1910-1999
Not just another pretty face powerhouse actress Sylvia Sidney was born Sylvia Kosow in The Bronx, New York on this day. Her parents divorced when she was five; with her mother's remarriage, she was legally adopted by her stepfather whose surname was Sidney--hence the name change. Interested in acting from a young age, she was schooled at a theater guild and was acting professionally at the age of 15. Sidney's extremely long career in films and television began in 1927 when she was cast in the romantic drama Broadway Nights, which also happened to mark the film premiered of one Barbara Stanwyck; Sidney's part was small--as one of four "Performers"--but at least it was a credited role (that is more than Stanwyck or Ann Sothern got!). It was of only two films in which she appeared in the 1920's and the only silent. Thru Different Eyes--released on the 14 of April, 1929--was an early all talking Fox drama; it marked Sidney's debut in a full supporting role. Sidney started out the new decade with a role in a 14 minute short, Five Minutes from the Station; while her first lead role came next in City Streets (1931), an early noir; Sidney starred opposite Gary Cooper. She quickly became a needed fresh face during the Depression; very much in demand as a leading lady. Her career, though, slowed significantly during the 1940's, this was in no small part due to fact that in the later 30's she gained a reputation (deserved or not) for being difficult to work with--this was coming from directors like Fritz Lang and Hitchcock--still she was one of Hollywood's most highly paid and her movies brought in really good box office returns. As a result of this slowing, she both turned to character acting and to making guest appearances on television. Her small screen debut came in 1952 in a third season episode of Cameo Theater (The Gathering Twilight) a live series that presented a different story every week. Her early television appearances were heavily weighted in such shows, although she did appear on shows such as Tales of Tomorrow. All of her acting credits from the first half of the 1960's were in television. She then took five years off from any sort of filmed acting. Her first real love was the stage, and she had worked on the stage all through her career, having made her Broadway debut in 1926. When she returned to her film career, she made a number of made for television films and had guest appearances on very popular television series (my personal favorite of her made-for-TV film roles is in the NBC "creature feature" Snowbeast in 1977). Her first real recurring series role came in the short lived 1986 family drama Morningstar/Eveningstar. She is, without a doubt, though, known to most people for her appearances in not one, but two Tim Burton films: Beetlejuice (1988) and Mars Attacks (1996). Her last acting gig came in the rebooted Fantasy Island as Clia in seven of the series total of thirteen episodes in 1998. A lifelong chain smoker (as is spoofed a bit in Beetlejuice), she developed a rapidly spreading throat cancer and medical treatments were of no avail. She passed away in Manhattan on the 1st of July in 1999 at almost the age of 89. She had worked up to the very end. She was cremated and her ashes were urned. In 1982 she was given the George Eastman Award for film acting; and she was a Lincoln Center lifetime achievement honoree in 1990.
1907-1990
One of the most popular movie stars ever to grace the big and small screen, Barbara Stanwyck was born Ruby Catherine Stevens today in Brooklyn, New York. Her childhood was not ideal, as her mother died under tragic circumstances when she was just four, and her father took a job digging the Panama Canal and disappeared--thought dead--shortly after her mother's death. Fortunately for Ruby and her brother Byron, their eldest sister Mildred was quite a bit older and she was able to care for the pair for a while. However, when she was forced to get a job, Ruby and Bryon were placed in a series of foster homes. Ruby made it a habit to run away from these situations. Mildred's profession was as a showgirl, and at the age of 9, Ruby was back with her sister, who was by this time touring in the entertainment industry. For two years Ruby traveled with her, often practicing her sister's routines backstage. She was also a big fan of silent serial specialist Pearl White, which made her determined to become a performer of some sort. Ruby dropped out of school at the age of 14 to take a wrapping job at a Brooklyn department store, never attending high school (though some made up biographical material was circulated when she was gaining in popularity as an actress, that she performed while attending a famous Brooklyn high school). She next took a filing job that paid much better than the department store; this allowed her to live independently. She saw both jobs as a means to an end, and disliked them both; for her they were necessary to enter the entertainment industry. She briefly worked for Vogue magazine, but was fired do to her lack of experience in cloth cutting; so she went to work as a typist for a music company, this was reported to be the first job that she actually enjoyed. Despite that her sister had repeatedly tried to keep from attempting to become a performer, Ruby auditioned in 1923, just before her 16th birthday, for a job in chorus at a night club that operated above New York's famous Strand Theater in Times Square. A few months later found her dancing for the Ziegfeld Follies. For the next several years she worked hard evening to dawn as a night club dancer. In 1926 she was introduced to stage producer Willard Mack, for whom she auditioned and gained a part in a play that he was casting as a chorus girl played by a real chorus girl. The play opened but was not initially successful, so Mack actually decided to expand Ruby's part as the chorus girl, giving her significantly more lines. When the play reopened, it became a hit and quickly made it's way to Broadway. It was at this time that one of her mentors (not known exactly which one) suggested to Ruby that she change her name: thus Barbara Stanwyck was born. Under this name, she quickly became a huge star on Broadway. In 1927, she was given a screen test for the upcoming silent Broadway Nights. She did not get the main part (that went to Lois Wilson), but she was given a bit part as a fan dancer, thus Stanwyck made her silver screen debut (see the film's entry at IMDb). This would be the only silent film that Stanwyck acted in. In 1928, she married a fellow actor whom she had met on the wildly successful Broadway run of the play Burlesque; the couple promptly relocated to Hollywood. The first full sound film that she acted in came when she starred in The Locked Door in 1929, with mono sound by MovieTone. She next starred in and received top billing in Mexicali Rose also in 1929, this time with sound provided by Western Electric. Though neither film stood out in any way, other than being talkies, a curiosity at the time, they were enough for her to get the attention of directing giant Frank Capra, who gave her the starring role in his 1930 Ladies Of Leisure. It's a cliche, but it's true to say, the rest is history. She made her television debut in 1956 on the Ford Television Theatre in the episode Sudden Silence. In the late 1950's her film career began to wane, she made the decision to specialize in television, at one point having her own show The Barbara Stanwyck Show. Her role on The Big Valley made her one of the most popular actors in television history. After making a television movie in 1973, she retired from acting full time and didn't make another appearance in front the camera until making one appearance on Charlie's Angels. She then had recurring roles in 3 additional television series (one a mini-series), including Dynasty. Her last role was a large one, she agreed to actually star in the Dynasty spin-off The Colby's. in 1982, while filming the mini-series The Thorn Birds she contracted a very seriously case of bronchitis, due to special smoke effects on the set, the fact that she had been a serious smoker since before the age of 10 only made this worse. So, it is not surprising that in the late 1980's she began having trouble with COPD, this in turn brought on congestive heart failure. Stanwyck died of the ailments on the 20th of January 1990 at the age of 82. She was cremated and her ashes were scattered, via helicopter, over Lone Pine, California--where she had found memories of filming some of the westerns that she starred in.
Fore More:
1909-2001
Born Henriette Arlene Lake in Valley City, North Dakota; her mother was a professional singer who regularly toured with musicals. Her maternal grandfather was famed Danish violinist Hans Nielsen. The family resided in Minneapolis, where she attended McPhail School of Music. Her mother also home schooled her in piano. Her parents separated when she was four. She then began to tour with her mother when time permitted. By 11 she was both a well schooled pianist and soloist in singing and spent time singing in her church choir. By 14 she resumed voice lessons. In high school, she not only appeared in several school plays, she even directed a few of them! Also while in high school, she entered state sponsored music composition competitions, and won three years in a row. After she graduated from high school her mother moved to Los Angeles because she had gotten a job a Warner Bros. studios as vocal coach. Sothern chose to move to Seattle where her estranged father had moved, there she enrolled in the University of Washington; but dropped out one year later. At some point after she dropped out of University, she appeared in one silent film (her motion picture debut) as a Fan Dancer extra in 1927; Broadway Nights [this must be around the time that she chose to use a stage name]. The film was shot in New York City and produced by the short lived Robert Kane Productions. She then visited her mother in Los Angeles; while there she auditioned for and got a role in a very early full sound musical revue produced by her mother's employer Warner Bros in 1929: The Show of Shows. The film featured full mono sound by Vitaphone with the Western Electric Apparatus, and had parts that were in very early technicolor. This lead to her signing a 6 month contract with MGM. These titles were the only two films she appeared in during the late silent era. She quickly became disillusioned with Hollywood, and left for Broadway in the 1930's with the help of Florenz Ziegfeld. She returned 3 years later; and had a very long and prolific career in film, radio and television. During the 1950's, she decided to become a business woman and owned a slew of different type of business ventures, from production companies, a sewing store, to a cattle ranch in Idaho. She even managed to record an album in 1958. Some of the notable television appearances came on shows such as: The Loretta Young Show, The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, and The Lucy Show. From 1958-1961 she had her very own television series The Ann Sothern Show. She is also the mother of actress Tisha Sterling (her father is was actor Robert Sterling). The last film she made was in 1987, The Whales of August, with the likes of Lillian Gish, Bette Davis and Vincent Price. This garnered her the only Oscar nomination of her career--that for a supporting role. After this she retired to her ranch in Idaho. She passed away there at the age 92 on the 15th of March 2001. She buried there in the Ketchum Cemetery.
