Alexander ( /ˈæləksˈændər/) is a common male first name, and less common surname. The most famous is Alexander III of Macedon, commonly known as Alexander the Great, who created one of the largest empires in ancient history.

Etymologically, the name is derived from the Greek "Αλέξανδρος" (Aléxandros), meaning "defending men" or "protector of men", a compound of the verb "ἀλέξω" (alexō), "to ward off, to avert, to defend" and the noun "ἀνδρός" (andros), genitive of "ἀνήρ" (anēr), "man". It is an example of the widespread motif of Greek (or Indo-European more generally) names expressing "battle-prowess", in this case the ability to withstand or push back an enemy battle line.

The earliest attested form of the name is the Mycenaean Greek feminine noun a-re-ka-sa-da-ra, (transliterated as Alexandra), written in Linear B syllabic script.

The name was one of the titles ("epithets") given to the Greek goddess Hera and as such is usually taken to mean "one who comes to save warriors". In the Iliad, the character Paris is known also as Alexander. The name's popularity was spread throughout the Greek world by the military conquests of King Alexander III, commonly known as "Alexander the Great". Most later Alexanders in various countries were directly or indirectly named for him.^{[citation needed]}

Christina Crawford (born June 11, 1939) is an American writer and actress, best known as the author of Mommie Dearest, an exposé of alleged child abuse by her mother, actress Joan Crawford.

She was born in Los Angeles, California in 1939 to unmarried parents.

According to Christina Crawford's interview with Larry King her father was married to another woman, and her mother unmarried. Her father was in the Navy at the time. Christina Crawford was adopted out-of-state in 1940. Subsequent documentation showed that the adoption was handled by Georgia Tann through Tann's infamous Tennessee Children's Home Society. Christina was one of four children adopted by Joan Crawford.

Christina Crawford has stated that her childhood was affected by her adopted mother's violent mood swings. At the age of ten she was sent to the Chadwick School, in Palos Verdes, California. However, she was removed from Chadwick by her mother because of her "misbehavior" with one of the male students (The real story was that her boyfriend came to visit her while Commander and Mrs. Chadwick were away from the house) Shortly afterward she returned to Chadwick School, but shortly before Thanksgiving during a call to her mother Joan Crawford asked her about her Christmas Card List. Joan Crawford got angry that Christina had not completed them, so as punishment Joan Crawford then placed her in a Catholic boarding school, Flintridge Sacred Heart Academy in La Cañada (now the City of La Cañada Flintridge), California and forbade Christina any form of outside contact until her graduation. Crawford later moved from California to the East Coast to attend Carnegie Mellon School of Drama and then studied at The Neighborhood Playhouse in New York City. She holds a B.A. degree, magna cum laude, from UCLA and a Master's Degree in Communications Management from USC.

Lew Ayres (born Lewis Frederick Ayres III; December 28, 1908 – December 30, 1996) was an American actor, best known for starring as Paul in All Quiet on the Western Front and for playing Dr. Kildare in several movies, which was apt since originally he had studied medicine at the University of Arizona.

Ayres was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota and reared in San Diego, California. Ayres began acting in bit player roles in films in 1927. He was discovered that year playing banjo in the Henry Halstead Orchestra as Halstead was recording one of the earliest Vitaphone movie shorts called Carnival Night in Paris (Warner Brothers, 1927). Ayres wrote, "I was a member of Henry Halstead's orchestra in 1927 at the Mission Beach Ballroom in San Diego, California for the summer. My instruments were tenor banjo, long-neck banjo and guitar. After a hiatus, I rejoined Mr. Halstead with a new group, including Phil Harris, on New Year's Eve the same year for the opening night of the Beverly Wilshire Hotel, a memorable occasion."

Heinie Conklin (July 15, 1889 – July 30, 1959) was an American actor of the silent film era, who appeared in nearly 400 films. Claimed to be one of the original Keystone Kops, Conklin's silent screen makeup consisted heavy eyebrow lining and a thinnish, upside-down, painted-on variation of Kaiser Wilhelm's moustache. He was born in San Francisco, California.

In areas where anti-German sentiments still ran high during the post-World War I era, Conklin was billed as Charlie Lynn. One of Conklin's first talking pictures was All Quiet on the Western Front as a hospital patient. For the rest of his career in talking pictures, he had small roles in 2-reelers which starred The Three Stooges, Andy Clyde, Hugh Herbert and Harry Langdon. Conklin's last billed movie was Abbott and Costello meet the Keystone Kops. He died in Hollywood, California.

Conklin's period at Keystone was contemporary with that of Chester Conklin, a more popular Keystone comedian who occasionally played lead roles in Keystone short films. The two Conklins were not related.

Beryl Mercer (13 August 1882 – 28 July 1939) was a Spanish-born American-based actress of the 1920s and 1930s.

Born to British parents in Seville, Beryl Mercer was best-known for her motherly roles in film and regularly appeared as a grandmother or cook or maid in some high profile films. She appeared in more than fifty films between 1916 and 1939 but her career was at a peak in the early- to mid-1930s when she regularly starred in between five and ten films a year.^{[citation needed]}

In 1933 Mercer appeared in Cavalcade, as a cook, and the following year made appearances in Jane Eyre, The Little Minister, and The Richest Girl in the World. In 1939, she appeared in The Little Princess as Queen Victoria.

Mercer died in Santa Monica, California in 1939, aged 56, following surgery for an undisclosed ailment.