CLAUDE RAINS (1889-1967) The actor who was immortalized as Captain Louis Renault in the 1942 classic film Casablanca, was born in London in 1889. This meant, of course, that he was almost fifty years old when hostilities broke out between Britain and Germany in September 1939, far too old for […]
GEORGE RAFT (1901-80) He was born George Ranft, a native of New York City’s notorious Hell’s Kitchen, to German parents in 1901. His youthful passion for dancing, his snappy dressing and good looks made young George popular among the ladies in what many described was the […]
ROBERT PRESTON (1918-87) This charismatic Robert Preston was born in Newton Highlands, Massachusetts as Robert Preston Meservey towards the end of World War One. As Bob Mesevey he joined the US Army Air Corps, the predecessor of the US Army Air Force (USAAF) after Pearl Harbor and served for three […]
SIDNEY POITIER (1927- ) Sidney L. Poitier hails from Cat Island in The Bahamas, although he was not born there. He arrived in this world two months prematurely in Miami, Florida while his parents were visiting there. At the age of fifteen his parents sent him back to Miami to […]
CONRAD PHILLIPS (1925-2016) He was born Conrad Havord in London, England in 1925, but later altered the date of birth on his ration book from 1925 to 1924, so that he could enlist in the Royal Navy during the Second World War. He was, in fact, only 16 years old. […]
NIGEL PATRICK (1912-81) Nigel Patrick entered this world from Wandsworth, London, approximately two weeks after the SS Titanic slid beneath the North Atlantic in 1912. He started acting on the London stage in 1932 and was having some success when World War Two broke out in September 1939. Being British, […]
PETER ORTIZ (1913-88) The highlight of the undistinguished film career of Peter Ortiz was probably his portrayal of Captain St. Jacques in the 1950 John Wayne western Rio Grande. His wartime career, however, is the stuff of legend. Multi-lingual Pierre ‘Peter’ Ortiz was the most decorated man to […]
EDMOND O’BRIEN (1915-85) Edmond O’Brien served in the United States Army Air Force (USAAF) during the war and appeared in the Air Force’s Moss Hart […]
DAVID NIVEN (1910-83) David Niven’s father died in action at Gallipoli, Turkey, at the age of 38, in 1915, during the First World War. He was listed as ‘missing’ until 1917. Young David would claim to have been born in Kirriemuir, Scotland, simply because he thought it sounded more […]
GEORGE NADER (1921 – 2002) George was an actor and writer who hailed from Pasadena, California where he was born in 1921. In the fifties he starred in a short-lived TV series called The Man and the Challenge (1959-60), and was a close friend of actor […]
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