- published: 20 Mar 2015
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Glenn Strange (August 16, 1899 – September 20, 1973) was an American actor who mostly appeared in Western films. He is best remembered for playing Frankenstein's monster in three Universal films during the 1940s and for his role as Sam Noonan, the popular bartender on CBS's Gunsmoke television series. Strange was of Irish and Cherokee descent and was a cousin of the Western film star and narrator Rex Allen.
Strange was born near Alamogordo in tiny Weed in Otero County, northeast of El Paso, Texas, some thirteen years prior to New Mexico gaining statehood. He was born as George Glenn Strange, the fourth child of William Russell Strange and the former Sarah Eliza Byrd. He was an eighth generation grandson of Pocahontas and John Rolfe of Jamestown, Virginia.
Strange grew up in tiny Cross Cut (formerly known as Cross Out) in Brown County (county seat: Brownwood), some fifty miles east of Abilene in West Texas. His father was a bartender and later a rancher. Strange learned by ear how to play the fiddle and guitar. By the time he was twelve, young Glenn was performing at cowboy dances. By 1928, he was on radio in El Paso. He was a young rancher, but in 1930, he came to Hollywood as a member of the radio singing group Arizona Wranglers. Strange joined the singers after having appeared at a rodeo in Prescott in Yavapai County in central Arizona. Another Strange cousin, Taylor McPeters, or "Cactus Mack," was also part of the Wranglers. Strange's Arizona connection prevailed when he guest starred in the 1958 episode "Chain Gang" of the syndicated western series 26 Men, true stories about the Arizona Rangers. In 1932, Strange had a minor role as part of the Wrecker's gang in a 12-part serial, The Hurricane Express, starring John Wayne.
Marion Mitchell Morrison (born Marion Robert Morrison; May 26, 1907 – June 11, 1979), known by his stage name John Wayne and by his nickname "Duke", was an American film actor, director, and producer. An Academy Award-winner for True Grit (1969), Wayne was among the top box office draws for three decades. An enduring American icon, for several generations of Americans he epitomized rugged masculinity and is famous for his demeanor, including his distinctive calm voice, walk, and height.
Born in Iowa, Wayne grew up in Southern California. He found work at local film studios when he lost his football scholarship to USC as a result of a bodysurfing accident. Initially working for the Fox Film Corporation, he mostly appeared in small bit parts. His first leading role came in Raoul Walsh's lavish widescreen epic The Big Trail (1930), which led to leading roles in numerous B movies throughout the 1930s, many of them in the Western genre.
Wayne's career took off in 1939, with John Ford's Stagecoach making him an instant mainstream star. Wayne went on to star in 142 pictures. Biographer Ronald Davis says: "John Wayne personified for millions the nation's frontier heritage. Eighty-three of his movies were Westerns, and in them he played cowboys, cavalrymen, and unconquerable loners extracted from the Republic's central creation myth."
Death SS (later also intended as a contraction of In Death of Steve Sylvester) is an Italian heavy metal band.
Death SS was formed in 1977 in Pesaro by Steve Sylvester, who was a member of the Ordo Templi Orientis, and Paul Chain, who would later embrace an experimental form of doom metal with his solo project, Paul Chain Violet Theatre. The band combined elements of horror, occultism and heavy metal to become a pioneer in horror metal and black metal; the musical style is called “horror music” by the band. Sylvester left the band in 1982 and Chain replaced him with Sanctis Ghoram (featured on the Evil Metal EP) before closing the project in 1984 to start his solo career. Sylvester reformed the band in 1988 (with him being the only original member). This new incarnation of the band recorded their first full-length album, ...in Death of Steve Sylvester. There would be many line-up changes in the years to come, with Sylvester once again being the only constant.
The album Panic was partially recorded in the USA, with Neil Kernon as a producer, because the band liked his work for artists like Queensrÿche, Judas Priest, Dokken, Nevermore, David Bowie, Rush and Skrew and had, according to Sylvester, “a particular touch in the dark side of Heavy Metal […] that we were looking for”. The band’s management contacted Kernon, who accepted after listening to the band’s demos of the new songs. The album was released in 2000 by Sylvester’s own label, Lucifer Rising, and Dream Cather.