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Barbara Barrie
Biography
Barbara Barrie (born Barbara Ann Berman, May 23, 1931) is an American actress of film, stage and television. She is also an accomplished author.
Her film breakthrough came in 1964 with her performance as Julie in the landmark film One Potato, Two Potato, for which she won the Best Actress Award at the Cannes Film Festival. She is best known for her role as Evelyn Stoller in Breaking Away, which brought her an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress in 1979 and an Emmy Award nomination in 1981 when she reprised the role in the television series based on the film.
On television she is perhaps best known for her portrayal, between 1975 and 1978, of the wife of the namesake captain in the detective sitcom Barney Miller. Barrie also is known for her extensive work in the theatre, receiving a Tony Award nomination for Best Featured Actress in a Musical in 1971 for originating the role of Sarah in Stephen Sondheim's Company.
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Maxine Peake
Biography
Maxine Peake (born 14 July 1974) is an English stage, radio, film and television actress, playwright, producer, director and political activist, who made her name as Twinkle in Victoria Wood's sitcom Dinnerladies. She has since played Veronica in Channel 4's Manchester-based drama series Shameless, barrister Martha Costello in the BBC legal drama Silk and Grace Middleton in The Village. She is also an accomplished stage actress, having played the title role in Hamlet, and had a role in the 2014 film The Theory of Everything. In 2018 she played the lead in the film Funny Cow and had a starring role in Mike Leigh's epic Peterloo, a film very close to her heart.
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Tony Jay
Biography
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Tony Jay (February 2, 1933 – August 13, 2006) was an English actor, voice actor and singer. A former member of the Royal Shakespeare Company, he was known for his voice work in animation, film and computer games. Jay's distinctive baritone voice often landed him villainous roles. He is best known as the voice of Claude Frollo in Walt Disney's The Hunchback of Notre Dame and the virus Megabyte in the award-winning CG-I animated series ReBoot.
Description above from the Wikipedia article Tony Jay, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia
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Gil Perkins
Biography
Gilbert Vincent Perkins (24 August 1907 – 28 March 1999) was an Australian film and television actor.
A champion athlete and trackman in his native northern Australia, Gil Perkins always wanted to get into films; as a teenager he virtually ran away from home, taking a job as a deck hand on a Norwegian freighter. He eventually landed in Hollywood in the late '20s, during the era of part-silent, part-talkie movies, and (because his accent was mistaken for English) he played young Englishmen in some of his first films. He soon drifted into stuntwork, regularly doubling cowboy star William Boyd and putting a red toupee over his own blond hair to double 'Red Skelton', among others. Some of his most notable stunt jobs were in the sci-fi/horror field. He doubled star Bruce Cabotthroughout King Kong (1933), stood in for Spencer Tracy as Mr. Hyde in Dr. Jekyll et Mr. Hyde (1941) and replaced Bela Lugosi as the Monster in the climactic battle sequence of Frankenstein rencontre le loup-garou (1943). In addition to his feature films, Perkins turned up regularly in serials and on TV. On many occasions he worked with special effects and rigging departments, setting up large action scenes. By the 1960s he was doing more acting than stunts; he "officially" retired in 1972, although he took a number of subsequent jobs. - IMDb Mini Biography
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Oldřich Nový
Biography
Oldřich Nový was a Czech film and theatre actor, director, composer, dramaturge and singer. He is considered one of the greatest actors of the Czech cinema in the first half of the 20th century. At the encouragement of his uncle, Miloš Nový, a well-known actor of the National Theatre in Prague, Oldřich joined amateur theatre group "Řemeslnická beseda" and appeared in numerous plays before moving to Brno to direct in 1918.
Following his fifteen year stay, Oldřich co-founded the "Nové divadlo" (The New Theatre) together with his wife Alice Valentová-Nová. There he explored new and modern expressions of theatre by combining spoken word with operetta stylings to develop the "musical comedy" genre. In 1937 he met and began collaborating with renowned pre-war director Mac Frič. Their first success came in 1939, with the comedy Kristián, the first of many popular comedies starring Nový. During the German occupation of Czechoslovakia, Oldřich Nový became a target of the Nazi party, both for his celebrity, and his wife’s Jewish ancestry. In 1944, after refusing to divorce, the couple was imprisoned in the the German concentration camp in Osterode. Following the liberation, Nový worked a dramaturge of Czechoslovakian film until the 1960s, when he began appearing on Czech television in the popular television series, "Taková normální rodinka" (1967-1971). His last theatre role was a title character of the play "Hodinový hoteliér" by Pavel Landovský, directed by Evald Schorm. During this time, Nový again collaborated with Mac Frič to create successful comedies, both conformist and parody, but these films are of minor note to his career. In his later years, Nový lived a life of isolation to avoid his celebrity status, almost never leaving his home.
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Sally Kirkland
Biography
Sally Kirkland (October 31, 1941 — November 11, 2025) was an American film, television and stage actress and producer. A former member of Andy Warhol's The Factory and an active member in 1960s New York avant-garde theater, she has appeared in more than 250 film and television productions during her 60-year career. Kirkland is the daughter of fashion editor of Life magazine and Vogue, Sally Kirkland.
Kirkland was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance in Anna (1987), but lost to Cher, who won for her role in Moonstruck. She won the Golden Globe for Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama for her role and received awards from the Los Angeles Film Critics Association, and the Independent Spirit Awards. She earned a second Golden Globe nomination for Best Performance by an Actress in a Miniseries or Motion Picture Made for Television for The Haunted (1991). Kirkland was also known for her roles in Cold Feet (1989), Best of the Best (1989), JFK (1991), and Bruce Almighty (2003).
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Bess Flowers
Biography
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Bess Flowers (November 23, 1898 – July 28, 1984) was an American actress. By some counts considered the most prolific actress in the history of Hollywood, she was known as "The Queen of the Hollywood Extras," appearing in over 700 movies in her 41 year career.
Born in Sherman, Texas, Flowers's film debut came in 1923, when she appeared in Hollywood. She made three films that year, and then began working extensively. Many of her appearances are uncredited, as she generally played non-speaking roles.
By the 1930s, Flowers was in constant demand. Her appearances ranged from Alfred Hitchcock and John Ford thrillers to comedic roles alongside of Charley Chase, the Three Stooges, Leon Errol, Edgar Kennedy, and Laurel and Hardy.
She appeared in the following five films which won the Academy Award for Best Picture: It Happened One Night, You Can't Take it with You, All About Eve, The Greatest Show on Earth, and Around the World in Eighty Days. In each of these movies, Flowers was uncredited. Including these five movies, she had appeared in twenty-three Best Picture nominees in total, making her the record holder for most appearances in films nominated for the award. Her last movie was Good Neighbor Sam in 1964.
Flowers's acting career was not confined to feature films. She was also seen in many episodic American TV series, such as I Love Lucy, notably in episodes, "Lucy Is Enceinte" (1952), "Ethel's Birthday" (1955), and "Lucy's Night in Town" (1957), where she is usually seen as a theatre patron.
Outside her acting career, in 1945, Bess Flowers helped to found the Screen Extras Guild (active: 1946-1992, then merged with SAG), where she served as one of its first vice-presidents and recording secretaries.
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Hal Holbrook
Biography
Harold Rowe Holbrook Jr. (February 17, 1925 – January 23, 2021) was an American actor, television director, and writer. He first received critical acclaim in 1954 for a one-man stage show he developed, Mark Twain Tonight!, performing as Mark Twain, while studying at Denison University. He won the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play in 1966 for his portrayal of Twain. He would continue to perform his signature role for over 60 years, only retiring the show in 2017 due to his failing health. Throughout his career, he also won five Primetime Emmy Awards for his work on television and was nominated for an Academy Award for his work in film.
Holbrook made his film debut in Sidney Lumet's The Group (1966). He later gained international fame for his performance as Deep Throat in the 1976 film All the President's Men. He played Abraham Lincoln in the 1976 miniseries Lincoln and 1985 miniseries North and South. He also appeared in such films as Julia (1977), The Fog (1980), Creepshow (1982), Wall Street (1987), The Firm (1993), Hercules (1997), and Men of Honor (2000).
Holbrook's role as Ron Franz in Sean Penn's Into the Wild (2007) earned him both Academy Award and Screen Actors Guild Award nominations for Best Supporting Actor. In 2009, Holbrook received critical acclaim for his performance as recently retired farmer Abner Meecham in the independent film That Evening Sun. He also portrayed Francis Preston Blair in Steven Spielberg's Lincoln (2012).
In 2003, Holbrook was honored with the National Humanities Medal by President George W. Bush.
Description above from the Wikipedia article Hal Holbrook, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
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Jiří Štěpnička
Biography
Jiří Štěpnička, by his own name Jiří Samec (* 16 April 1947 London) is a Czech actor.
He is the son of Czech actress Jiřina Štěpničková and a drawing professor from Strakonice Jan Samka, for whom Jiřina Štěpničková married shortly before the son's birth. The place of his birth was given English citizenship, and he received five names in baptism according to his godparents: Jiří Jan Jaroslav Martin Otto. After the return of her family to Czechoslovakia, Jiřina Štěpničková was cast down and, based on a frightened letter from director František Čáp, she attempted to emigrate to Šumava through the state border with a three-year-old son in her arms, the generalist Hruška was a confederate of the State Security, detained and sentenced to 15 years . She was imprisoned until the amnesty for ten years and raised her grandparents. He completed his primary school in the countryside of the country. At 13, her mother returned from prison to her son and lived thanks to director Martin Fricov in Prague 4 - Hodkovičky.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Paul Stewart
Biography
Paul Stewart (March 13, 1908 – February 17, 1986) was an American character actor known for his tough, guttural voice. He frequently portrayed villains and mobsters throughout his lengthy career.
Born Paul Sternberg in New York City, Stewart graduated from Columbia University and made his Broadway theatre debut in the play Two Seconds in 1931. A few years later he met Orson Welles, who invited him to join the Mercury Theatre, where he participated in the notorious 1938 radio broadcast of The War of the Worlds. He was a founding member of AFTRA.
Sternberg's many screen credits include Citizen Kane, Twelve O'Clock High, Champion, Kiss Me Deadly, The Bad and the Beautiful, In Cold Blood, The Day of the Locust, S.O.B., and W.C. Fields and Me, in which he portrayed Florenz Ziegfeld. On television, he appeared in Playhouse 90, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Alcoa Theatre, Dr. Kildare, Wagon Train, Gunsmoke, It Takes a Thief, Mannix, The Name of the Game, McMillan & Wife, Mission Impossible,The Rockford Files, Lou Grant, and Remington Steele, among many others. He also directed some television episodes, among them "Little Girl Lost", from the Twilight Zone.
Stewart was married to big band singer/actress Peg La Centra from 1939 until his death from a heart attack in Los Angeles at age 77. He was characterized in the 1999 television movie RKO 281.
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