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- Actress
Betsy Blair was born in Cliffside, New Jersey, a child model before finding work as a chorus dancer at the early age of 15. She received her first mini-break on Broadway in "Panama Hattie" in 1940 delivering a single line, but by the next year she had copped the ingénue lead in William Saroyan's "The Beautiful People." At around the same time, she met dancer extraordinaire Gene Kelly and married him in 1940. Despite her background in dance, Betsy was admittedly not in the same league as a Vera-Ellen, Cyd Charisse, or Ann Miller, so she was never afforded the opportunity to glide with Gene in films. Moreover, she never even appeared in a musical film.
She made her large screen debut in 1947 and, for the next couple of years, appeared in a number of above-average dramas such as The Guilt of Janet Ames (1947), A Double Life (1947) starring Ronald Colman, The Snake Pit (1948), wherein she played a demented inmate alongside Olivia de Havilland, and a shining role in Another Part of the Forest (1948). After such promise, things came to a halt. Betsy had been involved in SAG politics as early as 1946 proposing the formation of the first Anti-Discrimination committee. Within a year the House Un-American Activities Committe began to investigate Betsy and others in the motion picture industry and what they considered left-wing extremist viewpoints. Her name appeared in the "Red Channels" and that was that. Her career was undone. By the early 1950s, all film offers had dried up. The only reason Betsy won the female lead in the 1955 cinematic classic Marty (1955) was because her husband threatened to stop shooting at MGM if they didn't let her work despite the blacklist. It would be the role of a lifetime for Betsy. As the touching plain-Jane girlfriend of Ernest Borgnine's title butcher, Betsy won the Cannes Film and British Film acting awards, not to mention an Oscar nomination. It did not help her overcome the blacklist, however.
By 1957, she was divorced from Kelly and had moved to Europe to avoid the Hollywood shun. Shortly thereafter, she lived with French actor Roger Pigaut. In 1963, she married producer/director Karel Reisz. They would remain together for almost 40 years until his death in London of a blood disorder in 2002. Betsy later published her memoirs and discussed quite candidly her life on Broadway, life with Gene Kelly, and life amid the blacklisting. She continued to live in England before passing away from cancer on 13th March, 2009. She was 85 years old.- Writer
- Music Department
- Producer
Alan Wendell Livingston was born in McDonald, Pennsylvania on October 15, 1917. He was the youngest of three children, whose mother encouraged reading books and playing musical instruments. He began his career in the entertainment business leading his own college orchestra as a student at the University of Pennsylvania. After graduating from the Wharton School of Finance and Commerce with a B.S. in Economics, he moved to New York where he worked in advertising for three years. At the start of World War II, he enlisted in the army as a private and served as a second lieutenant in the infantry. After his discharge, he borrowed some money, hitched a ride on an army plane and headed for Los Angeles, California where he obtained his first position with Capitol Records, Inc. in Hollywood as a writer/producer.
His initial assignment was to create a children's record library for the four-year old company, for which he created the legendary "Bozo the Clown" character. He wrote and produced a popular series of storytelling record-album and illustrative read-along book sets beginning with the October 1946 release of "Bozo at the Circus." His record-reader concept, which enabled children to read and follow a story in pictures while listening to it, was the first of its kind. The Bozo image was a composite design of Livingston's, derived from a variety of clown pictures and given to an artist to turn into comic-book-like illustrations. Livingston then hired Pinto Colvig to portray Bozo on the recordings. Colvig, a former circus clown, was also the original voice of Walt Disney's Pluto, Goofy, Grumpy, Sleepy and many other characters. Billy May produced the music. The series turned out to be a smash hit for Capitol, selling over eight million albums in the late 1940s and early 1950s. Successful record sales led to a variety of Bozo-related merchandise and the first television series, "Bozo's Circus", starring Pinto Colvig on KTTV-Channel 11 (CBS) in Los Angeles in 1949. The character also became a mascot for the record company and was later nicknamed "Bozo the Capitol Clown."
Livingston wrote and produced many other children's recordings including product for Walt Disney, Walter Lantz's Woody Woodpecker; Bugs Bunny and all of the Warner Bros. characters. In the case of the latter, he wrote the 1951 pop hit "I Taut I Taw a Puddy Tat" for Mel Blanc's Tweety Pie.
Within a few years, Livingston moved on to the adult music arena and became Vice President in charge of all creative operations of the company. He signed Frank Sinatra when Sinatra was at a low point in his career. Livingston wanted Sinatra to work with arranger Nelson Riddle, however Sinatra was reluctant to do so out of his loyalty to Axel Stordahl with whom he had worked for most of his career. The first Sinatra/Stordahl recordings for Capitol failed to produce the magic Livingston and producer Voyle Gilmore were looking for, and Sinatra agreed to try a session with Riddle on April 30, 1953. The impact was immediate, producing the classic "I've Got the World on a String." However, it was "Young-at-Heart" that became the defining moment in Sinatra's comeback, peaking at #2 during its 22-week run on the charts in the spring of 1954.
Livingston has been credited as the creative force responsible for Capitol Records' growth from net sales of $6 million per year to sales in excess of $100 million per year.
After 10 years with Capitol, Livingston and the company sold the "Bozo the Clown" licensing rights (excluding the recordings) to Larry Harmon, one of several people hired to portray the character at promotional appearances, as Livingston left the company to accept a position as President of California National Productions, Inc., the wholly owned film production subsidiary of the National Broadcasting Company. Shortly thereafter, Livingston was also named Vice President of NBC, in charge of Television Network Programming, dealing principally with all films made for the network. In this capacity, he hired David Dortort to write and produce the pilot for the series Bonanza (1959), for which Livingston's older brother, songwriter Jay Livingston, wrote the memorable theme. During this time, Alan also served on the Boards of Bob Hope Enterprises, Inc. and Joseph L. Mankiewicz's motion picture production company, Figaro, Inc.
Five years later, Capitol Records induced him to return as President and, eventually, Chairman of the Board. He was also named to the Board of Electric and Musical Industries (EMI), a British corporation that was the largest stockholder in Capitol. Subsequently, he merged Capitol Records into Audio Devices, Inc., a magnetic tape manufacturer listed on the American Stock Exchange, and changed the name of the surviving company to Capitol Industries, Inc., of which Livingston was named President. It was during this period that he turned Capitol Records into a more rock-oriented company with such artists as The Beach Boys, Steve Miller, The Band, and others. His most noteworthy accomplishment at that time was signing The Beatles for Capitol in 1963 and bringing them to the United States in 1964.
Livingston later sold out his stock in Capitol Industries to form his own company, Mediarts, Inc., for the production of motion pictures, records and music publishing. He eventually sold his interest in that company to United Artists as a result, particularly, of its success in the record business including Don McLean, who reached the #1 position in the country with his "American Pie" single and album in 1972. Two feature motion pictures were completed during the company's operation: Downhill Racer (1969) starring Robert Redford and Gene Hackman, and Unman, Wittering and Zigo (1971) starring David Hemmings; both released by Paramount Pictures.
In August 1976, Livingston joined Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation as Senior Vice President and President, Entertainment Group. He left in 1980 to accept the presidency of Atalanta Investment Company, Inc., and resigned in 1987 to produce a one-hour film for television and to form Pacific Rim Productions, Inc.
Livingston also wrote a novel titled "Ronnie Finkelhof, Superstar" about a shy Harvard pre-law student who becomes an overnight success as a rock musician. It was published by Ballantine Books in the spring of 1988.
On August 1, 1998, Livingston received his first honor for his creation of "Bozo the Clown" as the International Clown Hall of Fame in Wisconsin presented him their Lifetime of Laughter Achievement Award.
Alan Livingston passed away on March 13, 2009 at the age of 91 in Beverly Hills, California.- Bill Davidson was born on 5 December 1922 in Detroit, Michigan, USA. He was married to Karen Weidman. He died on 13 March 2009 in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, USA.
- Actor
- Producer
- Additional Crew
Steven E. Williams was born on 22 December 1955 in Fort Belvoir, Virginia, USA. He was an actor and producer, known for My Mom's New Boyfriend (2008), Immortal (1995) and Demented (1994). He died on 13 March 2009 in Shreveport, Louisiana, USA.- Actor
- Director
- Writer
Kifayat Hussain Bhatti was born in 1943 in Gujrat, Punjab, British India. He was an actor and director, known for Ultimatum (1976), Machh Jail (1994) and Shah Behram (1985). He died on 13 March 2009 in Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan.- Actress
- Soundtrack
Born Annie Wiggins Brown in Baltimore, Maryland, she was the daughter of a prominent physician, Dr Harry F. Brown, the grandson of a slave. Her mother was of African, Cherokee and Scottish-Irish descent. Along with her three sisters, she was taught and encouraged in music by her mother. Hopes of developing her musical talents were dashed when a local Catholic school refused her entry on the grounds of her color. She encountered similar discrimination some years later when she applied to the Peabody Institute in Baltimore, but was finally admitted to Morgan State College and Columbia University Teachers' College.
All three of her marriages ended in divorce. Brown remained in Oslo until her death. In 1999 she was elected an honorary citizen of Baltimore, the town where, 70 years earlier, she had been denied a musical education on account of her skin color. In 2000 she received the prestigious annual cultural award from Arts Council Norway. Her daughters, Vaar Schjelderup (by her third marriage) and Paula Petit (by her second marriage), survived her.- Dimitri Lukianov was born on 12 May 1959 in Kiev, Ukrainian SSR, USSR [now Ukraine]. He was an actor, known for Evilenko (2003), Vykup (1994) and Kankan v angliyskom parke (1985). He died on 13 March 2009 in Kiev, Ukraine.
- André Caroff was born on 28 February 1924 in Paris, France. He was a writer, known for Le battant (1983), Le truqueur (1982) and The Target (2011). He died on 13 March 2009.
- James Purdy was born on 17 July 1914 in Fremont, Ohio, USA. He was a writer, known for In a Shallow Grave (1988), Our Time (1983) and Hier is... Adriaan van Dis (1983). He died on 13 March 2009 in Englewood, New Jersey, USA.
- Lindsay Barr was an actor, known for Tiger Town (1983). He died on 13 March 2009.