Male Actors

Lionel Atwill (1 March 1885 – 22 April 1946) was an English stage and film actor born in Croydon, London, England. He studied architecture before his stage debut at the Garrick Theatre, London in 1904. He become a star in Broadway theatre by 1918, and made his screen debut in 1919. He acted on the stage in Australia but was most famous for his U.S. horror roles in the 1930s. His two most memorable parts were as the crazed, disfigured sculptor in Mystery of the Wax Museum (Warner Brothers, 1933), and as Inspector Krogh in Son of Frankenstein (1939), memorably sent up by Kenneth Mars in Mel Brooks's Young Frankenstein (1974). When he was not cast in macabre roles, Atwill …

George Campbell Scott (October 18, 1927 – September 22, 1999) was an American stage and film actor, director and producer. He was best known for his bravura stage work, as well as his portrayal of General George S. Patton in the film Patton, and an early flamboyant film performance as General Buck Turgidson in Stanley Kubrick's Dr. Strangelove. He has also widely been known for his rather gravelly voice. Early life Scott was born in Wise, Virginia, the son of Helena Agnes (1904–1935) and F. Scott (1896–1948). He was the only son and younger of their two children. His mother died just before his eighth birthday, and he was raised by his father, an executive at the Buick…

Abbott and Costello, one of the greatest comedy teams of all time Abbott and Costello was a legendary comedy team, consisting of Bud Abbott, the tall, thin straight man, and Lou Costello, the short, pudgy comic. They were famous for their rapid-fire verbal exchanges, and Costello’s clownish view of the world. Like Laurel and Hardy, they were a visual contrast - the tall, debonair Bud Abbott, and the short, goofy, unkempt Lou Costello. In fact, when they were hired by Universal Studios, the studio was thinking of them as a more up-to-date version of Laurel and Hardy. Abbott and Costello initially teamed up in 1931 when Bud Abbott was working at a Brooklyn theater, and L…

Milton Berle (July 12, 1908 – March 27, 2002) was an American comedian and actor. As the manic host of NBC's Texaco Star Theater (1948–55), in 1948 he was the first major star of US television and as such became known as Uncle Miltie and Mr. Television to millions during TV's golden age. Early life Milton Berlinger was born to a Jewish family in a five-story walkup at 68 West 118th Street in the Harlem neighborhood of Manhattan, he chose Milton Berle as his professional name when he was 16. His father, Moses Berlinger, was a paint and varnish salesman. His mother, Sarah (Sadie) Glantz Berlinger (1880–1954), eventually became stagestruck and changed her name to Sandra Be…

David Carradine (December 8, 1936 – June 3, 2009), born John Arthur Carradine, was an American character actor, best known for his role as Kwai Chang Caine in the 1970s television series, Kung Fu and its 1990s sequel series, Kung Fu: The Legend Continues. He was a member of a productive acting dynasty that began with his father, John Carradine. His acting career, which included major and minor roles on stage, television and cinema, spanned over four decades. A prolific "B" movie actor, he appeared in more than 100 feature films and was nominated four times for a Golden Globe Award. The latest nomination was for his part in Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill. Film projects tha…

Richard St. John Harris (1 October 1930 – 25 October 2002) was an Irish actor, singer-songwriter, theatrical producer, film director and writer. He appeared on stage and in many films, and is perhaps best known for his roles as King Arthur in Camelot (1967), as Oliver Cromwell in Cromwell (1970) and as Albus Dumbledore in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (2001) and Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002), his final film. He also played a British aristocrat and prisoner in A Man Called Horse (1970) and a gunfighter in Clint Eastwood's Western film Unforgiven (1992). Despite his limited singing ability, Harris had a top ten hit in Britain and the US with hi…

George Burns (January 20, 1896 – March 9, 1996), born Nathan Birnbaum, was an American comedian, actor, and writer. His career spanned vaudeville, film, radio, and television, with and without his wife, Gracie Allen. His arched eyebrow and cigar smoke punctuation became familiar trademarks for over three quarters of a century. Beginning at the age of 79, George enjoyed a career resurrection as an amiable, beloved and unusually active old comedian, continuing to work until shortly before his death, in 1996, at the age of 100. Early life Nathan Birnbaum was the ninth of twelve children born to Louis and Dorothy (Bluth) Birnbaum in New York City. His father was a substit…

Forest Steven Whitaker (born July 15, 1961) is an American actor, producer, and director. He has earned a reputation for intensive character study work for films such as Bird and Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai. However, for his recurring role as ex-LAPD Lieutenant Jon Kavanaugh on the gritty, award-winning television series, The Shield, Whitaker merely had to draw on his childhood years growing up in South Central Los Angeles, California. Whitaker won an Academy Award for his performance as Ugandan dictator Idi Amin in the 2006 film The Last King of Scotland. Whitaker has also won a Golden Globe, and a BAFTA. He became the fourth African American man to win an Academy…

Michael Kevin Paré (born October 9, 1958) is an American actor. Paré was born in Brooklyn, New York, the son of Joan, a homemaker, and Francis Paré, who owned print shops. He had six sisters and three brothers. Paré's father was of French-Canadian ancestry and his mother of Irish ancestry. His father died from leukemia when Paré was five, leaving his mother to raise the large family of children. A good athlete, his primary sport in high school was wrestling. Paré first studied to be a chef at the Culinary Institute of America, and was working in that trade when he was approached to work as a male model. This opened the door into acting, having been discovered by agent an…

The Three Stooges were an American vaudeville and comedy act of the early to mid–20th century best known for their numerous short subject films. Their hallmark was physical farce and extreme slapstick. In films, the stooges were commonly known by their first names: "Moe, Larry, and Curly" and "Moe, Larry, and Shemp," among other lineups. The film trio was originally composed of Moe Howard, brother Shemp Howard and longtime friend Larry Fine. Curly Howard replaced brother Shemp, who later returned when Curly suffered a debilitating stroke in 1946. After Shemp's death in 1955, he was replaced by comedian Joe Besser, after the use of stuntman Joe Palma to record several "Sh…

Bernard Jeffrey McCullough (October 5, 1957- August 9, 2008) better known by his stage name Bernie Mac, was an American actor and comedian. Born and raised on the South Side of Chicago, Mac gained popularity as a stand-up comedian. He joined comedians Steve Harvey, Cedric the Entertainer, and D. L. Hughley as The Original Kings of Comedy. After briefly hosting the HBO show Midnight Mac, Mac appeared in several films in smaller roles. His most noted film role was as Frank Catton in the remake Ocean's Eleven and the titular character of Mr. 3000. He was the star of The Bernie Mac Show, which ran from 2001 through 2006, earning him two Emmy Award nominations for Outstanding…

Felipe Colombo Eguía (born January 8, 1983) is an Argentine-Mexican actor and musician. The son of Argentine-born actor Juan Carlos Colombo, Felipe Colombo was born in Mexico City, Mexico. Colombo made his television acting debut in 1992, when he acted alongside Ludwika Paleta and Gael Garcia Bernal in a telenovela named "El Abuelo y Yo" ("My Grandfather and Me"). A Televisa production, "El Abuelo y Yo" was a hit show. Colombo played "Felipito" in it. After acting in two other telenovelas, he worked alongside Angelica Maria, among many others, in "Agujetas de Color de Rosa" ("Pink Colored Shoelaces"), which was a successful telenovela across Latin America and among Hisp…

Benjamin Rojas (born April 16, 1985 in La Plata, Buenos Aires province, Argentina), is a well known actor. He has also been a music star, being involved in a group, ERREway, that toured across Argentina during the early 2000s. Benjamin Rojas began his professional show business career when he was cast as "Yago" in Cris Morena's production, "Chiquititas", in 1998. His portrait of "Yago", a homeless boy who helps Maria Jimena Piccolo's "Jimena" out of a jungle and in turn gets helped by "Jimena" himself when she takes him to the "Rincon de Luz" orphanage home, gave Rojas much critical acclaim. Rojas spent two years at "Chiquititas", also playing the character of "Bautista …

Leslie Howard (birthname: Leslie Howard Steiner, 3 April 1893 – 1 June 1943) was an English stage and film actor, director, and producer. Among his best-known roles was Ashley Wilkes in Gone with the Wind (1939) and roles in Berkeley Square (1933), Of Human Bondage (1934), The Scarlet Pimpernel (1934), The Petrified Forest (1936), Pygmalion (1938), Intermezzo (1939) and Pimpernel Smith (1941). Howard's Second World War activities included acting and filmmaking. He was reputedly involved with British or Allied Intelligence, which may have led to his precipitous death in 1943 when his airliner was shot down, sparking modern conspiracy theories regarding his death. Early l…

Jason Nelson Robards, Jr. (July 26, 1922 – December 26, 2000) was an American actor on stage and in film and television and a winner of the Tony Award (theatre), two Academy Awards (film) and the Emmy Award (television). He was also a United States Navy combat veteran of World War II. He became famous playing works of Eugene O'Neill, an American playwright, and regularly performed in O'Neill's works throughout his career. Robards was cast in both common-man roles and as well-known historical figures. Early life and education Robards was born in Chicago, Illinois, the son of Hope Maxine Robards and Jason Robards, Sr., an actor who regularly appeared on the stage and in…

Samuel Pack "Sam" Elliott (born August 9, 1944) is an American actor. In films, he is often characterized by his rangy physique, thick horseshoe moustache and deep, resonant speaking voice. Early life Elliott was born in Sacramento, California, to a physical training instructor mother and a father who worked for the Department of the Interior. He moved from California to Oregon with his family during his teenage years, where he graduated from David Douglas High School in Portland. He attended Clark College in Vancouver, Washington, where he completed a two-year program and was cast as one of the leads in "Guys and Dolls." The local newspaper suggested that Elliott shou…

Gabriel James Byrne (born May 12, 1950) is an Irish actor, film director, film producer, writer, and audiobook narrator. His acting career began in the Focus Theatre before he joined London’s Royal Court Theatre in 1979. Byrne's screen début came in the Irish soap opera The Riordans and the spin-off show Bracken. The actor has now starred in over 35 feature films, such as The Usual Suspects, Miller's Crossing and Stigmata, in addition to writing two. Byrne's producing credits include the Academy Award-nominated In the Name of the Father. Currently, he is receiving much critical acclaim for his role as Dr. Paul Weston in the HBO drama In Treatment. Early life Byrne, the …

Crispin Hellion Glover (born April 20, 1964) is an American film actor, director and screenwriter, avant-garde musician and self-published author. Glover is known for portraying eccentric people on screen such as George McFly in Back to the Future, Layne in River's Edge, unfriendly recluse Rubin Farr in Rubin and Ed, the "Creepy Thin Man" in the big screen adaptation of Charlie's Angels, Willy in Epic Movie, Willard Stiles in Willard, and schizophrenic killer Stanley in Simon Says, among others. In the early 2000s Glover started his own production company, Volcanic Eruptions, which issues his books and also serves as the production company of Glover's films, What Is It? a…

Malcolm McDowell (born 13 June 1943) is an English actor with a career spanning over forty years. McDowell is principally known for his roles in the controversial films If...., Caligula and A Clockwork Orange, as well as O Lucky Man!. His versatility as an actor has led to his presence in many films and television series of different genres, including Tank Girl, Star Trek Generations, the TV serial Our Friends in the North, Entourage, Heroes, Metalocalypse, animated film Bolt and the 2007 remake of Halloween and the 2009 sequel Halloween II. He is also well known for his narration of the seminal 1982 documentary, The Compleat Beatles. Early life McDowell was born Malc…

Richard Franklin Lennox Thomas Pryor III (December 1, 1940 – December 10, 2005) was an American stand-up comedian, actor, and writer. Pryor was known for uncompromising examinations of racism and topical contemporary issues, which employed colorful, vulgar and profane language, as well as racial epithets. He reached a broad audience with his trenchant observations and storytelling style. He is widely regarded as one of the most important stand-up comedians: Jerry Seinfeld called Pryor "The Picasso of our profession"; Bob Newhart has called Pryor "the seminal comedian of the last 50 years." His body of work includes the concert movies and recordings Richard Pryor: Live &a…

Charles William "Billy" Haines (January 2, 1900 – December 26, 1973) was an American film actor and interior designer. A star of the silent era, Haines' career was cut short in the Thirties as a result of his refusal to deny his homosexuality. Life and career Early life Haines was probably born on January 2, 1900, the third child of George Adam Haines, a cigar maker, and Laura Virginia Haines. Two older siblings died in infancy. He had four younger siblings: Lillian, born in 1902; Ann, born in 1907; George, Jr., born in 1908; and Henry, born in 1917. He was baptized at the Trinity Episcopal Church in Staunton at the age of eight, where he later sang in the choir. He be…

Ronald Charles Colman (9 February 1891 – 19 May 1958) was an English actor. Early years He was born in Richmond, Surrey, England, the second son and fourth child of Charles Colman and his wife Marjory Read Fraser. His siblings included Eric, Edith, and Marjorie. He was educated at boarding school in Littlehampton, where he discovered he enjoyed acting. He intended to study engineering at Cambridge University, but his father's sudden death from pneumonia in 1907 made this financially impossible. He became a well-known amateur actor, and was a member of the West Middlesex Dramatic Society in 1908-9. He made his first appearance on the professional stage in 1914. After …

Richard Arlen (September 1, 1900 – March 28, 1976) was an American actor. Biography Born Cornelius Richard Van Mattimore in Charlottesville, Virginia, he attended the University of Pennsylvania. He served as a pilot in the Royal Canadian Air Force during World War I. His first job after the war was with St. Paul's Athletic Club. Then he went to the opilfields of Texas and Oklahoma andthen found work as a tool boy, a messenger and sporting editor of a newspaper before going to Los Angeles to star in films but no producer wanted him. He was a delivery boy for a film laboratory when the motor cycle he was riding landed him a broken leg outside the Paramount Film Studios. A…

John Gilbert (July 10, 1895 – January 9, 1936) was an American actor and a major star of the silent film era. Known as "the great lover", he rivaled even Rudolph Valentino as a box office draw. Though he was often cited as one of the high profile examples of an actor who was unsuccessful in making the transition to talkies, his decline as a star in fact had to do with studio politics and money and not the sound of his screen voice. According to the actress Eleanor Boardman and others, a fight between Louis B. Mayer and Gilbert erupted at what was to be his marriage to Greta Garbo, for which she failed to turn up, when Mayer made a snide remark. Gilbert promptly knocked h…

Andrew Thomas McCarthy (born November 29, 1962) is an American actor. He is best known for his roles in St. Elmo's Fire, Mannequin, Weekend at Bernie's and Pretty in Pink in the 1980s and more recently for his role in the TV shows Lipstick Jungle and Royal Pains. Career McCarthy gained recognition in Hollywood during the 1980s. His boyish good looks continually had him placed as the sincere and kind leading man. As McCarthy's career grew, he involuntarily became a member of the '80s Hollywood group of young actors known as the "Brat Pack"; McCarthy's better-known films include the Brat Pack films St. Elmo's Fire and Pretty in Pink. During the filming of St. Elmo's Fire,…