Richard Dawson wasborn in Hapmshire in 1932. He began his career in Britain as a comedian and played at the London Palladium.In the early 1960’s he moved to Hollywood and won fame on television’s “Hogan’s Heroes”. He also achieved fame as a game show host and as the star of the film “The Running Man” in 1987. He was married for a time to Diana Dors. He died in 2012.
“Los Angeles Times” obituary:
Richard Dawson, the British actor who went from comedy co-star in the popular TV series “Hogan’s Heroes” to his best-known role as the charming host of the TV game show “Family Feud” with his trademark of kissing the female contestants on the lips, has died. He was 79.
Dawson died Saturday at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center from complications related to esophageal cancer. The actor, who had been living in Beverly Hills, was diagnosed with the disease about three weeks ago, said his son Gary.
“The way he was on the game show was the way he was in real life,” Gary Dawson said Sunday. “He was always rooting for people — he not only wanted people to win, but to have a comfortable, great experience.”
Dawson’s easy-going style topped with a Cockney accent were evident in his early films in the 1960s such as “King Rat,” “Munster Go Home” and “The Devil’s Brigade,” while his quick wit distinguished him both as a game show contestant in the 1970s on “Match Game” and “I’ve Got A Secret,” and as a performer on “The New Dick Van Dyke Show” and “Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-In,” where he was a regular cast member for two years.
IMDB entry:
Richard Dawson was born Colin Lionel Emm on November 20, 1932 in Gosport, Hampshire, England. When he was 14, he joined the Merchant Marines and served for three years. During that time, he made money boxing. He had to lie about his age and remain tough so the older guys would not hassle him. In the late 1950s, Richard met a British actress named Diana Dors. On April 12, 1959, while in New York for an appearance on The Steve Allen Plymouth Show (1956), the two were married. Richard and Diana’s first child, a son named Mark Dawson, was born in 1960, and a second son, Gary Dawson, was born in 1962. Richard and Diana separated in 1964 and eventually divorced in 1967. When Richard moved to the United States, he began acting on the well-known series, Hogan’s Heroes (1965), in 1965. Richard played the lovable British Corporal Peter Newkirk. The show ended in 1971. Not long after that, in 1973, he became a panelist onMatch Game 73 (1973) and remained there until 1978.
While still on “Match Game”, he hosted his own show, which he is most remembered by, called Family Feud (1976). His trademark, kissing all the female contestants, was one of the things that made the show a warm and friendly program, along with his quick wit, subtle jokes, and ability to make people feel at ease with being on camera. In 1987, Richard co-starred with Arnold Schwarzenegger in the science fiction action movie The Running Man (1987). Richard portrayed an egotistical game show host, Damon Killian, whom many say was a mirror image of himself at one time or another, during his real-life career.
When Richard was 61, he hosted the third incarnation of “Family Feud” in 1994, but had only a short run. On April 6, 1981, the Johnson family appeared on “Family Feud” and Richard was introduced to 27-year-old Gretchen Johnson. They had a daughter, Shannon Dawson (Shannon Nicole Dawson), in 1990, and were married in 1991. They were still married and reside in Beverly Hills, California. Richard narrated TV’s Funniest Game Show Moments (1984) on Fox in early 2000. On Thanksgiving Day, November 23rd, 2000, he hosted a “Family Feud” marathon, which was filmed in 1995. Some people hear the name “Richard Dawson” and may not know who you’re talking about. But say his name, followed by his famous quote “Survey said…!” or mention “Newkirk on Hogan’s Heroes(1965)”, and they’re sure to know who you mean. Richard Dawson died at age 79 of complications from esophageal cancer on June 2, 2012.
– IMDb Mini Biography By: Lisa Hansen, RichardDawsonFan@aol.com
The above IMDB entry can also be accessed online here.
Lee Horsley was born in Texas in 1955. He has starred in three popular TV series, “Nero Wolfe” in 1981, “Matt Houston” from 1982 until 1985 and “Paradise” from 1988 until 1991. His movies include “The Sword and the Sorcerer” in 1982 and “Showdown at Area 51! in 2007.
TCM overview:
Born in the tiny town of Muleshoe, TX, actor Lee Horsley started singing in church as a youngster in the Denver area, his vocal talents eventually leading him to tour in stage productions of “West Side Story”, “Damn Yankees”, “Oklahoma!” and “1776” prior to his arrival in Hollywood. He began his TV career as detective Archie Goodwin (opposite William Conrad) in the 1981 NBC drama series “Nero Wolfe” but is best known for his starring role as the detective “Matt Houston” (ABC, 1982-1985). A true outdoorsman, who enjoys fly fishing and horseback riding and participates in celebrity rodeos and other sporting events, Horsley has lent his six-foot-four-inch rugged good looks to a wide array of TV-movies, including “Agatha Christie’s ’13 at Dinner'” (CBS, 1985), “Danielle Steele’s ‘Palomino'” (NBC, 1991) and “The Corpse Had a Familiar Face” (CBS, 1994), as well as two ABC miniseries, “North and South: Book II” and “Crossings” (both 1986), adapted from the best-selling novel by Danielle Steele.
After short series runs with “Guns of Paradise” (ABC, 1988), “Bodies of Evidence” (ABC, 1992-93) and “Hawkeye” (syndicated, 1994-95), Horsley landed the part of wealthy rancher Gardner Poole (opposite Bo Derek) on NBC’s very short-lived “Wind on Water” (1998). His only feature appearance (to date) was as the star of “The Sword and the Sorcerer” (1982), a film that has acquired through the years a devoted following among fantasy film buffs. He took time away from Hollywood in 1987 and 1988 to return to his great love, musical theater, playing legendary silent screen director Mack Sennett in the revival of Jerry Herman’s “Mack & Mabel” at the Paper Mill Playhouse in New Jersey.
The above TCM overview can also be accessed online here.
Joy Harmon was born in 1940 in Flushing, New York. In the 1960;s she was featured in some interesing Hollywood movies such as 1965’s “The Love One” and “Cool Hand Luke” with Paul Newman.
IMDB entry:
Born in Flushing, New York, the impressively endowed Patty Jo Harmon was discovered as a guest on You Bet Your Life (1950) by Groucho Marx and later was invited to work with him on Tell It to Groucho (1962). The TV exposure parlayed into roles in such obscure films as Village of the Giants (1965) and more famous fare like Cool Hand Luke(1967), but she was used mostly for eye candy. With only a handful of television appearances to her name, she made a bigger career as a pin-up girl during the late 1960s and early 1970s, but she ultimately retired from acting to get married and start a family. Baking has always been a favorite pastime and she since started Aunt Joy’s Cakes. She first started sharing her treats while working at Disney Studios and runs a wholesale bakery based in Burbank, California.
– IMDb Mini Biography By: William Uchtman <aesgaard41@hotmail.com> (qv’s & corrections by A. Nonymous)
The above IMDB entry can also be accessed online here.
Tisha Sterling was born in Los Angeles in 1944. She is the daughter of Ann Sothern and Robert Sterling. She made her acting debut on her mothers television in 1960. In 1968 she gained favourable reviews for her performance opposite Clint Eastwood in “Coogan’s Bluff”. In 1987 she played the younger version of her mother’s character in the wonderful “The Whales of August” with also starred Lillian Gsh, Bette Davis and Vincent Price.
In 1987, Sterling played a younger version of her mother’s character (in flashbacks) in The Whales of August. Following that role, she appeared in two other films. Sterling made her last onscreen appearance to date in the 1999 film Breakfast of Champions, opposite Bruce Willis. She has since retired from acting, and currently resides as a florist in Ketchum, Idaho(where her mother lived for many years until her death in 2001) with her daughter, Heidi Bates Hogan.
The above “Wikipedia” entry can also be accessed online here.
Vincent Baggeta was in born in 1947 in New Jersey. A familiar face on television in the 1970’s and 80’s, he made his TV debut in an episode of “The Defenders” in 1962. His films include “Murder on Flight 502” in 1975,
Richard Roundtree is a cultural icon always remembered for his iconic performance in the title role in the movie “Shaft” in 1971. He was born in 1942 in New York. He also starred in the sequels “Shaft’s Big Score” and “Shaft in Africa”. Other movies include “Embassy”, “Escape to Athena” with Roger Moore and David Niven, “A Game for Vultures” with Richard Harris and Joan Collins and “Brick” in 2005.
TCM overview:
This handsome black lead made his name as the smooth title character in the classic action film “Shaft” (1971), which while not exactly a blaxploitation movie itself, spawned a generation of them. Richard Roundtree subsequently starred in two sequels–“Shaft’s Big Score” (1972) and “Shaft in Africa” (1973)–as well as a CBS TV series, “Shaft” (1973-1974) before settling in as a second lead and occasional star of various projects. There were years during the 1980s when the “Shaft” stigma seemed to put an early end to Roundtree’s career, but he bounced back in the 90s with numerous films and TV shows. He was tapped to lead an ensemble cast, playing the head of a center for troubled teens in the Fox drama series “413 Hope Street” (1997).
Roundtree was a virtual unknown, having appeared only in “What Do You Say to a Naked Lady?” (1970), when he was chosen by Gordon Parks to play “Shaft”. Based on his success, he landed a variety of roles that included the manager of a daredevil motorcycle rider in “Earthquake” (1974). In 1975, he co-starred with Peter O’Toole in the title role of “Man Friday”, a retelling of the “Robinson Crusoe” story in which Friday is not “civilized,” and Crusoe commits suicide. After appearing in the disastrous “Inchon” (1982), film roles in the 80s became sporadic and Roundtree found himself generally playing law enforcement types, like the police commissioner in “Maniac Cop” (1988) and the police captain in both “Party Line” (1988) and “A Time to Die” (1991). After a supporting role in David Fincher’s “Seven” and a turn as an iceman who sparks a racial incident in Tim Reid’s “Once Upon a Time…When We Were Colored” (both 1995), he joined Bernie Casey, Fred Williamson, Pam Grier and other stars of 70s black action films in “Original Gangstas” (1996), in which the older stars–now somewhat paunchy–return for one last go-round. It put some spark into Roundtree’s feature film career, as in 1997, he co-starred in both “Steel” (as the junkyard-owning mentor to the title character) and “George of the Jungle” (as the jungle leader Kwame).
On TV, Roundtree had one of his best opportunities in the breakthrough miniseries “Roots” (ABC, 1977), playing a handsome, well-groomed carriage driver with whom Kizzy (Leslie Uggams) falls in love until she sees that when the master (George Hamilton) calls, Roundtree grovels. Roundtree also starred in the miniseries “AD” (NBC, 1985), before having another shot at a series with a supporting role in “Outlaws” (CBS, 1986-1987) as Ice McAdams. By 1990, Roundtree was out of primetime and in the cast of the short-lived multi-racial NBC daytime drama “Generations”, playing a doctor forced to live in hiding for 15 years for a murder he did not commit. He co-starred in two “Bonanza” revival movies, “The Return” (NBC, 1993), and “Under Attack” (NBC, 1995), and, during the 1995-1996 season, hosted the UPN specials “Cop Files”. Roundtree tried his hand at sitcoms in 1996, playing Dave Chappelle’s father in the short-lived “Buddies” (ABC). In 2001, Roundtree was cast in the comedy-crime feature “Corky Romano” and one year later, he toured with the play “Men Cry In The Dark”.
Richard Roundtree died in 2023 aged 81.
The above TCM overview can also be accessed online here.
Published Oct. 24, 2023Updated Oct. 25, 2023, 12:46 p.m. ET
Richard Roundtree, the actor who redefined African American masculinity in the movies when he played the title role in “Shaft,” one of the first Black action heroes, died on Tuesday at his home in Los Angeles. He was 81.
His manager, Patrick McMinn, said the cause was pancreatic cancer, which had been diagnosed two months ago.
“Shaft,” which was released in 1971, was among the first of the so-called blaxploitation movies, and it made Mr. Roundtree a star at 29.
The character John Shaft is his own man, a private detective who jaywalks confidently through moving Times Square traffic in a handsome brown leather coat with the collar turned up; sports a robust, dark mustache somewhere between walrus-style and a downturned handlebar; and keeps a pearl-handled revolver in the fridge in his Greenwich Village duplex apartment.
As Mr. Roundtree observed in a 1972 article in The New York Times, he is “a Black man who is for once a winner.”
In addition to catapulting Mr. Roundtree to fame, the moviedrew attention to its theme song, written and performed by Isaac Hayes, which won the 1972 Academy Award for best original song. It described Shaft as “a sex machine to all the chicks,” “a bad mother” and “the cat who won’t cop out when there’s danger all about.” Can you dig it? The director Gordon Parks’s gritty urban cinematography served as punctuation.
A fictional product of his unenlightened pre-feminist era, Shaft was living the Playboy magazine reader’s dream, with beautiful women available to him as willing, even downright grateful, sex partners. And he did not always treat them with respect. Some called him, for better or worse, the Black James Bond.
Mr. Roundtree played the role again in “Shaft’s Big Score!” (1972), which bumped up the chase scenes to include speedboats and helicopters and the sexy women to include exotic dancers and other men’s mistresses. In that movie, Shaft investigated the murder of a numbers runner, using bigger guns and ignoring one crook’s friendly advice to “keep the hell out of Queens.”
In “Shaft in Africa” (1973), filmed largely in Ethiopia, the character posed as an Indigenous man to expose a crime ring that exploited immigrants being smuggled into Europe. The second sequel lost money and led to a CBS series that lasted only seven weeks.
But the films had made their impact. As the film critic Maurice Peterson observed in Essence magazine, “Shaft” was “the first picture to show a Black man who leads a life free from racial torment.”
Richard Arnold Roundtree was born on July 9, 1942 (some sources say 1937), in New Rochelle, N.Y., the son of John and Kathryn (Watkins) Roundtree. His parents were identified in the 1940 census as a butler and a cook in the same household.
Richard played on New Rochelle High School’s undefeated football team and, after graduating in 1961, attended Southern Illinois University on a football scholarship. But he dropped out of college in 1963 after spending a summer as a model with the Ebony Fashion Fair, a traveling presentation sponsored by Ebony magazine, the news and culture publication aimed at Black readers.
Mr. Roundtree moved back to New York, worked a number of jobs and soon began his theater career, joining the Negro Ensemble Company. His first role was in a 1967 production of Howard Sackler’s “The Great White Hope,” starring as a fictionalized version of Jack Johnson, the early 20th century’s first Black heavyweight boxing champion. A Broadway production starring James Earl Jones opened the next year and won three major Tony Awards and the Pulitzer Prize for drama.
After “Shaft,” Mr. Roundtree made varied choices in movie roles. He was in the all-star ensemble cast of the 1974 disaster movie “Earthquake,” appearing alongside Charlton Heston and Ava Gardner, among others. He played the title role in “Man Friday” (1975), a vibrant, generous, ultimately more civilized partner to Peter O’Toole’s 17th-century explorer Robinson Crusoe.
In “Inchon” (1981), which Vincent Canby of The Times described as looking like “the most expensive B movie ever made,” Mr. Roundtree was an Army officer on the staff of Gen. Douglas MacArthur (Laurence Olivier) in Korea. He starred with Clint Eastwood and Burt Reynolds in “City Heat” (1984) and with a giant flying lizard in “Q” (1982).
On television he played Sam Bennett, the raffish carriage driver who courted Kizzie (Leslie Uggams) in the acclaimed mini-series “Roots” (1977). That show was transformational, Mr. Roundtree said in an ABC special celebrating its 25th anniversary: “You got a sense of white Americans saying, ‘Damn, that really happened.’”
Mr. Roundtree’s name remained associated with the 1970s, but he was just as busy during the next four decades.
He was an amoral private detective in a five-episode story arc of “Desperate Housewives” (2004); appeared in 60 episodes of the soap opera “Generations” (1990); and played Booker T. Washington in the 1999 television movie “Having Our Say: The Delany Sisters’ First 100 Years.” He was a big-city district attorney in the film “Seven” (1995) and a strong-willed Mississippi iceman in “Once Upon a Time … When We Were Colored” (1996).
After the year 2000, when he was pushing 60, he made appearances in more than 25 TV series (he was a cast member of or had recurring roles in nine of them — including “Heroes,” “Being Mary Jane” and “Family Reunion”) and was seen in half a dozen television movies and more than 20 feature films.
In 2020, Mr. Roundtree starred as a fishing boat’s gray-bearded captain in “Haunting of the Mary Celeste,” a supernatural maritime movie mystery. In 2022, he was a regular in the second season of “Cherish the Day,” Ava DuVernay’s romantic drama series.
Mr. Roundtree married Mary Jane Grant in 1963. They had two children before divorcing in 1973. In 1980, he married Karen M. Cierna. They had three children and divorced in 1998.
Mr. Roundtree is survived by four daughters, Kelli, Nicole, Tayler and Morgan; a son, John; and at least one grandchild.
The Shaft character, created by Ernest Tidyman in a series of 1970s novels, endured — with Hollywood alterations. Samuel L. Jackson starred as a character with the same name, supposedly the first John Shaft’s nephew, in a 2000 sequel titled “Shaft.”
In 2019, another “Shaft” was released, also starring Mr. Jackson (now said to be the original character’s son), with Jessie T. Usher as his son, J.J. Shaft, an M.I.T.-educated cybersecurity expert. Like the 2000 “Shaft,” it also included Mr. Roundtree in the cast.
The film felt something like a buddy-cops comedy, but the smartest thing it did, Owen Gleiberman of Variety noted in a review, was to take Mr. Roundtree, “bald, with a snowy-white beard,” and “turn him into a character who’s hotter, and cooler, than anyone around him” and whose “spirit is spry, and tougher than leather.
Bob Hope was one of the best loved comedians on film. He was born in London in 1903. His family moved to the U.S. when he was an infant. He bagn his long career on film in 1934 in the short “Going Spanish”. Throught his career he starred in such movies as “The Big Broadcast of 1938”, “The Cat and the Canary”, “My Favourite Blonde” in 1941, “The Princess and the Pirate” and “The Road to Hong Kong”. His leading ladies included Madeleine Carroll, Lucille Ball, Audrey Dalton, Hedy Lamarr and Lana Turner. He died in 2003 at the age of 100.
TCM Overview:
Over the course of a career that spanned more than 60 years, actor-comedian- humanitarian-noted golf enthusiast, Bob Hope came to be regarded as not only a legendary entertainer, but a veritable American institution. Getting his start on the vaudeville circuit of the late-1920s, he eventually broke through on the Broadway stage in such productions as 1933’s “Roberta” and 1936’s “Red, Hot and Blue.” He began hosting his own long-running radio program on NBC the following year and by 1938 had made the jump to Hollywood. Although he would eventually appear in more than 50 feature films, the funnyman with the ski-slope nose would be most remembered for his wise-cracking antics alongside his perfect foil Bing Crosby and their sarong-clad lust object Dorothy Lamour in “Road to Singapore” (1940) and the successful franchise it spawned. In addition to the seven highly popular “Road to ” movies, Hope also proved to be a top box office draw as a solo act in comedies like “The Princess and the Pirate” (1944) and “The Paleface” (1948). Beginning in the early-1940s and continuing well into the 1990s, Hope – ever-present golf club in hand – was a welcome comic relief for troops stationed abroad in times of war and peace as he tirelessly toured with the USO during World War II, the Korean and Vietnam wars and beyond. By the time the venerable entertainer reached his 100th year, generations of fans could only express their gratitude with a refrain from Hope’s most popular tune, “Thanks for the Memories.”
Born Leslie Townes Hope on May 29, 1903 in Etham, London, U.K., he was the fifth of seven sons born to William Henry Hope, an English stonemason, and Avis Townes, an aspiring concert vocalist of Welsh descent. William and Avis brought their young family to the U.S. in 1907, soon settling in Cleveland, OH. Throughout his youth, Hope took on a wide variety of odd jobs to bring in extra money – everything from running deliveries and selling newspapers, to hustling pool. From an early age, however, it was clear that young Leslie had ambitions as an entertainer. He took dance lessons after school, often picking up an added bit of income as a street performer near Cleveland’s Luna Park. In his teens, Hope even dabbled in professional boxing – going by the moniker of “Packy East” – prior to starting a vaudeville dance team at age 18 with his girlfriend. A later act with friend Lloyd Durbin had Hope opening for future silent film star Fatty Arbuckle at the Bandbox Theater. One year later, he and his latest partner, George Byrne, toured the East Coast extensively, playing several major venues in New York. Hope and Byrne made their Broadway debut with bit parts in the 1927 musical comedy “Sidewalks of New York,” although they did stay with the production long. On the advice of their agent, the comedy duo took some time to retool their act with a show in Pennsylvania. When a last-minute request put Hope on stage as the show’s emcee, he suddenly discovered he was funnier on his own. By 1929, Hope had adopted the unassuming first name of Bob – he felt it had a certain “Hi’ya fellas!” quality to it – and become a solo act.
Hope returned to Broadway with another small role in the musical, “Ballyhoo of 1932” and again in the 1933 musical comedy “Roberta,” which brought him recognition as the smart-aleck crooner, Huckleberry Haines. He made his film debut with the educational short “Going Spanish” (1934) and continued with small efforts like “Paree, Paree” (1934) for the New York based studio, Vitaphone. More work on Broadway came his way with 1934’s “Say When” and a year later, “Ziegfeld Follies of 1936.” Most importantly for Hope’s career, however, was the Cole Porter musical comedy “Red, Hot and Blue” with Ethel Merman and Jimmy Durante in 1936. With his popularity on the rise, the showman started his lengthy career in radio in 1937 as the star of “The Woodbury Soap Hour” for NBC then signed on for “The Pepsodent Show Starring Bob Hope” the following year. Taking on several new sponsors and names throughout the coming years, Hope remained on the airwaves continuously for nearly two decades. Not surprisingly, word of his performance in “Red, Hot and Blue” attracted the notice of Hollywood, and by 1938 Hope had made the move west to Tinseltown.
Impressed by Hope’s crackerjack comic timing, Paramount Pictures soon signed him up for his first starring role in a major feature film, “The Big Broadcast of 1938” (1938), opposite W.C. Fields, Martha Raye and future co-star, Dorothy Lamour. It was in this film that Hope first sang the nostalgic ballad “Thanks for the Memories” for the first time – a song that would become closely associated with the comedian throughout the remainder of his showbiz life. Hope dove into his nascent movie career with his usual gusto, appearing in no fewer than six films over the next two years, among them the lively comedy-mystery “The Cat and the Canary” (1939), co-starring Paulette Goddard. His next project unexpectedly altered the trajectory of Hope’s film career in ways he never could have imagined. Paired with wildly popular crooner Bing Crosby, he starred in the fast-paced comic travelogue, “Road to Singapore” (1940). Originally meant as a vehicle for actors Fred MacMurray and Jack Oakie, it was then offered to the husband and wife team of George Burns and Gracie Allen. When they also declined, the studio gave it to Hope and Crosby with popular exotic actress Lamour brought in to the mix for sex appeal. The duo’s combination of slapstick and witty banter as couple of conmen scheming for a quick buck and Lamour’s affections was an instant hit with audiences and officially made Hope a Hollywood movie star.
Hope regularly made Hollywood’s list of Top Ten box office stars throughout the ’40s and early ’50s, sometimes coming in second only to the ever-popular Crosby. Hope’s onscreen image quickly became that of the comical, quipping coward caught in adventurous situations that – following a series of well-crafted hijinks – lead to him making good and winning the hand of his leading lady. In this vein, he reteamed with Goddard for the comedy hit “The Ghost Breakers” (1940), a film said to have helped inspire Walt Disney in the creation of his Haunted Mansion theme park attraction. Hope, Crosby and Lamour soon reunited for “Road to Zanzibar” (1941), the success of which all but assured the string of “Road to ” movies that followed. Hope continued with a winning mix of solo films and “Road” pictures with such efforts as “My Favorite Blonde” (1942), “Road to Morocco” (1942), “The Princess and the Pirate” (1944), “Road to Utopia” (1945), “My Favorite Brunette” (1947) and “The Paleface” (1948). In the latter film, Hope performed the Oscar-winning song “Buttons and Bows” – his biggest hit recording.
Hope first appeared on television in 1947 when he inaugurated the opening of the first West Coast television station, KTLA Los Angeles, and had appeared on Ed Sullivan’s “Toast of the Town” (CBS, 1948-1971) – later known as “The Ed Sullivan Show” – in 1949. But it was not until he hosted the musical-variety program “The Star Spangled Revue” (NBC, 1950) that he truly appreciated the medium and the visibility it could afford him. Though never committing to a regular weekly show, Hope was seen frequently as a guest host on the spin-off program “All Star Review” (NBC, 1950-54) and the similarly-themed “The Colgate Comedy Hour” (NBC, 1950-55). He made a memorable guest star appearance on the most popular sitcom of the day, “I Love Lucy” (CBS, 1951-57) and took a seat opposite the Great Carson many times on “The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson” (NBC, 1962-1992). Ultimately, Hope became best known on television for his many “Bob Hope Specials” which found him hamming it up with celebrity guests like Frank Sinatra and Brooke Shields and performing duets with popular female vocalists like Olivia-Newton John. His Christmas specials from 1970 and 1971, filmed in Vietnam in front of U.S. troops, drew some of the highest ratings of the dozens of “Bob Hope Specials” the beloved comedian made for NBC over more than three decades.
In 1941, Hope began his lifelong commitment to entertaining U.S. troops when he performed for soldiers stationed at California’s March Field. By 1943, he was traveling with a USO troupe, performing for Allied soldiers throughout war zones in Europe and the South Pacific, often risking his life in the process. In 1948, he entertained military personnel stationed in Berlin for the first time. It was a yearly tradition he continued for nearly three more decades. Hope’s dedication to the troops continued through the wars in Korea and Vietnam, even extending to the Gulf War more than 40 years later. Dubbed “America’s No. 1 Soldier in Greasepaint” by the media, Hope held personal relationships with every Commander in Chief from FDR to Bill Clinton, had both a Navy ship and Air Force plane named after him, and was later named the first Honorary Veteran in a act of Congress. An avid golfer since being introduced to the sport in the 1930s, Hope’s ever-present golf club – carried like a walking stick – became the iconic image of all of his USO performances.
The mainstay of Hope’s career, however, remained the motion picture. Still one of Hollywood’s more dependable box office draws, he impersonated the titular lothario to hilarious effect in “Casanova’s Big Night” (1954) then displayed his considerable talent as a dancer opposite revered Hollywood hoofer James Cagney in the vaudevillian biopic “The Seven Little Foys” (1955). While Hope enjoyed a reputation among his contemporaries as one of the more congenial stars, his outsized personality reportedly clashed with the notoriously acerbic Katharine Hepburn – his co-star in the Cold War comedy, “The Iron Petticoat” (1956). Accused by screenwriter Ben Hecht of reducing Hepburn’s role to increase the size of his own, Hope endured a rare commercial failure with “Petticoat.” A far more amiable relationship existed on the set of his international comedy alongside European beauty Anita Ekberg and cherished French comedian Fernandel in “Paris Holiday” (1958). He appeared opposite his friend Lucille Ball in the critically-acclaimed “The Facts of Life” (1960), a surprisingly sardonic romantic-comedy dealing with infidelity.
Although 10 years had passed since their last outing, Hope and Crosby hit the trail once again for “The Road to Hong Kong” (1962). Infused with bits of James Bond-esque intrigue, it featured young starlet Joan Collins in a role that would have traditionally gone to Dorothy Lamour, although Lamour was seen briefly in a cameo, reportedly at Hope’s insistence. Times and tastes had changed, however, and the latest – also the last – Hope-Crosby “Road” movie failed to generate much attention with filmgoers. The trend continued, with Hope’s solo offerings “Call Me Bwana” (1963), “I’ll Take Sweden” (1965) and “Boy, Did I Get a Wrong Number!” (1966) being examples of lesser late-career efforts. Hope’s final starring role came with “Cancel My Reservation” (1972), a comedy-mystery co-starring Eva Marie Saint. And although “The Road to the Fountain of Youth,” was in the planning stages at the time, Crosby’s sudden death in 1977 put a definitive end to the long-running franchise. No one was more devastated than Hope, who grieved for his onscreen partner for years. Hope hosted the Academy Awards ceremony for one last time the following year – a duty he had performed 12 times since 1940. His not-so-subtle feigned lust for a statuette of his own became a running gag during these stints, with Hope famously quipping during the 1968 broadcast, “Welcome to the Academy Awards, or, as it’s known in my house, Passover.” Although never nominated specifically for his acting work, Hope was presented with several honorary Oscars over the years, including a Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award.
At the spry age of 82 and after appearing in more than 50 feature films, Hope delivered one more cameo in, “Spies Like Us” (1985), a globe-trotting comedy starring Chevy Chase and Dan Aykroyd that owed much to Hope and Crosby’s “Road” movies. Following the airing of his final television special, “Bob Hope . . . Laughing with the Presidents” (NBC, 1996), he formally and amicably ended his association with NBC, one that had lasted for nearly 50 years, declaring himself “a free agent” with his usual optimistic good humor. In his twilight years, Hope continued to enjoy his greatest passion outside of longtime wife Dolores Hope – the game of golf. One of the country’s biggest proponents of the sport – which he waxed poetic about in Confessions of a Hooker: My lifelong Love Affair with Golf, just one of his 16 published books – the Bob Hope Desert Classic, held yearly in Palm Springs, became a staple on the Pro Am circuit.
Hope’s interest in sports, however, was not limited to golf. For a time he held a portion of ownership in both the Los Angeles Rams and San Diego Chargers NFL franchises. Never forgetting his hometown, he was also a co-owner of his beloved professional baseball team, the Cleveland Indians. Long considered one of Hollywood’s richest performers, his investments and holdings in oil, real estate and dozens of other business ventures led to an estimated net worth of as much as $500 million. Wealthy as he was, Hope was also revered as one of entertainment’s greatest philanthropists, raising millions of dollars for charities via the Desert Classic and acting as honorary chairman for the non-profit group, Fight for Sight. Cited by the Guinness Book of World Records as the most honored entertainer of all time, the more than 2,000 accolades Hope received during his lifetime included a Kennedy Center Award, the Medal of Merit, a Congressional Medal, and the Distinguished Public Service Medal of the U.S. Department of Defense, the highest award the military can bestow upon a civilian. The U.K.-born Hope was knighted by the Queen of England in 1998 and appointed a Knight Commander of the Order of St. Gregory by Pope John Paul II that same year. The fact that Hope was given four stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his work in film, television, radio and theater came as no surprise.
With his eyesight having deteriorated to the point that he could no longer read cue cards during a performance, Hope made few public appearances after the turn of the century. In 2000, he was admitted to the hospital for gastrointestinal bleeding and again in 2001 to recuperate from pneumonia. But despite two separate prematurely released obituaries in the years just preceding it, Hope celebrated his 100th birthday in May 2003. Although too frail to make an appearance for a public celebration, the comedian was reportedly overwhelmed by the outpouring of affection that came in from all corners of the globe. Two months later, Hope died quietly from complications due to pneumonia at his home in Toluca Lake, CA on the evening of July 23, 2003. With his wife of nearly 70 years by his side, Hope’s death brought to a close one of the town’s happiest marriages, but more importantly, one of Hollywood’s greatest success stories, with the comic having excelled in every genre and been the object of affection generation after generation.
By Bryce P. Coleman
The above TCM overview can also be accessed online here.
David Groh was born in 1939 in Brooklyn, New York. He was best known for his role as Joe husband of Valerie Harper in the hit 1970’s TV series “Rhoda”. His films include “Two-Minute Warning” with Charlton Heston and “Victory at Entebbe”, He died in 2008.
Gary Brumburgh’s entry:
David Groh’s highly anticipated “marriage” to Valerie Harper on the seventh episode of the sitcom Rhoda (1974) was the highest rated episode of that show’s entire run and it was this co-starring role that situated him squarely on the Hollywood TV map. Rhoda Morgenstern, the perennial bridesmaid, cynical plain-Jane and beloved Jewish-born jokester who was spun off from the classic comedy Mary Tyler Moore (1970) finally found her dream man in the form of virile, curly-haired, blue-collared Joe Gerard and audiences were ecstatic. Groh went on to equip himself quite well as the steady, mild-mannered foil to Rhoda’s neurotic antics and busybody tendencies. The show, however, was not as great a success as expected and after three seasons the character of Joe was written out of the show. Concerned producers reasoned that audiences best loved Rhoda when she was a lovelorn bachelorette and that they could get more comedy mileage out of her character if she reverted back to single status. At the time, however, divorce was a serious issue and not as casually addressed in comedy as it is today. Audiences were perturbed that their beloved Rhoda would end up a divorcée; the series lasted only another year. David would continue steadily on stage and in independent films, but in a lesser light. Although he never found the same kind of attention again, for him it was more about the work.
Born David Lawrence Groh on May 21, 1939, the son of Jewish-Americans Benjamin (an architect) and Mildred Groh, he received his diploma from Brooklyn Technical High School, where was elected student body president. He subsequently attended Brown University with an early interest in engineering, but graduated Phi Beta Kappa with a degree in English literature. He apprenticed for a couple seasons at the American Shakespeare Festival in Stratford, Connecticut, and was a spear carrier in the Katharine Hepburn/Robert Ryan production of “Antony and Cleopatra” in 1960. This early encouragement led to further studies in London — courtesy of a Fulbright scholarship. David served in the Army for six months in 1963, and a year of reserve duty. Returning to his native New York, he sharpened his technique at the Actors Studio. Appearing around and about in such plays as “The Importance of Being Earnest,” he finally marked his TV debut on a 1968 episode of the cult Gothic daytime drama “Dark Shadows” and made his film entrance in a prime role in the Italian-made feature Red Hot Shot (1970) [Red Hot Shot].
While continuing to add on-camera credits to his resume, notably a regular 1972-1973 role in the daytime drama Love Is a Many Splendored Thing (1967), it wasn’t until he made a definitive move to Los Angeles in 1974 that his career suddenly accelerated. Within months he was cast alongside Valerie Harper in “Rhoda” and enjoyed three solid seasons as her handsome construction worker hubby. After he was phased out of the show, he found a sitcom of his own to star in with Another Day (1978) opposite Joan Hackett, but the family-oriented program lasted only a month in April. From then on he focused more and more on heavier dramatics. He portrayed the evil-minded D.L. Brock on the daytime soap opera General Hospital (1963) from 1983 to 1985, and later co-starred in the Roger Corman crime action series Black Scorpion (2001), while finding recurring roles on such programs as “Melrose Place,” “Baywatch” and “Law & Order”. Although he never made a strong showing on the large screen, David did appear in the films Irish Whiskey Rebellion (1972), Two-Minute Warning (1976) and A Hero Ain’t Nothin’ But a Sandwich (1978) in between assorted stage and TV assignments.
He returned strongly to his theater roots after the Rhoda hoopla and played both appealingly charismatic and slick, unsavory types. He made his Broadway debut replacingJudd Hirsch in the winning Neil Simon comedy “Chapter Two” in 1978. Down the road he appeared in an assortment of plays: “King Lear” (1982), “Be Happy for Me” (1986), “Road Show” (1987), “Beyond a Reasonable Doubt” (1989), “The Twilight of the Golds” (1993), “Mizlansky/Zilinsky” (2000), “The Waverly Gallery,” “Gangster Planet” (2002) and “Blackout” (2003), to name a few. He was an admired fixture both in New York and on the smaller Los Angeles stages, and tried his hand at stage directing with a production of “Mango Mango” at the Lee Strasberg Creative Center Theatre in Los Angeles in 2000. In recent years, David appeared occasionally in support in independent features.
He developed a lifelong passion for early American furniture and folk art (which first blossomed as a youth visiting the Brooklyn and Metropolitan Museums and fully bloomed from his association with an acting teacher who was also a collector. ). David lived in Los Angeles at the time of his death from kidney cancer at age 68, and had one son, Spencer, from a prior 80s to Karla Pergande. His first marriage to Denise Arsenault was annulled. He and his surviving third wife, the former Kristin Andersen, were in the early stages of development on a new lowbudget film tentatively called “Lower East Side Story”.
– IMDb Mini Biography By: Gary Brumburgh / gr-home@pacbell.net
From 1940 to 1945, when Hollywood was fighting a propaganda war against Germany, the tall, handsome, blue-eyed blond German-born actor Kurt Kreuger, who has died aged 89, was much in demand as a nasty Nazi. He stood around (sometimes uncredited) looking arrogantly aryan in Gestapo, SS, Luftwaffe, German army or navy uniforms in dozens of films of the period, including Fritz Lang’s Hangmen Also Die (1943), The Strange Death of Adolph Hitler (1943) and The Hitler Gang (1944).
His first major role was in Zoltan Korda’s Sahara (1943), in which he is a Nazi pilot shot down by Humphrey Bogart’s tank patrol in North Africa and kept prisoner. Although an Italian prisoner starts to come over to the allies’ side, Kreuger remains resolutely and convincingly wedded to his ideology. Kreuger later recalled that his intense death scene at the hands of a Sudanese soldier (Rex Ingram) came close to the real thing.
Kurt Kreuger
“I was running across the dunes when Ingram jumped on top of me and pressed my head into the sand to suffocate me. Only Zoltan forgot to yell cut, and Ingram was so emotionally caught up in the scene that he kept pressing my face harder and harder. Finally, I went unconscious. Nobody knew this. Even the crew was transfixed, watching this dramatic ‘killing’. If Zoltan hadn’t finally said cut, as an afterthought, it would have been all over for me.”
When Kreuger, who became an American citizen in 1944, was once asked if there were any social repercussions at the time for playing Nazis, he replied: “I sensed some kind of hatred from neighbours after I had bought my first home in Hollywood, but for the rest of it, I was welcome everywhere. I’ve never very much considered myself a German. This may well be the key to why I’ve always felt like a cosmopolitan.” In fact, Kreuger spent most of his life outside Germany. He was born to wealthy parents in Michendorf, near Potsdam, and raised in St Moritz, Switzerland. He was educated at private schools, where he developed a lifelong passion for skiing. After attending the London School of Economics, he moved to New York where he studied medicine at Columbia University. When he dropped out of college in 1937, he failed to follow his businessman father’s wish that he become a doctor, and his allowance was cut off.
However, thanks to Hitler, he began to get work in films from 1940, making his screen debut as a U-boat seaman (billed as Knud Kreuger) in Edward Dmytryk’s Mystery Sea Raider (1940). The following year he appeared on Broadway as a German lieutenant in Maxwell Anderson’s Candle in the Wind, an anti-Nazi drama starring Helen Hayes, who remained a friend. Although Robert Wise’s Mademoiselle Fifi (1944), in which Kreuger played the title role, was set in 1870 during the Prussian occupation of France, it was plainly a reference to contemporary events. Kreuger played a sadistic Prussian officer, whose nickname derived from his constantly saying “fi fi” (fie fie), determined to seduce a patriotic laundress (Simone Simon) and humiliate France.
After the war, Kreuger began to get slightly different parts, usually as the “other man”, the first being in Henry Hathaway’s effective film noir Dark Corner (1946) as a smooth, crooked lawyer and womaniser who meets a violent end with a poker. Preston Sturges then cast him as the suspected lover of Linda Darnell, married to jealous orchestral conductor Rex Harrison in Unfaithfully Yours (1948). While conducting three pieces, Harrison imagines different ways of dealing with his wife’s “infidelity”. First, he kills her and Kreuger gets the blame; second, he allows the young couple to run away; and lastly, he challenges Kreuger to a fatal game of Russian roulette. Kreuger is admirable in a rather thankless role. Unsatisfied with the parts he was being given, in 1950 Kreuger moved back to Europe, where he spent much time skiing, got married, and made four German films including Angst (Fear, 1954), directed by Roberto Rossellini, in which he played married Ingrid Bergman’s lover. On his return to the US, Kreuger ended six years of marriage, which he called “three years of bliss, three years of hell”, losing custody of his son. He resumed his American career in television series and a few films, mainly as German officers again.
He suffered two disappointments, one losing the role of the “good” German soldier in The Young Lions (1958) to Marlon Brando, and the other after having auditioned for the role of Captain von Trapp opposite Mary Martin in the Broadway musical The Sound of Music in 1959, and being turned down for looking “too young”. (Ironically, the part was given to Theodore Bickel, eight years his junior.) Kreuger’s last feature was Roger Corman’s The St Valentine’s Day Massacre (1967), in which he played a hitman of gangster Bugs Moran (Ralph Meeker).
Kurt Kreuger
On his retirement from acting, Kreuger made a fortune in real estate and property development in California. He had a mansion in Beverly Hills, a second home for skiing in Aspen, Colorado, and travelled the globe in luxury.
· Kurt Kreuger, actor, born July 23 1916; died July 12 2006.
The above “Guardian” obituary can also be accessed online here.
