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- Actor
- Producer
- Writer
As a child growing up in Benton Harbor, Michigan, Ernie Hudson wrote short stories, poems and songs, always thinking that his words might one day come to life on stage. After a short stint in the Marine Corps, he moved to Detroit where he became the resident playwright at Concept East, the oldest Black theatre in the country. In addition, he enrolled at Wayne State University to further develop his writing and acting skills and found time to establish the Actors' Ensemble Theatre, where he and other talented young black writers directed and appeared in their own works. After graduating with a B.A. from Wayne State, he was rewarded a full scholarship to the M.F.A. program at the prestigious Yale School of Drama. While performing with the school's repertory company, he was asked to appear in the Los Angeles production of Lonne Elder III's musical "Daddy Goodness," which led to his meeting Gordon Parks, who gave Hudson the costarring role in his first feature film, Leadbelly (1976). Unfortunately, all that followed "Leadbelly" was a year of "bit parts and some harsh lessons about Hollywood," which led Hudson to enroll in another academic doctorate program at the University of Minnesota. He did not complete the program. Through his experience, he learned another vital lesson: "There are those who spend their lives studying it and those who spend their lives doing it." Hudson definitely wanted to be in the second group. Keeping in mind this self-revelation, Hudson accepted the starring role of Jack Jefferson in the Minneapolis Theatre In The Round's production of "The Great White Hope," a role that he put "everything he had into," including shaving his head. A series of starring and guest roles followed on such television shows as Fantasy Island (1977), The Incredible Hulk (1977), Little House on the Prairie (1974), Diff'rent Strokes (1978), Taxi (1978), One Day at a Time (1975), Gimme a Break! (1981), The A-Team (1983) and Webster (1983), as well as costarring roles in the TV movies White Mama (1980) with Bette Davis, Roots: The Next Generations (1979), Women of San Quentin (1983), California Girls (1985), Mad Bull (1977) and Love on the Run (1985). Other feature film credits include The Jazz Singer (1980), The Main Event (1979), Spacehunter: Adventures in the Forbidden Zone (1983), Penitentiary II (1982), Going Berserk (1983), Joy of Sex (1984) and, of course, the mega-hit Ghostbusters (1984).- Actor
- Writer
- Producer
Sinbad was born in Benton Harbor, Michigan to two parents, Louise and the Baptist Rev. Dr. Donald Beckley Adkins and was then known as David Adkins. He is primarily known as an actor and somewhat a writer and proved his comedic acting style in House Guest (1994), Jingle All the Way (1996), First Kid (1996) and Good Burger (1997). He has been married to Meredith Adkins since 2002 with two children. He was previously married to Meredith Fuller.- Actor
- Writer
- Soundtrack
Arte Johnson was born on 20 January 1929 in Benton Harbor, Michigan, USA. He was an actor and writer, known for Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In (1967), Love at First Bite (1979) and Baggy Pants & the Nitwits (1977). He was married to Gisela Johnson and Texie Waterman. He died on 3 July 2019 in Los Angeles, California, USA.- Actress
- Director
- Writer
Hendrix Yancey is most recently recognized for starring in the NBC Universal series "A Friend Of The Family," playing Jan Broberg, who is kidnapped twice by the neighbor who also happens to be a family friend. She is also widely recognized for her her work as 013 in Stranger Things. Thirteen is a new test subject in the Hawkins Lab and participates in the Nina Project with Dr. Brenner. Other prominent roles in include: George & Tammy, where Hendrix can be seen alongside Jessica Chastain and Michael Shannon, playing Gwen, Tammy Wynette's eldest daughter, as well as, Unbelievable, playing Daisy, daughter of Merritt Weaver and Austin Hebert, and in Amazon Prime's Charming The Hearts of Men, where she plays Angelina, daughter of Tina Ivlev and boyfriend Sean Astin. Hendrix is a true artist who enjoys singing, painting, and participating in sketch comedy. She thrives when traveling and has been to several countries around the world, but always loves returning to her beautiful home-state of Arkansas. Hendrix also enjoys playing basketball and volleyball for her state's travel team, softball (she's a First Baseman), arts and crafts, rescuing and fostering kittens, and spending time with her friends and family.- Actor
- Writer
- Producer
Jimmy Nail was born on 16 March 1954 in Benton, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, England, UK. He is an actor and writer, known for Crocodile Shoes (1994), Evita (1996) and Spender (1991).- She survived the death of her husband in 1905, the San Francisco earthquake in 1906 and raising four children with no money. In 1926, when she was 64 she became one of the most mature freshman ever to enter the University of California. She graduated 6 years later with her B.A. degree. In 1940 she went to Hollywood, where she began her acting career. Best known for her role in Shirley Temple's Storybook production of "Sleeping Beauty", although she is probably seen most often in "Going My Way" as Father Fitzgibbon's elderly mother.
- Jennifer Birmingham Lee was born on 24 February 1981 in Benton, Louisiana, USA. She is an actress, known for House of Lies (2012), Go On (2012) and Justified (2010). She has been married to Will Yun Lee since 16 October 2010. They have one child.
- Actress
- Soundtrack
Ruth Terry was born Ruth McMahon in Benton Harbor, Michigan, in 1920. She got her start in show business as a child when she would sing with the band in a dance hall where her father worked as a bouncer. She began entering amateur talent contests in the local area, and her beautiful singing voice resulted in her winning many of them. When she was in fourth grade her parents decided that she would embark on a professional singing career, and to that end took her out of school (her education continued with private teachers). She kept winning talent contests, and later became part of a vaudeville act called The Capps Family and Ruthie Mae. She eventually won a spot singing on a Chicago radio station, then she got her own 15-minute time slot on a station in South Bend, Indiana. At 12 years of age she won a contract to sing with a prestigious Chicago musical group, The Paul Ash Chicago Theater Orchestra. After that engagement she went to New York and got a job as a song plugger for composer Irving Berlin, who was a friend of her aunt's. She eventually got her own nightclub act--changing her name to Ruth Terry at the suggestion of gossip columnist Walter Winchell--and soon headed to Miami, where she was engaged to sing at several prestigious nightspots and hotels, and while there she was spotted by talent scouts from 20th Century-Fox. In 1937 she was playing in Chicago with bandleader Ted Lewis when Fox offered her a contract--and all this while she was barely 16 years old.
She was brought to Hollywood by Fox and given diction and acting lessons, and the studio soon put her in her first picture, International Settlement (1938), although she only had one line. She stayed with Fox for two more years, until she was dropped in 1939. In 1940 she was signed by Howard Hughes, who eventually sold her contract to Republic Pictures. It was at Republic where she began making westerns, a genre in which she would spend a lot of time. She made westerns with Gene Autry, Roy Rogers and Robert Livingston, among others. Her contract with Republic ended in 1947, and she made only one other film, for Columbia, before retiring. She soon married, for a second time, and she and her husband moved to Canada. The marriage ended in 1957, and she moved back to the US. In 1962, as a favor to a friend, she did a small part in a low-budget horror film, Hand of Death (1962).- Amy Miller was born on 13 July 1973 in Benton, Kentucky, USA. She is an actress, known for Rock Star (2001), Power Rangers Lost Galaxy (1999) and Baywatch (1989).
- Actress
- Writer
- Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
December Ensminger was born on 26 December 1996 in Benton, Arkansas, USA. She is an actress and writer, known for Sightless (2020), True Detective (2014) and Proof of the Devil 2 (2015).- Dick Sutherland was born on 23 December 1881 in Benton, Kentucky, USA. He was an actor, known for The Beloved Rogue (1927), The Red Lily (1924) and Quicksands (1923). He was married to Verba Hutchinson. He died on 3 February 1934 in Hollywood, California, USA.
- Actress
- Producer
- Production Manager
Colleen Meeker was born on 30 November 1944 in Benton Harbor, Michigan, USA. She was an actress and producer, known for The Mind Snatchers (1972), Hollywood High Part II (1981) and Mag Wheels (1978). She was married to Ralph Meeker. She died on 4 April 2007 in Palm Springs, California, USA.- Juli Busken was born on 24 October 1975 in Benton, Arkansas, USA. She died on 20 December 1996 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, USA.
- Actor
On March 18, 1894, Buchanan was born in Benton, Iowa, as Paul Stuart Buchanan. The son of a Presbyterian minister, he received his undergraduate degree at Wooster College. He taught English and coached basketball at the University of West Virginia, then switched to Florida University, where he started the school's 5000-watt radio station.
Buchanan earned a Ph.D. at Harvard before giving up the education business in favor of what he called "making a living." He went to Hollywood and became a character in tough-guy acting roles and took on a job as director of the Pasadena Play House. In May of 1930, he took a job as program director at radio station KHJ in Los Angeles, where he directed episodes of the "Hollywood Hotel" and "Lux Radio Theatre."
Walt Disney hired Buchanan as a dialogue and casting director at the Disney studios in Hollywood and put him in charge of all foreign versions of Disney productions. Buchanan was the voice of "The Huntsman" in the 1937 Disney animated film "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs." Managing the foreign versions of Disney films took him to Europe and South America to translate "Snow White" into ten languages. Buchanan also had cameo voiceover roles as a flight attendant in "Saludos Amigos" (1942) and "Super-Speed" (1935), and he voiced Goofy in "The Mickey Mouse Theater of the Air" (1938).
In New York radio, Buchanan produced and directed many network shows. He was head of the script department and program supervision for American Broadcasting Co. before moving to Cleveland in 1947 to produce "The Ohio Story" radio and TV series sponsored by Ohio Bell Telephone Co. He also took on directing the radio and television department of McCann-Erickson advertising agency's offices in Cleveland. He remained in Cleveland for the rest of his life.
"The Ohio Story" ran state-wide from 1947 to 1955 on radio and 1953 to 1961 on TV. At the time, the filmed series held the record as the longest-running scripted radio and TV program in the nation. In more than 2,500 "Ohio Story" shows, Buchanan never missed a rehearsal or a program. Buchanan worked tirelessly with actors, musicians, and sound technicians to get precisely the right shade of meaning into every sequence. He made actors out of bank clerks, students, and homemakers. Buchanan picked Robert Waldrop, a nationally known radio personality, to narrate the "Ohio Story" radio series. He convinced Hollywood actor Nelson Olmsted, known for his adaptations of terror tales by Edgar Allen Poe and science-fantasy stories, to commute to Cleveland for seven years to host, narrate and act in the "Ohio Story" TV episodes and the final two years of the "Ohio Story" radio series.
In an article in the June 25, 1958, Columbus Dispatch, Buchanan talked about his love and loyalty to Ohio and the "Ohio Story" series: "There has never been - or will be, a radio series that commanded the respect and attention of this state, or, for that fact, the nation. The "Ohio Story" reached its peak in the heyday of radio... the late 1940s. Only one show in the nation had a higher rating ... that was the Jack Benny show. I guess of all the things I've done in my lifetime; I'm most proud to have had a hand in developing and producing "The Ohio Story."
Buchanan was married twice. His first wife was Anna Hall Hilditch (December 28, 1900 - November 10, 1987). His second wife was Rita Whearty (November 19, 1919 - March 31, 2009).
Buchanan died on February 4, 1974, in Cleveland, Ohio.- Anita Thomas was born on 30 November 1974 in Benton Harbor, Michigan, USA. She is an actress, known for 100 Girls (2000), NightMan (1997) and Fat Girls (2006). She was previously married to Phil Collen.
- Music Department
- Actress
- Soundtrack
Niki Haris was born on 17 April 1962 in Benton Harbor, Michigan, USA. She is an actress, known for Heat (1995), Corrina, Corrina (1994) and A Chorus Line (1985).- Ralph J. Rose was born on 26 April 1927 in Benton Harbor, Michigan, USA. He was an actor, known for The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (1964), Love Me Like I Do (1970) and Gunsmoke (1955). He died on 10 May 1997 in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.
- Iris Floyd Kyle (born August 22, 1974) is an American professional female bodybuilding champion. She currently lives in Henderson, Nevada. As of 2012, Iris Kyle is the most successful female bodybuilder ever with nine Ms. Olympia wins (8 overall and 1 heavyweight) and seven Ms. International wins. She ranks as the 1st best female bodybuilder in the IFBB Pro Women's Bodybuilding Ranking List.
- Producer
- Writer
Lin Bolen was born on 23 March 1941 in Benton, Illinois, USA. She was a producer and writer, known for Stumpers! (1976), W.E.B. (1978) and Farrell for the People (1982). She was married to Paul Wendkos. She died on 19 January 2018 in San Fernando Valley, California, USA.- Bobo Brazil was born on 10 July 1924 in Benton Harbor, Michigan, USA. He was an actor, known for AWA All-Star Wrestling (1972), WWF Championship Wrestling (1972) and WWF World Championship Wrestling (1972). He died on 20 January 1998 in Benton Harbor, Michigan, USA.
- F Gamo was born on 17 January 1994 in Benton Harbor, Michigan, USA. He was an actor, known for Project Kid feat. F Gamo: In My Bag (2020), F Gamo: Close Your Eyes (2021) and F Gamo: I Hope So (2021). He died on 8 August 2021 in St. Joseph, Michigan, USA.
- Caiden Daniel Acurio is an Italian-American Film actor turned open-wheeled formula race car driver. He is also known for extensive intellectual work in economic, legal, and political fields in collaboration with institutions in Louisiana and Boston. Caiden Acurio is not your stereotypical actor. As an Italian-American growing up in a small town in North Louisiana, Acurio had an idiosyncratic upbringing. Getting his start in local theatre, Caiden began to make a name for himself in his tiny corner of the world. This mini-success in Benton, Louisiana led to doors opening their way to stardom. These new opportunities would culminate in Acurio's role in Capone. Following Capone, Acurio took a step back from the film industry and shifted to international motor racing, moving to Prague and Italy while competing against the best drivers in the world. Today, Acurio resides back in the United States and has shifted focus back to film acting. There's much more to see from the small-town hick turned LA actor turned international driver.
- Actress
Jean Romaine was born on 29 November 1927 in Benton, Arkansas, USA. She was an actress. She died on 25 February 2011 in Apple Valley, California, USA.- Actress
- Stunts
Mabel Strickland was born in July 1870 in Benton Harbor, Michigan, USA. She was an actress, known for Rough Riding Ranger (1935). She was married to George E. Mack. She died on 1 November 1947 in The Bronx, New York, USA.- Anthony Miller was born on 27 October 1971 in Benton Harbor, Michigan, USA. He is an actor, known for Space Jam (1996) and Eddie (1996).