Wichita and Kansas in show business

David Rees Snell was born on 20 August 1966 in Wichita, Kansas, USA. He is an actor, known for The Shield (2002), Last Resort (2012) and School and Board (2012). He has been married to Melanie Myers since 6 July 2002.

Kirstie Louise Alley was an American actress. Her breakout role was as Rebecca Howe in the NBC sitcom Cheers (1987-1993), receiving an Emmy Award and a Golden Globe in 1991 for the role. From 1997 to 2000, she starred in the sitcom Veronica's Closet, earning additional Emmy and Golden Globe nominations.

Jeff Probst is the Emmy Award-winning host of Survivor (2000). He won the inaugural Emmy for Best Reality Show Host in 2008 and again in 2009. Probst also received an Emmy as Host/Producer of Survivor (2000) back in 2001.

He was also voted one of People Magazine's Most Beautiful People.

As a filmmaker, Probst wrote and directed the LionsGate released indie film, Finder's Fee (2001), starring Ryan Reynolds and Academy Award nominees James Earl Jones and Robert Forster.

Finder's Fee (2001) premiered at the Seattle International Film Festival where it won "Best Picture" and a "Best Director" award for Probst. Other awards: "Best Screenplay" at Method Fest, "Breakout Director" at Sonoma Film Fest. Probst was also selected as one of the "Ten Directors in the World to Watch" in a series presented by the American Cinematheque showcasing innovative and exciting new directors from around the world.

Probst previously served as host of VH1's Rock & Roll Jeopardy! (1998), hosted several programs for FX and traveled over 300,000 miles around the world as a correspondent for Access Hollywood (1996).

Prior to that, he hosted a variety of shows for KIRO-TV, the CBS affiliate in Seattle.

Probst hosts the "Howard Stern Celebrity Fan Roundtable" for Howard Stern on Sirius/XM radio.

Probst is a regular fill-in for Regis Philbin on Live with Kelly and Mark (1988) (aka "Live with Regis and Kelly").

In 2007, Probst founded The Serpentine Project a non-profit that empowers youth transitioning out of foster care to reach for their dreams by opening the door to possibilities.

Best known for his starring role as Det. Sonny Crockett on the hugely successful TV series Miami Vice (1984), Don Johnson is one of the stars who really defined the 1980s. As James "Sonny" Crockett he went toe-to-toe with drug dealers, pimps, prostitutes, assassins, illegal arms-dealers and crooked cops on a weekly basis from 1984 to 1989, appearing in a grand total of 110 episodes. The show, which was executive-produced by four time Oscar-nominated director, producer and writer Michael Mann, paired Johnson with the equally cool Philip Michael Thomas as Det. Ricardo Tubbs and the calm and stoic presence of Edward James Olmos as Lt. Martin Castillo. It revolutionized television with its modern fashion, pop music, unique style and use of real locations. Johnson typically wore $1000 Armani, Versace and Hugo Boss suits over pastel cotton T-shirts, drove a Ferrari 365 GTS/4 Daytona (later a Ferrari Testarossa) and lived on an Endeavour 42-foot sailboat named "St. Vitus' Dance" with his pet alligator Elvis. He also had full use of an offshore powerboat. Still, "Miami Vice" had not only style but substance, and his portrayal of the Vietnam veteran turned vice detective turned Sonny Crockett into the world's favorite cop. For his work on "Miami Vice" Johnson won a Golden Globe for Best Performance by an Actor in a TV Series in 1986, and was nominated in the same category a year later. He also picked up an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series in 1985.

Johnson was born in Flat Creek, Missouri, the son Eva Lea "Nell" (Wilson), a beautician, and Wayne Fred Johnson, a farmer. As a kid, he wanted to become a professional bowler. Later, after a few brushes with the law at a young age, he discovered acting. After working on the stage for a while he ventured into films and television, but was not able to break into stardom despite, among other things, starring in the sci-fi cult classic A Boy and His Dog (1975).

Johnson starred in four failed TV pilots before landing his career-high role on "Miami Vice", which propelled him to superstardom. He directed four highly praised episodes of the show. He balanced his work on the series by appearing in a praised TV-movie adaption of the William Faulkner novel The Long Hot Summer (1985) and the feature Sweet Hearts Dance (1988) with Susan Sarandon. After the series ended he focused solely on his film career. Although movies like Dead Bang (1989), The Hot Spot (1990) and Harley Davidson and the Marlboro Man (1991) did not fare well with the critics, quite a few of them have obtained a considerable cult following, with fans praising them as all being quality contributions to their genre. His film work has given Johnson the opportunity to work with legendary filmmakers like John Frankenheimer, Sidney Lumet and Dennis Hopper.

After working steadily, Johnson returned to TV in 1996 with the cop show Nash Bridges (1996). The show, which Johnson created and produced, did very well. It co-starred Cheech Marin and Jodi Lyn O'Keefe. Johnson played the title role, a captain in the San Francisco PD's Special Investigations Unit. He was again paired with a flashy vehicle, this time an electric-yellow 1971 Plymouth Barracuda convertible. After "Nash Bridges" went off the air Johnson kept a low profile, but continued to appear in films and on television. He starred in the failed WB courtroom drama Just Legal (2005), which was produced by Jerry Bruckheimer, and traveled to Europe to make the Norwegian screwball comedy Lange flate ballær II (2008) and the Italian films Bastardi (2008) and Torno a vivere da solo (2008). As a supporting actor, he's been seen in mainstream films such as Machete (2010), Django Unchained (2012) and Knives Out (2019).

Johnson had two pre-fame marriages that were annulled within a matter of days. In the early 1970s, he lived with rock groupie Pamela Des Barres. In 1972, Tippi Hedren, his co-star in The Harrad Experiment (1973), allowed him to date her daughter Melanie Griffith despite the fact she was only 14 and he was 22; the relationship culminated in a six-month marriage during 1976. From 1981 to 1985, he lived with actress Patti D'Arbanville and they had one son together. After short-lived liaisons with Cybill Shepherd, Barbra Streisand and a barely legal Uma Thurman, he remarried Griffith in 1989. The couple divorced again in 1996, after she left him for Antonio Banderas. Johnson was engaged to "Nash Bridges" co-star O'Keefe, but broke it off before they made it to the altar. Since 1999 he's been married to former debutante Kelley Phleger, with whom he has three children.

Cynthia Sikes was born on 2 January 1954 in Coffeyville, Kansas, USA. She is an actress and producer, known for Blade Runner 2049 (2017), Arthur 2: On the Rocks (1988) and JAG (1995). She was previously married to Bud Yorkin.

Karla Burns was born on 24 December 1954 in Wichita, Kansas, USA. She was an actress, known for Great Performances (1971), An American Exorcism (2017) and The Parade (1984). She died on 4 June 2021 in Wichita, Kansas, USA.

Dean Hargrove is an American television producer who was born on July 27, 1938 in Iola, Kansas. After graduating from high school, he was offered a job to become a comedy writer. He became an Emmy nominated writer in 1962 when he was writing The Bob Newhart Show (1961).

After Newhart's cancellation, he quickly wrote for My Three Sons (1960) in 1963, before becoming a staff writer in 1964 for the spy series The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (1964). Besides "U.N.C.L.E.", he contributed some work, like Jericho (1966) and The Girl from U.N.C.L.E. (1966), both of those were for MGM Television and Norman Felton's Arena Productions.

After "U.N.C.L.E."'s cancellation, he moved to Universal Studios. He stayed there until 1977. For Universal, he wrote scripts for The Name of the Game (1968), Columbo (1971) and McCoy (1975). He also produced various TV shows like Madigan (1972) and The Family Holvak (1975), thus making Hargrove the highest paid writer in history for the studio.

Around the same time, in 1972, he launched an independent film production company, Strathmore Productions. He wrote and directed The Manchu Eagle Murder Caper Mystery (1975). Five years later, he left Universal and worked at Viacom with Roland Kibbee who was a partner to start out Kibee/Hargrove Productions. The duo produced Dear Detective (1979) and Snavely (1978).

In 1980, Kibee and Hargove parted ways. Hargrove shut down two production companies. He then joined Henry Winkler's production company Fair Dinkum Productions, where he served as president. He oversaw the production of Gabe and Walker (1981) and Ryan's Four (1983). Both were made for Paramount and ABC.

Two years later, he left Fair Dinkum, and reactivated Strathmore Productions as a TV production company. Hargrove signed a deal with Warner Bros. Television. During his time at Warner, he wrote one script for an unsold pilot which was reworked into an episode of Scarecrow and Mrs. King (1983) and he served as producer on the show Goldie and the Bears (1985).

In 1984, his Strathmore company left the Warners, and moved to Viacom Productions for which Hargrove worked from 1977-1980. He served as writer/producer on Me and Mom (1985), the telemovies based on "Perry Mason", Matlock (1986), Jake and the Fatman (1987), Father Dowling Mysteries (1989) and Diagnosis Murder (1993), though most of them were partnered with fellow producer Fred Silverman and Joel Steiger. He stayed there until 1997 when he moved to Columbia TriStar Television.

His career at Sony/Columbia included Tequila & Bonetti (2000), As If (2001), Sea of Souls (2004) and Demons (2009). He signed a deal with Hallmark Entertainment in 2002 and worked there on the "Murder 101", "Jane Doe" and "McBride" telemovies, before becoming an independent producer.

Tom Cherones is known for Seinfeld (1989), Just in Time (1988) and Annie McGuire (1988).

After working as early as the 1910s as a band vocalist, Hattie McDaniel debuted as a maid in The Golden West (1932). Her maid-mammy characters became steadily more assertive, showing up first in Judge Priest (1934) and becoming pronounced in Alice Adams (1935). In this one, directed by George Stevens and aided and abetted by star Katharine Hepburn, she makes it clear she has little use for her employers' pretentious status seeking. By The Mad Miss Manton (1938) she actually tells off her socialite employer Barbara Stanwyck and her snooty friends. This path extends into the greatest role of her career, Mammy in Gone with the Wind (1939). Here she is, in a number of ways, superior to most of the white folk surrounding her. From that point her roles unfortunately descended, with her characters becoming more and more menial. She played on the "Amos and Andy" and Eddie Cantor radio shows in the 1930s and 1940s; the title in her own radio show "Beulah" (1947-51), and the same part on TV (Beulah (1950)). Her part in Gone with the Wind (1939) won her the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress, the first African American actress to win an Academy Award, it was presented to her by Fay Bainter at a segregated ceremony, she had to sit at the back away from the rest of the cast.

Ron Foster was born on 19 February 1930 in Wichita, Kansas, USA. He was an actor, known for House of the Damned (1963), The Money Pit (1986) and Ma Barker's Killer Brood (1960). He died on 26 February 2015 in Placerville, California, USA.

Shirley Knight was an American actress who appeared in more than 180 feature films, television movies, television series, and Broadway productions in her career playing leading and character roles.

She was a member of the Actors Studio. Knight was nominated twice for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress: for The Dark at the Top of the Stairs (1960) and Sweet Bird of Youth (1962).

In 1976, Knight won a Tony Award for her performance in Kennedy's Children, a play by Robert Patrick. In later years, she played supporting roles in many films, including Endless Love (1981), As Good as It Gets (1997), Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood (2002), and Grandma's Boy (2006). For her performances on television, Knight was nominated eight times for a Primetime Emmy Award (winning three), and she received a Golden Globe Award.

Julius Thomas III is a NAACP Theatre award Nominated actor from Gary, In. He recently starred as Alexander Hamilton in the smash hit musical, Hamilton. He's also appeared as the star of the mega box office hit, Motown: The Musical (Berry Gordy). He is one half of the internationally acclaimed entertainment team, The Kings of Soul & Swing. TV appearances include Good Guy With A Pun (Billy/Star), Law And Order, Modern Family, Sesame Street, Odd Mom Out, The Capitol Fourth Celebration, The Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, and more. His resume boasts 4 Broadway Show, 6 Broadway National Tours, and a host of Regional Theatre appearances.

As a professional actor for over 30 years, Ray has worked extensively on stage and screen. On Broadway, he was a member of original casts of The Producers, Wonderful Town, Big, and Anna Karenina, and performed with the New York Philharmonic at Lincoln Center in Candide. Numerous Off-Broadway credits include All in the Timing, Stephen Sondheim's Wise Guys, A Class Act, and The Rothschilds. Television credits include Law and Order, Law and Order Criminal Intent, Law and Order SVU, Ugly Betty, The Protector, 90210, and a recurring role on The Guiding Light. On film, Ray has been seen in Nixon, The Producers, Pootie Tang, and several documentaries. He has also performed at many of America's most distinguished regional theaters. In Wichita, he has trod the boards of Music Theatre of Wichita, The Forum Theatre, Crown-Uptown Dinner Theatre, and Wichita Community Theatre. As an educator, Ray has been an adjunct professor at Kean University in New Jersey and Butler Community College in Kansas. Since the Fall of 2013, Ray has been teaching Advanced Acting and Introduction to Theatre at Newman University as well as directing and starring in multiple local theatrical productions. A native of Wichita, Ray received his B.A. in Speech Communications and Theatre at Wichita State University, and he holds an M.F.A. in Acting from Brandeis University in Massachusetts. He is also a member of Actor's Equity Association and SAG-AFTRA.

Blake Robbins is an award winning actor, writer and director. In 2012, after years in front of the camera, Blake stepped behind it to write, direct, produce and act in his feature film debut The Sublime and Beautiful, which world premiered at the 20th annual Slamdance Film Festival in 2014. A successful film festival run ensued which included 8 Grand Jury Awards, 7 Grand Jury Award nominations and a limited theatrical release with Candy Factory Films.

In 2015, Blake was approached by writing team Casey Twenter and Jeff Robison (Rudderless, director William H. Macy) to direct their screenplay adaptation of Nancy Pickard's NY Times Best Selling novel, The Scent of Rain & Lightning. Scent starring Maika Monroe, Maggie Grace, Will Patton, Bonnie Bedelia, Mark Webber, Justin Chatwin and Logan Miller world premiered as the opening night film for the 2017 Atlanta Film Festival and went on to win 8 Grand Jury Awards on the film festival circuit. In early 2018, Scent was released in North America by SP Releasing/Echo Bridge.

As an actor Blake's appeared both On and Off-Broadway. He's best know to television audiences for his roles as Dave Brass on HBO's groundbreaking series OZ, Tom Haplert, on NBC's hit comedy The Office, Mitch Glender, Sons Of Anarchy, and as Agent McGuinness on cult-favorite Firefly (creator Joss Whedon). Film performances include Wind River (Taylor Sheridan), Rubber (Quentin Dupieux), Martyrs (the Goetz Brothers), and The Ugly Truth opposite Gerard Butler. For his self directed performance in The Sublime and Beautiful he won both the Leonardo da Vinci Golden Horse Award at the Milan International Film Festival and the Grand Jury Award for Best Actor at the Newport Beach Film Festival.

Robbins is co-author of Acting Qs: Conversations with Working Actors with casting director and author Bonnie Gillespie.

Blake resides in the Los Angeles area with his wife Karen, daughters Molly and Emma and son Cooper.

Neal Jones is a member of SAG/AFTRA and Equity. He is the father of actor Eldon Jones and actress Marian Jones and is best known for his portrayal of Billy in Dirty Dancing. He has had numerous memorable roles including 'The Fox' on criminal Minds, as well as roles in Rescue Me, Generation Kill, and numerous other stage and screen productions. He lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico where he home schools his children and is frequently on set with them.

As a professional actor for over 30 years, Ray has worked extensively on stage and screen. On Broadway, he was a member of original casts of The Producers, Wonderful Town, Big, and Anna Karenina, and performed with the New York Philharmonic at Lincoln Center in Candide. Numerous Off-Broadway credits include All in the Timing, Stephen Sondheim's Wise Guys, A Class Act, and The Rothschilds. Television credits include Law and Order, Law and Order Criminal Intent, Law and Order SVU, Ugly Betty, The Protector, 90210, and a recurring role on The Guiding Light. On film, Ray has been seen in Nixon, The Producers, Pootie Tang, and several documentaries. He has also performed at many of America's most distinguished regional theaters. In Wichita, he has trod the boards of Music Theatre of Wichita, The Forum Theatre, Crown-Uptown Dinner Theatre, and Wichita Community Theatre. As an educator, Ray has been an adjunct professor at Kean University in New Jersey and Butler Community College in Kansas. Since the Fall of 2013, Ray has been teaching Advanced Acting and Introduction to Theatre at Newman University as well as directing and starring in multiple local theatrical productions. A native of Wichita, Ray received his B.A. in Speech Communications and Theatre at Wichita State University, and he holds an M.F.A. in Acting from Brandeis University in Massachusetts. He is also a member of Actor's Equity Association and SAG-AFTRA.

Born in Boise City, Oklahoma, Vera Miles attended school in Pratt, Kansas and Wichita, Kansas. The patrician beauty of Miss Miles won her the title of "Miss Kansas" in 1948, leading soon to small roles in Hollywood films and television series. Fame came to the forthright, spirited Miles when she attracted the attention of two master directors, Alfred Hitchcock and John Ford. Ford cast her in the classic western The Searchers (1956) and Hitchcock, who put her under personal contract and hailed her as his "new Grace Kelly", paired her with the great Henry Fonda in The Wrong Man (1956). Hitchcock cast Miles in the potentially star-making role of Judy Barton in Vertigo (1958), but Miles withdrew from the film when she became pregnant. Hitchcock gave Miles a supporting role in another masterpiece Psycho (1960), as did Ford when he cast her opposite John Wayne and James Stewart in The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962), She also starred in such films as Beau James (1957) opposite Bob Hope, The FBI Story (1959) opposite Stewart, Back Street (1961) opposite Susan Hayward and John Gavin and Sergeant Ryker (1968) opposite Lee Marvin, as well as showing her consistently remarkable and versatile talent on dozens of popular television movies and series including The Alfred Hitchcock Hour (1962), The Twilight Zone (1959), The Outer Limits (1963), The Fugitive (1963), My Three Sons (1960), Bonanza (1959), Columbo (1971) and Murder, She Wrote (1984). In 1983, she reprised her role as "Lila Crane" in the film sequel Psycho II (1983), starring Anthony Perkins. Although, too often, the stunningly beautiful Miles' gifts were underutilized, before her retirement in 1995, hers was a most intriguing and enduring Hollywood career.

Baxter Harris was born on 18 November 1940 in Columbus, Kansas, USA. He is an actor, known for JFK (1991), Candyman (1992) and Species II (1998).

Marj Dusay was born on 20 February 1936 in Hays, Kansas, USA. She was an actress, known for All My Children (1970), Guiding Light (1952) and Star Trek (1966). She was married to Thomas Allen Perine Jr. and John Murray Dusay. She died on 28 January 2020 in New York City, New York, USA.

Chuck Bowman was born on 2 June 1937 in Coffeyville, Kansas, USA. He is a director and producer, known for The Incredible Hulk (1977), T.J. Hooker (1982) and Sophie Chase (2006). He has been married to Lisa Donaldson since 31 August 1979. They have one child. He was previously married to Marilyn Stanton Capps.

Karen Philipp was the sexy blond singer of Brasil '66, having joined the group after graduating from Redlands University in 1967. Soon after joining the popular combo, she and another member of the band began seeing each other and moved in together; he taught her Portuguese, the language of his native Brazil. In 1971, their romance fizzled and in 1972 Karen left the band to pursue her acting career; she has not returned to the music business. In 1981, she married writer-producer Pat Proft, with whom she has a son.

Christopher Connelly was born on 8 September 1941 in Wichita, Kansas, USA. He was an actor, known for Benji (1974), Atlantis Interceptors (1983) and Peyton Place (1964). He was married to Cindy Carol. He died on 7 December 1988 in Burbank, California, USA.

Pretty, auburn-haired actress Aneta Louise Corsaut was born in Hutchinson, Kansas on November 3, 1933. She majored in drama at Northwestern University and studied acting with Lee Strasberg, considered by some to be the father of method acting in America. Aneta dropped out in her junior year to pursue a career in acting.

Aneta guest-starred in two TV shows during 1955: live program Producers' Showcase (1954) and the Robert Montgomery-hosted drama Robert Montgomery Presents (1950). She didn't make her feature film debut until 1958, when she starred in the cult science fiction favorite The Blob (1958) opposite Steve McQueen.

Aneta's best-known role came about in 1963, when she first appeared on The Andy Griffith Show (1960) as independent and self-sufficient schoolteacher Helen Crump. Aneta stayed on the show until its end in 1968, and reprised her role in the spin-off series Mayberry R.F.D. (1968), the made-for-TV movie Return to Mayberry (1986), and the reunion special Andy Griffith Show Reunion (1993).

Besides her role as the heroine in 'The Blob', Anita Corsaut regrettably didn't appear in many feature films. She had a role in video nasty The Toolbox Murders (1978), as well as uncredited appearances in Good Neighbor Sam (1964), A Rage to Live (1965), and Blazing Saddles (1974). She did, however, appear in many TV shows, including The Blue Knight (1975), Adam-12 (1968), House Calls (1979), Matlock (1986) (starring none other than Andy Griffith!), and General Hospital (1963), as well as guest appearances on a dozen others.

Ms. Corsaut battled cancer in her later years, and sadly died of the disease on November 6, 1995 at the age of 62. She will be remembered as Helen Crump.

Character actor Milburn Stone, the beloved "Doc Adams" on TV's long-running western classic Gunsmoke (1955), was born in Kansas on July 5, 1904. Acting must have been in his blood as the nephew of Broadway comedian Fred Stone for Milburn left home as a teenager to find work with touring repertory troupes. Emulating his famous uncle Fred, he appeared in vaudeville as part of a song-and-dance team called "Stone and Strain."

Following a minor appearance on Broadway in "The Jayhawkers," Milburn moved to Los Angeles in 1935 to try his luck in films. He toiled for years in mostly unbilled parts for 'poverty row' Monogram Pictures and a few major studios, apprenticing in a number of background roles as both benign fellows (clerks, reporters, sailors, detectives) and bad guys (convicts, robbers, henchmen) in such films as Ladies Crave Excitement (1935), The Fighting Marines (1935), The Princess Comes Across (1936), Banjo on My Knee (1936) and They Gave Him a Gun (1937)

Out of the blue he would occasionally nab a heroic film lead in films as the crime drama Federal Bullets (1937) and The Judge (1949) or serial thrillers as The Great Alaskan Mystery (1944) and The Master Key (1945), then would invariably go right back to unbilled status in his very next role. One memorable featured part (which was also unbilled) was as debater Stephen A. Douglass in John Ford's Young Mr. Lincoln (1939). In addition he played a regular support role as pal/co-pilot "Skeeter Milligan" in the "Tommy Tailspin" airborne film quickies Mystery Plane (1939), Sky Patrol (1939) and Danger Flight (1939).

Other higher visible support roles occurred in such films as the Roy Rogers western Colorado (1940), as well as Captive Wild Woman (1943), The Frozen Ghost (1945), Roadblock (1951), Black Tuesday (1954), Smoke Signal (1955). He also went on to appear in a couple of John Ford's later features such as Simone Bär and The Long Gray Line (1955).

When the crusty but lovable role of "Doc Adams" finally landed at his feet in 1955, Milburn was only too appreciative to experience a steady paycheck. He became an "overnight" star and, along with Matt Dillon's James Arness, earned an Emmy Award for "supporting actor" and stayed a citizen of Dodge City throughout its entire 20-year run (500 episodes). In 1971, Stone was temporarily sidelined by a heart attack and briefly replaced by another "doc" played by Pat Hingle. The ever-durable Stone missed only seven episodes, however, and did return on a more limited basis.

Fully retired to his ranch in 1975 after the show's cancellation, he was eventually awarded an honorary doctorate from St. Mary of the Plains College in (of course) Dodge City, Kansas. Married to Jane Garrison, the 75-year-old veteran died of a heart attack on June 12, 1980 in La Jolla, California. His wife passed away much later in 2002.

Spouse: James Lincoln Blake (1 Child)

During World War II, she and her husband, James Lincoln Blake, worked in Utah on construction of the detonator for the atomic bomb and performed such jobs as testing equipment destined for the Manhattan Project. The couple received a citation for their work from the U.S. government.