Advanced search

With his slicked back hair and thin moustache Erik Rhodes arrived in Hollywood to recreate his stage role of Rudolfo Tonetti (which he had performed first on Broadway and then in London, 1932-1933) for the filming of The Gay Divorcee (1934), starring Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. Contrary to his screen image, Erik was born in Oklahoma and graduated from the University of Oklahoma where he won a scholarship to study acting in New York. He made his theatrical debut, delivering eight lines, in the 1928 play 'A Most Immoral Lady', under his birth name Ernest (sometimes spelled Earnest) Sharpe. Because of his good baritone voice, he was next cast in two musicals. An expert mimicker of accents and dialects, he came to specialise in films as the perennial hyperactive continental charmer. In his second notable screen outing, Top Hat (1935), he played flamboyant dressmaker Alberto Beddini, famously declaring to Ginger Rogers "All my life I have promised my dresses I'd take them to Italy...and you must be in them". There were other good parts, particularly in the comedy A Night at the Ritz (1935) as would-be master chef Leopold Jaynos. Andre Sennwald's review in The New York Times (May 16,1935) commented on Erik's performance "as the psychopath with a yearning for culinary immortality, he gives 'A Night at the Ritz' its air of polite lunacy and helps to wring laughter out of a featherweight enterprise".

Erik Rhodes made films at RKO until 1937, more often than not as excitable Europeans (Henri Saffron in Woman Chases Man (1937), Frank Rochet in Old Man Rhythm (1935), Tony Bandini in Criminal Lawyer (1937) and, not forgetting, Spaghetti Nadzio in Music for Madame (1937)). By the end of the decade, his screen career had run its course. After his wartime service with U.S. Air Force Intelligence, he went back to Broadway for a lengthy spell in 'Can Can' as a Parisian bon vivant.

Gianni Medici was born on 3 August 1936 in Ricadi, Italy. He was an actor, known for Red Sun (1971), From the Orient with Fury (1965) and L'unica legge in cui credo (1976). He was married to Loredana Nusciak. He died on 17 February 1990 in Rome, Italy.

Marc Clement was born on 4 August 1950 in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, USA. He was an actor, known for Mississippi Burning (1988), Mutant (1984) and Career Opportunities (1991). He was married to Judy Clement. He died on 17 February 1990 in Atlanta, Georgia, USA.

Allen Rivkin was born on 20 November 1903 in Hayward, Wisconsin, USA. He was a writer and producer, known for The Devil Is Driving (1932), Tension (1949) and The Farmer's Daughter (1947). He was married to Ruth Kronick and Laura Kerr. He died on 17 February 1990 in Los Angeles, California, USA.

Jean-Marc Boivin, born in Dijon and died February 17, 1990, in Venezuela near Salto Angel, was a French mountaineer, extreme skier, paraglider, caver and base jumper. He has directed several award-winning films. He holds altitude records in hang gliding and paragliding; he was also the first to descend Everest by paraglider.

This "adventurer of modern times" as he has defined himself is of Dijon origin and made his debut as climbers in Fissin and the difficult limestone cliffs of the Cormot rocks. A true jack-of-all-trades for adventure, Jean-Marc Boivin stands out for the diversity of his talents: climber, mountain guide, glacier climber, paraglider, steep slope skier, this man, known for his kindness and warmth holy energy! His twenty years of adventure know the major stages that punctuate his career. The winter of 1977 was conducive to extreme skiing: he succeeded in his first 8 descents. The following summer, he opened a new route on the Extremely Difficult side of Mont Blanc du Tacul. In 1980, his lightning ascent of the north face of the Matterhorn in solo leaves dreamer: 4h10mns. On September 26, 1986, "the bird-man" flew from the summit of Everest, to descend from the roof of the world in a paraglider for 12 minutes of "happiness" in his own words. But the general public has especially remembered the fantastic spectacle played by Jean-Marc in March 1986 when he succeeded in chaining the four winter north faces of Mont-Blanc in less than twenty hours, combining both his talents as an extreme skier , mountaineer, parachutist and delta wing virtuoso. In hang-gliding, he holds several world records, notably jumping from the summit of Aconcagua and covering some 34 km in a paraglider from the summit of Mont-Blanc.

On February 16, 1990, followed by a television crew filming for the show Ushuaïa, the extreme magazine, Jean-Marc Boivin managed a jump of nearly 1,000 meters in base-jump from the Salto Angel waterfall, the highest waterfall in the world, on the Auyan Tepuy, in Venezuela. The next day, he decides to repeat the feat from, this time, the top of the fall itself, at 979 meters. Or, a woman, Catherine, who had jumped just before him having injured herself after his fall, Jean-Marc Boivin jumped just after to help him. But, at the end of the jump, he collided with a tree. To the team that came to rescue him by helicopter, he told them to go first to rescue the person who had jumped before him. When the team returned to him, he had died of internal bleeding at the age of 38. He is the first Frenchman to die in Base Jump.

Al Becker was born on 21 September 1902 in New York, USA. He is known for Last Train from Bombay (1952), Hot Blood (1956) and The Miami Story (1954). He died on 17 February 1990 in Los Angeles, California, USA.

Denis Kelly was born on 31 January 1916. He was married to Anne Marie Anderson. He died on 17 February 1990.

Dino Falconi was born on 18 September 1902 in Livorno, Tuscany, Italy. He was a writer and director, known for Loves of Don Juan (1942), Scarpe grosse (1940) and Vento di milioni (1940). He died on 17 February 1990 in Milan, Lombardy, Italy.

Eric Stolpe was born on 6 August 1919 in Sundborn, Dalarnas län, Sweden. He was an actor, known for Flicka i kasern (1955), Svenska Floyd (1961) and Suss gott (1956). He died on 17 February 1990 in Borlänge, Dalarnas län, Sweden.

Gustav Krivinka was born on 24 April 1928 in Doubravice nad Svitavou, Czechoslovakia [now Czech Republic]. He was a composer, known for Velká samota (1960), Skola otcu (1957) and Splynutí dusí (1976). He died on 17 February 1990 in Brno, Czechoslovakia [now Czech Republic].