Dangerous Crossing

Jeanne Crain (Actor) .. Ruth Stanton Bowman

Born: May 25, 1925
Died: December 14, 2003

Trivia: At age 16, Jeanne Crain won a beauty contest as "Miss Long Beach" and became a model; the next year she was named "Camera Girl of 1942," leading to contacts in Hollywood. She debuted on screen in 1943 in The Gang's All Here, beginning a starring career that lasted through the '50s. She rose to prominence through her performance in Henry Hathaway's Home in Indiana (1944). Crain was frequently cast as the "girl next door," and was generally employed to be a "pretty face" in the midst of light films, but occasionally she got more serious roles, as in Pinky (1949) in which she played a black girl passing for white; for that performance she was nominated for a "Best Actress Oscar," repeating a nomination she got for her role in Margie (1946). Her career waned in the '60s, but she continued to appear in films through the '70s.

Carl Betz (Actor) .. John Bowman

Michael Rennie (Actor) .. Dr. Paul Manning

Born: August 25, 1909
Died: June 10, 1971

Trivia: Michael Rennie always claimed that he "turned actor" to escape becoming an executive for his family's wool business. The Cambridge-educated Rennie haunted the casting offices until he was hired by Alfred Hitchcock for his first film, The Secret Agent (1936). Handsome but hollow, Rennie decided that if he was to be a film star, he'd better learn to act, thus he spent several seasons with the York Repertory. Serving in World War II as a flying officer in the RAF, Rennie came to the United States for the first time to be a training instructor in Georgia. Small roles in postwar British films led to a 20th Century Fox contract. It was during his stay at Fox that Rennie truly began to blossom with major roles in 1951's The Day the Earth Stood Still (as Klaatu), 1952's Les Miserables (as Jean Valjean), 1953's The Robe, and many other films. On television, Michael Rennie spent two years and 76 episodes portraying suave soldier of fortune Harry Lime on the syndicated series The Third Man. Rennie died of emphysema on June 10, 1971.

Max Showalter (Actor) .. Jim Logan

Born: June 02, 1917
Died: July 30, 2000

Trivia: Actor Max Showalter learned his craft at the Pasadena Playhouse. An adroit, quick-witted comic performer, Showalter was one of the earliest participants in the infant medium known as television. He was an ensemble player on 1949's The Swift Show, and that same year was a panelist on the "charades" quiz show Hold It Please. 20th Century-Fox chieftan Darryl F. Zanuck was a fan of Showalter's work; the producer hired Showalter as a Fox featured player, but not before changing his name to the more "box-office" Casey Adams. While there were a few leading roles, notably as Jean Peter's obtuse husband in Niagara (1953), for the most part Showalter/Adams' film career was confined to brief character parts (e.g. Return to Peyton Place [1958] and The Music Man [1962]). While still travelling under the alias of Casey Adams, Showalter appeared in a half-hour pilot film titled It's a Small World (1956); on this one-shot, the actor originated the role of Ward Cleaver, a role that would ultimately be assumed by Hugh Beaumont when Small World matriculated into Leave It to Beaver. Shedding the Casey Adams alias in the mid '60s, Max Showalter remained a busy character player into the '80s, appearing as a regular on the 1980 sitcom The Stockard Channing Show.

Mary Anderson (Actor) .. Anna Quinn

Born: April 03, 1918
Died: April 06, 2014

Trivia: Sixteen-year-old Alabaman Mary Anderson made her first screen appearance as Maybelle Meriweather in Gone With the Wind (1939). As a 20th Century-Fox contractee in the mid-1940s, she was seen in Hitchcock's Lifeboat (1943) and in the lavish biopic Wilson (1944). She ended her film career in 1953, occasionally reemerging on television, notably in the role of Catherine Harrington on the prime-time soaper Peyton Place. Mary Anderson was married to cinematographer Leon Shamroy, whom she met on the set of Wilson. She passed away three days after turning 96, in 2014.

Marjorie Hoshelle (Actor) .. Kay Prentiss

Born: January 01, 1917
Died: January 01, 1989

Trivia: Actress Marjorie Hoshelle, born Marjorie Grossel, appeared in films of the '40s. Following her 1946 marriage to Jeff Chandler, she retired from films. Later she became a professor of drama at Harbor Community College in California.

Willis Bouchey (Actor) .. Capt. Peters

Born: May 24, 1907

Yvonne Peattie (Actor) .. Miss Bridges

Born: January 01, 1916
Died: January 01, 1990

Karl Ludwig Lindt (Actor) .. Foreign Man

Died: January 01, 1971

Gayne Whitman (Actor) .. Purser

Born: January 01, 1890
Died: January 01, 1958

Anthony Jochim (Actor) .. Steward

Charles Tannen (Actor) .. Steward

Born: January 01, 1915
Died: December 28, 1980

Trivia: The son of vaudeville monologist Julius Tannen, Charles Tannen launched his own film career in 1936. For the rest of his movie "life," Tannen was most closely associated with 20th Century Fox, playing minor roles in films both large (John Ford's The Grapes of Wrath) and not so large (Laurel and Hardy's Great Guns). Rarely receiving screen credit, Tannen continued playing utility roles well into the 1960s, showing up in such Fox productions as The Fly (1958) and Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea (1961). Charles Tannen's older brother, William, was also an active film performer during this period.

Stanley Andrews (Actor) .. Ship Pilot

Born: August 28, 1891
Died: June 23, 1969

Trivia: Actor Stanley Andrews moved from the stage to the movies in the mid 1930s, where at first he was typed in steadfast, authoritative roles. The tall, mustachioed Adrews became familiar to regular moviegoers in a string of performances as ship's captains, doctors, executives, military officials and construction supervisors. By the early 1950s, Andrews had broadened his range to include grizzled old western prospectors and ageing sheriffs. This led to his most lasting contribution to the entertainment world: the role of the Old Ranger on the long-running syndicated TV series Death Valley Days. Beginning in 1952, Andrews introduced each DVD episode, doing double duty as commercial pitchman for 20 Mule Team Borax; he also became a goodwill ambassador for the program and its sponsor, showing up at county fairs, supermarket openings and charity telethons. Stanley Andrews continued to portray the Old Ranger until 1963, when the US Borax company decided to alter its corporate image with a younger spokesperson -- a 51-year-old "sprout" named Ronald Reagan.

William Tannen (Actor) .. Ship Officer

Born: January 01, 1911
Died: December 02, 1976

Trivia: The son of veteran vaudeville headliner Julius Tannen and the brother of actor Charles Tannen, William Tannen entered films as a Columbia contractee in 1934. Along with several other young stage-trained performers, Tannen was "discovered" by MGM in 1938's Dramatic School. During his subsequent years at MGM, he was briefly associated with three top comedy teams: He played Virginia Grey's brother in the Marx Brothers' The Big Store (1941), a Nazi flunkey in Laurel and Hardy's Air Raid Wardens (1943), and a "hard-boiled" assistant director in Abbott and Costello in Hollywood (1945). On TV, William Tannen was seen in the recurring role of Deputy Hal on the weekly Western Wyatt Earp (1955-1961).

Adrienne Marden (Actor) .. Operator

Born: January 01, 1908
Died: January 01, 1978

Harry Carter (Actor) .. Attendant

Born: January 01, 1879

Trivia: Not to be confused with the later 20th Century-Fox contract player of the same name, silent screen actor Harry Carter had appeared in repertory with Mrs. Fiske and directed The Red Mill for Broadway impresario Charles Frohman prior to entering films with Universal in 1914. Often cast as a smooth villain, the dark-haired Carter made serials something of a specialty, menacing future director Robert Z. Leonard in The Master Key (1914); playing the title menace in The Gray Ghost (1917); and acting supercilious towards Big Top performers Eddie Polo and Eileen Sedgwick in Lure of the Circus (1918). In addition to his serial work, Carter played General Von Kluck in the infamous propaganda piece The Kaiser, the Beast of Berlin (1918). It was back to chapterplays in the 1920s, where he menaced Claire Anderson and Grace Darmond in two very low-budget examples of the genre: The Fatal Sign (1920) and The Hope Diamond Mystery (1921).

Harry Seymour (Actor) .. Bar Steward

Born: June 22, 1891
Died: November 11, 1967

Trivia: A veteran of vaudeville and Broadway, Harry Seymour came to films with extensive credits as a composer and musical-comedy star. Unfortunately, Seymour made his movie debut in 1925, at the height of the silent era. When talkies came in, he was frequently employed as a dialogue director with the Warner Bros. B-unit. From 1932 to 1958, Harry Seymour also essayed bit roles at Warners and 20th Century Fox, most often playing pianists (Irish Eyes Are Smiling, Rhapsody in Blue, A Ticket to Tomahawk, etc.).

Madge Blake (Actor) .. Large Woman

Born: May 31, 1899
Died: February 19, 1969

Willis B. Bouchey (Actor) .. Captain Peters

Born: January 01, 1895
Died: August 26, 1977

Trivia: Authoritative, sandy-haired character actor Willis Bouchey abandoned a busy Broadway career in 1951 to try his luck in films. Bouchey's striking resemblance to Dwight D. Eisenhower enabled him to play roles calling for quick decisiveness and unquestioned leadership; he even showed up as the President of the United States in 1952's Red Planet Mars, one year before the "real" Ike ascended to that office. The actor's many judge, executive, military, and town-marshal characterizations could also convey weakness and vacillation, but for the most part there was no question who was in charge when Bouchey was on the scene. A loyal and steadfast member of the John Ford stock company, Willis Bouchey was seen in such Ford productions as The Long Gray Line (1955), The Last Hurrah (1958), Sergeant Rutledge (1960), Two Rode Together (1961), The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962), and Cheyenne Autumn (1962).

6:15 pm - 8:00 pm, Thursday, February 19 on WNYW Movies! (5.2)