Dayle Lymoine Robertson (July 14,
1923 – February 27, 2013) was an American actor best known for his
starring roles on television. He played the roving investigator Jim Hardie in
the television series Tales of Wells Fargo and
railroad owner Ben Calhoun in Iron Horse. He often
was presented as a deceptively thoughtful but modest Western hero. From 1968 to 1970, Robertson was the fourth
and final host of the anthology series Death Valley Days. Described by Time magazine in 1959 as "probably the best
horseman on television", for most of his career, Robertson played in
western films and television shows—well over 60 titles in all.
Johnny
Desmond (born Giovanni
Alfredo De Simone; November 14, 1919 – September 6, 1985) was an American
singer who was popular in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s. Desmond was born Giovanni
de Simone in Detroit, Michigan, United States. He began singing in the St. Joseph's
parish choir when he was 11 years old. As a boy he also sang on a local radio station, but at age 15 he quit to work at his father's grocery. He
attended Northwestern
High School.[3] He retained a love of music, and briefly
attended the Detroit Conservatory of
Music before heading to the nightclub circuit, playing piano and
singing. In 1939, he formed his own singing group. The group was first called
the Downbeats. After being hired to work with Bob Crosby's big band in 1940, it was renamed the Bob-O-Links.[1] The group appeared on 15 commercial recordings
by the Crosby orchestra, including two charted hits, "You Forgot
About Me" (which reached No. 15), and "Do You Care?" (No. 18).
Alan Hale Jr. (born Alan
Hale MacKahan; (March 8, 1921 - January 2, 1990) was an American actor and
restaurateur. He was the son of actor Alan Hale Sr. His television career spanned four decades, but
he was best known for his secondary lead role as Captain Jonas Grumby, better
known as The Skipper, on the 1960s
CBS comedy series Gilligan's Island (1964–1967), a
role he reprised in three Gilligan's Island television films
and two spin-off cartoon series. Hale appeared in more than 200 films and
television roles from 1941. He appeared primarily in Westerns, portraying
the Sundance Kid in The Three Outlaws (1956) opposite Neville Brand as Butch Cassidy, performing with Kirk Douglas in The Big Trees (1952), Audie Murphy in Destry (1954), Ray Milland in A Man Alone (1955), Robert Wagner in The True Story of Jesse
James (1957), and Hugh Marlowe in The Long Rope (1961).
He also appeared in musical comedies opposite Don DeFore in It Happened on Fifth
Avenue (1947), James Cagney in The West Point Story (1950),
and Judy Canova in Honeychile (1951). He also appeared on several talk
and variety shows.
Walter Leland Cronkite Jr. (November 4,
1916 – July 17, 2009) was an American broadcast journalist who served as
anchorman for the CBS Evening News[1] for 19 years, from 1962 to 1981. During the
1960s and 1970s, he was often cited as "the most trusted man in
America" after being so named in an opinion poll. Cronkite received
numerous honors including two Peabody Awards, a George Polk Award, an Emmy Award and in 1981 was awarded the Presidential Medal of
Freedom from President Jimmy Carter. Cronkite reported many events from 1937 to 1981,
including bombings in World War II, the Nuremberg trials, combat in the Vietnam War,[5] the Dawson's Field hijackings, Watergate, the Iran Hostage Crisis, and
the assassinations of President John F. Kennedy,
civil rights pioneer Martin Luther King Jr.,
and Beatles musician John Lennon. He was also
known for his extensive coverage of the U.S. space program, from Project Mercury to the Moon landings to the Space Shuttle. He was the only non-NASA recipient of an
Ambassador of Exploration award.[6] Cronkite is known for his departing catchphrase, "And that's the way it is", followed by
the date of the broadcast. Cronkite died at his home on July 17 2009, at the
age of 92, from cerebrovascular disease.
James Maitland "Jimmy" Stewart (May
20, 1908 – July 2, 1997) was an American actor. Known for his distinctive drawl and
everyman screen persona, Stewart's film career spanned 80 films from 1935 to
1991. With the strong morality he portrayed both on and off the screen, he
epitomized the "American ideal" in the mid-twentieth century. In
1999, the American Film Institute (AFI)
ranked him third on its list of the greatest American male
actors. He received numerous honors including the Screen
Actors Guild Life Achievement Award in 1968, the AFI Life Achievement Award in
1980, the Kennedy Center Honor in
1983, as well as the Academy Honorary Award and Presidential Medal of
Freedom, both in 1985. Born and raised in Indiana, Pennsylvania,
Stewart started acting while at Princeton University.
After graduating in 1932, he began a career as a stage actor, appearing on Broadway and in summer stock productions.
He landed his first supporting role in The Murder Man (1935) and had his breakthrough
in Frank Capra's ensemble comedy You Can't Take It with You (1938). The following
year, Stewart garnered his first of five Academy Award nominations
for his portrayal of an idealized senator in Capra's Mr. Smith Goes to
Washington (1939). The following year he received the Academy Award for Best
Actor, the only competitive Oscar of his career, for his performance
in the George Cukor romantic
comedy The Philadelphia Story (1940).
Stewart's first postwar role was as George
Bailey in Capra's It's a Wonderful Life (1946).
Although the film was not a major success upon release, he earned an Oscar nomination,
and the film has become a Christmas classic, as well as one of his best-known
roles. As one of the most popular film stars of the '50s, Stewart played
darker, more morally ambiguous characters in movies directed by Anthony Mann, including Winchester '73 (1950), The Glenn Miller Story (1954),
and The Naked Spur (1953),
and by Alfred Hitchcock in Rope (1948), Rear Window (1954), The Man Who
Knew Too Much (1956), and Vertigo (1958). During this time he received Academy
Award nominations for his roles in the comedy Harvey (1950) and
the courtroom drama Anatomy of a Murder (1959).
Stewart also starred in The Greatest Show on Earth (1952), The Spirit of St. Louis (1957), The Flight
of the Phoenix (1965) as well as the Western films How the West Was Won (1962), The Man Who Shot Liberty
Valance (1962), and Cheyenne Autumn (1964). He appeared in many popular
family comedies during the 1960s.
Edwin
Stafford Nelson (December
21, 1928 – August 9, 2014)[1] was an American actor, best known for his role
as Dr. Michael Rossi in the television series Peyton Place. Nelson
appeared in episodes of many TV programs, more than 50 movies, and hundreds of
stage productions. Nelson was raised in North Carolina after having been born
in New Orleans, Louisiana. He was educated at Edwards Military Institute and Camp Lejeune High School,
playing football and basketball at the latter school. He began acting while
attending Tulane University in New Orleans. He left college after two years to
study at the New York School of Radio and Television Technique. He served with
the United States Navy as a radioman on the light cruiser USS Dayton. He took a
position as a director at WDSU-TV in New Orleans. By 1956,
acting became his central focus, and he moved to the Los Angeles area.
Jimmy Ray Dean (August 10, 1928
– June 13, 2010)[1] was an American country music singer, television host, actor and
businessman. He was the creator of the Jimmy Dean sausage brand as
well as the spokesman for its TV commercials. He became a national television
personality starting on CBS in 1957. He rose to fame for his 1961 country music
crossover hit into rock and roll with "Big Bad John" and his 1963 television series The Jimmy Dean Show gave puppeteer Jim Henson his
first national exposure with his character, Rowlf. His acting career included appearing in the early
seasons in the Daniel Boone TV
series as the sidekick of the famous frontiersman played by star Fess Parker. Later he was on the big screen in a supporting
role as billionaire Willard Whyte in the James Bond film Diamonds Are Forever (1971),
starring Sean Connery. He lived
near Richmond, Virginia, and
was nominated for the Country Music Hall of Fame in
2010, but died before his induction that year at the age of 81.
Fess Elisha Parker Jr. (born F. E. Parker Jr.;[1] August 16, 1924 – March 18, 2010),[2] was an American film and television actor
best known for his portrayals of the titular characters in the Walt Disney television
miniseries Davy Crockett (1954–55;
ABC) and the long-running television series Daniel Boone (1964–70;
NBC).[3][4] He was also a winemaker and resort owner-operator.
Jerry McCord Van Dyke (July 27, 1931 –
January 5, 2018) was an American actor and comedian. He was the younger brother
of Dick Van Dyke. Van Dyke
had a long and successful career mostly as a character actor in supporting and guest roles on popular
television series. He made his television acting debut on The Dick Van Dyke Show with
several guest appearances as Rob Petrie's brother, Stacey. From 1989 to 1997,
he played Luther Van Dam on the popular series Coach.