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1-9 of 9
- Director
- Producer
- Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
American second feature director George Sherman arrived in California aboard the SS Mongolia (bound from New York City, where he was born), on which he served as a bellboy. He began his career in the movie business in the mail room at Warner Brothers before working his way up to assistant director. By 1937, he had graduated to directing in his own right under contract to Republic Pictures. Sherman specialized almost exclusively in "B" westerns there (including the "Three Mesquiteers" series, which featured a young John Wayne). He also made occasional forays into action and horror themes, often managing to achieve a sense of style over substance. 'Variety', commenting on his handling of the "Mesquiteers" series, singled out his ability to imparting a "poetry in motion" to his "unified timing of cowboys mounting, riding, wheeling, galloping and dismounting of steeds" (July 2 1939). From 1940, Sherman also served as associate producer on many of his films.
The diminutive (5'0") Sherman turned out reliable low-budget fare for Columbia between 1945-48, then moved on to do the same at Universal for another eight years. After that, he turned to freelancing and working in television. The only "A"-grade products to his credit were two westerns, both starring John Wayne: The Comancheros (1961) (as producer) and Big Jake (1971) (as director, although Wayne took over when Sherman fell ill).- Eileen Sedgwick came from a theatrical family. Her parents were both stage actors, her brother Edward Sedgwick went on to become a respected comedy director and her sister Josie Sedgwick became a film actress. The entire family toured the vaudeville circuit as "The Five Sedgwicks," and it wasn't long before a pretty girl like Eileen was noticed by Hollywood. She is thought to have debuted in films around 1914, and worked her way up to minor stardom by 1918, when a fortuitous accident happened: the female star of the Universal serial The Lure of the Circus (1918) took ill, and Eileen was tapped to take her place and finish the serial. It proved to be a big hit, and over the next 10 years Eileen would perform in a dozen serials. By 1928, though, she apparently tired of the serial grind, and began using the name Greta Yoltz in an effort to have casting directors for non-serial films hire her. She made a few films under that name, but soon reverted to her real name. She retired from the screen with the advent of sound.
- Actress
- Director
- Writer
Trude Herr was born on 4 May 1927 in Cologne, Germany. She was an actress and director, known for Jakob und Rahel (1965), Geschichten aus der Heimat (1983) and Frankenstein's Mother-in-Law (1983). She was married to Ahmed M'Barek. She died on 15 March 1991 in Lauris, Vaucluse, France.- Angelo Vignari was born on 23 January 1924 in New York, New York, USA. He was an actor, known for Night Shift (1982), Below the Belt (1980) and Nocturna (1979). He died on 15 March 1991 in New York, USA.
- Florence O'Denishawn was born on 21 July 1897. She was an actress, known for Monsieur Beaucaire (1924) and Lawful Larceny (1923). She died on 15 March 1991 in New York City, New York, USA.
- Stan Worth was born on 4 January 1918 in Somerset, England, UK. He was an actor, known for The Danny Kaye Show (1963), The Ray Anthony Show (1963) and ABC's Nightlife (1964). He died on 15 March 1991 in Monterey, California, USA.
- Actor
- Soundtrack
One of the all-time great jazz tenor saxophonists, born Lawrence Freeman in Chicago on April 13th 1906. He was an early alumnus of the Austin High School Gang (which evolved into the Chicagoans and then became Husk O'Hare's Wolverines). The nucleus of these groups included at various times such illustrious personnel as the cornettist Jimmy McPartland, pianist Joe Sullivan, clarinettist Benny Goodman, guitarist/banjoist Eddie Condon, drummers Gene Krupa and George Wettling, plus the short-lived clarinet and alto sax player Frank Teschemacher. These men essentially represented what became known as the high energy, free-wheeling 'Chicago-style' of jazz.
Having switched from C Melody to tenor sax by 1925, Freeman went on to a prolific and varied career which encompassed being the front man of several recording groups, to plying his trade as a saxophonist on the transatlantic cruise ship Ile de France, followed by stints in Paris (with his close friend, the drummer Davey Tough) and New York (with cornettist Red Nichols). Adopting what has been described as 'expressionistic swing' (a derivation of the Chicago style of music), Freeman worked with many of the famous big bands of the 1930's, including those of Gene Kardos (1933), Ray Noble (1935-36) and Tommy Dorsey (1936 to 1938: noted for his solos on famous tracks like 'Maple Leaf Rag', 'After You've Gone' and 'Beale Street Blues'), the Casa Loma Orchestra and Eddie Condon's group, with which he recorded his own composition 'The Eel'. Despite a lack of formal training, Freeman maintained a reputation for high-spirited, skillful and fluent playing, often creating his own rhythm by prodigious use of unison riffs. He was said to have been an influence on the great Lester Young.
Freeman briefly led his own band, the Summa Cum Laude Orchestra from April 1939 to July 1940, even participating in a short-lived musical revue, "Swinging that Dream". During wartime military service, he fronted an army band based at Ft. George, Maryland, and subsequently in the Aleutians. For the remainder of his career, Freeman worked as a sideman or as leader of smaller combos, including at the Gaffer Club in Chicago (which he part-owned), a trio with residency at the Copacabana Hotel in Rio de Janeiro (1947), and, another, at the Metropole Café in New York (1954). He toured Europe in 1967 with the musical "Jazz from a swinging Era'. From 1969 to 1971, he made concert appearances and copious recordings with an association known as The World's Greatest Jazz Band. A self-described Anglophile, Freeman spent most of the 1970's living in London, but eventually returned to Chicago in 1980. Among his extensive free-lance recordings are sessions with Jess Stacy, Lee Wiley, Jack Teagarden, Wingy Manone and Teddy Wilson. Freeman's best-known compositions include 'After Awhile', 'The Eel', 'Craz-e-ology' and 'Tillie's Downtown Now'.- Helene Best was born on 3 September 1912 in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. She was an actress, known for Isle of Intrigue (1931), The Trouble with Wives (1925) and Murder in the Cathedral (1951). She died on 15 March 1991 in Edenbridge, Kent, England, UK.
- Clifford Callis was born on 7 April 1910. He was an actor, known for Charity Castle (1917), Silence (1915) and Kiddus, Kids and Kiddo (1915). He died on 15 March 1991 in Pinellas, Florida, USA.