Advanced search

One of the truly great and gifted performers of the century, who often suffered lesser roles, Burgess Meredith was born in 1907 in Cleveland, Ohio. He was educated in Amherst College in Massachusetts, before joining Eva Le Gallienne's Student Repertory stage company in 1929. By 1934 he was a star on Broadway in 'Little 'Ol Boy', a part for which he tied with George M. Cohan as Best Performer of the Year.. He became a favorite of dramatist Maxwell Anderson, premiering on film in the playwright's Winterset (1936). Other Broadway appearances included 'The Barretts of Wimpole Street'. 'The Remarkable Mr Pennypacker', 'Candida', and 'Of Mice and Men. 'Meredith served in the United States Army Air Corps in World War II, reaching the rank of captain. He continued in a variety of dramatic and comedic roles often repeating his stage roles on film until being named an unfriendly witness by the House Un-American Activities Committee in the early 1950s, whereupon studio work disappeared. His career picked up again, especially with television roles, in the 1960s, although younger audiences know him best for either the Rocky (1976) or Grumpy Old Men (1993) films. Meredith also did a large amount of commercial work, serving as the voice for Skippy Peanut Butter and United Air Lines, among others. He was also an ardent environmentalist who believed pollution one of the greatest tragedies of the time, and an opponent of the Vietnam War. Burgess Meredith died at age 89 of Alzheimer's disease and melanoma in his home in Malibu, California on September 9, 1997.

Predrag Lakovic was born on 28 March 1929 in Skoplje, Macedonia, Yugoslavia. He was an actor, known for Black Cat, White Cat (1998), Time of the Gypsies (1988) and A Better Life (1987). He died on 9 September 1997 in Curug, Serbia, Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.

The television movie "The Tuskegee Airmen" was written from his war experiences and later picked up by studios. The character played by Laurence Fishburne was based upon Mr Williams.

According to information from Fort Des Moines, Robert flew 50 combat missions from Italy with the 100th Fighter Squadron, 332nd Fighter Group of the 15th Air Force.

The pilots had to fight racism just to risk their lives fighting America's enemies, the display says. According to historic documents in use at the time, the display said, black people would not make good soldiers. When a desperate military finally let the men fly escort missions, they were so successful that bomber pilots would request only the red-tailed P-51 Mustang fighter planes to guard them from the enemy.

Williams was awarded, among other medals, the Distinguished Flying Cross. Williams was confirmed as having shot down an enemy plane in 1944. The following year, he shot down another one.

Dorrell McGowan the movie producer was not the son of the actor J.P. McGowan as stated in the current IMDb biography Dorrell McGowan was the son of Dorrell McGowan, Sr. and Roxana Buckbee McGowan. Proof of this is the Federal Census for 1900 & 1910 in Illinois and the Federal Census 1920 & 1930 in California.

Richie Ashburn was born on 19 March 1927 in Tilden, Nebraska, USA. He was married to Herberta Cox. He died on 9 September 1997 in New York City, New York, USA.