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- Actor
- Director
- Soundtrack
Gedde Watanabe was born on 26 June 1955 in Ogden, Utah, USA. He is an actor and director, known for Sixteen Candles (1984), UHF (1989) and Gremlins 2: The New Batch (1990).- Director
- Editorial Department
- Actor
Hal Ashby was born the fourth and youngest child in a Mormon household, in Ogden, Utah, to Eileen Ireta (Hetzler) and James Thomas Ashby, on September 2, 1929. His father was a dairy farmer. After a rough childhood that included the divorce of his parents, his father's suicide, his dropping out of high school, getting married and divorced all before he was 19, he decided to leave Utah for California. A Californian employment office found him a printing press job at Universal Studios. Within a few years, he was an assistant film editor at various other studios. One of his pals while at MGM was a young messenger named Jack Nicholson. He moved up to being a full fledged editor on The Loved One (1965) and started editing the films of director Norman Jewison.
A highlight of his film editing career was winning an Oscar for the landmark In the Heat of the Night (1967). Itching to become a director, Jewison gave him a script he was too busy to work on called The Landlord (1970). It became Ashby's first film as a director. From there he delivered a series of well-acted, intelligent human scaled dramas that included The Last Detail (1973), Shampoo (1975), Bound for Glory (1976), Coming Home (1978) and Being There (1979). Great reviews and Oscar nominations became common on Ashby films.
Ashby was always a maverick and a contrary person and success proved difficult for Ashby to handle. He became unreliable due to his dependence on drugs and a reclusive lifestyle. He actually collapsed while making The Rolling Stones concert film Let's Spend the Night Together (1982) in Arizona. Although he recovered, he was never the same after that. He began taking too much time in post production on his films and actually had a couple of his later projects taken away from him to be edited by others. He tried to straighten himself out, but in the 1980s, he was considered by many to be unemployable. Just when he felt he was turning a corner in his life, he developed cancer that spread to his liver and colon. He died on December 27, 1988. Actor Sean Penn dedicated his first film as a director, The Indian Runner (1991) to Ashby and John Cassavetes, even though Penn was never directed by either one. Because he did not have a set visual style, many mistake this for no style at all. His career is not discussed as often as the careers of some of his contemporaries.- Producer
- Actress
- Writer
Marie Osmond has spent 5 iconic decades in the entertainment business performing as a successful singer, television performer and talk show host, dancer, actor, author, entrepreneur and public speaker. She has continued to maintain relevance, remaining an instantly recognizable figure across the globe.
Her debut single Paper Roses reached the #1 spot on two Billboard charts, a feat that not only placed her among an elite class of musical royalty, but instantly catapulted her into international superstardom. She is a multiple gold and platinum selling artist and CMA winner, garnering numerous Billboard chart-topping singles and albums, and three New York Times Bestselling books. She has entertained millions throughout the world through television, radio, film, literature, live concerts and Broadway performances. As a philanthropist, she co-founded Children's Miracle Network Hospitals, which has raised over 7 billion dollars for children to date. Marie was recently awarded "The Secretary of Defense Medal for Outstanding Public Service" by 4-Star General Bob Brown, US Army Pacific (representing Secretary of Defense James Mattis), during her Birthday concert in Hawaii. In 2019 the Hollywood Beauty Awards gave Marie the "Timeless Beauty Award" which is an honor bestowed upon a public figure that has maintained their grace and remained a positive influence and role model to their fans throughout their career. Following the announcement that her Flamingo residency with her brother Donny will come to an end in November 2019 her fans and the city gave them a proper send off. In August of 2019 Marie and Donny received the Key to the Las Vegas Strip and in October they cemented their legacy with a star on the Las Vegas Walk of Stars. In September 2019, Marie joined the award-winning daytime show "The Talk" as a co-host.
Music is Medicine marks her latest and perhaps most important studio release, encompassing a lifetime of experience, music, love, loss, hope and joy as a representation of her remarkable life. It reached the top 10 on both Billboard Country Charts and iTunes Country charts. Marie recently sang alongside the Utah Symphony as part of the Deer Valley Music Festival. Her performance received rave reviews. Marie continues to perform and raise money for children's hospitals, research and awareness. Her celebrity has influenced countless audiences and benefited an innumerable amount of lives worldwide.
Marie has always had great affection for her countless fans and personally keeps in touch daily with them on social media.- Actor
- Producer
- Writer
Donald Clark "Donny" Osmond was born December 9, 1957 in Ogden, Utah, to Olive Osmond (née Davis) and George Osmond on . He was the seventh of eight brothers and has one sister. When Donny was young, his family went to see Lawrence Welk in California. They were unable to meet with him so they decided to take a vacation to Disneyland. This is where Donny's older brothers Wayne Osmond, Alan Osmond, Merrill Osmond and Jay Osmond were discovered by Walt Disney. They performed at Disneyland and were soon asked to perform on The Andy Williams Show (1962). They performed on the show for nine years, with Donny joining the show at age six. After their run on the show was up, the brothers spent two years trying to make it big before Mike Curb and Rick Hall found "One Bad Apple," the song originally chosen for The Jacksons (then known as The Jackson Five), but was instead recorded by the Osmonds and made them famous. For the next several years, Donny traveled all over the world with his brothers, performing for fans such songs as "Puppy Love", "Crazy Horses", "Go Away Lttle Girl", "Down By the Lazy River" and "Twelfth of Never."
In 1974, Donny's sister, Marie Osmond, started performing with the brothers and Donny recorded duets with her. That led to their co-hosting The Mike Douglas Show (1961). An executive at ABC saw the show and offered them their own TV variety show. The pair took it under one condition--that the whole family be involved. Donny and Marie (1975) was a huge success and lasted four years. During the run of the show, Donny married Debra Glenn in 1978 and started a family. In 1979, the show was canceled and the family was faced with a huge debt that they repaid. The early 1980s were not easy for Donny. He tried many different avenues, including starring in "Little Johnny Jones" on Broadway, but without much success. Donny had a break in the late 1980s, though, when he teamed up with Peter Gabriel and recorded "Soldier of Love", which went to #2 on the US charts. In the 1990s, he toured as Joseph in "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat". This lasted to the late 1990s. After that, he teamed up with Marie again for Donny & Marie (1997), this time a TV talk show. This was highly successful as well, but only lasted a few years. After the end of the show, Donny once again returned to music. He has since released "This is The Moment" a collection of Broadway tunes, and "Somewhere in Time", a collection of love songs. Shortly afterward, Donny was offered the opportunity to host the syndicated game show Pyramid (2002), a revival of the popular The $10,000 Pyramid (1973) game show, and it ran from 2002-2004. Donny has released a new single "Breeze on By", which reached #8 on the UK charts. He has an upcoming CD "What I Meant to Say" due out in November in the UK and January 2005 in the US.- R.D. Call was an American actor, best known for his roles in films directed by Walter Hill. He was born and raised in Utah and attended the Utah State University and Weber State University. Call moved to Los Angeles in 1976 and began training with Lee Strasberg. His first role was in Barnaby Jones (1973), a TV series directed by Leo Penn.
Call then took roles in the Walter Hill films 48 Hrs. (1982) and Brewster's Millions (1985). Next came At Close Range (1986), opposite Sean Penn, and the Charlie Sheen thriller, No Man's Land (1987). Dennis Hopper cast him in Hopper's thriller, Colors (1988), again opposite Sean Penn. Call would work with both Leo and Sean Penn -- and Martin Sheen -- in Judgment in Berlin (1988).
Towards the end of the 1980s, roles included Michael Mann's L.A. Takedown (1989) -- the original version of Mann's Heat (1995) -- and a cameo appearance in Oliver Stone's Born on the Fourth of July (1989). Call appeared opposite Emilio Estevez and Kiefer Sutherland in Young Guns II (1990) and was back with Sean Penn in State of Grace (1990), conveying a close working relationship with both the Penn and Sheen families.
The mid-1990s were equally kind to Call, with roles in Waterworld (1995) and Walter Hill's Last Man Standing (1996), in which he starred with Bruce Willis. More recent roles include the Sandra Bullock thriller, Murder by Numbers (2002), the Brad Pitt drama, Babel (2006), and the Sean Penn-directed Into the Wild (2007).
Call appeared in numerous TV series, including The X-Files (1993) and Stephen King's Golden Years (1991). - One of those wonderfully busy character actors whose face is familiar if not his name, mild-mannered actor Byron Foulger began performing with community theater, and stock and repertory companies after graduating from the University of Utah. He met his future wife, character actress Dorothy Adams, in one of these companies. The marriage lasted nearly five decades and ended only with his death.
Making his Broadway debut in a 1920 production of "Medea" that featured Moroni Olsen as Jason (of the Argonauts), and went on to appear in several other Olsen Broadway productions and in close succession (including "The Trial of Joan of Arc," "Mr. Faust" and "Candida"). While touring the country with Olsen's stock company, he ended up at the Pasadena Playhouse where he both acted and directed. Thereafter he and wife Dorothy decided to settle in Los Angeles.
Together the acting couple tried to stake a claim for themselves in 30s and 40s Hollywood films. Both succeeded, appearing in hundreds of film parts, both together and apart, albeit in small and often unbilled bits. A man of meek, nervous countenance, Foulger's short stature and squinty stare could be used for playing both humble and shady fellows. In the 1940s, the actor became a part of Preston Sturges' company of players, appearing in five of his classic films -- The Great McGinty (1940), Sullivan's Travels (1941), The Palm Beach Story (1942), The Miracle of Morgan's Creek (1943) and The Great Moment (1944).
Although predominantly employed as an owlish storekeeper, mortician, professor, or bank teller, his better parts had darker intentions. He was exceptional as weaselly, mealy-mouthed, whining henchmen who inevitably showed their yellow streak by the film's end.
The character actor eased into TV roles in the 1950s and '60s, displaying a comedy side in many folksy, rural sitcoms. His final regular TV role was as train conductor Wendell Gibbs in the final years of the Petticoat Junction (1963) series. The father of actress Rachel Ames, Foulger died of a heart ailment on April 4, 1970, coincidentally the same day the final new episode of Petticoat Junction (1963) was broadcast. . - Actress
- Producer
- Writer
Olivia Dunkley was born in Ogden, Utah, USA. Olivia is an actor and producer, known for A Holiday Boyfriend (2019), The Adventures of Superseven (2011) and The Sandra West Diaries (2016). Olivia has been married to Marco Bardales since 17 September 2017. They have two children.- Actress
- Soundtrack
Gorgeously voluptuous, buxom and shapely knockout Cynthia Brimhall was born on March 10, 1964 in Ogden, Utah. She was raised in Utah and attended public schools in her home state. Cynthia eventually moved to Hollywood, California. Brimhall first gained widespread public attention as a Playmate of the Month in the October, 1985 issue of "Playboy." Not surprisingly, Cynthia has appeared in a handful of "Playboy" related videos, posed for a sizable number of "Playboy" special editions, and has been featured in additional nude pictorials in subsequent issues of the popular men's magazine. Brimhall portrayed foxy nightclub owner and singer Edy Stark in six enjoyable low-budget action exploitation pictures for director Andy Sidaris: "Hard Ticket to Hawaii," "Picasso Trigger," "Guns," "Do or Die," "Hard Hunted," and "Fit to Kill." (She also sings songs on the soundtracks for most of these movies.) Moreover, Cynthia popped up as a model on the game-show "The New Price Is Right" from 1992 to 1993. Cynthia Brimhall has since gone on to become a successful showgirl in Las Vegas, Nevada: She starred in the adult song and dance revue "Skintight" at Harrah's from August, 2000 to September, 2001.- Even his more courteous, somewhat friendlier types gave one pause for concern. The tall, beefy, balding, icy-eyed character actor Moroni Olsen was one of Hollywood's more popular and imposing performers of film during the late 1930s, 1940s and early 1950s.
The versatile player was born Moroni Olsen and raised in Utah to Mormon parents (Edward Arenholt Olsen and Marsha Holverholst). Acting in church theatricals, Olsen attended and graduated from Weber State Academy before studying drama and elocution at the University of Utah. The voice training he received there served him quite well in the years to come, both on the Broadway stage and in Hollywood. After scattered performances in stage and tent shows in the East, he spent some time selling war bonds during World War I, then organized The Moroni Olsen Players in his native Ogden. The Utah-formed touring company eventually became one of the better known repertory companies around the county.
Olsen made his Broadway debut portraying Jason in "Medea" in 1920, and continued in NY for the next couple of years with a series of classical plays that included "The Trial of Joan of Arc," "Iphegenia in Aulis," "Mr. Faust" and "Candida". For the next eight seasons he continued to direct and coach his repertory Players, while also handling scenery, staging and choreographing duties. The actor returned to Broadway (after a decade's absence) in 1933 with "Her Man of Wax," which was followed by appearances in "Mary of Scotland" (as John Knox), Katharine Cornell's production of "Romeo and Juliet" (as Lord Capulet) and in 1935's "The Barretts of Wimpole Street" (as Doctor Chambers).
Olsen made a tepid film debut as Porthos in The Three Musketeers (1935), a rather dull version of the classic Dumas story that starred an uninspired Walter Abel as D'Artagnan. His strong, regal bearing and classically trained voice, however, was not to be denied and he proved quite suitable for movies in the ongoing years. Staying in Hollywood, he played a formidable Buffalo Bill opposite Barbara Stanwyck's Annie Oakley (1935) and, in other key historical supports, was quite good in the Katharine Hepburn vehicle Mary of Scotland (1936) (again as John Knox, the role he played on Broadway), The Plough and the Stars (1936) (as Gen. Connolly), Santa Fe Trail (1940) (as Robert E. Lee) and Lone Star (1952) as Sam Houston. He played a much older Porthos (at age 63) in At Sword's Point (1952) opposite Cornel Wilde's D'Artagnan and Alan Hale Jr. as the younger, more limber Athos. Olsen's voice will be forever recognized from the Disney animated movie classic Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) as the prophetic baritone voice of the Magic Mirror ("Mirror, mirror, on the wall...). The actor's intimidating, unsympathetic features were very much in demand during the 40s and 50s and he proved quite at home portraying corrupt villains, dogged inspectors, no-nonsense doctors, barnstorming preachers, powerful attorneys and other men of distinction.
In between film assignments Olsen was active with the Pasadena Playhouse as both director and performer. For several years, the character actor and devout Mormon also directed the Pilgrimage Play, Hollywood's great passion play that predated the arrival of motion pictures. One of his last film assignments was as Pope Leo I in Sign of the Pagan (1954). The never-married actor died of a heart attack in Los Angeles on November 22, 1954, and was survived by a nephew, Edward Olsen (of Los Angeles). Funeral services were held back in his native Ogden, Utah, and was buried there at the Ogden City Cemetery. - Virl Osmond was born on 19 October 1945 in Ogden, Utah, USA. He is a producer, known for The Gift of Love (1978), Jerry Visits (1971) and Inside the Osmonds (2001). He has been married to Debbie since October 2014. He was previously married to Christopher Marie Carroll.
- Writer
- Producer
- Director
Writer/Director/Producer/Editor
"Spanky" (Dustin Ward) was born in Ogden, Utah, USA. He is a producer, director, and writer known for "Hello I Love You," "Riot (Dolph Lundgren, Chuck Liddell)" "Ruling of the Heart", and "Christmas Break-In (Danny Glover, Denise Richards, Cameron Seely) and more. He has Written, Produced, and Directed feature films, and over seventy short films, and commercials. Spanky has also optioned or sold over a dozen feature film screenplays. He's writing various projects for several producers while writing his next feature to produce and direct. Spanky's also turning his screenplays into novels and recently self-published his first children's book, "Charlie's Long Journey," now available on Amazon.com. Spanky just released his latest feature film during Christmas called "The Santa Box" which has already won seven awards including "Audience Choice," and "2nd Place Best Feature Film" at the Ziff Film Festival. It was also nominated for six awards at the Utah Film Festival, taking home "Best Made in Utah Feature" and "Best Actress Under 18" for the movie's star. He has also just wrapped a new feature film "Princess for a Day" which will be released in 2025 and is in pre-production on his latest film, a psychological thriller called "The Genesis Project." Spanky resides in Holladay Utah.- Actor
- Director
- Producer
Coming from a Mormon family in Utah, James Cruze was reportedly part Ute Indian. He worked as a fisherman to pay his way through drama school. Among his former wives were actresses Betty Compson (also from Utah) and Marguerite Snow. He was also married to Alberta McCoy (died on July 7, 1960), who is interred in the Columbarium at Hollywood Forever Cemetery (unmarked). Many of the films Cruze directed in the 1920s and 1930s have been lost. He directed a large variety of films, from Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle slapstick two-reelers to suspense thrillers to big-budget epics. In 1929 he appeared before a grand jury in Los Angeles that was investigating an accident on one of his films in which one man was killed and others were injured, one of many run-ins Cruze had with the law. He used the name Cruze on screen, but in real life remained James Bosen.- Handsome actor William Wright's mid-film 1940s career was pushed with a wave of Columbia Studio publicity promoting him as World War II's answer to Clark Gable. The push ultimately did not work and Wright's rather obscure career faded within a decade.
The Utah-born actor moved to California after his schooling and studied at the Pasadena Playhouse. His film debut came about with the small role of a pilot in China Clipper (1936). Groomed in uncredited and featured roles for both large (Paramount) and small (Monogram) studios, his more visible work in Rookies on Parade (1941), World Premiere (1941), The Devil Pays Off (1941) and Glamour Boy (1941) eventually led to a Columbia contract in 1942.
The handsome, dapper, mustachioed Wright proved reliable and lent a smooth air to his "B" series mixed bag of heroes and villains. Throughout the war-era he supported in such Columbia films as Not a Ladies' Man (1942), Night in New Orleans (1942), Sweetheart of the Fleet (1942) and Lucky Legs (1942) before earning his first co-star role opposite Marguerite Chapman in Parachute Nurse (1942) and A Man's World (1942).
Wright continued reliably in a variety of parts. He was a major suspect in the two of the "Boston Blackie" series entitled Boston Blackie Goes Hollywood (1942) and One Mysterious Night (1944), and romanced Ann Miller in Reveille with Beverly (1943) and, despite she overshadowed him with her dance routines, reteamed with her again in both Eadie Was a Lady (1945) and Eve Knew Her Apples (1945). He also was fourth billed as a detective in Murder in Times Square (1943) which reunited him with Marguerite Chapman, played a slick-haired villain in the western Saddles and Sagebrush (1943) with Ann Savage and played alongside her again in Dancing in Manhattan (1944). Appearing in Escape in the Fog (1945) opposite Nina Foch, he pursued Martha O'Driscoll in the western Down Missouri Way (1946).
Wright's leading man status would wane in the late 1940s with secondary roles for "Poverty Row" studios in Lover Come Back (1946) and The Beginning or the End (1947). What didn't help was a chronic problem with alcohol. Wright did manage to play the lead supersleuth Philo Vance in the cheapjack production of Philo Vance Returns (1947), however, and co-starred in such cheapies as King of the Gamblers (1948)) and Rose of the Yukon (1949). His last release was for Columbia playing a second lead alongside Marjorie Lord in Air Hostess (1949).
Whether Wright could have progressed into unctuous character roles would never be known as he died of cancer at age 38. Although performing right up until the end, his death was generally overlooked. - Mary Adams was born on 27 June 1910 in Ogden, Utah, USA. She was an actress, known for Executive Suite (1954), Blood of Dracula (1957) and The Alfred Hitchcock Hour (1962). She died on 30 November 1973 in Los Angeles, California, USA.
- Janet Stewart was born on 9 February 1929 in Ogden, Utah, USA. She was an actress, known for Small Town Girl (1953), Richard Diamond, Private Detective (1956) and Front Row Center (1955). She died on 7 July 2013 in Los Angeles, California, USA.
- Leon Janney was born on 1 April 1917 in Ogden, Utah, USA. He was an actor, known for Charly (1968), Stolen Paradise (1940) and The Last Mile (1959). He was married to Isabel K. Janney, Jessica Pepper and Dorothy. He died on 28 October 1980 in Guadalajara, Mexico.
- Howard Jarvis was born on 22 September 1903 in Ogden, Utah, USA. He was an actor, known for Airplane! (1980), The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (1962) and Today (1952). He died on 12 August 1986 in Los Angeles County, California, USA.
- Producer
- Actor
- Composer
Merrill Osmond was born on 30 April 1953 in Ogden, Utah, USA. He is a producer and actor, known for Cemetery Junction (2010), Harrigan (2013) and Mel & Susan Together (1978). He has been married to Mary Carlson since 17 September 1973. They have six children.- Producer
- Actor
- Composer
Alan Osmond was born on 22 June 1949 in Ogden, Utah, USA. He is a producer and actor, known for Cemetery Junction (2010), Harrigan (2013) and Mel & Susan Together (1978). He has been married to Suzanne Pinegar since 16 July 1974. They have eight children.- Producer
- Actor
- Music Department
Jay Osmond was born on 2 March 1955 in Ogden, Utah, USA. He is a producer and actor, known for The Gift of Love (1978), Marie (1980) and Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre (1963). He has been married to Karen Randall since 21 May 2014. He was previously married to Kandilyn Harris.- Oni Faida Lampley was born on 15 April 1959 in Ogden, Utah, USA. She was an actress, known for Stay (2005), Money Train (1995) and Dragonfly (2002). She was married to Tommy O Abney. She died on 28 April 2008 in Brooklyn, New York, USA.
- Producer
- Music Department
- Actor
Wayne Osmond was born on 28 August 1951 in Ogden, Utah, USA. He is a producer and actor, known for Cemetery Junction (2010), Harrigan (2013) and Land of the Lost (1974). He has been married to Kathlyn Louise White since 13 December 1974. They have five children.- Tom Osmond was born on 26 October 1947 in Ogden, Utah, USA. He is a producer, known for Donny and Marie (1975), The Gift of Love (1978) and Jerry Visits (1971). He has been married to Carolyn since 16 August 1989. They have four children. He was previously married to Lyn Heslop.
- Make-Up Department
- Special Effects
- Actor
Gage Munster was born on 3 August 1984 in Ogden, Utah, USA. He is an actor, known for The Curse of La Llorona (2019), The Nun (2018) and Annabelle Comes Home (2019).- Writer
- Producer
- Soundtrack
William Norton was born into a family of Utah Mormon pioneers. He is a life-long writer and political activist. After serving in combat in World War II, he did construction work and was a State Park ranger in California. His early writings were for the small literary magazines such as California Quarterly, as well as plays for little theater in Los Angeles during the 1950s and 60s. Participation in the early progressive political movements of the 50's resulted in being called before the House Un-American Activities Committee. Norton's film writing career began with the Burt Lancaster movie, "The Scalphunters". Screenwriting continued through the 70s and 80s, along with active involvement in Central American liberation theology movements. Focusing his concerns for peace and justice towards the struggles in Northern Ireland in the 80s, both Nortons were arrested for attempting to contribute arms to this cause. They spent two years in a French prison, one year each of refuge in Nicaragua and in Cuba. They returned to Los Angeles in the early 90s, where they both continue to write.