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1-11 of 11
- Actress
- Soundtrack
A pouty-lipped glamour girl in "B" films during the 1940s, actress Frances Rafferty did a complete role reversal and turned wholesome housewife on TV into the next decade.
Born on June 16, 1922 in Sioux City, Iowa, Frances Anne Rafferty and her family, during the Depression era, moved to Los Angeles in search of work. Interested in the arts while growing up, she won a scholarship to the Edith Jane Dancing School the next year and attended UCLA following her high school graduation, but dropped out when she nabbed an understudy position for dancer Vera Zorina in the film I Was an Adventuress (1940), choreographed by the legendary George Balanchine.
A severe leg injury suffered after falling during a performance of "The Firebird" at the Hollywood Bowl changed her focus from dance to acting. Coached by the renowned teachers Maria Ouspenskaya, Frances was signed by MGM at the age of 19 and began with a dancing bit in Presenting Lily Mars (1943) starring Judy Garland. Other parts in The War Against Mrs. Hadley (1942), Barbary Coast Gent (1944) and Mrs. Parkington (1944) added to her film credits. Her almond-shaped eyes gave this beauty a slightly exotic look and she capitalized on it in her best movie performance Dragon Seed (1944) as the ill-fated Oriental girl who is raped and subsequently murdered. Her skills as a dancer also showed up in the film comedy Bud Abbott and Lou Costello in Hollywood (1945), in which she dances in the elaborate "On the Midway" number.
Unable to secure major starring parts in "A" pictures, Frances remained an able "B"-level co-star with postwar roles in Bad Bascomb (1946), Lost Honeymoon (1947), Curley (1947) and An Old-Fashioned Girl (1949). None did anything to further her career.
A marriage to John Harlan in 1944 lasted only three years. In 1948 she married Thomas R. Baker, an Air Force colonel who later became general manager for the Los Alamitos Racetrack. They had two children, Bridget and Kevin. Following a role in The Shanghai Story (1954), Frances began setting her sights realistically on TV. A friendship with comedienne Lucille Ball helped Frances earn the co-starring role of "Ruth Henshaw", the daughter of Spring Byington, in the highly popular Desilu sitcom December Bride (1954), a role for which she is probably best known. When Harry Morgan, who played "Pete Porter" on the show, spun his character into the subsequent series Pete and Gladys (1960), Frances was brought on board to play Nancy, a next-door-neighbor. The show, which co-starred Cara Williams as Gladys, was short-lived, lasting only one season.
Frances quietly semi-retired after the show's demise with just a handful of TV performances coming her way, then disappeared altogether. She later raised quarter horses with her husband in California for a time. She died in 2004 of natural causes at age 81 in Paso Robles, where she helped form a local acting group called the "Pioneer Players".- Classic film-noir character actor best known for his roles in The Set-Up (1949), The St. Louis Bank Robbery (1959) and The Narrow Margin (1952), David Clarke made his Broadway debut in "Journeyman" in 1938, and subsequently appeared in "Abe Lincoln in Illinois" with Raymond Massey. He also played at the Biltmore Theatre in Los Angeles, where he caught the eye of agent Leland Hayward, leading to his first film role in Knockout (1941). Over the next five decades Clarke appeared in scores of films and TV shows (from the "Golden Age" of live dramas to more recent series), and was featured on Broadway in the original productions of "A View from the Bridge", "Orpheus Descending", "The Ballad of the Sad Cafe", "Inquest", and "The Visit" with Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne.
- Werner Schumacher was born on 4 May 1921 in Berlin, Germany. He was an actor, known for Tatort (1970), Der Andere (1959) and Das Patenkind (1971). He died on 18 April 2004 in Bremen, Germany.
- Patricia Riley was born on 10 August 1930 in Portsmouth, Hampshire, England, UK. She was an actress, known for Disco Godfather (1979), A Girl Called Jo (1956) and Flotsam's Follies (1950). She died on 18 April 2004 in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England, UK.
- Cees Bijlstra was born on 23 February 1946 in Snikzwaag, Netherlands. He was a composer, known for Van geluk gesproken (1987), The Dream (1985) and The Moving True Story of a Woman Ahead of Her Time (2001). He died on 18 April 2004 in Grou, Friesland, Netherlands.
- Abdel-Aziz Rantissi was born on 23 October 1947 in Yubna, Palestine. He died on 18 April 2004 in Gaza City, Gaza Strip, Palestine.
- Producer, director and actor, a graduate of Smith College. She later attended the University of Munich and the University of Berlin, where she also studied at the Max Reinhardt school and began working in children's theater, producing and writing operettas and plays for them. When she returned to the United States, she continued working with youngsters in New York settlement houses and ran the Harlem Inter-racial Youth Center for two years. While volunteering in schools and hospitals, she studied at the Washington School for Psychiatry and the New School for Social Research, with particular emphasis on the study of children's problems. She wrote a series of health talks for prominent physicians, worked for WJZ's Baby Institute for two years (a program dealing with children's medical and psychiatric problems), was a consultant on "This Changing World", and wrote "Superman" and "House of Mystery" for a period. On Broadway she appeared in several plays including "Judgment Day", 'Time of Your Life," "Eternal Road" and "Moon Over Mulberry Street." During World War II she was co-director of the American Theater Wing Committee for Youth in Wartime, and made many speeches for the USO, bond drives, Red Cross, OWI, and other agencies. When she took over the Captain Video and His Video Rangers series in April, 1951, she upgraded the production quality of the programs many-fold by investing in quality sets and costuming, and hiring a number of the finest science-fiction writers of the era.
- Actor
- Additional Crew
Norton Mockridge was born on 29 September 1915 in Bronx, New York, USA. He was an actor, known for Teacher's Pet (1958), Guess My Sign (1968) and The Joan Rivers Show (1968). He was married to Valborg Palmer and Margaret Eleanor Gleason. He died on 18 April 2004 in San Antonio, Texas, USA.- Tzila Dagan was born on 18 August 1946 in Poland. She was an actress, known for Florentine (1997) and Israel Song Festival 1979 (1979). She died on 18 April 2004 in Israel.
- Aage Poulsen was born on 4 July 1943. He was an actor, known for Skytten (1977), Niels Klims underjordiske rejse (1984) and Matador (1978). He died on 18 April 2004.
- Svend Lundvig was born on 3 February 1929. He was a composer, known for Robinson Columbus (1975). He died on 18 April 2004.