- published: 01 Apr 2016
Wallace Ford (12 February, 1898 – 11 June, 1966) was an English film and television actor who, with his friendly appearance and stocky build later in life, appeared in a number of film westerns and B-movies.
Born Samuel Jones Grundy in Bolton, Lancashire, England, he spent childhood in a Dr. Barnardo's home. At an early age he was adopted by a farmer from Manitoba, Canada where he was ill treated. About the age of eleven, he ran away and did odd jobs later becoming an usher in a theatre.
Following his discharge from the army after World War I, he became a vaudeville actor in a stock company before performing on Broadway.
He started on a film career when Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer gave him part in the film Possessed and went on to appear in over 200 films including 13 directed by John Ford. (The two were unrelated.)
He also appeared in a 1964 episode of The Andy Griffith Show as Roger Hanover, Aunt Bee's old flame. He is buried with an unmarked grave in Culver City's Holy Cross Cemetery.
Leila Hyams (1 May 1905 – 4 December 1977) was an American film actress. Her relatively short film career began in silent films, and ended in the mid 1930s.
Born in New York, New York to vaudeville comedy performers John Hyams and Leila McIntyre, Hyams appeared on-stage with her parents while still a child. As a teenager she worked as a model and become well known across the United States after appearing in a successful series of newspaper advertisements. This success led her to Hollywood.
She made her first film in 1924, and with her blonde hair, delicate features, and good natured demeanour, was cast in a string of supporting roles, where she was required to do very little but smile and look pretty. She proved herself capable of handling the small roles she was assigned, and over a period of time she came to be taken seriously as an actress. By 1928 she was playing starring roles, achieving success in MGM's first talkie release, Alias Jimmy Valentine (1928) opposite William Haines, Lionel Barrymore and Karl Dane. The following year she appeared in the popular murder mystery The Thirteenth Chair, a role that offered her the chance to display her dramatic abilities as a murder suspect.
Olga Vladimirovna Baclanova, or Baklanova, (Russian: Ольга Владимировна Бакланова; 19 August 1900 – 6 September 1974) was a Russian-born actress, who achieved prominence during the silent film era. She was billed as the Russian Tigress and remains most noted by modern audiences for portraying the leading lady in Tod Browning's unique horror movie Freaks (1932), which features a cast of actual carnival sideshow freaks. At the height of her career, she was billed by her last name only: Baclanova.
Born in Moscow, Russia, Baclanova was the daughter of Vladimir Baklanoff and his wife Alexandra, herself an actress in early Russian films. Baclanova studied drama at the Cherniavsky Institute before being accepted into the prestigious Moscow Art Theatre in 1912. Over the next decade she appeared in Russian films, and also performed extensively on stage, touring and performing in many countries of the world.
Baclanova first came to New York with the 1925 touring production of the Moscow Art Theatre's Lysistrata. Though the rest of the company returned to Russia in 1926, she stayed to pursue career in the United States. A statuesque blonde, Baclanova quickly established herself as a popular actress in American silent movies and achieved a notable success with The Docks of New York (1928), directed by Josef von Sternberg. Later that year, she also appeared in The Man Who Laughs; the creators of "Batman" based the appearance of their character "the Joker" on the titular protagonist in this film.