Lizzie Andrew Borden was an American woman who was tried and acquitted of the August 4, 1892 axe murders of her father and stepmother in Fall River, Massachusetts. No one else was charged in the murders, and, despite ostracism from other residents, Borden spent the remainder of her life in Fall River. She died of pneumonia at the age of 66, just days before the death of her older sister, Emma.
Maxwell Reed was a Northern Irish actor who became a matinee idol in several British films during the 1940s and 1950s.
Patricia Lawlor Hayes was an English character actress.
Monica Elizabeth "Mona" Freeman was an American actress and painter.
The Black Cat is a 1941 American comedy horror and mystery film directed by Albert S. Rogell and starring Basil Rathbone. The film was a hybrid of style: being inspired by comedy "Old Dark House" films of the era as well as the 1843 short story "The Black Cat" by Edgar Allan Poe. It stars Basil Rathbone as Montague Hartley, the head of a greedy family who await the death of Henrietta Winslow so that they can inherit her fortune. When she is found murdered, an investigation begins into who might be the culprit. Alongside Rathbone and Loftus, the film's cast includes Hugh Herbert, Broderick Crawford, and Bela Lugosi.
Florence Agnes Henderson was an American actress. With a career spanning six decades, she is best known for her starring role as Carol Brady on the ABC sitcom The Brady Bunch. Henderson also appeared in film, as well as on stage, and hosted several long-running cooking and variety shows over the years. She appeared as a guest on many scripted and unscripted television programs and as a panelist on numerous game shows. She was a contestant on Dancing with the Stars in 2010.
Mona Lee Washbourne was an English actress of stage, film, and television. Her most critically acclaimed role was in the film Stevie (1978), late in her career, for which she was nominated for a Golden Globe Award and a BAFTA Award.
Jack Frost is a 1964 Soviet romantic fantasy film made by Gorky Film Studio. It was based on a traditional Russian fairy tale Morozko. It was directed by Alexander Rou, and starred Eduard Izotov as Ivan, Natalya Sedykh as Nastenka, and Alexander Khvylya as Father Frost. The script was written by Nikolai Erdman. The soundtrack was composed by Nikolai Budashkin, who was inspired by the works of Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov. A version with an English dub was released in 1966 in the U.S. and was the one also spoofed on the cult TV series Mystery Science Theater 3000.
Albert S. Rogell was an American film director.
The Unknown is a 1946 American mystery film directed by Henry Levin made by Columbia Pictures as the third and final part of its I Love a Mystery series based on the popular radio program. The previous films were I Love a Mystery (1945) and The Devil's Mask (1946).
Maurice Elvey was one of the most prolific film directors in British history. He directed nearly 200 films between 1913 and 1957. During the silent film era he directed as many as twenty films per year. He also produced more than fifty films – his own as well as films directed by others.
Mary Elizabeth Miller was an English television and stage actress, who was a founding member of the National Theatre Company in 1963.
Florence Reed was an American stage and film actress. She is remembered for several outstanding stage productions, including The Shanghai Gesture, The Lullaby, The Yellow Ticket and The Wanderer. Her best remembered movie role was as Miss Havisham in the 1934 production of Great Expectations. In this version, however, Miss Havisham was changed from a completely insane woman to an eccentric, who did not wear her wedding veil constantly, and who dies peacefully rather than as a result of suffering burns in a fire. In the 1950s, Reed performed in several early television shows, such as The Philco Television Playhouse, Kraft Television Theatre and The United States Steel Hour. She is a member of the American Theater Hall of Fame.
Peter Maxwell born as Peter Magitai, was a British, and later Australian director and screenwriter of television and film.
Daughter of Darkness is a 1948 British film, with macabre overtones, directed by Lance Comfort and starring Anne Crawford, Maxwell Reed and – in the central role – Siobhán McKenna. Released in January 1948, it was based on a then ten-year-old play by Max Catto called They Walk Alone. An expensive film for its day, it was shot at Riverside Studios, Hammersmith, London, and on location. McKenna was offered a Hollywood contract following her memorable performance, but heeded the counsel of Laurence Olivier to remain in theatre work.
Trottie True is a 1949 British musical comedy film directed by Brian Desmond Hurst and starring Jean Kent, James Donald and Hugh Sinclair. It was known as The Gay Lady in the US, and is an infrequent British Technicolor film of the period. According to BFI Screenonline, "British 1940s Technicolor films offer an abundance of visual pleasures, especially when lovingly restored by the National Film Archive. Trottie True is not among the best known, but comes beautifully packaged, gift wrapped with all the trimmings." The film is based on a novel by Caryl Brahms and S.J. Simon, published in 1946. The New York Times called it "a typical Gay nineties success story" that "amuses but never convulses the reader."
The Woman in White is a 1929 British silent mystery film directed by Herbert Wilcox and starring Blanche Sweet, Haddon Mason and Cecil Humphreys. It was written by Robert Cullen and Herbert Wilcox, based on the 1859 mystery novel The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins.
The Smile (2008) is a Young Adult novel by Donna Jo Napoli that details a slice of the life of Monna Elisabetta, better known as the Mona Lisa. Some historical figures enter the plot, including Leonardo da Vinci and members of the famous Medici family. Set in Renaissance Florence, it follows Elisabetta's life up to the moment she models for da Vinci's painting, and suggests the secret behind her famous smile.
Dear Ruth is a 1947 American romantic comedy film starring Joan Caulfield, William Holden, Mona Freeman, Billy de Wolfe and Edward Arnold. It was based on the 1944 Broadway play of the same name by Norman Krasna.
Cyclone Cavalier is a 1925 American silent Western film directed by Albert S. Rogell and starring Reed Howes, Carmelita Geraghty, and Wilfred Lucas.
