U.S.A.," "Reelin and Rockin," and "My Ding-A-Ling" to name a few.

Berry has also performed in the films "Go Johnny Go," (1958), "Sweet Toronto," (1971), "Let The Good Times Roll," (1973), and "American Hot Wax" (1978).

Berry's most current movie is "Chuck Berry Hail! Hail! Rock 'N' Roll" which was released by MCA Universal on October 8th and was a limited release on October 9th. The movie is a triumphant celebration of Chuck Berry's 60th birthday party concert, a tribute to the rock pioneer whose musical renditions have inspired a legion of admirers and imitators around the world. The movie also features performances by Eric Clapton, Robert Cray, Etta James, Julian Lennon, Keith Richards and Linda Ronstadt and provides rare footage of Berry's private life – a rousing salute to the man who single-handedly changed the sound of contemporary music forever.

Check out http://www.chuckberry.com/

Chuck Connors

Chuck Connors was an American actor, writer and a professional basketball and baseball player. For the course of his four decade career, he was best known for his roles in films of the 1950s, such as Pvt. Davey White, in the movie South Sea Woman, opposite Burt Lancaster, as Det. Ben Merrill in Hot Rod Girl and as Burn Sanderson in Old Yeller, opposite Dorothy McGuire. He was also known for his starring role on television in the 1960s ABC hit western series, The Rifleman. Towards the end of his career, he reprised his role as Lucas McCain in The Gambler Returns: The Luck of the Draw, with Johnny Crawford and as veteran police officer, Capt. Damian Wright in his last film, Three Days to a Kill.

Connors was born Kevin Joseph Aloysius Connors in Brooklyn, New York, second of two children and only son of Allan and Marcella Connors, emigrants from the Dominion of Newfoundland. His father was a longshoreman and his mother a homemaker. He was reared Roman Catholic and served as an altar boy at the Basilica of Our Lady of Perpetual Help in the Sunset Park neighborhood of Brooklyn.

According to his sister, Gloria Cole, she said Kevin was never close to his father, avoiding the father figure bond growing up, and he was always getting into trouble. Allan later took a job as night watchman.

His mother, Marcella, was absolutely marvelous to Kevin and his sister, and was an excellent cook who kept the family well fed despite the fact that they were poor. She took several jobs working as a janitor so her family wouldn’t to go hungry. Long before Kevin was a sports fan, she was a sports fan herself who always enjoyed listening to both the Brooklyn Dodgers and New York Giants on radio. She had a wonderful relationship with Kevin, who cherished her.

Chuck Jones

Charles Martin "Chuck" Jones was an American animator, cartoon artist, screenwriter, producer, and director of animated films, most memorably of Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies shorts for the Warner Bros. Cartoons studio. He directed many of the classic short animated cartoons starring Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, the Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote, Sylvester, Pepé Le Pew and the other Warners characters, including Duck Amuck, One Froggy Evening and What's Opera, Doc? and Jones' famous "Hunting Trilogy" of Rabbit Fire, Rabbit Seasoning, and Duck! Rabbit! Duck!. After his career at Warner Bros. ended in 1962, Jones started Sib Tower 12 Productions and began producing cartoons for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, including a new series of Tom and Jerry shorts and the television adaptation of Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas!. He later started his own studio, Chuck Jones Productions, which created several one-shot specials, and periodically worked on Looney Tunes related works.

Jones was born in Spokane, Washington on September 21, 1912. He later moved with his parents and three siblings to the Los Angeles, California area.

In his autobiography, Chuck Amuck, Jones credits his artistic bent to circumstances surrounding his father, who was an unsuccessful businessman in California in the 1920s. His father, Jones recounts, would start every new business venture by purchasing new stationery and new pencils with the company name on them. When the business failed, his father would quietly turn the huge stacks of useless stationery and pencils over to his children, requiring them to use up all the material as fast as possible. Armed with an endless supply of high-quality paper and pencils, the children drew constantly. Later, in one art school class, the professor gravely informed the students that they each had 100,000 bad drawings in them that they must first get past before they could possibly draw anything worthwhile. Jones recounted years later that this pronouncement came as a great relief to him, as he was well past the 200,000 mark, having used up all that stationery. Jones and several of his siblings went on to artistic careers.

Chuck Lorre

Television producer Chuck Lorre was honored with the 2,380th star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Mark Panatier, Hollywood Chamber of Commerce Chairman of the Board, presided over the ceremony. Guests included Charlie Sheen, Jon Cryer, Christine Baranski, and cast members from "Two and a Half Men" and "Big Bang Theory."

7021 Hollywood Boulevard on March 12, 2009.

BIOGRAPHY

Award-winning executive producer, writer, creator Chuck Lorre has created and helmed some of the most successful sitcoms in television history, ruling the airwaves for the past 20 years, with hit shows like "Grace Under Fire," "Dharma & Greg," and "Cybill." He currently is creator and executive producer of two Warner Bros. Television and the CBS hit comedies, "Two and a Half Men" the number one comedy on television and four-time People's Choice Award winner, and "The Big Bang Theory" one of television's fastest growing sophomore series which, in its second season, is averaging more than 10 million viewers per week.

A native of Long Island, New York, Lorre got his start as a guitarist/singer, touring the country and writing several hundred pop songs that, as he puts it, "helped keep him out of the big time" (Debbie Harry's top 40 hit "French Kissin' in the USA" being the lone exception). After more than a decade on the road, Lorre decided to turn his attention to television. He began writing animation scripts for DIC and Marvel Productions, as well as writing and producing the themes and scores for such animated series as "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles."

A spec primetime script soon led to freelance work on the syndicated comedy "Charles In Charge" and eventually to a staff job on the NBC sitcom "My Two Dads", starring Paul Reiser. Lorre's big break came in 1991, when he became a supervising producer on the ABC/Carsey-Werner hit comedy "Roseanne." Over the next two seasons, during which he was upped to co-executive producer, Lorre helped bring the show to the height of its critical and popular acclaim, shattering one sacred cow after another in the process.

Since then, Lorre has dominated network television by single-handedly keeping the multi-camera sitcom alive through hit series that generate mass appeal. He continues to break television records with "Two and a Half Men." It is the number one off-network sitcom in syndication for the 2007-2008 season. During this season, the rebroadcast of the show has delivered more viewers than first-run episodes of nearly every other sitcom.

In January 2009, Lorre kicked off the New Year when he was honored with the NATPE Brandon Tartikoff Legacy Award for exhibiting extraordinary passion, leadership, independence and vision in the process of creating television programming and in evoking the spirit of Brandon Tartikoff's generosity. This past February, Lorre was presented with the 2009 Television Showman of the Year Award at the 46th Annual ICG Publicists Awards Ceremony, which recognizes individuals whose creative accomplishments reflect the finest qualities of what has traditionally been defined as showmanship. Lorre will also receive the David Angell Humanitarian Award on behalf of the American Screenwriters Association for demonstrating his charitable efforts at the Venice Family Clinic. This award is presented to an individual in the entertainment industry who contributes to global well-being through their donation of time, expertise or other support to improve the human condition.

Despite his busy schedule, Lorre is involved with the aforementioned

Venice Family Clinic and the Dharma/Grace Foundation, where he insisted that the foundation directly benefit the people for whom the money was intended. In other words, dollars had to be translated immediately into services. Through the Dharma/Grace Foundation, Lorre has made it possible for funds to be distributed to the Clinic in perpetuity. In 2002, Lorre was honored with the Silver Circle Humanitarian Award for his compassion and his determination to assure that the sick be cared for, that children be given a healthy beginning and that no one be turned away for lack of financial resources. Another addition to the clinic, The Robert Levine Family Health Center, named after Lorre's father, provided free healthcare services to more than 4,000 women and teens in 2008 and continues to serve a growing number of patients at 5% increase each year. In addition to serving as a core benefactor and advocate for the organization, Lorre is also a member of the Philanthropy Board.