Category: Oscar Profile

Born June 23, 1903 in New York, New Yo0rk, Anthony Veiller was the son of Oscar nominated actress, Margaret Wycherly, and her husband, playwright Bayard Veiller. Veiller was a journalist, publicist, and stage manager prior to moving to Hollywood in 1930. He married literary agent Laura Kerr in 1934 with whom he would have a…

Born October 16, 1881 in London, England to a Canadian doctor and his American wife, Margaret Lovett De Wolfe, known professionally as Margaret Wycherly, had a long and distinguished career on the Broadway stage, but is probably best remembered for two iconic film roles as the very different mothers of screen legends Gary Cooper and…

Born February 17, 1911 in Pasadena, California, Charles Walters graduated from Anaheim Union High School in 1930 and briefly attended USC-Los Angeles before embarking on a dancing career in 1931. After joining the touring Fancho & Marcum review as a chorus boy and specialty dancer, Walters embarked on a correspondence with producer, dancer, and choreographer…

Born March 6, 1947, Robert Norman Reiner was born in the Bronx, New York to Estelle and Carl Reiner, the renown comedian, actor, writer, producer, director. It was only a matter of time before Rob will follow his father into show business. The younger Reiner began his acting career in TV’s Manhunt in 1961. He…

Born January 2, 1940 in Derbyshire, England, John (Vincent) Hurt was the son of a Church of England clergyman and his wife. Determined to become an actor, he withstood the taunts of his preparatory school headmaster who told him that although he may be good in school plays, he didn’t have what it takes to…

To quote Wikipedia: “A nun is a member of a religious community of women, typically living under vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience in the enclosure of a monastery. Communities of nuns exist in numerous religious traditions, including Buddhism, Christianity, Jainism, and Taoism. Within Christianity, women religious, known as nuns or religious sisters, are found…

Born December 29, 1972 in London, England, (David) Jude Law was born the son of Margaret and Peter Law, schoolteachers, his father later becoming the youngest headmaster in London. The future star made his acting debut with the National Youth Music Theatre in 1987 at the age of 14 and his TV debut the following…

Born April 16, 1921 in London, England, Peter Alexander Freiherr von Ustinov was the son of a Russian father and German mother. His father was a British spy and his mother a painter and ballet designer. He was educated at Westminster College in London where he excelled at acting, making his stage debut in Surrey…

Born November 13, 1955 in New York, New York, Caryn Elaine Johnson, known professionally as Whoopi Goldberg, is the daughter of Robert James Johnson Jr., a Baptist clergyman, and Emma Johnson, née Harris, a nurse, and teacher. A high school dropout, she relocated to Southern California in the mid-1970s before moving to Berkeley, outside of…

Born July 22, 1938 in London, England, Terence Stamp was the eldest of five children of Ethel and Thomas Stamp, a tugboat stoker. With his father away for long periods of time with the Merchant Navy, he was raised mostly by his mother, grandmother, and aunts. His family endured heavy bombing during the World War…

Born July 6, 1927 in Merced, California, Jeannette Morrison (screen name Janet Leigh) was an only child. Raised in poverty during the Great Depression in Stockton, California where her family relocated shortly after her birth, she sang in the choir of her local Presbyterian church. Leigh excelled in academics and graduated from high school at…

Born May 1, 1969 in Houston, Texas, Wes(ley) Wales Anderson was the middle of three children of archeologist turned real estate agent Ann (née Burroughs) and Melver Leonard Anderson, who worked in advertising. Tarzan author Edgar Rice Burroughs was his great-grandfather. His grandfather was Burroughs’ illustrator. It’s no wonder the young Anderson began writing plays…

Born January 14, 1963 in Atlanta, Georgia, Steven (Andrew) Soderbergh was the second of six children of Mary Ann and Peter Soderbergh, a college professor and later dean of the College of Education at Louisiana State University. He became interested in filmmaking as a teenager and made experimental 8mm and 16mm films from the age…

Born August 29, 1923 in Cambridge, England, Richard (Samuel) Attenborough was the son of May (née Clegg), a founding member of the Marriage Guidance Council and Frederick Levi Attenborough, don at Emmanuel College and author of a standard text on Anglo-Saxon law. The family later moved to Leicester where his father was appointed principal of…

Born September 28, 1916 in London, England, Peter Finch was the subject of a custody battle between his mother and her husband who was not his actual father. His “father” won, and the child was kept from his mother who later married Finch’s actual father. He never met his mother until he was 33, and…