The Sin of Nora Moran

Zita Johann (Actor) .. Nora Moran

Born: July 14, 1904
Died: September 24, 1993

Trivia: At age seven she moved to the U.S.; in high school she began to act in school plays. In 1924 she debuted on Broadway in a Theater Guild production, and over the next several years established herself as a prominent leading lady onstage. She debuted onscreen in D.W. Griffith's last film, The Struggle (1931); between then and 1934 she starred in several other films, then her lack of good screen roles prompted her to quit Hollywood for a return to Broadway. In 1989 she appeared as a librarian in the film Raiders of the Living Dead. She married and divorced producer-actor John Houseman.

Paul Cavanagh (Actor) .. Gov. Dick Crawford

Born: December 08, 1895
Died: March 15, 1964

Trivia: British actor Paul Cavanagh came to films in 1928 after extensive stage experience. In Hollywood from 1930, the elegant, trimly mustached Cavanagh occasionally played leads, notably as Maureen O'Sullivan's suitor in Tarzan and His Mate (1934). For the most part he was seen in stiff-upper-lip supporting roles, often cast as a society villain, noble cuckolded husband or military official. As much in demand at the big studios as he was at the poverty-row independents, Paul Cavanagh remained active until 1959, when he appeared in his last picture, the low-budget horror film Four Skulls of Jonathan Drake.

Alan Dinehart (Actor) .. DA John Grant

Born: October 03, 1889
Died: July 17, 1944

Trivia: Brawny, round-faced character actor Alan Dinehart liked to bill himself as Hollywood's most versatile villain. He was certainly justified to think of himself in such hyperbolic terms: from 1931 to 1944, Dinehart appeared in dozens of bad guy (or, at the very least, "suspicious guy") roles, most often in the "B" product of 20th Century-Fox. He was most often seen as a shifty businessman or respectability-seeking racketeer, and showed up with equal frequency as either the much-hated victim or "surprise" killer in murder mysteries. Alan Dinehart's namesake son and grandson were also actors; both were especially active as voiceover artists with the Hanna-Barbera cartoon operation of the 1970s and 1980s.

Henry B. Walthall (Actor) .. Father Ryan

Born: March 16, 1878
Died: June 17, 1936

Trivia: Frail-looking but iron-willed American actor Henry B. Walthall set out to become a lawyer, but was drawn to the stage instead. After several seasons appearing opposite such luminaries as Henry Miller and Margaret Anglin, Walthall was firmly established in New York's theatrical circles by the time he entered films in 1909 at the invitation of director D.W. Griffith. Clearly, both men benefited from the association: Griffith was able to exploit Walthall's expertise and versatility, while Walthall learned to harness his tendency to overact. The best of the Griffith/Walthall collaborations was Birth of a Nation (1915), in which Walthall portrayed the sensitive Little Colonel. Walthall left Griffith in 1915, a move that did little to advance his career. A string of mediocre productions spelled finis to Walthall's stardom, though he continued to prosper in character parts into the 1930s. One of his best showings in the talkie era was a virtual replay of his Little Colonel characterization in the closing scenes of the 1934 Will Rogers vehicle Judge Priest. Henry B. Walthall died while filming the 1936 Warner Bros. film China Clipper; ironically, he passed away just before he was scheduled to film his character's death scene.

John Miljan (Actor) .. Paulino

Born: November 09, 1892
Died: January 24, 1960

Trivia: An actor since the age of 15, John Miljan entered films in 1923. Miljan was handsome enough for leading roles, but realized early on that he'd have a longer screen career as a villain, usually an oily "other man" type. The archetypal Miljan performance can be seen in 1927's The Yankee Clipper. In the course of that film, he (a) feigned an injury to avoid heavy work on board ship, (b) fomented a mutiny, then pretended to fight off the mutineers, and (c) hoarded water for himself while the rest of the crew was dying of thirst--and all the while he pledged undying love for the heroine, who stupidly swallowed his line until the last reel. He made his talkie debut in the promotional trailer for The Jazz Singer (1927), ingratiatingly inviting the audience to see the upcoming landmark production. While he continued playing bad guys in the sound era, he was just as often seen as military officers and police inspectors. His slender frame and authoritative air enabled him to play such roles as General Custer in DeMille's The Plainsman (1936) and a character based on General Wainwright in Back to Bataan (1945). John Miljan remained in harness until 1958, two years before his death.

Claire Du Brey (Actor) .. Mrs. Crawford

Born: August 31, 1892
Died: August 01, 1993

Trivia: The lengthy screen career of actress Claire DuBrey got under way in 1917. Alternating between leading roles and choice character parts, DuBrey appeared in such major productions as The Sea Hawk (1924). When talkies came in, she could be seen in dozens of minor roles as waitresses, nurses, landladies and Native Americans. She also played three of the least fortunate wives in screen history: the raving Bertha Rochester in Jane Eyre (1934), Mrs. Bob "Dirty Little Coward" Ford in Jesse James (1939), and Emma Smith, widow of slain Mormon leader Joseph Smith, Brigham Young, Frontiersman (1940). A busy television performer, DuBrey was a regular during the 1953-54 season of The Ray Bolger Show. Retiring in 1958 at the age of 76, Claire DuBrey died in 1993, just a month shy of her 101st birthday.

Sarah Padden (Actor) .. Mrs. Watts

Born: January 01, 1880
Died: December 04, 1967

Trivia: American character actress Sarah Padden was active in films from 1926 to 1955. Usually cast in peppery maternal or spinsterish roles, Padden was seen to good advantage in the films of such B-entrepreneurs as Republic, Monogram, and PRC. Her larger roles include Sam Houston's mother in Man of Conquest (1939) and the philanthropic millionairess in Reg'lar Fellers (1940). During the late '40s, Sarah Padden was cast as Mom Palooka in Monogram's Joe Palooka series.

Otis Harlan (Actor) .. Mr. Moran

Born: December 29, 1864
Died: January 20, 1940

Trivia: Cherubic, pop-eyed character actor Otis Harlan came to films in the 1920s after extensive legitimate-stage and vaudeville experience. Though he essayed a variety of roles in silent films (he even appeared as a black family retainer in one effort), Harlan was most felicitously cast as a semi-regular in the Reginald Denny comedies at Universal. In 1929, he played Captain Andy in the first filmization of Edna Ferber's Show Boat. Most of his talkie assignments were bits, albeit memorable ones, including Starveling in A Midsummer Night's Dream (1935) and small-town constable Hi Jenks in the 1937 "Our Gang" 1-reeler Roamin' Holiday. Generations of cartoon fans have revelled in Harlan's voiceover portrayal of "Happy" in Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937). Otis Harlan was the uncle of silent-movie leading man Kenneth Harlan.

Cora Sue Collins (Actor)

Born: April 19, 1927

Trivia: Dewey-eyed, pudgy-cheeked child actress Cora Sue Collins made her screen debut at the age of 6. Collins' more intense film roles included young Christina in Greta Garbo's Queen Christina (1933), the out-of-wedlock Pearl in The Scarlet Letter (1934), potential voodoo-sacrifice victim Nancy in Black Moon (1934), and Linda Darnell's character as a child in Blood and Sand (1940). On rare occasions, she was permitted to exhibit her considerable skills as a tap dancer. Collins retired from films at 17, when she married a wealthy Nevada rancher. Though usually comfortably sequestered in her lavish Mexican estate, Cora Sue Collins has occasionally touched base with her film fans at various nostalgia conventions throughout America.

Aggie Herring (Actor)

Born: February 04, 1875
Died: October 28, 1939

Trivia: In films from 1919, Aggie Herring was a useful comic foil for such comedians as Harold Lloyd. Aggie's dramatic assignments included the role of Miss Corney in Oliver Twist (1922). She also played Maggie Kelly in director Frank Capra's very first Columbia feature, That Certain Thing (1928), which earned her a photo in Capra's autobiography The Name Above the Title. Aggie Herring continued portraying frontier mothers, flower ladies, dowagers and charwomen until her retirement in 1938, a year before her death.

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