Burton Stephen Lancaster was an American actor and film producer. Initially known for playing tough guys with a tender heart, he went on to achieve success with more complex and challenging roles over a 45-year career in films and television series. He was a four-time nominee for the Academy Award for Best Actor, and he also won two BAFTA Awards and one Golden Globe Award for Best Lead Actor. The American Film Institute ranks Lancaster as #19 of the greatest male stars of classic Hollywood cinema.
Sweet Smell of Success is a 1957 American film noir drama film directed by Alexander Mackendrick, starring Burt Lancaster, Tony Curtis, Susan Harrison, and Martin Milner, and written by Clifford Odets, Ernest Lehman, and Mackendrick from the novelette by Lehman. The shadowy noir cinematography filmed on location in New York City was shot by James Wong Howe. The picture was produced by James Hill of Hecht-Hill-Lancaster Productions and released by United Artists. The supporting cast features Sam Levene, Barbara Nichols, Joe Frisco, Edith Atwater, David White, and Emile Meyer. The musical score was arranged and conducted by Elmer Bernstein and the film also features jazz performances by the Chico Hamilton Quintet. Mary Grant designed the costumes.
George Jeffreys, 1st Baron Jeffreys, also known as "the Hanging Judge", was a Welsh judge. He became notable during the reign of King James II, rising to the position of Lord Chancellor. His conduct as a judge was to enforce royal policy, resulting in a historical reputation for severity and bias.
Claudette Colvin is an American pioneer of the 1950s civil rights movement and retired nurse aide. On March 2, 1955, she was arrested at the age of 15 in Montgomery, Alabama, for refusing to give up her seat to a white woman on a crowded, segregated bus. It occurred nine months before the similar, more widely known incident in which Rosa Parks, secretary of the local chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), helped spark the 1955 Montgomery bus boycott.
Joan de Beauvoir de Havilland, known professionally as Joan Fontaine, was an English-American actress who is best known for her starring roles in Hollywood films during the Golden Age of Hollywood. Fontaine appeared in more than 45 films in a career that spanned five decades. She was the younger sister of actress Olivia de Havilland. Their rivalry was well-documented in the media at the height of Fontaine's career.
The Women is a 1936 American play, a comedy of manners by Clare Boothe Luce. Only women comprise the cast.
Born to Kill is a 1947 RKO Pictures American film noir starring Lawrence Tierney, Claire Trevor and Walter Slezak with Esther Howard, Elisha Cook Jr., and Audrey Long in supporting roles. The film was director Robert Wise's first film noir production, preceding his later work on The Set-Up (1949) and The Captive City (1952).
Swoosie Kurtz is an American actress. She is the recipient of an Emmy Award and two Tony Awards.
Hilda Plowright was a British actress.
Ellia English is an American singer, dancer, stage and film actress. She is best known for her role as Aunt Helen King on the comedy sitcom The Jamie Foxx Show which originally ran from 1996 to 2001, where she was featured in a central role and was paired onscreen with Garrett Morris, who played her husband Junior King. English also had recurring roles on Curb Your Enthusiasm, Good Luck Charlie, and Code Black.
Kiss the Blood Off My Hands is a 1948 American noir-thriller film directed by Norman Foster. Based on the best-selling novel of the same name by Gerald Butler, it stars Joan Fontaine, Burt Lancaster, and Robert Newton. The film faced minor opposition from fundamentalist groups in the United States and the Commonwealth, with regard to its gory title. In some markets, the film was released under the alternate titles The Unafraid or Blood on My Hands.
For the Irish-born American nurse, see Mary G. Boland.
Three Came Home is a 1950 American World War II film directed by Jean Negulesco, based on the memoirs of the same name by writer Agnes Newton Keith. It depicts Keith's life in North Borneo in the period immediately before the Japanese invasion in 1942, and her subsequent internment and suffering, separated from her husband Harry, and with a young son to care for. Keith was initially interned at Berhala Island near Sandakan, North Borneo but spent most of her captivity at Batu Lintang camp at Kuching, Sarawak. The camp was liberated in September 1945.
Don't Go To Sleep is a 1982 American made-for-television horror film that was produced and directed by Richard Lang. The movie features Dennis Weaver, Valerie Harper, Ruth Gordon, and Robert Webber, and youngsters Kristin Cumming, Robin Ignico, and Oliver Robins.
For the Love of Mike is a 1927 American silent romantic drama film. Directed by Frank Capra, it starred Claudette Colbert and Ben Lyon. It is now considered to be a lost film.
Mr. Peabody and the Mermaid is a 1948 American romantic fantasy film directed by Irving Pichel starring William Powell and Ann Blyth in the title roles. The film was based on the 1945 novel Peabody's Mermaid by Guy and Constance Jones. Sequences were shot at the Weeki Wachee Springs in Florida; Blyth's swimming doubles were Nancy Tribble and Mary Ann Ziegler.
Annie Mary Patricia Smithson was an Irish novelist, poet and Nationalist.
Kristine Miller was an American film actress. She appeared in film noir and Westerns. A discovery of Paramount producer Hal Wallis, she appeared in I Walk Alone (1948), Jungle Patrol (1948), Too Late for Tears (1949), Shadow on the Wall (1950), and the TV series Stories of the Century (1954–55).
Judith Ellen Kahan is an American retired actress and television writer.
Gerald Alfred Butler was an English crime, thriller, and pulp writer and screenwriter. He was sometimes referred to as the "English James M. Cain", and his characters were noted as amoral and hardboiled. His novels include the best-seller Kiss the Blood Off My Hands (1940), as well as They Cracked Her Glass Slipper (1941), Their Rainbow Had Black Edges (1943), Mad with Much Heart (1945), Slippery Hitch (1948), Choice of Two Women (1951), and his late career come-back There Is a Death, Elizabeth (1972). His stories have been translated and published in multiple languages, including French, Swedish, German, and Finnish.
