Trivia: Actress Marie Dressler (born Leila Marie Koerber) was a leading American comedienne during the silent era. At age 14 she joined a stock company, going on to become a seasoned veteran in light opera and on the legitimate stage. In 1892 she debuted on Broadway; by the turn of the century she was a vaudeville headliner. Dressler debuted onscreen opposite Charlie Chaplin in the silent feature Tillie's Punctured Romance (1914), based on one of her stage vehicles; she appeared in two more "Tillie" films plus a couple of other comedies, then after 1918 went almost a decade without appearing onscreen; she remained mainly a vaudeville and musical comedy star. She re-entered films in 1927 with the help of MGM screenwriter Frances Marion; her stage career had undergone a severe set-back in the mid-'20s, largely due to her involvement in a labor dispute. Soon Dressler was a popular star, her appeal increased by comedies in which she co-starred with Polly Moran. She became even more popular in the sound era; her range of roles increased after her unexpected casting in a serious character part, as the waterfront hag/barfly Marthy in Anna Christie (1930). For her tragicomic performance opposite Wallace Beery in Min and Bill (1930) she won the "Best Actress" Oscar, then was nominated again for the same award for her work in Emma (1932). For four years in the early '30s Dressler was the nation's top box office attraction. She authored an autobiography, The Life Story of an Ugly Duckling.

Trivia: Like his brother Lionel and his sister Ethel, American actor John Barrymore had early intentions to break away from the family theatrical tradition and become an artist, in the "demonic" style of Gustav Doré. But acting won out; thanks to his natural flair and good looks, Barrymore was a matinee idol within a few seasons after his 1903 stage debut. His best-known Broadway role for many years was as an inebriated wireless operator in the Dick Davis farce The Dictator. On stage and in silent films (including a 1915 version of The Dictator), John was most at home in comedies. His one chance for greatness occurred in 1922, when he played Hamlet; even British audiences hailed Barrymore's performance as one of the best, if not the best, interpretation of the melancholy Dane. Eventually, Barrymore abandoned the theatre altogether for the movies, where he was often cast more for his looks than his talent. Perhaps in revenge against Hollywood "flesh peddlers," Barrymore loved to play roles that required physical distortion, grotesque makeup, or all-out "mad" scenes; to him, his Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde (1920) was infinitely more satisfying than Don Juan (1926). When talkies came in, Barrymore's days as a romantic lead had passed, but his exquisite voice and superb bearing guaranteed him stronger film roles than he'd had in silents; still, for every Grand Hotel (1932), there were the gloriously hammy excesses of Moby Dick (1930) and Svengali (1931). Unfortunately, throughout his life, Barrymore was plagued by his taste for alcohol, and his personal problems began catching up with him in the mid-1930s. From Romeo and Juliet(1936) onward, the actor's memory had become so befuddled that he had to recite his lines from cue cards, and from The Great Profile (1940) onward, virtually the only parts he'd get were those in which he lampooned his screen image and his offstage shenanigans. In 1939, at the behest of his latest wife Elaine Barrie, Barrymore returned to the stage in My Dear Children, a second-rate play that evolved into a freak show as Barrymore's performance deteriorated and he began profanely ad-libbing, and behaving outrageously during the play's run. Sadly, the more Barrymore debased himself in public, the more the public ate it up, and My Dear Children was a hit, as were his humiliatingly hilarious appearances on Rudy Vallee's radio show. To paraphrase his old friend and drinking companion Gene Fowler, Barrymore had gone over Niagara Falls in a barrel; we are lucky indeed that he left a gallery of brilliant film portrayals before the fall.

Trivia: Beery was a character actor in silents and talkies and the half-brother of actor Noah Beery, Sr. and uncle of actor Noah Beery, Jr. At age 16 (1902) he joined the Ringling Brothers Circus as an assistant to the elephant trainer; two years later he began singing in New York variety shows, then worked in both Broadway musicals and Kansas City stock companies. A peculiar career path led him to his first series of silent comedy shorts in the cross-dressing role of Sweedie, a Swedish maid, beginning with his move to Hollywood in 1913 when he signed a contract with Essanay; from there he did one- and two-reelers with Keystone and Universal, then tried unsuccessfully to produce films in Japan. Returning to Hollywood, Beery tended (like his half-brother Noah) to be cast as "heavies" and villains, though by the late '20s his performances were tinted with considerable humor. Although he did not have a smooth voice, he made the transition into talkies and soon achieved great success in the role of a retired boxer in The Champ (1931), for which he won a Best Actor Oscar (the previous year he had been nominated for his work in The Big House). The huge box office sales for The Champ propelled Beery into a position as one of Hollywood's top ten stars, and he ceased to be cast as heavies, instead adopting a tough, dim-witted, easy-going persona, and often playing lovable slobs. He appeared in several films with Marie Dressler, and for a time the two of them were among Hollywood's most noteworthy screen couples; later he often played opposite Marjorie Main. From 1916-18 he was married to actress Gloria Swanson, with whom he had co-starred in a series of Mack Sennett comedies.

Trivia: Jean Harlow, with her soft come-hither body, platinum blonde hair, and keen sense of humor, is recognized as one of the most gifted and blatantly sensual stars of the 1930s. Harlow endured much pain during her 26 years. Born Harlean Carpenter in Kansas City, she was the daughter of Jean Harlow Carpenter (whose name the actress appropriated for the marquee), the complex, often oppressive force behind her daughter's sudden rise to fame. When she was only 16, the young Harlow eloped with a businessman and moved to Los Angeles, where she began appearing as an extra in silent films. She was particularly noticed for her appearance in a 1929 Laurel and Hardy short Double Whoopee. That year she also played a small role opposite reigning sex symbol Clara Bow in The Saturday Night Kid. In 1930, Harlow got her first real break from Howard Hughes, who cast her in his World War I drama Hell's Angels after he found the film's original star Greta Nissen's Swedish accent incomprehensibly thick. It was in this film that she uttered the immortal words "Would you be shocked if I changed into something more comfortable?" Harlow's wise-cracking presence in the film soon attracted much attention, and Hughes sent her out on a publicity tour and loaned her to other studios. In 1931 she appeared in six films; while her performances were often panned by critics and audiences were initially shocked by her almost lurid onscreen sexuality, she gradually began to develop a following. She achieved real fame in 1932 when MGM bought her contract and decided to give her more substantial parts. In films such as Red-Headed Woman and Red Dust (both 1932) Harlow demonstrated that she was not only extremely sexy and funny, she was also a first-rate actress; by the year's end she was a bonafide star playing opposite some of the industry's most popular men, including Clark Gable and Spencer Tracy. Unfortunately, as her professional career flourished, her personal life began to deteriorate, beginning with the alleged suicide of her second husband Paul Bern. Though there was a subsequent scandal surrounding his demise, it did not impact Harlow's popularity. Later she ended up briefly married to cinematographer Harold Rosson, and then had a long engagement with MGM star William Powell. While filming Saratoga in 1937, Harlow suddenly fell ill; ten days later, on June 7, she died at age 26. During her reign, Harlow had starred in less than twenty films. At the time of her death, no details as to why she died were released, but several years later it was revealed that Harlow had suffered from kidney disease most of her life, and that she died of acute uremic poisoning. Her life has been chronicled in several biographies and two subsequent movies, both named Harlow.

Trivia: Like his younger brother John, American actor Lionel Barrymore wanted more than anything to be an artist. But a member of the celebrated Barrymore family was expected to enter the family trade, so Lionel reluctantly launched an acting career. Not as attractive as John or sister Ethel, he was most effectively cast in character roles - villains, military officers, fathers - even in his youth. Unable to save what he earned, Barrymore was "reduced" to appearing in films for the Biograph Company in 1911, where he was directed by the great D.W. Griffith and where he was permitted to write a few film stories himself, which to Lionel was far more satisfying than playacting. His stage career was boosted when cast in 1917 as Colonel Ibbetson in Peter Ibbetson, which led to his most celebrated role, Milt Shanks in The Copperhead; even late in life, he could always count on being asked to recite his climactic Copperhead soliloquy, which never failed to bring down the house. Moving on to film, Barrymore was signed to what would be a 25-year hitch with MGM and begged the MGM heads to be allowed to direct; he showed only moderate talent in this field, and was most often hired to guide those films in which MGM wanted to "punish" its more rebellious talent. Resigning himself to acting again in 1931, he managed to cop an Academy Award for his bravura performance as a drunken defense attorney in A Free Soul (1931), the first in an increasingly prestigious series of movie character parts. In 1937, Barrymore was crippled by arthritis, and for the rest of his career was confined to a wheelchair. The actor became more popular than ever as he reached his sixtieth birthday, principally as a result of his annual radio appearance as Scrooge in A Christmas Carol and his continuing role as Dr. Gillespie in MGM's Dr. Kildare film series. Barrymore was aware that venerability and talent are not often the same thing, but he'd become somewhat lazy (if one can call a sixtyish wheelchair-bound man who showed up on time and appeared in at least three films per year "lazy") and settled into repeating his "old curmudgeon with a heart of gold" performance, save for the occasional topnotch part in such films as It's a Wonderful Life (1946) and Down to the Sea in Ships (1949). Denied access to television work by his MGM contract, Barrymore nonetheless remained active in radio (he'd starred in the long-running series Mayor of the Town), and at one point conducted a talk program from his own home; additionally, the actor continued pursuing his hobbies of writing, composing music, painting and engraving until arthritis overcame him. On the day of his death, he was preparing for his weekly performance on radio's Hallmark Playhouse; that evening, the program offered a glowing tribute to Barrymore, never once alluding to the fact that he'd spent a lifetime in a profession he openly despised.

Trivia: He debuted onstage in stock in 1921, and reached Broadway three years later. He entered films in 1929, going on to a busy screen career through the '30s; his screen work after 1940 was infrequent. He often played fast-talking, scoop-chasing reporters and other dynamic types. After 17 years with no film appearances, he came back to the screen in Gore Vidal's The Best Man (1964), reprising his stage role as a Harry Truman-like politico; for his work he received a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination. He did much work on TV, including the lead role in the series Martin Kaye, Private Eye.

Trivia: The son of a California judge, Edmund Lowe attended Santa Clara University. He worked briefly as a teacher before joining a Los Angeles stock company. Lowe made both his Broadway and movie debut in 1917. Seemingly born to wear tuxedos and dinner jackets, Lowe became a popular leading man on both stage and screen. His career went off into a new direction when he was cast against type as the brawling, swearing Sergeant Quirt in the 1927 film version of What Price Glory. This led to several reteamings with his Glory co-star Victor McLaglen, nearly always portraying those friendly enemies Quirt and Flagg, forever spouting dialogue of the "Sez you? Sez me!" variety. In 1956, Lowe and McLaglen were teamed for the last time in the all-star Around the World In 80 Days. Lowe remained in demand for leading character roles into the 1940s, including the father of the title character in Dillinger, where he was billed over the film's ostensible star Lawrence Tierney. On TV, Lowe played two-fisted reporter David Chase on the 1951-52 series Front Page Detective. The actor was married three times; his second wife was Lilyan Tashman, who died in 1934. Edmund Lowe's final film was 1960's Heller in Pink Tights; halfway through shooting, Lowe fell seriously ill and had to be doubled in long and medium shots by actor Bernard Nedell.

Trivia: Demure American leading lady Madge Evans was a professional from childhood. As an infant, she was featured in print ads as the "Fairy Soap girl." From 1915 through 1918, she was resident child actress of the World Film Company. During the early 1920s she kept busy as a ingenue, leaving films in 1924 to devote her time to the stage. Though her "official" return to films as an adult performer was 1931, Evans had earlier appeared as a saucy teenager in a 1929 Vitaphone short starring Walter Winchell. One of the best of MGM's second-echelon stars, Evans appeared in such "A"-pictures as Dinner at Eight (1933) and David Copperfield (1935), as well as a larger number of "B"s along the lines of Death on the Diamond (1934). Retiring from films in 1938 to marry playwright Sidney Kingsley, Evans continued to appear onstage until 1943. Madge Evans made her last appearances before the cameras on television, showing up as a panelist on one of the earlier incarnations of that hardy perennial Masquerade Party.

Trivia: Danish actor Jean Hersholt was already a stage and movie veteran when he arrived in the USA in 1913. An apprenticeship as an extra and bit player led to a long and lucrative silent film career in the '20s, during which time Hersholt was firmly entrenched as the slimiest and most monstrous of movie villains. Towards the end of the silent era, Hersholt began playing nicer characters, still taking on the occasional bad guy or "surprise" killer in murder mysteries. Hersholt's screen image was altered permanently in 1936, when he was cast as Dr. Dafoe, the Canadian obstetrician who delivered the celebrated Dionne Quintuplets, in 20th Century-Fox's The Country Doctor. Plans to create a Dr. Dafoe movie series were blocked by the real Dafoe, but Jean Hersholt was anxious to sustain the characterization of a beneficent, lovable small-town medico; thus Dr. Christian -- named for Hersholt's favorite author, Hans Christian Andersen -- was born. The actor created the role of Dr. Christian on radio in 1937, then commenced a series of six low-budget Christian features for RKO Radio in 1939. Extending the ethics and generosity of Dr. Christian into his private life, Hersholt set up the Motion Picture Relief Fund, which provided medical care and a livable income for actors, directors, and other studio employees who were no longer able to care for themselves. While serving as president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Hersholt was lauded with three Academy Awards for his own charity work, and in 1948, he was knighted by King Christian X of Denmark. In 1956, a TV series based on Dr. Christian was produced by ZIV Studios; appearing on the first episode to bestow his practice upon the new Dr. Christian (MacDonald Carey) was Jean Hersholt, who had valiantly agreed to help launch the series even though he was dying of cancer and had wasted away to only 95 pounds. After the actor's death, the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award was set up to honor conspicuous acts of selflessness and kindness in the movie industry.

Trivia: The daughter of a circus clown, American actress Billie Burke became a musical comedy star in the early 1900s under the aegis of two powerful Broadway producers: Charles K. Frohman and Florenz Ziegfeld. Burke's career soared after her marriage to Ziegfeld, which was both a blessing and a curse in that some newspaper critics, assuming she wouldn't have reached the heights without her husband's patronage, gave her some pretty rough reviews. Actually, she had a very pleasant singing voice and ingratiating personality, not to mention natural comic gift that transferred well to the screen for her film debut in Peggy (1915). She had no qualms about adjusting to characters roles upon reaching 40, but she was devoted to the stage and didn't intend to revive her film career - until the crippling debts left behind by Ziegfeld after his death in 1932 forced her to return full-time to Hollywood. At first concentrating on drama, Burke found that her true strength lay in comedy, particularly in portraying fey, birdbrained society ladies. She worked most often at MGM during the sound era, with rewarding side trips to Hal Roach studios, where she appeared as Mrs. Topper in the three Topper fantasy films, played Oliver Hardy's wife in Zenobia (1939) and earned an academy award nomination for her performance in Merrily We Live (1938). A tireless trouper, Burke appeared in virtually every sort of film, from rugged westerns like Sgt. Rutledge (1960) to a pair of surprisingly good two-reel comedies for Columbia Pictures in the late 1940s. If she had done nothing else worthwhile in her seven-decade career, Burke would forever be remembered for her lighthearted portrayal of Glinda the Good Witch in the matchless The Wizard of Oz (1939). In addition to her many film portrayals, Burke was herself portrayed in two filmed biographies of Flo Ziegfeld: Myrna Loy played her in The Great Ziegfeld (1936), while Samantha Eggar took the role in the TV-movie Ziegfeld: The Man and His Women (1978).

Trivia: Willowy leading lady Karen Morley received most of her acting training at Pasadena Playhouse. Signed to an MGM contract in 1931, she distinguished herself in a series of offbeat roles, notably the defiant heroine in Mask of Fu Manchu (1932), the title character's foredoomed predecessor in Mata Hari (1932), and the mistress of the President of the United States in Gabriel Over the White House (1933). On loan to Howard Hughes, she was seen as gangster Paul Muni's "high-class" paramour in Scarface (1931); and at RKO, she was the much-despised blackmailer (and well-deserved murder victim) in The Phantom of Crestwood (1933). Too mannered and aloof to become an audience favorite, she nonetheless worked steadily on-stage and onscreen well into the late '40s. Her film career came to a sudden halt in 1951 when she invoked the Fifth Amendment before the House Un-American Activities Committee. Blacklisted from Hollywood, she unsuccessfully attempted to start a career in politics, then completely retired, refusing numerous entreaties to resume her film work once the blacklist had relaxed in the 1960s. Formerly married to director Charles Vidor, Karen Morley was later the wife of fellow blacklistee Lloyd Gough.

Trivia: Befitting her triple-barreled name, actress Louise Closser Hale was regularly cast as domineering society matrons. Just as regularly, she was cast as a British aristocrat, and never mind that she actually hailed from Chicago. After a long stage career, Hale came to films at the dawn of the talkie era, co-starring with fellow Broadway veterans Edward G. Robinson and Claudette Colbert in Hole in the Wall. Hale was never more imperious or intimidating than when recreating her stage role of the "monster mom" in the filmization of Rose Franken's Another Language (1933). Not long after completing this picture, Louise Closser Hale died at age 60, as a result of injuries sustained in an accident.

Trivia: Son of stage star Taylor Holmes, Phillips Holmes enjoyed a privileged childhood and a good education at Princeton, Trinity College, and in Paris. Holmes made his film bow in 1928, virtually cornering the market in confused, sensitive young men. Though well cast in such roles as victim-of-circumstance Clyde Griffiths in An American Tragedy (1931) and the guilt-ridden war veteran in Lubitsch's Broken Melody (1932), Holmes' screen characters all tended to look and sound alike, and accordingly his star faded early on. His last American film appearance was in Hal Roach's General Spanky, where he valiantly played second fiddle to the Little Rascals. Working in England at the outset of World War II, Phillips Holmes joined the Canadian Royal Air Force; he was only in his early thirties when he killed in a mid-air collision.

Trivia: Born Mary Robison. In her late teens she moved to the U.S. with no intention of becoming an actress; a few years later she became a widow, and in 1884 she took up acting to support her three children. She played both leads and supporting roles on the road and on Broadway, and over several decades she became highly respected as a character actress. From 1914-19 she appeared in a few silent films (sometimes billed as Mrs. Stuart Robson), then returned to the screen for good in 1926 and fourished in the subsequent sound era. She was usually cast as crusty, gruff, domineering society matrons or grandmothers. For her portrayal of Damon Runyon's Apple Annie in Frank Capra's Lady for a Day (1933), one of her rare starring roles, she received a Best Actress Oscar nomination. Ultimately she appeared in more than 60 films, the last of which was released the year of her death.

Trivia: The son of a general and a graduate of Yale College and Harvard Law School, Ohioan Grant Mitchell was a lawyer (he certainly looked the part) for several years before going into acting. He made his stage bow at the age of 27, and spent the next quarter of a century as a leading player, often billed above the title of the play. Mitchell was a special favorite of showman George M. Cohan, who wrote a vehicle specifically tailored to Mitchell's talents, The Baby Cyclone, in 1927. Though he reportedly appeared in a 1923 film, Mitchell's movie career officially began in 1932, first in bits (the deathhouse priest in If I Had a Million), then in sizeable supporting roles at Warner Bros. Often cast as the father of the heroine, Mitchell socked across his standard dyspeptic-papa lines with a delivery somewhat reminiscent of James Cagney (leading one to wonder if the much-younger Cagney didn't take a few pointers from Mitchell during his own formative years). While he sparkled in a variety of secondary roles as businessmen, bank clerks and school principals, Mitchell was occasionally honored with a B-picture lead, as in 1939's Father is a Prince. With years of theatrical experience behind him, Mitchell was shown to best advantage in Warners' many adaptations of stage plays, notably A Midsummer Night's Dream (1935) and The Man Who Came to Dinner (1942). Freelancing in the mid '40s, Grant Mitchell occasionally showed up in unbilled one-scene cameos (Leave Her to Heaven [1945]) and in reprises of his small-town bigwig characterizations in such B-films as Blondie's Anniversary (1947) and Who Killed Doc Robbin? (1948).

Trivia: When young Elizabeth Patterson announced her intention to become an actress, her father, a Tennessee judge, couldn't have been less pleased. Despite family objections, Patterson joined Chicago's Ben Greet Players in the last decade of the 19th century. The gawky, birdlike actress played primarily Shakespearean roles until reaching middle age, when she began specializing in "old biddy" roles. Her Broadway debut came about when she was personally selected by Booth Tarkington to appear in his play Intimate Strangers. After a false start in 1928, Ms. Patterson commenced her Hollywood career at the dawn of the talkie era. Among her more prominent film assignments were So Red the Rose (1935), The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1938), Remember the Night (1940), and Tobacco Road (1941). Approaching her eighties, Elizabeth Patterson gathered a whole new flock of fans in the 1950s with her recurring role of the Ricardos' neighbor/ babysitter, Mrs. Trumbull, on television's I Love Lucy.

Trivia: Skinny but tough, Baltimore native Hilda Vaughn could convincingly play an English Cockney, which she did in her screen debut, Three Live Ghosts (1929). A fixture at MGM in the early '30s, Vaughn made her greatest impact as Jean Harlow's blackmailing domestic in Dinner at Eight. Although it is the performance for which she will be remembered, she also shone as the ambulance corps worker in Today We Live (1933), as a slavey in Chasing Yesterday (1935), and one of the suspects in Charlie Chan at the Wax Museum (1940). The latter was Vaughn's final film but she continued to act on radio, stage, and television.

Trivia: British character actor Beresford was onscreen in Hollywood films from the '20s.

Trivia: After a considerable career on stage as an actor and director, Dublin-born Edwin Maxwell made his screen debut as Baptista in the Doug Fairbanks-Mary Pickford version of Taming of the Shrew (1929). The stocky, balding Maxwell spent the 1930s specializing in oily bureaucrats, crooked businessmen and shyster lawyers. Once in a while, he'd play a sympathetic role, notably the scrupulously honest Italian-American detective in Scarface. More often (especially in the films of director Frank Capra), his characters existed merely as an easily deflatable foil. One of Maxwell's most flamboyant performances was as the maniacal serial killer, in Night of Terror(1933), who rose from the dead at fade-out time to warn the audience not to reveal the end of the film or else! Essaying more benign characters in 1940s, he was seen as William Jennings Bryan in Wilson (1944) and as Oscar Hammerstein in The Jolson Story (1946). From 1939 to 1942, Maxwell served as dialogue director for the films of Cecil B. DeMille. Edwin Maxwell holds the distinction of appearing in four Academy Award-winning films: All Quiet on the Western Front (1930), Grand Hotel (1932), The Great Ziegfeld (1936) and You Can't Take It With You (1938).

Trivia: Character actor John Davidson entered films in 1914. Though a native New Yorker, Davidson seemed most at home playing sinister Middle Easterners or Europeans; he was, for example, cast as the sheik in Priscilla Dean's 1922 version of Under Two Flags and as Cardinal Richelieu in the 1924 Rudolph Valentino vehicle Monsieur Beaucaire. In talkies, he was seen in roles ranging from bit-part concierges to criminal masterminds. Busiest in serials, Davidson menaced his way through such chapter plays as The Perils of Pauline (1934), Dick Tracy vs. Crime Inc. (1941), The Adventures of Captain Marvel (1941), Secret Service in Darkest Africa (1942), The Perils of Nyoka (1942), and The Purple Monster Strikes (1945). Even in his fleeting A-picture appearances, he remained an unsavory presence (e.g., Benedict Arnold in Where Do We Go From Here?). Once in a while, he'd spoof his established screen image, notably as the capricious sidewalk hypnotist in the 1939 Our Gang one-reeler Duel Personalities. He retired from films sometime in the early '50s. John Davidson is no relation to the singer of the same name.

Trivia: American actor Edward Woods primarily played supporting roles in films from the early '30s through the early '40s. He is best remembered for co-starring with James Cagney in Public Enemy (1931) and for his role in Dinner at Eight. After he retired from acting, Woods worked in the promotion department of 20th Century Fox in New York.

Trivia: Along with such immortals as Percy Helton, Franklin Pangborn and Grady Sutton, Herman Bing is a member of that Valhalla of film character actors. Educated in his native Germany for a musical career, Bing went into vaudeville at 16, and soon after found work as a circus clown. Entering films in the mid-1920s, Bing apprenticed under the great director F. W. Murnau. He accompanied Murnau to Hollywood in 1927, where he worked as a scripter and assistant director on the classic silent drama Sunrise. After several more years assisting the likes of John Ford and Frank Borzage, Bing established himself as a character actor. Nearly always cast as a comic waiter, excitable musician, apoplectic stage manager or self-important official, Bing became famous for his wild-eyed facial expressions and his thick, "R"-rolling Teutonic accent. When the sort of broad comedy for which Herman Bing was renowned became passe in the postwar era, work opportunities dried up; despondent over his fading career, Bing shot himself at the age of 57.

Trivia: One of Hollywood's great dowagers, long under contract to MGM, May Beatty, from New Zealand, rarely had more than a few moments to make her presence felt. But felt it was, from a silent bit in Dinner at Eight (1933) to the inquisitive Lady Handel in the thriller I Wake Up Screaming (1941).