Forgotten Actors: December 2022

Sunday 25 December 2022

Denise Becker

Born: unknown

Died: unknown

It is assumed that Denise Becker was a French actress who appeared in silent films at the beginning of the 20th Century.

Esmeralda (1905) as Esmeralda

Wednesday 14 December 2022

Nan Grey

Born: 25 July 1918, Houston, Texas, USA

Died: 25 July 1993, San Diego, California, USA

Dracula's Daughter (1936) as Lili (Credited as Nan Gray)

Tuesday 6 December 2022

John Arledge

Born: 12 May 1907, Crockett, Texas, USA

Died: 15 May 1947, Hollywood, California, USA

6,000 Enemies (1939) as Phil Donegan

Rita Johnson

Born: 13 August 1913, Worcester, Massachusetts, USA

Died: 31 October 1965, Hollywood, California, USA

6,000 Enemies (1939) as Anne Barry

Monday 5 December 2022

Robert Shaw

Born: 15 September 1915, Dallas, Texas, USA

Died: 3 January 2005, Austin, Texas, USA

20,000 Men a Year (1939) as Tommy Howell

Iva Stewart

Born: 5 January 1914, Berlin, New Hampshire, USA

Died: 6 March 1985, Los Angeles, California, USA

20,000 Men a Year (1939) as Stewardess (uncredited)

Difficult to see in the darkness as Iva Stewart talks to Selmer Jackson.

George Ernest

Born: 20 November 1921, Pittsfield, Massachusetts, USA

Died: 25 June 2009, Whittier, California, USA

20,000 Men a Year (1939) as Skip Rogers

With Margaret Lindsay.

Paul Stanton

Born: 21 December 1884, Sterling, Illinois, USA

Died: 9 October 1955, Los Angeles, California, USA

Private Number (1936) as Rawlings

20,000 Men a Year (1939) as Gerald Grant

John Hartley

Born: 21 September 1912, Waltham, Massachusetts, USA

Died: 8 October 2000, Apache Junction, Arizona, USA

$1,000 a Touchdown (1939) as Bill Anders

With Susan Hayward.

Martha Raye

Born: 27 August 1916, Butte, Montana, USA

Died: 19 October 1994, Los Angeles, California, USA

$1,000 a Touchdown (1939) as Martha Madison

Ernest Torrence

Born: 26 June 1878, Edinburgh, Scotland, UK

Died: 15 May 1933, New York City, New York, USA

The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1923) as Clopin (Credited as Ernest Torrance)

Steamboat Bill, Jr. (1928) as William 'Steamboat Bill' Canfield

Winifred Bryson

Born: 20 December 1892, Los Angeles, California, USA

Died: 20 August 1987, Los Angeles, California, USA

The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1923) as Fleur de Lys

Kate Lester

Born: 12 June 1857, Souldham Trope, England, UK

Died: 12 October 1924, Hollywood, California, USA

The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1923) as Madame de Gondelaurier

Eulalie Jensen

Born: 24 December 1884, St. Louis, Missouri, USA

Died: 7 October 1952, Los Angeles, California, USA

The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1923) as Marie, Queen of the Gypsies

Sunday 4 December 2022

Charles Becker

Born: 24 November 1887, Muschenheim, Germany

Died: 28 December 1968, Elk Grove, California, USA

Spangles (1926) as Little Tommy Tumtack - Dwarf

James Conly

Born: unknown

Died: unknown

Sometimes credited as James Conley.

Spangles (1926) as Biff, the Halfwit

Jay Emmett

Born: unknown

Died: unknown

Spangles (1926) as Jack Milford (Credited as Jay Emmet)

With Gladys Brockwell.

Marian Nixon

Born: 20 October 1904, Superior, Wisconsin, USA

Died: 13 February 1983, Los Angeles, California, USA

Spangles (1926) as 'Spangles' Delancy

Nicholas Soussanin

Born: 3 January 1889, Yalta, Taurida Governorate, Russian Empire [now Crimea, Ukraine]

Died: 27 April 1975, New York City, New York, USA

The Woman Disputed (1928) as Count

With Gladys Brockwell.

Gladys Brockwell

Born: 26 September 1894, Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA

Died: 2 July 1929, Hollywood, California, USA

The Darling of New York (1923) as Light-Fingered Kitty

The red tinting technique in this film was used during the fire scene. This is a mostly lost film.

Spangles (1926) as Mademoiselle Dazie

Twinkletoes (1926) as Cissie Lightfoot

The Woman Disputed (1928) as Countess

With Nicholas Soussanin.

Baby Peggy Montgomery

Born: 29 October 1918, San Diego, California, USA

Died: 24 February 2020, Gustine, California, USA

Baby Peggy was a silent child star from the age of two until the work dried up at the age of eight. In the 1930s Peggy made a brief comeback. By now a young woman, Peggy's film roles were often secondary and eventually that work disappeared for her. In later life she found success as a writer of her experiences in Hollywood and after under the pseudonym Diana Serra Carey, a name she would us for her final appearance in a short film that recreated an era in which she became a star.

The Darling of New York (1923) as Santussa

The red tinting technique in this film was used during the fire scene. This is a mostly lost film.

Off His Base (1932) as Peggy

With Eugene Pallette. This short comedy was Peggy's first sound film.

Bronco Billy and the Bandit's Secret (2013) as The Movie Star (Credited as Diana Serra Carey)

A brief appearance in this mock-up of a silent western. The other actor is Bruce Cates. Baby Peggy had retired from films in the late 1930s and so this was a welcome cameo from one of the last stars from the silent era.

James T. Kelley

Born: 10 July 1854, Castlebar, Ireland, UK [now Republic of Ireland]

Died: 12 November 1933, New York City, New York, USA

Among Those Present (1921) as Her Father (Credited as James Kelly)

Saturday 3 December 2022

Hal Roach

Born: 14 January 1892, Elmira, New York, USA

Died: 2 November 1992, Los Angeles, California, USA

Hal Roach was a film producer, director and studio owner. His Hal Roach Studios was famous for producing the films of Laurel and Hardy, Buster Keaton, Harold Lloyd, Our Gang and many others.

Number, Please? (1920) as Sailor (uncredited)