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Dalyce Curry was an actress, known for Lady Sings the Blues (1972). She died on 10 January 2025 in Altadena, California, USA.

She first made her acting debut at age 21 in a 1992 episode of Married... with Children (1987), and went on to guest-star in many popular television shows, such as Murphy Brown (1988), The X-Files (1993), Sisters (1991), and Silk Stalkings (1991), and appeared in many obscure, straight-to-video/TV movies. She finally earned her big break and minor celebrity status at age 28, with her role as "Laurie Forman", the promiscuous elder sister of "Eric Forman" on That '70s Show (1998). The character garnered her #6 placement on Maxim's TV's "Best Nymphos" list. She enjoyed brief success, mild publicity and increased output during the first two years of the show, including one of her only high-profile movies, Jawbreaker (1999). She developed drug problems during filming of the third season of "That '70s Show" and was fired. It was explained that her character Laurie was off attending beauty school.

She briefly returned to the show in the fifth season and was offered appearances in 13 episodes of the sixth season. She filmed the first few episodes, but was replaced by Christina Moore, as she was in the midst of a key story and her character couldn't up and leave again. Fox stated this was a mutual agreement, and Wilmer Valderrama, with whom she spent most of her screen time in season five, said she wanted to try other things. Her agent restated that adding that she had been clean for two years. According to IMDb, she has had only one credit since her final exit from the show: the 2005 film The Food Chain: A Hollywood Scarytale (2005).

Broad-shouldered and beefy Claude Akins had wavy black hair, a deep booming voice and was equally adept at playing sneering cowardly villains as he was at portraying hard-nosed cops. The son of a police officer, Akins never seemed short of work and appeared in nearly 100 films and 180+ TV episodes in a career spanning over 40 years. He originally attended Northwestern University, and went on to serve with the US Army Signal Corps in World War II in Burma and the Phillipines. Upon returning, he reignited his interest in art and drama and first appeared in front of the camera in 1953 in From Here to Eternity (1953). He quickly began notching up roles in such TV shows as Dragnet (1951), My Friend Flicka (1955), Gunsmoke (1955) and Zane Grey Theatre (1956). He also turned in several strong cinematic performances, such as gunfighter Joe Burdette in the landmark western Rio Bravo (1959), Mack in the excellent The Defiant Ones (1958), Sgt. Kolwicz in Merrill's Marauders (1962) and Earl Sylvester in the gripping The Killers (1964). In the early 1970s Akins turned up in several supernatural TV films playing "no-nonsense" sheriffs in both The Night Stalker (1972) and The Norliss Tapes (1973), and was unrecognizable underneath his simian make-up as war-mongering Gen. Aldo in Battle for the Planet of the Apes (1973). Akins continued starring in films and TV right up until the time of his death from cancer in 1994. By all reports a very gregarious, likable and friendly person off screen, Akins was married for over 40 years to Theresa "Pie" Fairfield, and had three children, Claude Marion Jr., Michele & Wendy.

Surrounded by four dazzling Southern-styled ladies on the hit sitcom Designing Women (1986), genial African-American actor Meshach Taylor made a name for himself as the beleaguered male foil consistently at the mercy of the title gals' antics during its popular 7-season run.

The Boston-born actor who entered life on April 11, 1947, was raised in New Orleans and Indianapolis (Crispus Attucks High School) and took an early interest in acting back in high school. He first studied drama at Ohio's Wilmington College before transferring to Florida A&M in Tallahassee, Florida.

Gaining experience back at an Indianapolis radio station as a State House political correspondent and in repertory theater. His first professional break came in with a national tour of the musical "Hair." He eventually became a member of both Chicago's Goodman Theatre and the Organic Theatre group. One of his stage performances, "Sizwe Banzi Is Dead," earned him Chicago theater's Joseph Jefferson Award. Taylor transported himself to Los Angeles in the 78 and found minor work in a few of the popular horror films of the day: Damien: Omen II (1978), The Howling (1981) and The Beast Within (1982), and also started to make the typical rounds on popular TV shows including "Barney Miller," "Lou Grant" and "M*A*S*H."

After a regular part on the promising, but short-lived Buffalo Bill (1983), he nabbed the Emmy-nominated role of Anthony Bouvier, the jailbird-turned-assistant to Delta Burke, Annie Potts, Jean Smart and Dixie Carter. Originally a guest part at the beginning, he proved popular with audiences and the show progressed his character and was eventually made a full partner of the ladies' designer firm.

Following this success, Taylor moved straight into four seasons with the sitcom Dave's World (1993) as a poker-playing buddy/neighbor to Harry Anderson. His film and TV load has been fairly lightweight overall with routine turns in such comedy fare as Mannequin (1987) and Class Act (1992), an Olsen twins mini-movie, and as a regular panelist on a revamped version of To Tell the Truth (2000). One of his brighter moments (literally) was playing the role of Lumiere in Broadway's "Beauty and the Beast."

His later career was comprised of lowbudget comedy films such as Jacks or Better (2000), Friends and Family (2001), Club Fiji (2008), as well as horror/drama including Tranced (2010), Wigger (2010) and Hyenas (2011). He was occasionally seen as a guest on the small screen in such shows as "The Drew Carey Show," "Hannah Montana," "Jessie" and, his last, "Criminal Minds," as well as a regular role in the series Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide (2004), which lasted three seasons.

After his 11-year marriage to Sandra Taylor ended in 1980, Meshach married actress Bianca Taylor ("General Hospital") in 1983 and had three children. He had one child from his first marriage. In addition to daughters Tamar, Yasmine and Esme and son Tariq, he has a sister, Judith, and brother, Hussain, a private investigator in the Los Angeles area, as well as four grandchildren. His father, Joseph, was a Dean at Indiana University and his mother, Hertha, a school teacher in Indianapolis, Indiana. Taylor died at age 67 of colorectal cancer on June 28 2014, in the Los Angeles area (Altadena). Terminally ill and extremely weak, he nevertheless flew with his children to Indiana just one week before his death to celebrate the centennial birthday of his mother. He was interred at Forest Lawn in Glendale, CA.

Barbara La Marr was born in Yakima, Washington, on July 28, 1896, as Reatha Watson. Her childhood was mostly uneventful, mainly because Yakima--today a medium-sized city with a population of over 50, 000-wasn't exactly a beehive of activity. Her parents eventually moved to the Los Angeles area, where she began to explore the show business lifestyle in whatever form she could. Barbara loved the L.A. way of living and was forced to grow up fast. She was still Reatha at the time, but her arrest for dancing in burlesque while still a teen caused her to change her name to Barbara La Marr to avoid being associated with her past. Her passion was dancing and writing, but the powers-that-be in the movie industry thought she was meant for other things--her dazzling beauty captured the imagination of all who came across her path. Moving to New York, she was ultimately lured into the film world, her first picture being Harriet and the Piper (1920). She was still going by her married name of Barbara Deely (already working to shed her fourth husband) and was being dubbed "The Girl Who Is Too Beautiful." The next year she appeared in The Three Musketeers (1921) and Desperate Trails (1921). That same year, her role as Claudine Dupree in The Nut (1921) sent Barbara into super-stardom. Hordes of fans flocked to theaters to see this beautiful actress in movies such as Arabian Love (1922), Trifling Women (1922), Domestic Relations (1922) and The Prisoner of Zenda (1922) whose beauty kept them enthralled. In 1923, she kept up her frenzied filming pace with such pictures as Poor Men's Wives (1923), The Brass Bottle (1923) and Souls for Sale (1923). The public adored her, as evidenced by the volumes of fan mail she received, but Barbara was more interested in the late-night partying she was involved with. The combination of alcohol and drugs was, clearly, beginning to wear her down. She made four films in 1924 and three in 1925. Her last picture was The Girl from Montmartre (1926). On February 2, 1926, Barbara died of tuberculosis in Altadena, California. Her demise was, no doubt, brought about by her constant late-night partying. She had lived a lifetime and had made 30 films, but was only 29 when she died.

John Ingle was born on 7 May 1928 in Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA. He was an actor, known for General Hospital (1963), Heathers (1988) and Death Becomes Her (1992). He was married to Grace-Lynne Martin. He died on 16 September 2012 in Altadena, California, USA.

After a long illness, Marcia DeRousse passed the morning of September 2, 2023, in Altadena, CA, where she resided. She was 70. Born in Doniphan, Missouri, and a graduate of the University of Missouri. In 1980, she moved with her mother to Los Angeles and quickly became immersed in acting, while teaching in the Pasadena public school system. After a chance meeting with the legendary Billy Barty, her first screen credit was Under The Rainbow. During that decade, she was a steady working television actor with Guest Stars on The Fall Guy, St. Elsewhere and a variety of other appearances. Her next big screen credit came with the unconventional film, Tiptoes, opposite Michael J. Anderson. Marcia's most memorable role was recurring as Dr. Ludwig from 2009-2014 in HBO's True Blood. That led to her final film as Miss Judith, co-staring with Kate Beckinsale in D.J. Caruso's The Disappointments Room. Marcia was not your typical character actor. She was a 4'4" outspoken dynamo with a distinct, sharp wit. An extraordinary woman. Marcia was a tremendous lover and supporter of all her feline friends. She adored cats, especially the strays. An advocate for her fellow disabled actors, always pushing for more opportunities for the senior disabled community. Marcia was close friends with Zelda Rubinstein and considered Zelda her mentor. She is survived by her loving family, friends and a plethora of neighborhood cats.

Dorothy Dell was born to Elbert and Lillan Goff in Hattiesburg, Mississippi on January 30, 1915. She won the most beautiful baby in Hattiesburg beauty contest when she was thirteen months old. She lived in New Orleans from the age of ten. She attended the Sophie Wright High School for girls. Winning the Miss New Orleans title, when she was fifteen, she went on a Fanchon and Marco vaudeville tour for six months. She got a job with the Ziegfield Follies of 1931 when she arrived in New York City. She sang a solo, "Was I Drunk?", in the production. All of her films at Paramount were released in 1934. She died that year in an automobile accident on June 8, 1934, She had left an all-night party at an inn in Altadena and was going to Pasadena in the wee hours when the car left the highway, hit a telephone pole, bounced off a palm tree and hit a boulder. Miss Dell was killed instantly. Her date, Dr. Carl Wagner, who was driving, died several hours later.

He made his first appearance before the camera at the age of 14 in Douglas Fairbanks's Robin Hood (1922) Young Dave became the National A.A.U. tumbling champion in 1925 and 1926. Still in his teens, he began taking bit parts in films. His big break came in Masked Emotions (1929). It led him to a series of Hal Roach comedies. In 1933 Ajax Pictures signed him as one of the leads in its "Young Friends" series. In the 1930s he played a variety of roles in many B westerns. He was one of the three leads, with with Charles Quigley and Bruce Bennett, in the Republic Pictures serial Daredevils of the Red Circle (1939). While at Republic he met stuntman Yakima Canutt and began doing stunt work. Dave doubled for almost every western lead at Republic and also some of the ladies. In 1942 Monogram Pictures signed him as one of the leads in its Range Busters western series. Dave appeared in three of them: Texas to Bataan (1942), Trail Riders (1942) and Haunted Ranch (1943). Dave joined the US Army Air Corps and and rose to the rank of captain. After his discharge he returned to Hollywood and confined his career mainly to stunt work and second-unit directing. He doubled Douglas Fairbanks Jr. and Tony Curtis in all of their action films. He didn't restrict his stunt work to just films, though; he also doubled the leads in such TV series as The F.B.I. (1965), Adventures of Wild Bill Hickok (1951) and many others. He was also seen as the old lady in the wheelchair on The Red Skelton Hour (1951). Dave was inducted into the Stuntman's Hall of Fame in 1970, and in 1978 contracted ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig's Disease.

Mario Casilli was born on 22 January 1931 in Cleveland, Ohio, USA. He is known for Nuts (1987), Star 80 (1983) and Playboy Video Magazine, Vol. 4 (1983). He was married to Gwen ?. He died on 25 April 2002 in Altadena, California, USA.

Kelly G. Crawford was born on 26 July 1951 in Los Angeles, California, USA. He is known for The Fast and the Furious (2001), The Jackal (1997) and The Time Machine (2002). He died on 9 September 2012 in Altadena, California, USA.

Born Pearl Zane Gray on January 31, 1872, in Zanesville, Ohio--a town founded by his mother's family--famed western novelist Zane Grey was an athlete and outdoorsman from an early age, with his main interests being fishing and baseball. He attended the University of Pennsylvania on a baseball scholarship, graduating with a degree in dentistry in 1896. He played minor-league baseball for a short period for a team in West Virginia. He started a dentistry practice in New York city, where he met the woman who would become his wife, Lina Roth, who got him to focus more on his writing. He would, however, periodically take fishing trips to the upper Delaware River in Lackawaxen in Pike County, Pennsylvania. In 1902 he became a published author by selling a story about fishing. Three years later he and Lisa married and moved to a farm in Lackawaxen

Grey began to take an interest in the West after accompanying a friend to Arizona on a trapping expedition to capture mountain lions. He published his first western novel, "Spirit of the Border", in 1906, and it quickly became a best-seller. In 1912 he published what is probably his best-known western novel, "Riders of the Purple Sage", which was also a big seller. Aiming to get his books made into films, he formed his own motion-picture production company, which he later sold to Paramount Pictures executive Jesse Lasky. Paramount would produce a large number of westerns based on Grey's novels.

Unlike many successful authors, Grey didn't content himself with simply churning out more novels. He traveled all over the world and involved himself in a variety of endeavors, from working a mining claim on Oregon's Rogue River to fishing for sharks in New Zealand, and writing books--both fiction and non-fiction--about his adventures. He had a special affinity for New Zealand and wrote many best-selling books about his fishing experiences there, which helped to make the country a mecca for deep-sea sport fishermen. Grey himself held many world records for catching big-game fish.

He died in 1939 and is buried at the Union Cemetery in Lackawaxen, Pennsylvania. The city is also the location of the Zane Grey Museum, which is administered by the National Park Service.

Carol Stone was born on 1 February 1915 in New York City, New York, USA. She was an actress, known for You Are There (1953), The Prudential Family Playhouse (1950) and Suspicion (1957). She was married to Robert W. McCahon. She died on 10 June 2011 in Altadena, California, USA.

Billy Wells was born on December 7, 1931 in Menominee, Michigan, the adopted son in a long-time lumber family by John and Dorothy (Tilly) Wells. He was briefly an actor on four television programs: on Colt .45 (1959), Bat Masterson (1961), Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1961), and The Alfred Hitchcock Hour (1962).

Prior to becoming an actor he was an outstanding athlete (football, basketball, and track) and played football at Menominee High. His varsity football team won two mythical Upper Peninsula championships and attained a three-year record of 19-4-1.

Wells, a halfback for Clarence "Biggie" Munn's Michigan State team, scored two touchdowns--one a 62-yard punt return in the fourth quarter-- in the Spartans' 28-20 victory over UCLA in the Rose Bowl 38 years ago. Michigan State had rallied from a 14-0 deficit before a crowd of 101,100.

He was drafted in the 5th round (56th) in the 1954 NFL draft by the Washington Redskins (1954-57). He also later played professionally (halfback) for the Pittsburgh Steelers (1957), Philadelphia Eagles (1958), and ended his career in 1960 with the AFL Boston Patriots. Wells holds the Washington Redskins record for the longest run from scrimmage (88 yards).

Before he began acting Wells founded and led a Southern California Dixieland band called Billy and His Bachelors. He played banjo and did the vocals.

After his acting experience he worked as a Chicago sportscaster and produced movie shorts, then as a field supervisor for a security guard company.

Shawnee Holt is known for The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie (2004), My Life as a Teenage Robot (2002) and Mission Hill (1999). She died on 10 June 2017 in Altadena, California, USA.

Johnny Otis was involved in virtually every aspect of the music business: he was a singer, musician, composer, producer, record company owner, arranger and talent scout, among others. He helped to shape the R&B genre starting in the late 1940s and stayed involved in it for over 30 years.

Otis was white, but grew up in a black neighborhood in northern California's Bay Area. He began his music career as a drummer in a swing band and by 1945 he had his own band. He could see that swing music was on its way out and downsized his band and got away from swing music and more towards R&B. It soon became one of the most popular R&B bands in the US. He traveled the country with his Johnny Otis Rhythm & Blues Caravan with many early rock and R&B singers.

In 1954 he became a disc jockey and formed Dig Records. He also got his own variety show, The Johnny Otis Show (1954), on TV station KTLA in Los Angeles. He discovered Etta James and Little Esther Phillips, and with James he wrote "Roll With Me, Henry", which she recorded. It shot to #1 on the R&B charts and made her a star.

He continued performing and recording well into the 1980s, and traveled the US and Europe performing at jazz and blues festivals.

Al Coe was born on 30 July 1907 in El Paso, Texas, USA. He is known for Song of the South (1946), The Magical World of Disney (1954) and The Mickey Mouse Club (1955). He died on 25 July 1986 in Altadena, California, USA.

Ivan Browning was born on 20 February 1891 in Brenham, Texas, USA. He was an actor, known for Mr. Peabody and the Mermaid (1948), Sunrise at Campobello (1960) and The Amos 'n Andy Show (1951). He died on 20 May 1978 in Altadena, California, USA.

John Dalzell was born on 19 April 1845 in New York City, New York, USA. He died on 2 October 1927 in Altadena, California, USA.

Paul Armbruster was born in 1948 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA. He was an actor, known for In the Heat of the Night (1988), I'll Fly Away (1991) and The Rose and the Jackal (1990). He died on 23 October 2013 in Altadena, California, USA.

Lillian Steuber was born on 27 December 1908 in Los Angeles, California, USA. Lillian is known for Play It Again, Charlie Brown (1971). Lillian was married to Lowell Sydney Goin. Lillian died on 24 June 1977 in Altadena, California, USA.

John Levy was born on 11 April 1912 in New Orleans, Louisiana, USA. He was married to Gail Fisher and Devra Hall. He died on 20 January 2012 in Altadena, California, USA.

John Hoffman was born on 29 August 1904 in Budapest, Austria-Hungary [now Hungary]. He was an editor, known for The Wreck of the Hesperus (1948), The Crimson Canary (1945) and Strange Confession (1945). He died on 6 January 1980 in Altadena, California, USA.

Jimmy Wyble was born on 25 January 1922 in Port Arthur, Texas, USA. He was an actor, known for Hands of a Stranger (1962), Flip (1970) and The Kraft Music Hall (1967). He died on 16 January 2010 in Altadena, California, USA.

Curley Baldwin was an actor, known for Little Red Decides (1918), Desert Law (1918) and Lawless Border (1935). He died on 8 July 1945 in Altadena, California, USA.