Cliff Aliperti's Blog: Immortal Ephemera

Well, it's been awhile, but I find I have a little extra time on my hands (grumble, grumble). To be serious, I hope you're doing well and especially feeling well, and we'll leave the rest of that sort of talk at the door for now. I'd been working a draft of this post longer than I'd care to admit, so when I saw that it was Daphne Du Maurier's birthday today I figured it was time to bite the bullet and use a tiny sliver of...

Edward Arnold (1890-1956)

Born Gunther Edward Arnold Schneider in New York, this character actor charmed with his boisterous chuckle throughout Hollywood's Golden Age. He fell in love with acting when he played Lorenzo in The Merchant of Venice in a production sponsored by the East Side Settlement House, and would make his professional debut soon after in 1905. As Edward Arnold he was a bit player for Ben Greet's Shakespea...

Ricardo Cortez (1900-1977)

Born Jacob Krantz in New York City, this son of Jewish immigrants grew up in the right city to foster an early love of show business. He was doing odd jobs in theaters by the end of 1914,  and the following year began playing a number of non-speaking theatrical roles. In 1917 he worked as a movie extra and later had an unbilled role in The Imp (1919). As Jack Crane he took on various bit parts be...

Dolores Costello (1903-1979)

Best known today as Drew Barrymore's grandmother, Dolores Costello was herself a second generation actor, daughter of early matinee idol Maurice Costello. Along with sister Helene Costello, Dolores had an early run as a child film star from 1909-1915, often in films featuring their famous father. Noted for her beauty, Costello worked as a model for illustrator James Montgomery Flagg, and later...

Sorry, no new mini-bio today. I've been working on an unrelated project this week and the clock just ticked a little too late Friday night for me to start a new bio from scratch, so—instead I updated my Movie Centenarians page for the first time since last October.

That last update was made to add Baby Peggy to the list. In the past couple of months the centenarians list has welcomed two new members, Nehemiah Persoff and M...

Karen Morley (1909-2003)

Born Mildred Linton in Ottumwa, Iowa, her adoptive parents believed she might be tubercular, so they moved to California's better climate around 1922-23. Miss Linton attended Hollywood High School and did one year of premed at UCLA before discovering the theater. She worked at the Pasadena Playhouse, did one bit for Fox in Thru Different Eyes (1929), and was eventually discovered by director Claren...

Cedric Hardwicke (1893-1964)

British-born actor was well-established, knighted even, by the time he first worked in America, but upon arrival Hardwicke was a US fixture for almost thirty years. His father wanted him to be a doctor, but young Cedric happily flunked his entrance exams and entered the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) instead. He made his London stage debut in The Monk and the Woman in 1912, and his career...

Clara Kimball Young (1890-1960)

Mid-1910s magazine polls tabbed her most popular actress in the world, but many of what were considered Clara Kimball Young's best films are now lost, leaving her mostly forgotten. Born to show biz parents, Clara Kimball made her stage debut alongside them at age three, and continued that activity throughout her youth. The Young attached to her name after marrying actor James Young sometime...

Preston Foster (1900-1970)

Born in Ocean City, NJ, Preston Foster held a variety of jobs before going to Philadelphia for singing lessons. He was with a couple of opera companies in PA, then married and moved to New York to pursue a stage career. Foster credited Lionel Atwill for boosting him on the path to his Broadway debut in Congratulations in 1929. His earliest film appearances came during this period, a mixed bag of...

Priscilla Dean (1896-1987)

A forgotten star with a foggy past, Priscilla Dean is said to have been born to stage parents, though my best effort says she was born Priscilla Fitzpatrick (see clipping below) and her mother, May or Mary Preston Dean, described as a stage star of yesteryear, was really a former housewife whose name(s) doesn't appear in any media searches prior to her daughter's fame. In this scenario Manhattan-...