Advanced search

With prominent cheekbones, luminous skin and the most crystalline green eyes of her day, Gene Tierney's striking good looks helped propel her to stardom. Her best known role is the enigmatic murder victim in Laura (1944). She was also Oscar-nominated for Leave Her to Heaven (1945). Her acting performances were few in the 1950s as she battled a troubled emotional life that included hospitalization and shock treatment for depression.

Gene Eliza Tierney was born on November 19, 1920 in Brooklyn, New York, to well-to-do parents, Belle Lavinia (Taylor) and Howard Sherwood Tierney. Her father was a successful insurance broker and her mother was a former teacher. Her childhood was lavish indeed. She also lived, at times, with her equally successful grandparents in Connecticut and New York. She was educated in the finest schools on the East Coast and at a finishing school in Switzerland.

After two years in Europe, Gene returned to the US where she completed her education. By 1938 she was performing on Broadway in What a Life! and understudied for the Primrose Path (1938) at the same time. Her wealthy father set up a corporation that was only to promote her theatrical pursuits. Her first role consisted of carrying a bucket of water across the stage, prompting one critic to announce that "Miss Tierney is, without a doubt, the most beautiful water carrier I have ever seen!" Her subsequent roles Mrs O'Brian Entertains (1939) and RingTwo (1939) were meatier and received praise from the tough New York critics. Critic Richard Watts wrote "I see no reason why Miss Tierney should not have a long and interesting theatrical career, that is if the cinema does not kidnap her away."

After being spotted by the legendary Darryl F. Zanuck during a stage performance of the hit show The Male Animal (1940), Gene was signed to a contract with 20th Century-Fox. Her first role as Barbara Hall in Hudson's Bay (1940) would be the send-off vehicle for her career. Later that year she appeared in The Return of Frank James (1940). The next year would prove to be a very busy one for Gene, as she appeared in The Shanghai Gesture (1941), Sundown (1941), Tobacco Road (1941) and Belle Starr (1941). She tried her hand at screwball comedy in Rings on Her Fingers (1942), which was a great success. Her performances in each of these productions were masterful. In 1945 she was nominated for a Best Actress Oscar for her portrayal of Ellen Brent in Leave Her to Heaven (1945). Though she didn't win, it solidified her position in Hollywood society. She followed up with another great performance as Isabel Bradley in the hit The Razor's Edge (1946).

In 1944, she played what is probably her best-known role (and, most critics agree, her most outstanding performance) in Otto Preminger's Laura (1944), in which she played murder victim named Laura Hunt. In 1947 Gene played Lucy Muir in the acclaimed The Ghost and Mrs. Muir (1947). By this time Gene was the hottest player around, and the 1950s saw no letup as she appeared in a number of good films, among them Night and the City (1950), The Mating Season (1951), Close to My Heart (1951), Plymouth Adventure (1952), Personal Affair (1953) and The Left Hand of God (1955). The latter was to be her last performance for seven years. The pressures of a failed marriage to Oleg Cassini, the birth of a daughter with learning disabilities in 1943, and several unhappy love affairs resulted in Gene being hospitalized for depression. When she returned to the the screen in Advise & Consent (1962), her acting was as good as ever but there was no longer a big demand for her services.

Her last feature film was The Pleasure Seekers (1964), and her final appearance in the film industry was in a TV miniseries, Scruples (1980). Gene died of emphysema in Houston, Texas, on November 6, 1991, just two weeks shy of her 71st birthday.

Skye McCole Bartusiak was an American child actress and child model. She appeared in The Patriot (2000), Don't Say a Word (2001), as Rose Wilder in Beyond the Prairie, Part 2: The True Story of Laura Ingalls Wilder (2002), 24 (2001), Boogeyman (2005), and Kill Your Darlings (2006). Bartusiak died at the age of 21 in her apartment behind her parents' home. While her mother, shortly after Bartusiak's death, stated she believed that her daughter's history of epileptic seizures may have had a role in her death, the coroner ruled the death resulted from an accidental drug overdose.

Lisa Gaye was born on 6 March 1935 in Denver, Colorado, USA. She was an actress, known for Ten Thousand Bedrooms (1957), Hawaiian Eye (1959) and How to Marry a Millionaire (1957). She was married to Bently Clyde Ware. She died on 14 July 2016 in Houston, Texas, USA.

John Hillerman, who most famously played the impeccably urbane Englishman Jonathan Quayle Higgins III (VC !) -- Tom Selleck's sophisticated majordomo in Magnum, P.I. (1980) --, was of French, German and Austrian descent, raised in a small Texas town and educated at a Catholic high school. He majored in journalism at the University of Texas, enlisted in the Air Force and spent the period from 1953 to 1957 stationed at Ft. Worth. There, he unexpectedly landed a choice role in a community theatre production of "Death of a Salesman" and discovered acting to be to his liking. Having a photographic memory benefited Hillerman greatly, as it enabled him to learn his lines quickly. He professed to be able to memorize a page of dialogue in the space of a minute. There remained the problem of his Texas accent, however. Following demobilization, he traveled to New York where it took him a year to lose his drawl, studying elocution under the tutelage of voice coach Fanny Bradshaw (who encouraged him to listen to recordings of Laurence Olivier reciting "Hamlet"). All the while, Hillerman lived the life of a typical struggling actor, having taken up residence in a lower East Side tenement and living on home-made turkey soup. After fifteen years of stage work and with a meager $700 to his name, he decided to try to change his luck by making the journey to Hollywood.

His first major break came when he was picked for a small part in Peter Bogdanovich's The Last Picture Show (1971)). From then on he was rarely out of work, although initially tasked with only smallish supporting roles. By the mid-70s, after memorable back-to-back turns in Blazing Saddles (1974) and Chinatown (1974), Hillerman had established his credentials. His first opportunity to shine in a recurring TV role was as pompous radio sleuth Simon Brimmer ("Policemen snoop, without a glimmer. To solve the case, call Simon Brimmer...") who persistently got it all very wrong in TV's Ellery Queen (1975). A self-declared Anglophile with a solid acting background in plays by Noël Coward, he fairly jumped at the chance to portray Selleck's genteel sidekick Higgins in "Magnum" which was to become his personal favorite and career-defining role.

Jason David Frank is well-known for his role of Tommy Oliver in the long-running family television show Power Rangers. He is the voice of Emissary in Transformers: Titans Returns and brings Bloodshot to life in the highly-anticipated project Ninjak vs.the Valiant Universe. Always one looking for adventure, Jason shares his exciting life in the extremely popular series My Morphin Life, which is now in its fourth season.

Arguably the most popular and famous Power Ranger, Jason's character was only intended to be in ten episodes. Due to his popularity, he was morphed into the most amount of different rangers in the show's twenty-four year history. He began as the Mighty Morphin Green Ranger, a bad boy turned good, and subsequently morphed into the Mighty Morphin White Ranger, Red Zeo, Red Turbo, and then returned in 2004 as the Black Dino Thunder Ranger.

Throughout Power Ranger history, Jason David Frank's character has appeared in 225 total episodes and counting, more episodes than any other ranger. He also starred in the series both full-length movies, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers the Movie (1995) and Turbo: A Power Rangers Movie (1997). In 2013, Jason David Frank reprised his role of the Green Ranger in the Power Ranger's 20th Anniversary season, which featured a mega-war with many rangers from the show's long history, and was most recently had a cameo in the Power Rangers movie. With his dynamic screen presence and outstanding martial arts, he has catapulted Tommy to legendary fame in the Power Ranger fandom and to this day, maintains an enormous fan base that stretches around the world.

His martial arts is not just for television and films, Jason, an inductee of the World Karate Union Hall of Fame, is a highly accomplished and respected martial artist with 39 years of experience. In 1994, he created his own martial arts system, "Toso Kune Do," which means "Way of the Fighting Fist" and incorporates many different aspects of martial arts. He holds an eighth degree black belt in American Karate, a purple belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, and in February 2013, he received the title of Master of Muay Thai by the world renowned Muay Thai trainer Grand Master Toddy (Arjan). He is the owner and operator of Rising Sun Karate and MMA, with three schools in Texas and one in California.

In January 2013, Jason David Frank became the Guinness World Record Holder for most 1 inch pine board broken during freefall. Jason, who was introduced to skydiving during Power Rangers, shattered the previous record with seven broken pine boards.

On November 19, 2022, Jason David Frank took his own life by hanging himself in the bathroom at the Texas hotel and died at the age 49.

Dixie is the middle of three children. Her father owned several small retail stores. Early on, she dreamed of being an opera singer, but a botched tonsillectomy at age 7 spoiled any chances for that dream. Still, she sang regularly and studied classical music. She can play the piano, trumpet, and the harmonica. She graduated from Memphis State with an English degree. In 1960, she made her professional debut in a local production of "Carousel". Three year's later, she moved to New York and landed a role in Joseph Papp's production of Shakespeare's "A Winter's Tale". When she married businessman, Arthur Carter, she left the stage for eight years to raise two daughters, Ginna Carter - now an actress and Mary Dixie Carter, a screenwriter. At age 35, she returned to acting, but found that no agent wanted to give her a chance. A second marriage to Broadway actor, George Hearn, quickly ended.

A Native American actor of the Creek Nation, Sampson's "big break" came from his memorable role in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975) opposite Jack Nicholson. He was also starred opposite Clint Eastwood in the western The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976). He had supporting roles in Orca (1977), The White Buffalo (1977) and Fish Hawk (1979). In 1986, he co-starred in Poltergeist II: The Other Side (1986) as a Native American shaman. He died of complications from kidney failure and malnutrition during heart and lung replacement surgery in 1987 and was buried on the reservation where he grew up.

Billionaire businessman, film producer, film director, and aviator, born in Humble, Texas just north of Houston. He studied at two prestigious institutions of higher learning: Rice University in Houston and California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, California. Inherited his father's machine tool company in 1923. In 1926 he ventured into films, producing Hell's Angels (1930), Scarface (1932) and The Outlaw (1943). He also founded his own aircraft company, designed, built and flew his own aircraft, and broke several world air speed records (1935-1938). His most famous aircraft, the Hercules (nicknamed "The Spruce Goose"), which was as he discovered, an under-powered wooden seaplane designed to carry 750 passengers. That plane was completed in 1947, but flew only once over a distance of one mile despite having eight Pratt & Whitney Wasp Major engines, among the most powerful radial piston engines of the day. Throughout his life he shunned publicity, eventually becoming a recluse but still controlling his vast business interests from sealed-off hotel suites, and giving rise to endless rumors and speculation. In 1971 an "authorized" biography was announced, but the authors wound up in prison for fraud, and the mystery surrounding him continued until his death in Houston. He is buried in Glenwood Cemetery, Houston

Laconic, dark and handsome were the essential attributes for Hollywood western leading men in the 50s and 60s. James Drury fit the bill, keeping in mind that his most famous screen persona - that of the stalwart Shiloh estate ranch foreman known only as 'the Virginian' - took a while to properly develop. In the original 30-minute pilot way back in 1958, the Virginian appeared rather more like a genteel dandy than a tough cowboy. Four years later, the NBC network approved a revamped version of the series and Drury, now looking the part, was on his way to popular success. Though his career may have fallen short of outright stardom, he endeared himself with TV audiences for almost a decade and went on to enjoy a fair cult status beyond the final episode of The Virginian (1962) in March 1971.

James Child Drury was born not in the American West, but in New York, the son of Beatrice (Crawford) and James Child Drury. His father, from an Irish family, was a professor who lectured in marketing and advertising at New York University. Young James spent some of his formative years on a family ranch in Salem, Oregon, where he learned to become an expert rider. His maternal grandfather, John Hezekiah Crawford, of Kentucky, educated him in the ways of the woodsman and taught him marksmanship. James began to act in school plays, toured with a theatrical company by the age of twelve and then studied drama at his father's university. Curiously, he completed his senior year at UCLA studying not acting but horticulture and animal husbandry. Upon graduation, he was signed to a contract by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and made his first screen appearance a year later in 1955. Aside from playing junior army officers and assorted teenagers in films for 20th Century Fox and Disney, Drury quickly found a comfortable niche in TV westerns (which, no doubt, had much to do with his expertise in horsemanship). He had guest appearances in just about all the famous ones: The Texan (1958), Bronco (1958), Have Gun - Will Travel (1957), Lawman (1958), Cheyenne (1955), Gunsmoke (1955), Rawhide (1959) and Wagon Train (1957). He also made the little seen, yet unsold pilot for The Virginian. A strong performance as one of a quartet of villainous brothers in Sam Peckinpah's seminal western Ride the High Country (1962) led to a seven-year contract with Universal. He (along with Doug McClure) auditioned for their respective roles in The Virginian soon after, finding out that the parts were indeed theirs just two days prior to shooting. In 1966, Drury fronted a band, the Wilshire Buffalo Hunters, touring Vietnam for three weeks as part of the USO.

Despondent after The Virginian ended its run, Drury played a sheriff in the pilot for the comedy western series Alias Smith and Jones (1971) and then starred in Firehouse (1974), a short-lived ABC adventure drama set at a Los Angeles fire station. After the cancellation of Firehouse, Drury seemed to become even more disheartened and made only a few more sporadic TV appearances thereafter. However, he managed to reinvent himself as a successful businessman, first as co-owner of a ranch raising Appaloosa horses (his steed in The Virginian had been a white Appaloosa named Joe D), then as proprietor of a company recycling asphalt, and latterly, having moved to Texas, in the oil and natural gas business. He was inducted into the Hall of Great Western Performers in 1991.

James Drury died from natural causes on April 6, 2020, in Houston, Texas. He was 85.

Marilyn Burns was born Mary Lynn Ann Burns on May 7, 1949 in Erie, Pennsylvania, and raised in Houston, Texas. She attended the University of Texas at Austin where she graduated with a Bachelor's degree in Drama. Marilyn was one of the original scream queens, remembered primarily for her role in The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974). She played Sally Hardesty, a teenager who travels with her brother and some friends to the cemetery where her grandfather was buried to investigate reports of grave vandalism, and then encounters an insane, murderous family, including the chainsaw-wielding Leatherface.

Her follow-up appearance was in Eaten Alive (1976), where she played a vacationer who unwittingly stumbles upon a hotel managed by a maniac who feeds his guests to his crocodile. Marilyn earned her scream queen status by starring in other horror movies; Kiss Daddy Goodbye (1981) and Future-Kill (1985). She appeared in the television miniseries Helter Skelter (1976) about the real-life trial of Charles Manson and his family. She played Linda Kasabian, a member of the Manson Family whose testimony helped lead to the convictions of the cult leader and many of his followers.

Marilyn had an uncredited cameo as Sally Hardesty in Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Next Generation (1994), and made a cameo appearance as Verna Carlson in Texas Chainsaw (2013). However, aside from these roles and occasional appearances at horror conventions, she lived a relatively quiet life out of the spotlight in the Houston area in her later years. Marilyn Burns died at age 65 in her sleep on August 5, 2014 and was found in her Houston, Texas home by family members, the cause was an apparent heart attack, although not specified.

She was the third daughter of Daniel and Anne MacDonald, younger sister to Blossom (MGM's character actress Marie Blake), whom she followed to New York and a chorus job in 1920. She was busy in a string of musical productions. In 1928 Paramount tested and rejected her, but a year later Ernst Lubitsch saw her test and picked her to play opposite Maurice Chevalier in The Love Parade (1929). Musicals went into decline and Paramount dropped her in 1931; her next pictures with Chevalier went nowhere. She went to Europe where she met Irving Thalberg and his wife Norma Shearer (whom she loaned both her hairdresser and chauffeur). She got the lead in Thalberg's property The Merry Widow (1934), and her next MGM vehicle, Naughty Marietta (1935) brought her together with Nelson Eddy. For her next project she insisted Clark Gable should co-star. He at first refused - "I just sit there while she sings. None of that stuff for me." - the movie, of course, was San Francisco (1936). During World War II she often did USO shows. She hoped to enter grand opera; she did take lessons and gave concert recitals. Her last public appearance, singing "Ah, Sweet Mystery of Life", was at the funeral of Louis B. Mayer. She suffered heart ailments and, after an arterial transplant in 1963, died of a heart attack in Houston in 1965. Emotionally tearful, but polite crowds listened to a recording of "Ah, Sweet Mystery" at her Forest Lawn funeral, which was attended by Hollywood celebrities ranging from Mary Pickford and Charles (Buddy) Rogers to Nelson Eddy, Irene Dunne, and Ronald Reagan.

Befitting her original name (Violet Pretty), the knockout English brunette Anne Heywood won the coveted "Miss Great Britain" beauty title in 1950 at the young age of 17. Born on December 11, 1931, the daughter of a violinist, she originally trained at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art. She gained early experience on the stage with the Highbury Players in Birmingham and moved on to some TV work. The Rank Organization caught sight of her and offered the former beauty queen a seven-year contract. During that time, however, she was pretty much relegated to playing 'nice girl' types in the 50s and 60s.

In later career, her film appearances courted controversy and she seemed drawn toward highly troubled, flawed characters. Very popular with Italian audiences, Anne never endeared herself to American film goers although she did stir up some curiosity with one of her more noteworthy films, the pioneer lesbian drama The Fox (1967). Starring Anne with Sandy Dennis, the two were quite believable as an unhappy, isolated couple whose relationship is irreparably shattered by the appearance of a handsome stranger (Keir Dullea). At the height of the movie's publicity, Playboy magazine revealed a "pictorial essay" just prior to its 1967 release with Anne in a nude and auto-erotic spread. The film won a "Best Foreign Film" Golden Globe Award (it was made in Canada) and Anne herself earned a "Best Actress" nod.

Despite being aggressively promoted in its aftermath by husband/producer Raymond Stross, who was instrumental in reshaping her image with such sexy, offbeat dramas as The Night Fighters (1960), The Very Edge (1963), 90 Degrees in the Shade (1965), Midas Run (1969), I Want What I Want (1972) and Good Luck, Miss Wyckoff (1979), Anne has remained a distinct European film product. She last appeared on TV in The Equalizer (1985) series. Following her husband's death in 1988, Anne remarried (to a former New York Assistant Attorney General) and begged away from the camera. The couple settled in Beverly Hills.

Shawn Phelan was born on 7 January 1975 in Stoughton, Massachusetts, USA. He was an actor, known for Toy Soldiers (1991), Grand (1990) and Caroline? (1990). He died on 27 September 1998 in Houston, Texas, USA.

Kay Williams was born on 7 August 1916 in Erie, Pennsylvania, USA. She was an actress, known for The Actress (1953). She was married to Clark Gable, Adolph Bernard Spreckels II, Martin de Alzaga Unzue and Charles Parker Capps. She died on 25 May 1983 in Houston, Texas, USA.

In July 1998 Victoria was diagnosed with Stage IV breast cancer and given less than two years to live. She fought the disease for twenty years until finally succumbing to it in 2019. During her fight with cancer she was a spokesperson at events for M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, the Kimmel Scholars Symposium, as well as participating in Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation events.

Brooks Benedict was born on 6 February 1896 in New York City, New York, USA. He was an actor, known for Why Girls Go Back Home (1926), Speedy (1928) and Orchids and Ermine (1927). He died on 1 January 1968 in Houston, Texas, USA.

He was born in the back of a Chevy station wagon being driven by this late father one starry night in September blazing across a desolate West Texas highway trying to find any town with a hospital for his mother to give birth to Danny. Unable to, his dad took command just as he'd done for four consecutive years of war in the Pacific Theater in World War II, and Danny was delivered while his mother held a flashlight on herself for his dad to see . Since then he has been in the spotlight for much of his life. When he was five years old he knew he wanted to be an actor in movies. On Saturday mornings beginning at the age of seven his mother put him on a Continental Trailways Bus (being driven by "Red") from the small South Central Texas town where is lived bound for Houston to study with a later known national authority in children's theater, the late Jeannine Wagner. She taught at the original and famous Alley Theater. His life until graduating from college revolved around theater. When he was ten, having seen James Cagney in Man of a Thousand Faces (1957), he knew his goal was to become a character actor in movies. With the idea and support of his fifth-grade teacher, at the age of ten he was offered the opportunity to study theater in the summers at Southwest Texas University in San Marcos, Texas. He was the youngest student ever admitted to the university's summer theater program. He attended every summer for six years. At 16 he accepted the opportunity to direct at the university. He selected "Hello Out There" by William Sayoran. Graduate students at the university and high school drama teachers attending summer theater courses at the university from across Texas were the other directors. He remained very active in speech and theater in high school, winning numerous local, regional and state competitions in public speaking, debate and theater as an actor. When a junior in high school he was scouted by the theater department at the University of Texas and offered a full scholarship there in drama. Instead, he entered Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas, to work with famed theater director Paul Baker. However he graduated from Emerson College in Boston. Danny did not act in his first film or television project until he had graduated from law school, became a felony prosecutor in the district attorney's office in Corpus Christi, Texas, and later an Assistant US Attorney and was already in private practice in Houston, Texas. As an Assistant U.S. Attorney he pioneered the federal criminal prosecutions of film piracy (criminal copyright infringement) in the United States Fifth Circuit, worked with the U.S. Congress to raise the criminal penalty for copyright infringement from a misdemeanor to a felony, is responsible for originating and initiating the anti-piracy warning appearing at the beginning of all commercial videotapes and DVDs and trying the largest film piracy case then to date to a jury verdict where the defendant received federal prison time ; United States of America vs. Ralph Smith. Those achievements earned him the John Marshall Award from the U.S. Department of Justice. A story on the film piracy case was a "60 Minutes" segment titled "Who Stole Superman" A short biography of Danny's career as a lawyer, including his service as an immigration judge in Atlanta, Georgia, is published in the 1985/1986 edition of "Who's Who in American Law".

What motivated Danny back into theater and later to pursue a second career in film and television as an actor was the realization, after his dad died at age 61, that life can be truly short, and he should try to achieve his unrealized life-long ambition. He returned to the stage. His theater work resulted in an offer of a co-star role in his first television movie The Return of Desperado (1988) starring Robert Foxworth and Billy Dee Williams, on NBC. Danny still makes his home in Houston, Texas and works all over North America, including Canada. He also maintains international visibility as an award-winning and published stills photographer. He was once awarded the Kodak International Photography Award for his work in black and white, and was once named Texas Photographer of the Year by Texas Tech University in Lubbock, TX. He has numerous book and magazine credits. In 2009 he created "Operation Grateful" , a photo project in which he shoots family photographic portraits for free and sends them to those family members serving as military personnel in Iraq and Afghanistan. In 2007 Danny founded the non-profit organization Carolyn's Hope, in memory of his late mother. The mission of that not-for-profit organization is to educate the public and law enforcement on identifying, exposing and combating domestic elder abuse, neglect, and the financial exploitation of vulnerable elderly people. His most recent theatrical stage work was in 2008 in a play directed by Richard Benjamin at the Falcon Theater in Burbank, California where he co-starred with Ed Asner, Paula Prentiss, and Laine Kazan in "A Step Out of Time". He is in private practice in Houston, Texas as a criminal defense lawyer representing juvenile clients charged with criminal offenses.

Dusty Hill was born Joseph Michael Hill in Dallas, Texas and grew up in Lakewood, East Dallas. With his brother Rocky Hill and future fellow member Frank Beard, he began his career playing with local bands from Texas like the Warlocks, the Cellar Dwellers, and American Blues. Dusty then moved to Houston with Frank Beard and joined Billy Gibbons to form ZZ Top in 1969. Since then, Dusty has been the bassist and also the vocalist of a small number of their songs, Billy Gibbons performed the lead vocals of almost all of them. In addition, Dusty has also appeared in films and television series including Back to the Future Part III (1990) and as himself in an episode of the eleventh season of King of the Hill (1997), in which Hank Hill is said to be Dusty's cousin.

Jim Siedow was a marvelously quirky and distinctive character actor who achieved instant cult favorite status with his terrific portrayal of the weary and irascible the Cook in Tobe Hooper's immortal and outstanding horror classic "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre." Siedow was born on June 12th, 1920 in Cheyenne, Wyoming. Siedow first began acting in high school drama class. He moved to New York City at age 18 and continued to perform in touring shows for the W.P.A. theater. He served with the Army Air Corps during World War II. Following his tour of duty Siedow then moved to Chicago, Illinois and did radio soap operas. Siedow met his future wife Ruth while living in Chicago. They got married in September, 1946 and eventually moved to Houston, Texas. The couple had three children altogether. Siedow soon established himself as an important and substantial part of the Houston stage scene. Siedow created one of Houston's first original local community theaters and directed Houston's first production of the acclaimed play "Who's Afraid of Virginia Wolf?". Other plays Siedow directed include "Visit To a Small Planet," "Critic's Choice," and "Murder Among Friends." Siedow also acted in stage productions of such plays as "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" and "The Lion in the Winter." Siedow made his film debut as a rock star's estranged father in the obscure indie drama "The Windsplitter." But it was Siedow's dead solid perfect performance as the Cook in "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" that really put him on the cinematic map. Alas, Siedow's film roles after "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" were few and far in between. However, Siedow was excellent as a bitter mad bomber in the superior made-for-TV suspense thriller "Red Alert" and had a funny bit as a cantankerous shotgun-toting hillbilly in the hilariously raucous car chase romp "Hotwire." Siedow was once again spot-on as Drayton Sawyer (a.k.a. the Cook) in the worthy and unjustly maligned sequel "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2." Siedow was prominently featured as an interview subject in the enjoyable and informative documentary "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: A Family Portrait." Jim Siedow died at age 83 from emphysema complications on November 20th, 2003.

James Jeter was born in Star, Texas, on September 15, 1921. He was an only child, raised by his mother and two stepfathers. His father, whom he never knew, died in 1931. Jim joined the Merchant Marines during World War 2, and earned the title of Golden Gloves boxer during this time. While stationed in Malaysia, he contracted malaria but was able to overcome the disease by the war's end. He met Hope Adams, his future wife, while both were serving in the Armed Forces.

During the early 1940s, he married Odette Whiting, a woman he met in Australia, and they had a son, Chris Jeter, together. The marriage ended and by 1946, Jim and Hope were married and had two sons, Steve and James Michael. Sometime after 1949, Jim and Hope's marriage ended, and Jim focused on his acting career. He went to New York, where he met Chris Wilson, who years later would become his 4th and last wife. During the late 1950s and early 1960s, Jim became friends with some of the biggest names in Hollywood including Paul Newman, Jessica Tandy, James Garner, and many others regarded Jim as a fine actor, and after acting on and off Broadway, he took many TV and movie roles, resulting in his being recognized as a busy character actor of the time.

During the early 1960s, he met and married Marian Hail, another Texan with whom he had two daughters, Julia and Susan Jeter. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, he continued to get bit parts in many movies, sharing the screen with Paul Newman, Steve McQueen, Jack Nicholson, Clint Eastwood, and Kevin Costner, to name a few. Also in 1977, Jim graduated from Law School in Los Angeles, and had a private practice for a short time, with home offices in Altadena, California.

Following a serious car crash in New York City in which he suffered crushed pelvic bones, he took some time off to recuperate. His marriage to Marian ended in the early 1980s, and he soon relocated back to his home state of Texas, settled in Houston, and was a prolific contributor to the renowned Alley Theater in downtown Houston, Texas for many years. He reconnected with Chris Wilson and they married in 1993. They lived together and worked together at the Alley theater until her death in 2004.

Called "Granddaddy" by his granddaughter Heidi Jeter, he was also known as "Big Jim" and "Jimmy" to those who knew him best. He was a warm, big hearted man, with many friends in the business who lauded his acting abilities. Jim always felt that being on stage was where an actor truly belonged, and he starred in and directed many stage productions throughout his life. He passed away four days before the birth of his first great-grandson, Seth. He is sorely missed by his family, and those actors who are still around who remember his big personality, sense of humor, and his passion for acting.

The 41st President of the United States of America, George Herbert Walker Bush (known colloquially as "Bush 41" to distinguish him from his son, George W. Bush, the 43rd president of the U.S., who is known as "Bush 43"), was born on June 12, 1924 in Milton, Massachusetts, a suburb south of Boston. His parents were Dorothy (Walker) and Prescott Bush, who was then the president of sales for the Stedman Products Co. of South Braintree, Massachusetts. In 1925, Prescott joined the United States Rubber Co. (New York, NY) as their foreign division manager, necessitating a move to Greenwich, Connecticut.

Prescott Bush (Yale 1917) made his fortune and name as an investment banker on Wall St., eventually becoming a partner of the white shoe brokerage Brown Bros. Harriman. He was a member of the Yale Corp., the principal governing body of Yale University, from 1944 to 1956 and was on the board of directors of the Columbia Broadcasting System (C.B.S.), after having been introduced to C.B.S. Chairman William Paley in 1932 by his friend and business partner Averell Harriman, a major Democratic party power-broker.

George Bush was educated at the exclusive Greenwich Country Day School in Greenwich, Connecticut before moving on to Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts, where he matriculated from 1936 to 1942. At Phillips Andover, he captained the baseball and soccer teams and was a member of an exclusive fraternity called the A.U.V, or "Auctoritas, Unitas, Veritas", Latin for "Authority, Unity, Truth". Like his father before him, Bush was on schedule to attend Yale College and would have in the fall of 1942, but for the sneak attack on Pearl Harbor by the Imperial Japanese Navy on December 7, 1941 that necessitated the entry of the United States into World War II.

Upon his graduation from Phillips Andover, George Bush enlisted in the U.S. Navy on June 12, 1942, his 18th birthday, with the intent on becoming an aviator. After completing the 10-month naval aviation course, he was commissioned as an ensign in the U.S. Naval Reserve three days before his nineteenth birthday, which made him the youngest naval aviator ever at the time.

George Bush married the former Barbara Pierce on January 6, 1945, and after he was demobilized, they moved to New Haven, Connecticut so that he could attend Yale, where he proved a fine student and captained the baseball team, which made it to the first College World Series. They had their first of six children, future President George Walker Bush, two days after the Fourth of July, 1946. In his senior year, George Bush was tapped for the exclusive secret society Skull & Bones, as had been his father (and as his son would be).

Using his father's connections and $2 million in seed money from his relatives (approximately $17 million in 2006 terms), George Bush prospered in the oil industry after graduating from Yale in 1949. Through his father's business and social relationship with a fellow Skull & Bones member, George Bush secured a position with Dresser Industries, on whose board of directors Prescott had served for 22 years.

As the son of a moderate Republican senator, it was natural that George Bush would stand for office. At the time, the "Solid South" was solidly Democratic, with the Republican Party of Civil War winner (and Civil Rights champion) Abraham Lincoln anathema below the Mason-Dixon line.Good Republican candidates were hard to come by (though John Tower later proved that a Republican could win in the Deep South when he took a Senate seat in 1966). One year after his father left the Seante, his son George stood won the Republican nomination to oppose Democratic Senator Ralph Yarborough, an ally of President 'Lyndon Johnson (I)' (QB), who was on his way to defeating Republican Presidential nominee Barry Goldwater in an electoral landslide in 1964. Riding the coat-tails of favorite son Johnson, Yarborough handily won reelection, keeping George Bush in the private sector for two more years.

Bush stood for a House seat in 1966 and won, then won reelection in 1968. In Congress, he established a reputation as a liberal Republican and was known as a supporter of contraception services (his father, Prescott, had been a mainstay of Planned Parenthood). At the request of President Richard Nixon, Bush gave up his seat voluntarily in 1970 to seek the Senate seat of Democratic Senator Ralph Yarborough, who was a fierce Nixon critic. It was felt that Yaborough's liberalism made him vulnerable to a challenge from the right, and it did; however, it was the right-wing of the Democratic Party. Lloyd Bentsen won the Democratic nomination and, endorsed by Yarborough, beat Bush handily in the November general election. (Ironically, Bentsen would one day be the running mate of Bush's 1988 rival for the presidency, Michael Dukakis.) One of the reason for Bush's defeat was that with Yarborough out of the race, Nixon's support for Bush's campaign was only half-hearted.

As a payback to Bush, Nixon appointed him Ambassador to the United Nations, and he later served Nixon as the Chairman of the Republican National Committee during the Watergate crisis. Nixon's successor in the Oval Office, Gerald Ford, briefly considered appointing Bush as his replacement as vice president before going with liberal Republican stalwart Nelson Rockefeller, the four-term governor of the State of New York, but Ford eventually appointed Bush as the first American plenipotentiary to Communist China, then later director of the Central Intelligence Agency.

After losing the 1980 Republican nomination to Ronald Reagan, Bush was chosen as Reagan's running mate and elected Vice President of the United States in Reagan's victory over incumbent President Jimmy Carter in November. In 1988, Bush as vice president was Reagan's heir apparent, and he won the Republican nomination handily, though personally he was not very popular. Bush was perceived as "weak" due to his social liberalism, which included support for abortion rights and contraception. As a "Rockefeller Republican" (that is, an Eastern Establishment pro-business Republican who is moderate or liberal on social issues), Bush, unlike Reagan, was out-of-step in an increasingly conservative party dominated by voters from the South and West. The well-educated, thoughtful Bush, according to Reagan biographer Edmund Morris, was a genuinely nice and gracious person, and more importantly: sincere. However, he was perceived as not standing for anything, at least not in the stark black & white terms that had inspired the conservative if not reactionary Republican Party faithful during the two terms of the "Great Communicator".

As president, Bush saw the collapse of the Soviet Union, and he soared to unprecedented levels of public approval after his firm handling of Saddam Hussein's invasion of Kuwait pushed the Iraqi army out of the invaded kingdom with a minimum amount of U.S. casualties. However, his popularity plummeted by the time the campaign rolled around in 1992 due to his seeming inability to cope with a recession caused by economic dislocations linked to the end of the Cold War.

After the presidency, George Bush prospered financially as a corporate speaker, reportedly making as much as $10 million from the Reverend Sun Myung Moon. Bush's business ventures through the Carlyle Group, a private equity fund with close ties to the government of Saudi Arabia, have proved very remunerative. Most importantly, he achieved a sort of personal vindication when his son, George Walker Bush, defeated Clinton's vice president, Al Gore, and was elected the 43rd President of the United States.

In the twilight of his years, comfortably retired from the political wars, Bush teamed with fellow ex-President Bill Clinton for a uniquely close relationship in which the two jointly led campaigns to help the victims of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami and the 2005 devastation of the Gulf Coast by Hurricane Katrina via private sector fund-raising.

George Herbert Walker Bush died on November 30, 2018, in Houston, Texas. He joined his wife Barbara, who had passed in April of that year.

Corwin Anthony Hawkins was born in Houston, Texas on March 12, 1965. He attended St. Peter's Catholic School and graduated in 1982.

Corwin was well known throughout Texas for his hilarious two hour stand up comedy routine which he performed in front of standing room only crowds every Tuesday night for four years. His many memorable characters like: Kelly Kelly, Debra Debra, Fanisha Poontane and Miku Waka were favorites to the Dallas natives, he also impersonated many famous stars like Whitney Houston, Diana Ross, Mariah Carey and of course Grace Jones.

While every performance was totally improvised he held the attention of the audience with many wardrobe changes of beautiful dresses and expensive shoes. As Amazing Grace, Hawkins went against the grain with wardrobe. Opting against the traditional long, flowing, evening gown that was prevalent to many female impersonators of the day, Amazing Grace was known for her immaculate Bob hairstyle, Chanel two-piece suits, and Ferragamo shoes. The look was less pageant queen, and more 'ladies who lunch'. Yet the look was a clever contrast to the wild, untamed fireball comedy that would unfold over the course of a show.

If you were lucky enough to get a table near the front you can be sure to be brought up on stage as a prop for the rest of the night. You would be held prisoner to his wild and zany antics and may be forced to sing, dance or even talk you into taking off your clothes to the delight of everyone. Many famous people who attended his shows while they were visiting Dallas included Keith Carradine, Lucy Arnaz and Grace Jones to name a few.

Corwin won many female impersonator competitions. In 1991, as Amazing Grace, was crowned Miss Gay Texas. The next year he took the title of Texas Entertainer of the Year and went on to capture the 1992 National Entertainer of the Year title in Louisville, Kentucky.

Corwin was discovered by Keenan Ivory Wayans while appearing on Def Comedy Jam, B.E.T. and HBO Comedy specials. Corwin accepted the role of (Wayman), a part originally written for Ms. RuPaul. He was also awarded an invitational tryout at the L. A. Improv.

Corwin passed away on August 5, 1994 at Baylor Hospital in Dallas Texas of Pneumonia. He was 29 years old.

Brandon Smith was born on 13 August 1952 in Harris County, Texas, USA. He was an actor, known for Powder (1995), Jeepers Creepers III (2017) and Jeepers Creepers (2001). He was married to Margaret Laurence. He died on 27 October 2023 in Houston, Texas, USA.

Christopher Owen Ayres was an American actor, director and scriptwriter who is known for his work in English-dubbed anime and video games by Funimation. He voiced Frieza in Dragon Ball Z Kai, Prince Soma from Black Butler, Kei Kurono from Gantz and Mayor Corset in Panty and Stocking with Garterbelt. He passed away in October 2021 due to COPD.

Most impressionable and indelibly remembered as the sensitive, cherubic-faced college student/boyfriend of Liza Minnelli in The Sterile Cuckoo (1969), actor Wendell Burton was born in Texas on July 21, 1947. When he was only five, his father, an Air Force technical sergeant, was killed in a plane crash in Washington state, where the family had relocated. As a result his family returned to Texas in order to be near relatives. While in high school the family moved once again, this time to the San Francisco area. Following graduation, he majored in political science at Somona State College and, after taking some public-speaking classes, joined in a few campus stage productions.

By chance, and at the insistence of a friend, he auditioned for and won the title role in the San Francisco production of "You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown." Fully engaged by this early theater success, he continued his education during the run of the show and transferred to San Francisco State where he took classes in acting and directing.

Wendell was "discovered" during the show's run by "Sterile Cuckoo" director Alan J. Pakula and chosen over hundreds of more experienced film actors to play the coveted role of Jerry Payne opposite Minnelli's Pookie Adams in the bittersweet campus romance that became an unqualified hit. Exquisitely paired, he and Minnelli are still identified with the movie's touching Oscar-nominated song "Come Saturday Morning."

In order to avoid a fresh-off-the-bus typecasting, Wendell took on the role of "Smitty" in the controversial screen adaptation of Fortune and Men's Eyes (1971) in which he played a naive young inmate who is raped shortly after entering prison, and, by film's end, has degenerated into a sexual predator himself. He counterbalanced this with a Hallmark TV adaptation of his "Charlie Brown" musical. The small screen proved a viable medium for the young rising actor in the early 70s with above-average roles in the well-received mini-movies Murder Once Removed (1971), Go Ask Alice (1973) and The Red Badge of Courage (1974). He also played Dick Van Dyke and Hope Lange's son for one episode on the comedy star's "new" TV series in the 70s.

A soul-searcher by nature, Wendell questioned the direction of his life and, after much travel and study, fully immersed himself in the Christian religion in 1978. That same year he married and became the father of a daughter, Haven, who is now an actress in New York, and son, Adam, a San Francisco-based musician. Reminiscent of the perennially boyish and now balding Ron Howard in both mild-mannered looks and open, easy-going temperament, his career began to subside after a time due to the lack of quality acting opportunities offered, the importance of turning down roles he deemed morally objectionable, and ever-growing family responsibilities over the uncertainties of gainful TV/movie employment

Wendell eventually taught acting for a time in Hollywood. In 1988, he decided to pursue the business side of television and found work in ad sales, eventually becoming the West Coast Director of Sales for the Family Channel. In 1997 he and his family moved back to his home state of Texas in order to help launch a local independent TV station in Houston. The family eventually settled there.

Wendell served and found spiritual fulfillment as Director of Creative Ministries for a Houston megachurch organization in association with Joel Osteen and the Lakewood Church. He particularly enjoyed overseeing drama, dance and videography services for the various ministries and also pastors adult singles. Diagnosed with brain cancer, he died on May 30, 2017, at age 69.