This Is the Army

George Murphy (Actor) .. Jerry Jones

Born: July 04, 1902
Died: May 03, 1992

Trivia: A Yankee Doodle dandy born on the fourth of July, actor George Murphy was the son of an Olympic track coach. He tried the Navy at age 15, but soon returned home to complete his high school and college education. He never finished college, choosing instead to pursue a dancing career. In 1927, Murphy and his partner-wife Julie Johnson made it to Broadway; by the early 1930s Mrs. Murphy had retired and George had become a star solo dancer. He made his screen bow in support of Eddie Cantor, Ethel Merman, and Ann Sothern in Kid Millions (1934). Never a major star, Murphy was an agreeable presence in several big-budget musicals of the 1930s and 1940s, and later essayed straight dramatic parts in such films as Border Incident (1949) and Battleground (1949). He also crossed paths with two of his future fellow Republican politicos, dancing with Shirley Temple in Little Miss Broadway (1938) and playing the father of Ronald Reagan (nine years Murphy's junior!) in This Is the Army (1943). Like Reagan, Murphy was a Democrat until becoming involved in intra-Hollywood politics. Changing to Republicanism in 1939, Murphy worked to cement relationships between local government and the movie industry, and in 1945 he served the first of two terms as President of the Screen Actors Guild (Reagan was, of course, one of his successors). After his last film, an odd MGM second feature about mob mentality titled Talk About a Stranger (1952), Murphy retired from show business to devote his full time to political and business activities. He was instrumental in getting Desilu Studios, the TV factory created by Desi Arnaz and Lucille Ball, off the ground in the late 1950s, serving for several years on its board of directors. Murphy became one of the first actors to throw his hat into the political arena in 1964 when he was elected to the U.S. Senate. Despite throat surgery which prevented him from speaking above a hoarse whisper, Murphy remained active in Republican circles into the 1970s, helping smooth the path to several elections of increasing importance for his old pal Ronald Reagan.

Joan Leslie (Actor) .. Eileen Dibble

Born: January 26, 1925
Died: October 12, 2015

Trivia: A stage actress from the age of 3, Joan Leslie toured vaudeville in a singing act with her two sisters. At ten, Leslie was an established advertising model. She came to Hollywood in 1936, making her screen debut in Camille under her given name of Brodel. In 1940 she was signed by Warner Bros., who changed her professional name to Leslie. Though not yet 18, Leslie was cast in such meaty and demanding roles as the selfish clubfooted ingenue in High Sierra (1941) and Mrs. George M. Cohan in Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942). Loaned out to RKO in 1942, Leslie was given an opportunity to display her considerable terpsichorean skills in the Fred Astaire vehicle The Sky's the Limit. In Warners' Hollywood Canteen (1944) Leslie played herself, as did her real-life sister Betty Brodel. When her Warners contract ended in 1947, Leslie free-lanced for several years, turning in admirable performances in such second-echelon productions as Repeat Performance (1947) and The Woman They Almost Lynched (1956). She more or less retired from film acting in the late 1950s, devoting herself to humanitarian work and to her new career as a dress designer, though she occasionally took on a TV role. Fans of Joan Leslie all felt just a little older when Leslie was teamed with fellow 1940s ingenue Teresa Wright as a pair of doddering Arsenic and Old Lace-type sisters on a late-1980s episode of TV's Murder She Wrote. Leslie died in 2015, at age 90.

Ronald Reagan (Actor) .. Johnny Jones

Born: February 06, 1911
Died: June 05, 2004
Birthplace: Tampico, Illinois, United States

Trivia: It is a fairly safe assumption that if not for a career change which, ironically enough, took him out of the motion picture industry, Ronald Reagan would not rank among Hollywood's best-known stars; a genial if not highly skilled actor, he made few memorable films, and even then he rarely left much of a lasting impression. Of course, in 1980 Reagan became the President of the United States, and with his political ascendancy came a flurry of new interest in his film career. His acting work -- especially the infamous Bedtime for Bonzo -- became the subject of much discussion, the majority of it highly satirical. Still, there is no denying that he enjoyed a long and prolific movie career. Moreover, he remains among the first and most famous actors to make the move into politics, a trend which grew more and more prevalent in the wake of his rise to power.Born February 6, 1911, in Tampico, IL, Ronald Wilson Reagan began his acting career while studying economics at Eureka College. He broke into show business as a sportscaster at a Des Moines, IA, radio station, and from there assumed the position of play-by-play announcer for the Chicago Cubs. By the mid-'30s, he relocated to Hollywood, signing with Warner Bros. in 1937 and making his screen debut later that year in Love Is on the Air. Reagan made over a dozen more films over the course of the next two years, almost all of them B-movies. In 1939, however, he won a prominent role in the Bette Davis tearjerker Dark Victory, a performance which greatly increased his visibility throughout the Hollywood community. It helped him win his most famous role, as the ill-fated Notre Dame football hero George Gipp in the 1940 film biography Knute Rockne: All American. At the film's climax he delivered the immortal line "Win one for the Gipper!," an oft-quoted catchphrase throughout his White House tenure.In 1940, Reagan married actress Jane Wyman, with whom he had two children. The following year, he co-starred in Sam Wood's acclaimed Kings Row, arguably his most accomplished picture. During World War II, he served as a non-combative captain in the Army Air Corps, producing a number of training films. Upon returning to Hollywood in 1947, he began a five-year term as president of the Screen Actors Guild, a position he again assumed in 1959. It was during this period that Reagan, long a prominent liberal voice in Hollywood politics, became embroiled in McCarthy-era battles over communism in the film industry, and gradually his views shifted from the left to the right. He also continued appearing in films and in 1950 co-starred in the well-received melodrama The Hasty Heart. A year later, Reagan accepted perhaps his most notorious role, in Bedtime for Bonzo, in which he portrayed a college professor who befriends his test subject, a chimpanzee; throughout his political career, the picture was the butt of a never-ending series of jokes. During the 1950s, Reagan freelanced among a variety of studios. Still, his film career began to wane, and in 1954 he began an eight-year stint as the host of the television series General Electric Theater. Among Reagan's final film appearances was 1957's Hellcats of the Navy, where he appeared with actress Nancy Davis, his second wife. He did not make another film prior to narrating 1961's The Young Doctors, and with 1964's remake of The Killers, he effectively ended his performing career. That same year he entered politics, actively campaigning for Republican Presidential candidate Barry Goldwater. In 1966, Reagan was elected Governor of California, and over the course of his eight-year gubernatorial stint emerged as one of the Republican party's most powerful and well-recognized voices. In 1976, Reagan ran against Gerald Ford in the Republican Presidential primary, but was unsuccessful; four years later, however, he defeated Jimmy Carter to become the nation's 40th President. The rest, as they say, is history.

Irving Berlin (Actor) .. Himself

Born: May 11, 1888
Died: September 22, 1989
Birthplace: Russia

Trivia: Everyone is fond of quoting Jerome Kern's famous assessment that "Irving Berlin has no place in American music. He is American music." Remarkably, this tribute was made in the mid-1930s, at a point in time when Berlin had already been writing songs for nearly three decades, and still had three more decades' activity ahead of him. Born in a Russian Jewish ghetto to a cantor and his wife, Berlin was five when he and his family emigrated to America. Growing up on New York's Lower East Side, young Berlin sang for pennies on the streets, then moved up the performing scale to become a singing waiter. Though he never learned to read music, Berlin had taught himself piano sufficiently enough to write his first song, "Marie of Sunny Italy," in 1907; his first hit was 1911's "Alexander's Ragtime Band." Because he was only able to compose his songs in the key of F sharp major, he had a special key-transposing piano built to order. Berlin contributed songs to several editions of The Ziegfeld Follies (the 1919 edition featured his "A Pretty Girl is Like a Melody"), and to dozens of Broadway musicals. Unlike such composers as Jerome Kern and Rodgers and Hammerstein, Berlin wrote his songs independently of the libretto; as a result, it is possible to compile a list of Berlin's hits without knowing, or caring, what shows they were written for (he would not compose a genuine "integrated" musical--with songs specifically written to advance the plot--until 1945's Annie Get Your Gun). So prolific and successful was Berlin that some of his rivals circulated the rumor that he was not the author of his songs, but that in fact Berlin was exploiting an anonymous, underpaid black composer whom he kept hidden somewhere in Harlem! Berlin's association with movies began literally at the dawn of the talkie era: his "Blue Skies" was performed by Al Jolson in The Jazz Singer (1927). The first of his Broadway musicals to be adapted for films (and the only one without a hit song) was the 1929 Marx Bros. vehicle The Cocoanuts. Berlin wrote both the score and the original story for Douglas Fairbanks Sr.'s Reaching for the Moon (1931), but when the producers decided to cut all but one of the songs before the film's release, the experience soured Berlin to the extent that he would not work in Hollywood again for another three years. Fortunately for us all, he returned to pen the tunes for such films as Top Hat (1935), Follow the Fleet (1936), On the Avenue (1936), Second Fiddle (1939), Easter Parade (1948), and of course Holiday Inn (1942), whence came the composer's most popular song, the Oscar-winning "White Christmas." Though Berlin's life story (his escape from Russia, his rise to fame, the tragic death of his first wife, his later elopement with a WASP heiress, etc.) had enough drama for ten films, he steadfastly refused to allow a biopic to be filmed. As compensation, Hollywood turned out several "catalogue" musicals in which Berlin's previously written songs were presented chronologically to reflect the social and political changes in 20th-century American society: Alexander's Ragtime Band (1938), Blue Skies (1946), There's No Business Like Show Business (1954). Berlin himself appeared on camera to sing (more or less) his own "Oh, How I Hate to Get Up in the Morning," in This is the Army (1943), a film which also featured Kate Smith singing God Bless America, Berlin's favorite song--and the one for which he never earned a penny (he donated all royalties to the Boy Scouts of America). Berlin's last film work was his title song for 1957's Sayonara; five years later, he retired from Broadway with the disappointing Mr. President. Despite his hermit-like existence in his later years, Berlin continued to govern the activities of his own music-publishing company (formed in 1919) with an iron hand. In 1961, he briefly emerged from his cocoon to unsuccessfully sue the publishers of Mad magazine for printing parody lyrics to several of his more popular works. Twenty-five years later, he showed up in Washington DC to accept the Medal of Liberty from President Reagan. Irving Berlin's last public appearance was at a star-studded celebration given in honor of his 100th birthday.

George Tobias (Actor) .. Maxie Stoloff

Born: July 14, 1901
Died: February 27, 1980

Trivia: Average in looks but above average in talent, New York native George Tobias launched his acting career at his hometown's Pasadena Playhouse. He then spent several years with the Provincetown Players before moving on to Broadway and, ultimately, Hollywood. Entering films in 1939, Tobias' career shifted into first when he was signed by Warner Bros., where he played everything from good-hearted truck drivers to shifty-eyed bandits. Tobias achieved international fame in the 1960s by virtue of his weekly appearances as long-suffering neighbor Abner Kravitz on the TV sitcom Bewitched; he'd previously been a regular on the obscure Canadian adventure series Hudson's Bay. Though he frequently portrayed browbeaten husbands, George Tobias was a lifelong bachelor.

Charles Butterworth (Actor) .. Eddie Dibble

Born: July 26, 1896
Died: June 14, 1946

Trivia: A master at playing diffident, absentminded middle-aged bachelors, American actor and Notre Dame alumnus Charles Butterworth was an established Broadway musical comedy star when he made his first film, Life of the Party (1930). Butterworth's heyday was in the 1930s, when he appeared as either the hero's silly best friend or a besotted society twit in one film after another. An offscreen drinking buddy of such literary wits as Robert Benchley and Corey Ford, Butterworth became so famous for his dry quips and cynical asides that Hollywood screenwriters began writing only fragmentary scripts for him, hoping that the actor would "fill in the blanks" with his own bon mots. Butterworth hated this cavalier treatment, complaining "I need material as much as anyone else!" By the early 1940s, material of all sorts began running thin, and Butterworth was accepting assignments at such lesser studios as Monogram and PRC, with the occasional worthwhile role in A-films like This Is the Army (1943). Two years after completing his last picture, Dixie Jamboree (1946), the still relatively youthful Butterworth was killed in an automobile accident. His memory was kept alive in the early 1960s by actor Daws Butler, who used a Butterworth-type voice for the cartoon commercial spokesman Cap'n Crunch.

Rosemary DeCamp (Actor) .. Ethel

Born: November 14, 1914
Died: February 20, 2001

Trivia: From her earliest stage work onward, American actress Rosemary DeCamp played character roles that belied her youth and fresh-scrubbed attractiveness. On radio, DeCamp developed the vocal timbre that enabled her to portray a rich variety (and age-range) of characters. A peripheral performer on One Man's Family at 21, DeCamp showed up on several radio soap operas and anthologies before settling into the role of secretary Judy Price on the Dr. Christian series in 1937. DeCamp made her film bow in Cheers for Miss Bishop (1941), in which she and most of the cast were required to "age" several decades. With The Jungle Book (1941), the actress played the first of her many mother roles. The most famous examples of DeCamp's specialized film work are Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942), in which she was the Irish-American mother of George M. Cohan (James Cagney, who was 14 years her senior), and Rhapsody in Blue (1945), in which she played George Gershwin's Jewish mother (Gershwin was impersonated by Robert Alda, who was one year younger than DeCamp). Even when playing a character close to her own age, such as the Red Cross worker in Pride of the Marines (1945), DeCamp's interest in the leading man (in this case the same-aged John Garfield) was strictly maternal. On television, DeCamp was Peg Riley to Jackie Gleason's Chester A. Riley on the original 1949 run of The Life of Riley. She also played rakish Bob Cummings' levelheaded sister Margaret in Love That Bob (1955-59), and later was seen as Marlo Thomas' mother on That Girl (1966-70). In 1965, Rosemary subbed for her old friend Ronald Reagan as host on Death Valley Days; FCC rules of the time compelled the removal of Reagan's scenes when the show was telecast in California, where he was running for governor. Upon Reagan's election, Robert Taylor took over as host, but DeCamp was installed as permanent commercial spokesperson for 20 Mule Team Borax. Semi-retired for several years, DeCamp reemerged in 1981 for a "de-campy" cameo part in the horror spoof Saturday the 14th.

Dolores Costello (Actor) .. Mrs. Davidson

Born: September 17, 1905
Died: March 01, 1979

Trivia: Dolores Costello was a delicate blonde beauty who projected patrician poise as a lead actress. The daughter of stage-screen matinee idol Maurice Costello, she and her sister (actress Helene Costello) began appearing as children in Vitagraph films that starred their father. As a teenager, Costello became a model for top New York illustrators, then began playing bit roles at age 17 in East Coast productions. She and her sister formed a successful dance duet on the New York stage in the George White Scandals of 1924, leading to the two of them being signed to film contracts by Warner Bros. Her career moved slowly at first, but took off as a sudden star after her appearance opposite John Barrymore in The Sea Beast (1926), a romanticized adaptation of Moby Dick; she and Barrymore were married in 1928. She went on to be one of the leading stars of the late '20s and early '30s, making the transition into the talkies but retiring from films in 1932 to have two children (one of whom was future actor John Barrymore, Jr.). After she and Barrymore Sr. split up, she returned to the screen in mature roles, notably as Freddie Bartholomew's mother in Little Lord Fauntelroy (1936) and as Isabel Amberson, Tim Holt's mother and Joseph Cotten's love, in Orson Welles' The Magnificent Ambersons (1942). She retired from the screen permanently in 1943.

Una Merkel (Actor) .. Rose Dibble

Born: December 10, 1903
Died: January 02, 1986

Trivia: Although she is best known for her later work, Una Merkel actually started in film in 1920 as Lillian Gish's stand-in for Way Down East. After a stage career in the 1920s, she returned to films as Ann Rutledge in D. W. Griffith's Abraham Lincoln (1930). The vivacious character actress brightened up dozens of films, playing mostly comic roles interspersed with an occasional dramatic part. Films to watch include Dangerous Female (1931); Private Lives (1931); Red-Headed Woman (1932); 42nd Street (1933), the film in which she memorably says of Ginger Rogers' character Anytime Annie: "The only time she ever said no she didn't hear the question;" The Merry Widow (both 1934 and 1952); Broadway Melody of 1936 (1935); Born to Dance (1936); Destry Rides Again (1939), where she and Marlene Dietrich have a frenzied hair-pulling battle over the hapless Mischa Auer; On Borrowed Time (1939); The Bank Dick (1940); Road to Zanzibar (1941); This Is the Army (1943); With a Song in My Heart (1952); and The Parent Trap (1961), among many others. In 1956, she won a Tony Award for The Ponder Heart and in 1961 was nominated for an Academy Award for Summer and Smoke in the role she had originated on the stage.

Stanley Ridges (Actor) .. Maj. Davidson

Born: June 17, 1891
Died: April 22, 1951

Trivia: A protégé of musical comedy star Beatrice Lillie in his native England, actor Stanley Ridges made his London stage debut in O' Boy. He went on to star as a romantic lead in several Broadway plays, and was cast in a similar capacity in his first film, the New York-lensed Crime of Passion (1934). Thereafter, the grey-templed Ridges excelled in dignified, underplayed, and distinctly non-British character roles. His best film assignments included the schizophrenic professor-turned-criminal in Black Friday (1940) (it would be unfair to say that he "stole" the picture from official star Boris Karloff, but he did have the best part), and the treacherous Professor Seletzky in Ernst Lubitsch's matchless black comedy To Be or Not to Be (1942). One of Stanley Ridges' last movie performances was as the kindly mentor of young doctor Sidney Poitier in the race-relations melodrama No Way Out (1950).

Ruth Donnelly (Actor) .. Mrs. O'Brien

Born: May 17, 1896
Died: November 17, 1982

Trivia: The daughter of a New Jersey newspaper reporter/ critic/ editor, Ruth Donnelly made her first stage appearance at 17, in the chorus of the touring show The Quaker Girl. Shortly afterward, she essayed the first of hundreds of comedy roles in a theatrical piece called Margie Pepper. Her Broadway debut occurred in 1914's A Scrap of Paper, which brought her to the attention of showman George M. Cohan, who cast Ruth in choice comic-relief roles for the next five years. Her first film was 1927's Rubber Heels, but Ruth didn't pursue a Hollywood career until the Wall Street crash reduced her opportunities in "live" theatre. From 1932's Blessed Event onward, Ruth was one of Tinseltown's favorite wisecracking matrons, brightening many a sagging scene in such films as Wonder Bar (1934), Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936) and Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939). She was proudest of her performance as a lively middle-aged nun in Leo McCarey's The Bells of St. Mary's; unfortunately, most of that performance ended up on the cutting-room floor. Closing out her film career with Autumn Leaves (1956) and her stage career with The Riot Act (1963), Ruth Donnelly retired to a Manhattan residential hotel, politely but firmly refusing all offers to appear in TV commercials and soap operas.

Dorothy Peterson (Actor) .. Mrs. Nelson

Born: December 25, 1899
Died: October 03, 1979

Trivia: Stage actress Dorothy Peterson made her screen debut in 1930's Mothers Cry, a lachrymose domestic drama that required the 29-year-old actress to age nearly three decades in the course of the film. Mothers Cry instantly typecast Peterson in careworn maternal roles, which she continued to essay for the rest of her career. Most of her subsequent film assignments were supporting roles like Mrs. Hawkins in Treasure Island (1934); often as not she received no screen credit, not even for her touching cameo in 1943's Air Force. In 1942, she briefly replaced Olive Blakeney as Mrs. Aldrich in the comedy series entry Henry Aldrich for President. Her last screen appearance was as Shirley Temple's mother in That Hagen Girl (1947). Dorothy Peterson remained active on the New York TV and theatrical scene until the early '60s.

Kate Smith (Actor) .. Herself

Born: May 01, 1907
Died: June 17, 1986

Trivia: Though she didn't speak a word until the age of four, Kate Smith made up for lost time by launching her stage career at age five with a Washington, D.C., church choir. Despite her parent's objections, she insisted upon remaining in show business and by age ten was singing for the WWI troops, earning a special commendation from General Pershing. The hefty young contralto made her Broadway debut as Tiny Little in Eddie Dowling's 1926 musical Honeymoon Lane. She then joined the cast of Flying High, in which she was subjected to a barrage of cruel and insulting "fat jokes" by leading man Bert Lahr. Record executive Ted Collins rescued her from this nightly public humiliation by taking Smith on as a client, and by 1931 she was starring in a popular four-a-week radio series for the CBS network. Signing on each evening with her signature theme "When the Moon Comes Over the Mountain," she soon developed a huge fan following with her warm, easygoing style. Less popular was an attempt at film stardom in the 1933 vehicle Hello, Everybody, though her guest appearances in such films as The Big Broadcast (1933) and This Is the Army (1943) were well received. She is undoubtedly most closely associated with Irving Berlin's patriotic ballad "God Bless America," which for all intents and purposes became her personal property after 1938. Billed as "the first lady of radio," her airwaves credits included the daytime talk show Kate Smith Speaks (1938-1947), in which she expounded extemporaneously on any number of topics, most optimistic in nature. On TV, she headlined two weekly series in 1951 and 1960. Curtailing her appearances after the death of her partner/mentor Ted Collins in 1964, Kate Smith retired completely in 1979; three years later, she received the coveted Medal of Freedom from President Ronald Reagan (her co-star in This Is the Army).

Frances Langford (Actor) .. Cafe Singer

Born: April 04, 1914
Died: July 11, 2005

Trivia: Actress and band singer Frances Langford began her movie career in 1935, playing part of a singing-sister act (with Alice Faye and Patsy Kelly) in Every Night at Eight. She flourished in the 1940s as a vocalist on Bob Hope's radio program and with her own weekly series. Never a brilliant actress, Langford was often a very good one: her better films include Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942), in which she played turn-of-the-century entertainer Nora Bayes, and The Bamboo Blonde (1945), a fanciful reenactment of her many wartime USO tours. Collectors of comedy record albums will fondly recall Langford for her many co-starring stints with Don Ameche as the battling Bickersons. Frances Langford ended her show-business career in the early 1960s, opting for retirement with her third husband, the owner of Evinrude Motors.

Gene Nelson (Actor)

Born: March 24, 1920
Died: September 16, 1996

Trivia: Nineteen-year-old Leander Berg billed himself as Gene Berg when he made his professional debut as a skater in Sonja Henie's LA-based ice show. He was still Gene Berg when, while serving in World War II, he was featured as a dancer in the 1942 Broadway revue This is the Army. It wasn't until the 1948 stage musical Lend an Ear that Gene Berg reemerged as Gene Nelson. Signed to a 20th Century-Fox contract in 1947, Nelson co-starred in several of that studio's Technicolor song-and-dance fests, then moved on to the musical unit at Warner Bros. His best-known filmusical assignment was as high-kickin' cowpoke Will Parker in the 1955 superproduction Oklahoma. After briefly attempting to establish himself in dramatic roles, Nelson turned to directing. He called the shots in several Sam Katzman productions of the 1960s, notably the Elvis Presley vehicles Kissin' Cousins (1963) and Harum Scarum (1965), and the 1965 Hank Williams Sr. biopic Your Cheatin' Heart. He also directed dozens of TV episodes, working on such weeklies as The Rifleman, The Donna Reed Show and Mod Squad. There was talk that a serious injury in the mid-1950s had forced Gene Nelson to forego dancing in favor of directing; if so, he was sufficiently recovered in the 1970s, displaying his still-impressive terpsichorean skills in the Broadway musicals Follies and Good News.

Gertrude Niesen (Actor) .. Singer

Born: January 01, 1912
Died: January 01, 1975

Joe Louis (Actor) .. Himself

Born: January 01, 1914
Died: January 01, 1981

Alan Anderson (Actor) .. Soldier

Ezra Stone (Actor) .. Soldier

Born: December 02, 1917
Died: March 03, 1994

Trivia: An actor and director who worked on stage, radio, television, and in feature films, Ezra Stone is still best remembered for having played the well-meaning but troublesome adolescent Henry Aldrich, from 1939 to 1953, on the radio series The Aldrich Family. This popular program was based on a hit Broadway play, What a Life (1938), in which Stone originated the role of Henry. When the radio series ended, he turned toward directing plays and television episodes for shows ranging from Lassie to The Munsters to Lost in Space. Stone played small roles in numerous films. He learned to act at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts and his professional career began on stage, in the mid-'30s.

Tom D'andrea (Actor) .. Soldier

Born: May 15, 1909
Died: May 14, 1998

Trivia: Runyonesque American character actor Tom D'Andrea came to films when the Broadway production This is the Army was transferred to the screen in 1943. This led to a Warner Bros. contract for D'Andrea; he went on to play supporting roles in a number of the studio's films, the best of which was the sympathetic cabbie in Dark Passage (1948). An amusing supporting role as a myopic ballplayer in the William Bendix comedy Kill the Umpire (1950) led to D'Andrea being cast as Bendix's buddy Gillis on the TV sitcom The Life of Riley in 1953. He left Riley briefly to co-star with Hal March in the 1956 series The Soldiers, but returned to the role of Gillis when his own series was cancelled after a single season. Tom D'Andrea's last regular TV role was Biff the bartender in Dante (1960); his final screen appearance was in the Polly Adler biopic A House is Not a Home (1964).

James Burrell (Actor) .. Soldier

Ross Elliott (Actor) .. Soldier

Born: June 18, 1917
Died: August 12, 1999
Birthplace: Bronx, New York

Trivia: "Everyman" American character actor Ross Elliot established himself on Broadway, served in World War II, returned to the stage, and made his film bow in 1948. Elliot's many movie appearances include minor roles in such science-fiction favorites as Beast From 20,000 Fathoms (1953) and Tarantula (1955). A prolific television performer, Elliot lost count of his video appearances after he passed the one-hundred mark. From 1967 to 1970, Ross Elliot was seen as Sheriff Abbott on the TV western The Virginian.

Alan Manson (Actor) .. Soldier

Born: January 01, 1918
Died: March 05, 2002

Trivia: A popular Broadway actor who was blacklisted following his refusal to answer questions at the HUAC hearings, actor and World War II veteran Alan Manson rebuilt his career following the McCarthy witch hunts, though he is best remembered for his stage roles in such Broadway hits as Funny Girl and Neil Simon's Broadway Bound. A Brooklyn, NY, native, Manson made his stage debut at 16 before hitting the bright lights of Broadway with his performance in Journey to Jerusalem at 21. Joining a touring wartime acting troupe during World War II, Manson and company attempted to keep morale high in such productions as Three Men and a Horse and Brother Rat. After being noticed by famed composer Irving Berlin, Manson made his film debut in the 1943 feature This Is the Army. Returning to the United States shortly following the end of the war, the now-established actor returned to the Broadway stage with roles in Call Me Mister and Rodgers & Hammerstein's Allegro. Summoned before the HUAC shortly before he was to take the lead in 1955's Blithe Spirit, the actor paid for his silence when he was blacklisted from television until the early '60s. Returning to the stage and screen in the early '70s following a few turbulent years, Manson would continue to make a name for himself with roles in made-for-television movies (Switch [1975] and Charles and Diana: Unhappily Ever After [1992]), theatrical feature films (Bang the Drum Slowly [1973], The Doors [1991]), and such notable television series as Three's Company, The Rockford Files, and Kojak. In March of 2002, Alan Manson died of natural causes in New York. He was 83.

John Prince Mendes (Actor) .. Soldier

Julie Oshins (Actor) .. Soldier

Born: January 01, 1905
Died: January 01, 1956

Earl Oxford (Actor) .. Soldier

Philip Truex (Actor) .. Soldier

James MacColl (Actor) .. Soldier

Ralph Magelssen (Actor) .. Soldier

Tileston Perry (Actor) .. Soldier

Joe Cook Jr. (Actor) .. Soldier

Larry Weeks (Actor) .. Soldier

Geno Erbisti (Actor) .. Soldier

Angelo Buono (Actor) .. Soldier

Louis Bednarcik (Actor) .. Soldier

Robert Shanley (Actor) .. Ted Nelson

Jimmy Butler (Actor)

Born: September 24, 1921
Died: February 18, 1945

Trivia: A serious-looking teenage actor of the 1930s, dark-haired Jimmy Butler earned good roles in such seminal dramas as Only Yesterday (1933), Manhattan Melodrama (1934), and Stella Dallas ([1938] as the grownup Con Morrison). Military Academy (1940) foreshadowed his eventual tour of duty in World War II. Sadly, he became one of a handful of Hollywood actors killed in action.

Herbert Anderson (Actor) .. Danny Davidson

Born: March 30, 1917
Died: June 11, 1994

Trivia: Perhaps best remembered for playing Henry Mitchell, the father of an energetic tow-headed boy in the popular television sitcom Dennis the Menace (1959-1963), tall, slender, and bespectacled character actor Herbert Anderson's career encompassed extensive experience on Broadway and in Hollywood films. Contracted to Warner Bros. around 1940, he made his film debut in Meet the Fleet (1940). His first two years were quite busy, but by mid-decade he was landing fewer roles. On stage, he appeared with Henry Fonda in a 1953 production of Caine Mutiny Court Martial. After the cancellation of Dennis the Menace, Anderson's film appearances became quite rare, though he made frequent guest appearances on other television shows, including Batman, Bewitched, and Dragnet. Heart trouble in the early '80s forced Anderson to retire.

Sgt. Fisher (Actor) .. Blake Nelson

Victor Moore (Actor) .. Fathers of Soldier

Born: February 24, 1876
Died: July 23, 1962

Trivia: The illustrious stage career of character comedian Victor Moore began when he was hired as a supernumerary in 1893. He rose to prominence in the first decade of the 20th century as the lead comic in several vaudeville and musical shows. Moore made his film debut in 1915, starring in three films that year, two of which (Chimmie Fadden and Chimmie Fadden Out West) were directed by up-and-coming Cecil B. DeMille. During the 1920s, Moore perfected his standard stage characterization of a short, chubby, balding milquetoast who responded to every question with a soft, tremulous whine. His best-known stage role was that of nebbishy Vice President Alexander Throttlebottom in the Pulitzer Prize-winning 1931 musical Of Thee I Sing. Most of Moore's film assignments were in this same bumbling vein, with the notable exception of his superb, heartrending straight portrayal of an elderly "cast-off" in Leo McCarey's Make Way for Tomorrow (1937). His last movie appearance was a cameo as a double-taking plumber in Billy Wilder's The Seven Year Itch (1955). Victor Moore's oddest film appearance was as an animated cartoon character in the 1945 Daffy Duck "vehicle" Ain't That Ducky; Moore was delighted with the caricature and offered to supply his own voice free of charge, provided that the animators drew him with just a little more hair.

Richard Crane (Actor)

Born: June 06, 1918
Died: March 09, 1969

Trivia: Richard Crane was recruited by Hollywood in his early twenties, making his screen debut in the 1940 Joan Crawford vehicle Susan and God (1940). Crane coasted on his good looks and pleasant personality throughout the war years, while most of Hollywood's top leading men were in uniform, appearing in 20th Century Fox's Happy Land (1943) and A Wing and a Prayer (1944). By 1951, he was accepting make-work jobs along the lines of the Columbia serial Mysterious Island. His film career in almost total eclipse, Crane briefly rallied as star of the popular syndicated sci-fi TV series Rocky Jones, Space Ranger (1953). He was later seen in the supporting role of Lt. Gene Plethon on TV's Surfside Six (1961-1962). Richard Crane's last big-screen appearance was in Surf Party (1964).

Ernest Truex (Actor) .. Fathers of Soldier

Born: September 19, 1890
Died: June 26, 1973

Trivia: American actor Ernest Truex fulfilled the dream of many a performer by playing Hamlet--at age six, in a kiddie talent show. A professional from adolescence onward, Truex appeared in several plays produced by the legendary David Belasco, including a "character juvenile" in The Good Little Devil, in which he supported Mary Pickford. Good Little Devil served as Truex's film debut in 1914, though it would be at least fifteen years and numerous plays later before he'd tackle the movies on a fulltime basis. During the '20s, Truex gained so much popularity in light domestic comedies that several writers concocted vehicles especially for him. Usually cast in wistful, milquetoast roles, Truex in real life was fiercely competitive, much to the chagrin of directors and writers who had to fight tooth and nail to keep Truex from hogging every scene he was in. Talking pictures allowed Truex a few leading roles, as in the first version of the comedy melodrama Whistling in the Dark (1933) (a role played in the remake by Red Skelton), but soon found his weight was more effectively felt in supporting parts. Many of these recycled his "downtrodden little man" routine, with such spectacular exceptions as The Warrior's Husband (1933), in which he played an outrageously campy "nance," and Roadblock (1939), where the actor went against the mild-mannered grain to play a scheming, demonic gang boss. Truex continued his stage work in the '30s and '40s, notably as the "back to the farm" homeowner in Kaufman and Hart'sGeorge Washington Slept Here (Jack Benny did the movie version). Becoming slightly more precious as he got older, Truex portrayed any number of "sly grandpop" roles in the '50s, with television providing fresh new outlets for the actor's talent. He had recurring roles in such sitcoms as Mr. Peepers, Jamie, Pete and Gladys; a potential long-lasting 1958 stint as a hotel manager on The Ann Sothern Show came to an abrupt end because Ms. Sothern, some say, was a tad intolerant of inveterate scene stealers. Like many veteran performers, Ernest Truex was given ample opportunity to shine on Rod Serling's anthology Twilight Zone, first as a prescient peddler in the 1959 episode "What You Need," then more memorably as a nursing home resident desperate to recapture his youth in 1962's "Kick the Can." Ernest Truex was married to actress Sylvia Field, herself an early-'60s TV favorite as Mrs. Wilson on Dennis the Menace.

Jackie Brown (Actor) .. Mike Nelson

Born: May 05, 1931

Patsy Moran (Actor) .. Marie Twardofsky

Born: January 01, 1904
Died: January 01, 1968

Ross Ford (Actor)

Born: January 01, 1923
Died: June 22, 1988

Trivia: Lightweight leading man Ross Ford joined the Warner Bros. contract stable in 1943. Ford briefly moved from Warners to Columbia before setting his sights on TV work. He was starred in the feature-length pilot for Project Moonbase (1951), which was diverted to theatres when a series failed to materialize; he then spent three years as Eleana Verdugo's boyfriend on the popular sitcom Meet Millie. Ross Ford continued accepting character parts into the mid-1970s.

Jimmy Conlin (Actor) .. Doorman

Born: October 14, 1884
Died: May 07, 1962

Trivia: The pint-sized American actor Jimmy Conlin preceded his film career as a vaudeville headliner on the Keith and Orpheum circuits, where he appeared with his wife Muriel Glass in a song-and-dance turn called "Conlin and Glass." After starring in the 1928 Vitaphone short Sharps and Flats, Conlin began regularly appearing in movie bit roles in 1933. Writer/director Preston Sturges liked Conlin's work and saw to it that the actor received sizeable roles--with good billing--in such Sturges projects as Sullivan's Travels (1941), Hail the Conquering Hero (1944) and Miracle of Morgan's Creek (1944). Conlin's all-time best role was as Wormy, the birdlike barfly who persuades Harold Lloyd to have his first-ever drink in Sturges' The Sin of Harold Diddlebock (1946). When Sturges' fortunes fell in the 1950s, Conlin and his wife remained loyal friends, communicating on a regular basis with the former top director and helping out in any way they could. In 1954, Conlin had a regular role as Eddie in the syndicated TV series Duffy's Tavern. Jimmy Conlin remained a Hollywood fixture until 1959, when he appeared in his last role as an elderly habitual criminal in Otto Preminger's Anatomy of a Murder.

Ilka Grüning (Actor) .. Mrs. Twardofsky

Born: January 01, 1875
Died: January 01, 1964

Art Foster (Actor)

Irving Bacon (Actor) .. Waiter

Born: September 06, 1893
Died: February 05, 1965

Trivia: Irving Bacon entered films at the Keystone Studios in 1913, where his athletic prowess and Ichabod Crane-like features came in handy for the Keystone brand of broad slapstick. He appeared in over 200 films during the silent and sound era, often playing mailmen, soda jerks and rustics. In The Amazing Dr. Clitterhouse (1938) it is Irving, as a flustered jury foreman, who delivers the film's punchline. In the late 1930s and early 1940s, Irving played the recurring role of Mr. Crumb in Columbia's Blondie series; he's the poor postman who is forever being knocked down by the late-for-work Dagwood Bumstead, each collision accompanied by a cascade of mail flying through the air. Irving Bacon kept his hand in throughout the 1950s, appearing in a sizeable number of TV situation comedies.

Murray Alper (Actor) .. Soldier

Born: January 01, 1904

Trivia: Supporting actor Murray Alper's earliest screen credit was 1930's The Royal Family of Broadway. For the next 35 years, Alper was an inescapable movie presence, playing dozens of cab drivers, bookies, cops and GIs. One of his few credited appearances in an "A" picture was in The Maltese Falcon; he plays the friendly cabbie who drives Sam Spade (Humphrey Bogart) on a mid-film wild goose chase. Frequently seen in comedies, Alper showed up in eight Bowery Boys farces of the 1940s and 1950s, and was prominently featured in the Three Stooges' Trick Dicks (1953) and The Outlaws is Coming (1965, as Chief Crazy Horse!). One of Murray Alper's least characteristic roles was the judo instructor in Jerry Lewis' The Nutty Professor (1963).

John James (Actor) .. Soldiers at Camp Cook

Born: January 15, 1910
Died: May 20, 1960

Trivia: American actor John James spent most of WW II in uniform on the screen. Making his film debut in 1942, James played soldiers, sailors and marines of various ranks in several 1940s dramas. One of his few billed appearances was as an air force lieutenant in the newly-lensed prologue for the 1944 reissue of Cecil B. DeMille's 1932 epic Sign of the Cross. After the war, John James appeared with regularity in westerns; the last of these was 1953's Topeka. His credits should not be confused with those of the contemporary actor John James, who co-starred in TV's Dynasty and The Colbys.

Pierre Watkin (Actor) .. Stranger

Born: December 29, 1889
Died: February 03, 1960

Trivia: Actor Pierre Watkin looked as though he was born to a family of Chase Manhattan executives. Tall, imposing, imbued with a corporate demeanor and adorned with well-trimmed white mustache, Watkin appeared to be a walking Brooks Brothers ad as he strolled through his many film assignments as bankers, lawyers, judges, generals and doctors. When director Frank Capra cast the actors playing US senators in Mr Smith Goes to Washington (1939) using as criteria the average weight, height and age of genuine senators, Watkin fit the physical bill perfectly. Occasionally Watkin could utilize his established screen character for satirical comedy: in W.C. Fields' The Bank Dick, he portrayed Lompoc banker Mr. Skinner, who extended to Fields the coldest and least congenial "hearty handclasp" in movie history. Serial fans know Pierre Watkin as the actor who originated the role of bombastic Daily Planet editor Perry White in Columbia's two Superman chapter plays of the late '40s.

Henry Jones (Actor) .. Soldier/Singer

Born: August 01, 1912
Died: May 17, 1999

Trivia: Starting out in musicals and comedies, leather-lunged character actor Henry Jones had developed into a versatile dramatic actor by the 1950s, though he never abandoned his willingness to make people laugh. Jones scored his first cinematic bullseye when he re-created his Broadway role as the malevolent handyman Leroy in the 1956 cinemadaptation of Maxwell Anderson's The Bad Seed (1956). Refusing to be typed, Jones followed this triumph with a brace of quietly comic roles in Frank Tashlin's The Girl Can't Help It (1956) and Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter. He returned to Broadway in 1958, winning the Tony and New York Drama Critics' awards for his performance in Sunrise at Campobello. Since that time, Jones has flourished in films, often making big impressions in the tiniest of roles: the coroner in Vertigo (1958), the bicycle salesman in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969), the hotel night clerk in Dick Tracy (1990) and so on. From 1963's Channing onward, Jones has been a regular on several weekly TV series, most notably as Judge Jonathan Dexter in Phyllis (1975-76) and B. Riley Wicker on the nighttime serial Falcon Crest (1985-86). Henry Jones is the father of actress Jocelyn Jones.

Doodles Weaver (Actor) .. Soldier on Cot

Born: May 11, 1912
Died: January 13, 1983

Trivia: Wacky comic actor Doodles Weaver started appearing in films in the late '30s, usually playing country-bumpkin bits. He rose to fame as a musician/comedian with the Spike Jones Orchestra, regaling audiences with his double-talk renditions of such tunes as "The Man on the Flying Trapeze" and "The Whiffenpoof Song." His most popular routine was his mile-a-minute parody of an overly excited sports announcer ("And the winnerrrrrrrr....Bei-del-baum!!!!). So valuable was Weaver to Jones' aggregation that Doodles was the only member of the group who was allowed to drink while on tour. This indulgence, alas, proved to be Weaver's undoing; though he'd scaled the heights as a radio and TV star in the 1940s and 1950s, Doodles had lost most of his comic expertise by the 1960s thanks to his fondness for the bottle. A bitter, broken man in his last years, Weaver died of an apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound at the age of 71. Doodles Weaver was the brother of TV executive Sylvester "Pat" Weaver, and the uncle of actress Sigourney Weaver.

Joe E. Lewis (Actor)

Born: January 01, 1901
Died: January 01, 1971

Leah Baird (Actor) .. Old Timer's Wife

Born: June 20, 1883
Died: October 03, 1971

Trivia: A pioneering American screen actress, Leah Baird played Rebecca of York opposite King Baggot's dashing Ivanhoe for Carl Laemmle's IMP in 1913. She starred in countless other films for both the various Universal brands and for Vitagraph, and in 1918 she battled the insidious Hun in 15 episodes of the serial Wolves of Kultur. No longer in the bloom of youth by the mid-'20s, Baird retrenched and became a screenwriter, a line of work she had dabbled in as far back as 1913. She contributed to several so-so Clara Bow vehicles but sound put a damper on her endeavors and she retired from screen work. Baird returned to films in 1941 as a bit player and was fairly busy until after the war. Her last credited role came in the all-star Mike Todd extravaganza Around the World in Eighty Days in 1956.

Warner Anderson (Actor) .. Sports Announcer

Born: March 10, 1911
Died: August 26, 1976

Trivia: Warner Anderson claimed that he made his first film appearance as a four-year-old juvenile actor in a 1915 Charles Ray vehicle. His first stage credit, Maytime, came two years later. During his early adulthood, Anderson worked as a straight man in vaudeville and burlesque. In the 1940s, he came to prominence as announcer for radio's Bell Telephone Hour. While most of his film roles were supporting, Anderson was starred in the early special-effects-fest Destination Moon. Warner Anderson's TV credits include a four-year run as Lt. Ben Guthrie on Lineup (aka San Francisco Beat) in the mid-1950s, and a lengthy tenure as newspaper editor Matthew Swain on the 1960s nighttime serial Peyton Place.

Jack Young (Actor) .. Franklin D. Roosevelt

Sidney Robin (Actor) .. Mr. Jones - Recruit / 'Ladies of Chorus' Printer

William Roerich (Actor) .. Mr. Green - Recruit

Dick Bernie (Actor) .. Hunting Skit Comedian

Allen Pomeroy (Actor)

Arthur Space (Actor)

Born: January 01, 1909
Died: January 13, 1983

Trivia: American general purpose actor Arthur Space was active in films from 1940. Tall, tweedy, and usually sporting a mustache, Space played just about every kind of supporting role, from Western banker to big-city detective to jewel thief. One of his largest film roles was as the delightfully eccentric inventor Alva P. Hartley in the 1944 Laurel and Hardy vehicle The Big Noise. As busy on television as in films, Arthur Space was seen on a weekly basis as Herbert Brown, the father of horse-loving teenager Velvet Brown, in the TV series National Velvet (1960-1961).

John Draper (Actor) .. Soldier

Richard Irving (Actor) .. Mandy - In Yellow Dress

Born: February 13, 1917
Died: January 01, 1990

Fred Kelly (Actor) .. Mandy's Beau

Born: January 01, 1917
Died: March 15, 2000

Hank Henry (Actor) .. Ladies of Chorus Plumber / Cigar Smoker in Canteen

Born: January 01, 1906
Died: January 01, 1981

J.P. Mandes (Actor) .. Magician in Skit

Gene Berg (Actor)

Arthur Steiner (Actor) .. Soldier

Belmonte Cristiani (Actor) .. Soldier

Pinkie Mitchell (Actor) .. Cpl. Mitchell on Telelphone Pole / Comic General in Acrobat

Alan Hale (Actor) .. Sgt. McGee

Born: March 08, 1921
Died: January 02, 1990
Birthplace: Los Angeles, California, United States

Trivia: The son of a patent medicine manufacturer, American actor Alan Hale chose a theatrical career at a time when, according to his son Alan Hale Jr., boarding houses would post signs reading "No Dogs or Actors Allowed." Undaunted, Hale spent several years on stage after graduating from Philadelphia University, entering films as a slapstick comedian for Philly's Lubin Co. in 1911. Bolstering his acting income with odd jobs as a newspaperman and itinerant inventor (at one point he considered becoming an osteopath!), Hale finally enjoyed a measure of security as a much-in-demand character actor in the 1920s, usually as hard-hearted villains. One of his more benign roles was as Little John in Douglas Fairbanks' Robin Hood (1922), a role he would repeat opposite Errol Flynn in 1938 and John Derek in 1950. Talkies made Hale more popular than ever, especially in his many roles as Irishmen, blusterers and "best pals" for Warner Bros. Throughout his career, Hale never lost his love for inventing things, and reportedly patented or financed items as commonplace as auto brakes and as esoteric as greaseless potato chips. Alan Hale contracted pneumonia and died while working on the Warner Bros. western Montana (1950), which starred Hale's perennial screen cohort Errol Flynn.

Frank Coghlan Jr. (Actor)

Born: March 15, 1916
Died: September 07, 2009

Trivia: Born in Connecticut and raised in Los Angeles, Frank Coghlan Jr. began appearing in films at age 3; his meager income helped to pay his father's way through chiropractic college. Though his mother was reluctant to allow her son to appear before the cameras, young Frank took to performing with ease, playing bits in 2-reel comedies. Placed under contract to Cecil B. DeMille, who considered the boy "the perfect example of a homeless waif," Frank became a popular juvenile performer. Billed as Junior Coghlan, he appeared prominently in such major silent films as The Yankee Clipper (1926), Let 'Er Go Gallegher (1927) and Slide, Kelly, Slide (1927). During the early talkie era, Coghlan was co-starred with fellow child actor Leon Janney in Penrod and Sam (1930) and played James Cagney as a boy in Public Enemy (1931). As a free-lancer, Coghlan appeared in several serials, including 1941's The Adventures of Captain Marvel, in which he was top-billed as the Captain's youthful alter ego Billy Batson. He also showed up in many bit roles, usually playing a Western Union messenger boy. With the onslaught of World War II, Coghlan began his 23-year Navy career as an aviator. He rose to the rank of Commander, and from 1952 through 1954 was in charge of the movie section of the Pentagon's Office of Information, acting as liaison and technical advisor for such films as The Caine Mutiny (1954) and Bridges of Toko-Ri (1955). He was later in charge of the navy's Hollywood office, coordinating official naval cooperation for films like In Harm's Way (1964) and TV series like Hennessey. After retiring from the Navy, Coghlan worked in public relations for the Los Angeles Zoo and the Port of Los Angeles. He also resumed his acting career, spending seven years as commercial spokesman for Curtis Mathes. As of 1995, Frank Coghlan Jr. was still very active on the nostalgia-convention circuit, and still as unfailingly courteous and likeable as ever.

4:45 pm - 7:00 pm, Thursday, November 20 on WKUW Nostalgia Network (40.5)