About Us
Discover more about a film, movie, tv production, or video filmed in Wisconsin.
Find out more on stars either born or schooled in Wisconsin.
Stars with Wisconsin Connections
Stars from Wisconsin
JIM ABRAHAMS (b. 1944)
Producer, Writer, Director, Actor.
Wisconsin Connection: Born in Milwaukee, attended
UW-Madison
Films Include: The Kentucky Fried Movie; Airplane!; Top Secret!; Ruthless People; Coming to America; The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!; Big Business; Cry Baby; Welcome Home, Roxy Carmichael; The Naked Gun 2-1/2: The Smell of Fear; Hot Shots!; Hot Shots! Part Deux; The Naked Gun 33-1/3: The Final Insult, Stanley's Cup.
Television: Series: Police Squad!
"One day, I ran into David Zucker, who was working in construction, and he said, 'We have this video equipment, do you want to come and play around with it?' This would be in about 1970, when video was a real novelty. So we started to videotape spoofs of tv commercials, and scenes from The Love Story. It was really just for our own amusement, but, eventually, we showed it to some of our friends, and they laughed, so we decided to take it to the University of Wisconsin. People would pay a dollar to get in, and they laughed too," Jim Abrahams as quoted in The Independent, August 16, 1993
With friends, David and Jerry Zucker, he opened the Kentucky Fried Theatre in Madison in 1971. The multimedia show specialized in live improvisation skits mixed with videotaped film routines and sketches with the threesome - known simply as the ZAZ team - writing and appearing in most.
MASON ADAMS (1919-2005)
Actor.
Wisconsin Connection: Graduated from UW-Madison.
Films Include: The Happy Hooker, God Told Me To, Raggedy Ann and Andy (voice); Northstar; The Final Conflict; F/X; Toy Soldiers, Son in Law, Houseguest.
Television Series: Love of Life, Lou Grant; Morningstar/Evening star; Knight and Daye. Episodic: Flamingo Road; Family Ties.
Movies: The Deadliest Season; And Baby Makes Six; The Shining Season; Flamingo Road; The Revenge of the Stepford Wives; The Kid with the Broken Halo; Adam; Passions; Solomon Northrup's Odyssey; The Night They Saved Christmas; Who Is Julia?; Under Siege; Rage of Angels: The Story Continues; Perry Mason: The Case of the Maligned Mobster; Jonathon: The Boy Nobody Wanted; Buying a Landslide; Assault at West Point; The Court Martial of Johnson Whitaker; Not of This Earth.
Awards: Three Emmy award nominations, Best Actor, "Lou Grant", CBS.
If you can't recall seeing Mason Adams, you've definitely heard him. As the Smuckers' Jam spokesperson for more than 20 years, Adams brought distinction to the slogan, "With a name like Smuckers, it has to be good."
DON AMECHE (1908-1993)
Actor.
Born in Kenosha, WI, and attended Marquette
University and UW. Stage debut with Al Jackson
Stock Company in Madison in 1928.
Films Include: Swanee River, Clive of India, Sins of Man, Ramona, One in a Million, Ladies in Love, You Can't Have Everything, Love Under Fire, Love is News, Fifty Roads to Town, Fifty Races to Town, Alexander's Ragtime Band, Josette, In Old Chicago, Happy Landing, Gateway, The Three Musketeers; Swanee River; The Story of Alexander Graham Bell; Midnight; Hollywood Cavalcade; Lillian Russell; Four Sons; Down Argentine Way; The Night in Rio; Moon Over Miami; Kiss the Boys Goodbye; The Feminine Touch; Confirm or Deny; The Magnificent Dope; Girl Troubles; Something to Shout About; Heaven Can Wait; Happy Land; Wing and a Prayer; Greenwich Village. It's in the Bag; Guest Wife; That's My Man; So Goes My Love; Sleep, My Love; Slightly French; Phantom Caravan; Fire One, A Fever in the Blood. Rings Around the World, Picture Mommy Dead, Suppose They Gave a War and Nobody Came?, The Beatniks, Trading Places, Cocoon, Henry and the Hendersons, Things Change, Coming to America, Cocoon: The Return, Oddball Hall, Oscar, Folks!, Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey, Corrina, Corrina.
Television Series: Take a Chance; Star Time; Holiday Hotel; Don Ameche's Musical Playhouse; The Frances Langford-Don Ameche Show; Coke Time with Eddie Fisher, The Jack Carson Show, The Don Ameche Theater, International Showtime.
Episodic: Too Young to Go Steady; The Love Boat; Fantasy Island, The Golden Girls.
Movies: Shadow over Elveron; Gidget Gets Married, A Masterpiece of Murder; Pals; Sunstroke.
Academy Award, Best Supporting Actor, Cocoon, 1986; Venice Film Festival, Best Actor, 1988.
RALPH BELLAMY (1904-1991)
Actor.
Attended UW-Madison. Founder and board member
of Screen Actors Guild.
Film: The Secret Six, Magnificent Lie, Young America, The Woman in Room 13, Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm, Forbidden, Disorderly Conduct, Almost Married, Air Mail, Ace of Aces, Second Hand Wife, Picture Snatcher, The Narrow Corner, Flying Devils, Ever in My Heart, Blind Adventure, Below the Sea, This Man Is Mine, Spitfire, The Wedding Night, Rendezvous at Midnight, Navy Wife, Helldorado, Hands Across the Table, Wild Brian Kent, Straight From the Shoulder, Roaming Lady, Man Who Lived Twice, Dangerous Intrigue, The Awful Truth, Trade Winds, Fools for Scandal, Carefree, Let Us Live, Blind Alley, Public Deb No. 1, His Girl Friday, Ellery Queen, Master Detective, Dance, Girl, Dance, Brother Orchid, The Wolf Man, Footsteps in the Dark, Ellery Queen's Penthouse Mystery, Ellery Queen and the Perfect Crime, Ellery Queen and the Murder Ring, Dive Bomber, Affectionately Yours, Lady in a Jam, The Great Impersonation, The Ghost of Frankenstein, Guest in the House, Lady on a Train, The Court-Martial of Billy Mitchell, Sunrise at Campobello, The Professionals, Rosemary's Baby, Doctors' Wives, Cancel My Reservation, Oh, God!, Trading Places, Disorderlies, Amazon Women on the Moon, The Good Mother, Coming to America, Pretty Woman.
Television Series: Man Against Crime, Frontier Justice, The Eleventh Hour, The Survivors, The Most Deadly Game, Christine Cromwell.
Episodic: Hunter.
Mini-Series: The Winds of War.
Movies: Wings of Fire, The Immortal, Something Evil, The Missiles of October, Adventures of the Queen, Search for the Gods, Murder on Flight 502, The Log of the Black Pearl, Return to Earth, Nightmare in Badham County, McNaughton's Daughter, The Boy in the Plastic Bubble, Charlie Cobb: Nice Night for a Hanging, The Millionaire, The Clone Master, The Billion Dollar Threat, The Memory of Eva Ryker, Condominium, Love Leads the Way, The Fourth Wise Man, Christine Cromwell: Things That Go Bump in the Night.
ANDREW BERGMAN (b.
1945)
Writer, director, producer, novelist.
Earned a master's and doctoral degree from UW-Madison's
history department.
Films: Blazing Saddles, The In-Laws, So Fine, Oh, God! You Devil, Fletch, Big Trouble, The Freshman, Soapdish, Honeymoon in Vegas, The Scout, Little Big League, It Could Happen to You, Striptease.
His doctoral dissertation on the history of films of the Depression era, completed while he was a student at UW-Madison, was turned into the book, We're in the Money.
JERRY BOCK (b. 1928)
Composer.
Attended UW-Madison
Television series: The Show of Shows, the Mel Torme Show, The Kate Smith Hour, etc.
Films:Wonders of Manhattan, Fiddler on the Roof, A Stranger Among Us.
MARSHALL BRICKMAN (b.
1941)
Screenwriter, Director, Producer.
Graduated from UW.
Films: Sleeper, Annie Hall, Manhattan, Simon, Lovesick, The Manhattan Project, For the Boys, Manhattan Murder Mystery, Intersection.
Television Series: Candid Camera; The Tonight Show, The Dick Cavett Show.
Pilot: Off Campus.
Awards: Emmy Award, Best Producer, 1971-72, The Dick Cavett Show; Academy Award, Best Screenplay, Annie Hall, 1977.
ELLEN CORBY (1913-1999)
Actress (born Ellen Hansen)
Born in Racine, WI
Films: Twilight on the Trail, Cornered, The Spiral Staircase, The Locket, It's a Wonderful Life, The Dark Corner, Crack-up, Bedlam, They Won't Believe Me, Happy's Holiday, Born to Kill, I Remember Mama, Fighting Father Dunne, The Dark Past, A Woman's Secret, Rusty Saves a Life, Madame Bovary, Captain China, Ma and Pa Kettle Go to Town, Harriet Craig, The Gunfighter, Edge of Doom, Caged, On Moonlight Bay, Here Comes the Groom, Angels in the Outfield, The Big Trees, The Woman They Almost Lynched, Shane, Monsoon, About Mrs. Leslie, Susan Slept Here, Sabrina, Illegal, Stagecoach to Fury, Slightly Scarlet, The Seventh Sin, Night Passage, Vertigo, Macabre, Visit to a Small Planet, Pocketful of Miracles, Saintly Sinners, The Strangler, Hush...Hush, Sweet Charlotte, The Night of the Grizzly, The Glass Botton Boat, The Gnome-Mobile, The Legend of Lylah Clare, A Fine Pair, Support Your Local Gunfighte, Napoleon and Samantha.
Television Series: Please Don't Eat the Daisies, The Waltons.
Episodic: I Love Lucy, G.E. Summer Originals, The Tab Hunter Show, The Andy Griffith Show, Mr. Terrific, Pride of the Family.
Movies: A Tattered Web, The Homecoming, A Christmas Story, The Story of Pretty Boy Floyd, A Wedding on Walton's Mountain, A Day of Thanks on Walton's Mountain, A Walton Walton Thanksgiving Reunion, A Walton Wedding.
Awards: Emmy Award, Best Supporting Actress, The Waltons, 1973, 1975 and 1976. Nomination, Best Supporting Actress, Academy Awards and Golden Globe Award for I Remember Mama.
CHRISTOPHER CROWE (b.
1948)
Producer, director, writer.
Born in Racine, graduated from Dominican College(????).
Films: The Last Chase????, Nightmares, The Mean Season, Off Limits, Whispers in the Dark, The Last of the Mohicans.
Television: The Hardy Boys Mysteries, The Nancy Drew Mysteries, Baretta, B.J. and the Bear, Darkroom, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, B.L. Stryker, H.E.L.P., The Untouchables, The Watcher.
Pilots: B.J. and the Bear, Streets of Justice, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, The Untouchables.
Movies: The Hollywood Detective, Steel Justice.
JOAN CUSACK (b. 1962)
Actress.
Graduated from UW-Madison.
Films Include: My Bodyguard (debut, 1980); Cutting Loose, Class; Sixteen Candles; Grandview U.S.A.; The Allnighter; Broadcast News; Working Girl, Stars and Bars; Married to the Mob; Say Anything....; Fat Man and Little Boy, Men Don't Leave; My Blue Heaven; The Cabinet of Dr. Ramirez; Hero; Toys; Addams Family Values, Corrina, Corrina; Destiny Turns On the Radio; Nine Months; Mr. Wrong.
Television Series: Saturday Night Live, 1985-86 season.
Movies: The Mother.
Academy Award Nomination, Best Supporting Actress, Working Girl, 1989.
While in college joined The ARK Repertory Theatre, local improvisational comedy group in Madison.
WILLEM DAFOE (b. 1955)
Actor.
Born in Appleton, WI.
Films: The Loveless (1983) The Hunger; New York Nights; Roadhouse 66; Streets of Fire; To Live and Die in L.A; The Communists Are Comfortable, Platoon; Off Limits; The Last Temptation of Christ; Mississippi Burning; The Communists Are Comfortable (and Three Other Stories); Triumph of the Spirit; Born on the Fourth of July; Cry-Baby; Wild at Heart; Flight of the Intruder; Light Sleeper, White Sands; Far Away, So Close, Body of Evidence, Tom & Viv, The Night and the Moment, Clear and Present Danger, Victory, The English Platoon.
TV Movies: Dear America: Letters Home from Vietnam (narrator).
Academy Award Nomination, Best Supporting Actor, Platoon, 1987.
While he was living in Milwaukee, Willem Dafoe was an actor and set builder for Theatre X.
Tyne Daly (1946 - )
Actress
Born in Madison, WI.
Films Include: Autumn Heart, Vig, The Lay of the Land, The Aviator, Movers and Shakers, Zoot Suit, Speed Trap, Telefon, The Enforcer, The Adultress, Play It As It Lays, Angel Unchained, John and Mary.
Television Series: Cagney & Lacey, Christy.
Episodic: The Nanny, Swamp Thing, Quincy, Magnum P.I., Doc Elliot, Hawkins, The Streets of San Francisco, Medical Center, Mission: Impossible, General Hospital, The Magic School Bus, Wings, The Mod Squad.
Movies: The Perfect Mother, Tricks, Bye Bye Birdie, Cagney & Lacey (various), The Forget-Me-Not Murders, Scattered Dreams, Columbo (1992), Face of a Stranger, The Last to Go, Stuck with Each Other, Kids Like These, Intimate Strangers, Your Place or Mine, A Matter of Life and Death, The Women’s Room, Better Late Than Never, The Entertainer, Larry, The Man Who Could Talk to Kids, Heat of Anger, A Howling in the Woods, In Search of America.
ANDRE DESHIELDS (b.
1946)
Actor, director, and choreographer.
Graduated from UW-Madison
Film: Prison.
Television: Ain't Misbehavin'.
Movies: I Dream of Jeannie- 15 Years Later.
Awards: Emmy Award, Outstanding Individual Achievement, Ain't Misbehavin', 1982.
COLLEEN DEWHURST (1924-91)
Actress.
Attended Downer College for Young Ladies, Milwaukee,
WI, for a year.
Films Include: The Nun's Story, Man on a String, A Fine Madness; The Last Run; The Cowboys; McQ; Annie Hall; The Third Walker, When a Stranger Calls; Ice Castles; Final Assignment; Tribute; The Dead Zone; The Boy Who Could Fly; Dying Young; Bed & Breakfast.
Television: Dramatic Specials: No Exit; Antony and Cleopatra; Medea; Focus; The Price; The Hands of Cormac Joyce; Jacob and Joseph.
Episodic: Murphy Brown.
Movies: The Crucible, The Story of Jacob and Joseph, A Moon for the Misbegotten, And Baby Makes Six; Silent Victory, The Kitty O'Neil Story, Mary and Joseph: A Story of Faith, The Women's Room, A Perfect Match, Guyana, Tragedy, The Story of Jim Jones, Escape, Death Penalty, Baby Comes Home, A Few Days in Weasel Creek, Between Two Brothers, The Glitter Dome, As Is, Anne of Green Gables, Sword of Gideon, Johnny Bull, The Boy Who Could Fly, Between Two Women, Bigfoot, Anne of Avonlea, Obsessed, Those She Left Behind, Termini Station, Lantern Hill, Danielle Steel's 'Kaleidoscope.'.
Mini-Series: The Blue and The Gray; Anne of Green Gables.
JILL EIKENBERRY (b.
1947)
Actress.
Grew up in Madison
Films: Rush It, Between the Lines; The End of the World in Our Usual Bed in a Night Full of Rain; An Unmarried Woman; Butch and Sundance: The Early Days; Rich Kids; Hide in Plain Sight; Arthur; The Manhattan Project, Grace Quigley.
Television: The Deadliest Season; Orphan Train;Uncommon Women and Others; Swan Song; Sessions; Family Sins; Assault and Matrimony; A Stoning in Fulham County; My Boyfriend's Back; Cast the First Stone; The Secret Life of Archie's Wife; Living a Lie; A Town Torn Apart; Chantilly Lace; Without Consent; Rugged Gold; Parallel Lives; The Other Woman.
Series: L.A. Law; The Best of Families.
Mini: Kane & Abel; An Inconvenient Woman.
Awards: Golden Globe Award, Best Actress in a Drama Series, L.A. Law, 1989.
David Emmerichs (1967-
)
Steadi-Cam Operator
Native of Milwaukee, WI.
Films Include: Con Air, Alien: Resurrection, The Fan, Nixon, Father of the Bride Part II, Seven (aka Se7en), Bushwacked, On Deadly Ground, Jason Goes to Hell: The Final Friday, Army of One, Brain Smasher… A Love Story, Knights, Menace II Society, Chain of Desire.
Television Series: .
Episodic: .
Movies: 12:01.
TOM EWELL (1909-1994)
Actor. (Born Yewell Tompkins)
Attended the UW-Madison
Films: They Knew What They Wanted; Desert Bandit; Adam's Rib; Mr. Music; A Life of Her Own; American Guerrilla in the Phillippines; Finders Keepers; Lost in Alaska; Back at the Front; Seven Year Itch; The Girl Can't Help It; A Nice Little Bank That Should Be Robbed; Tender Is the Night; State Fair; The World of Abbott and Costello; Suppose They Gave a War and Nobody Came?;The Great Gatsby; Easy Money.
Television Series: The Tom Ewell Show; Baretta; Best of the West.
Episodic: Playwrights '56; Alfred Hitchcock Presents; The Perry Como Show; "The Square Egghead," U.S. Steel Hour; "The Fourposter," Golden Showcase.
Movies: Promise Him Anything; The Return of Mod Squad; Terror at Alcatraz.
Awards: Best Actor, "Variety' New York Drama Critics' Poll, the Clarence Derwent Award, and the Donaldson Award, all 1947, for John Loves Mary; Best Actor, Antohnette Perry Award (Tony), 1953, for The Seven Year Itch.
CHRIS FARLEY
Raised in Madison. Graduated from Marquette
University.
Films: Wayne's World, Wayne's World 2, Coneheads, Airheads, Tommy Boy, Billy Madison, Black Sheep.
Television: Saturday Night Live.
Episodic: The Jackie Thomas Show, Tom.
Special: A Comedy Salute to Michael Jordan.
While in college, Farley performed in the ARK Improvisational Theater and the Animal Crackers.
MILTON FEINBERG
Executive.
Born in Milwaukee
Career: Salesman, 20th Century-Fox, Des Moines, 1942-44; branch manager, National Screen Service, Des Moines, 1945-57; branch manager in Chicago, supervised in Chicago, Milwaukee, 'Des Moines exchange territories, National Screen Service, 1958-65; general sales manager, NSS, 1966; vice president and general sales manager, 1967; May, 1974; senior vice president NSS.
LYNN FONTANNE (1887-1983)
Lived in Genessee Depot
Debut: Cinderella; Mrs. Preely and the Countess.
Films: Dulcy; Sweet Nell of Old Drury; In Love With Love; The Guardsman; Arms and the Man; The Doctor's Dilemma; Strange Interlude; Pygmalion; The Brother's Karamazov; Caprice; Elizabeth the Queen; Reunion in Vienna; Design for Living; The Taming of the Shrew; Idiot's Delight; Amphitryon 38; There Shall Be No Light; The Pirate; O Mistress Mine; Quadrille; The Great Sebastians; The Visit.
TV Movies: Peter Pan.
With husband and actor partner Alfred Lunt, lived on the Ten Chimneys estate in Genessee Depot. There, they annually hosted the nation's foremost stage actors, writers and directors.
HARRISON FORD (b. 1942)
Actor.
Attended Ripon College.
Films: Dead Heat on a Merry-Go-Round; Others- A Time for Killing; Luv; Journey to Shiloh; Zabriskie Point; Getting Straight; American Grafitti; The Conversation; Star Wars; Heroes; Force Ten from Navarone; Apocalypse Now; The Frisco Kid; Hanover Street; More American Grafitti; The Empire Strikes Back; Raiders of the Lost Ark; Blade Runner; Return of the Jedi; Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom; Witness; The Mosquito Coast; Frantic; Working Girl; Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade; Presumed Innocent; Regarding Henry; Patriot Games; L'Envers du Decors: Portrait de Pierre Guffroy; The Fugitive; Earth and the American Dream (narrator); A Clear and Present Danger; Jimmy Hollywood; Sabrina; A Hundred and One Nights (Les Cent et une Nuits).
Television Episodic: Leave It To Beaver; The F.B.I.; Gunsmoke; The Virginian; Ironside; Love American Style; Young Indiana Jones and the Mystery of the Blues.
Movies: The Intruders; James Michener's Dynasty, The Court-Martial of Lieutenant William Calley, Mustang: The Hidden Kingdom.
Ford got his start acting in the summer of 1963 doing summer stock in Williams Bay.
Voted "Box Office Star of the Century" by the National Association of Theatre Owners in 1994. Awards: Academy Award nomination, Best Actor, Witness, 1985.
Heather Graham ( 1970 -
)
Actress
Born in Milwaukee, WI.
Films Include: Bowfinger’s Big Thing, Austin Powers 2: The Spy Who Shagged Me), Lost in Space, Alien Love Triagle, Committed, Scream 2, Nowhere, Boogie Nights, Two Girls and a Guy, Entertaining Angels: The Dorothy Day Story, Swingers, Desert Winds, Terrified, Don’t Do It, Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle, The Ballad of Little Jo, Even Cowgirls Get the Blues, Six Degrees of Separation, Diggstown, Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me, Guilty as Charged, Shout, I Love You to Death, Drugstore Cowboy, Twins, License to Drive.
Television Series: Twin Peaks.
Episodic: The Outer Limits (1995).
Movies: Kiss and Tell, O Pioneers!, Student Exchange.
Deidre Hall (1947 - )
Actress
Born in Milwaukee, WI (has an identical twin
sister).
Films Include: Special Delivery.
Television Series: The Young and the Restless, Our House (1986), Electra Woman and Dyna Girl, Emergency! (1972).
Episodic: Women of the House, Murder, She Wrote, Wiseguy, Emergency!, Night Gallery.
Movies: Never Say Never: The Deidre Hall Story, Tom Clancy’s Op Center, Woman on the Ledge, For the Very First Time, And the Sea Will Tell, Perry Mason (1989), Columbo (1989), Take My Daughters, Please, A Reason to Live, The Million Dollar Face.
Awards: Outstanding Actress (6 times) Soap Opera Digest Awards.
Joel Hodgson (1960 - )
Actor/Writer/Composer/Director
Born in Stevens Point, WI.
Films Include: Honey, We Shrunk Ourselves (video), Statical Planets, Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Movie.
Television Series: Sabrina, The Teenage Witch, Mystery Science Theater 3000, The Paula Poundstone Show.
Episodic: Space Ghost Coast to Coast, Saturday Night Live.
Movies: .
TOM HULCE (b. 1953)
Actor.
Born in Whitewater, attended Beloit College
Films: September 30, 1955, National Lampoon's Animal House; Those Lips, Those Eyes, Amadeus; Echo Park; Slamdance; Dominick and Eugene; Parenthood; Shadowman; The Inner Circle; Black Rainbow; Mary Shelley's Frankenstein; Wings of Courage.
Television: Emily, Emily; The Rise and Rise of Daniel Rocket; Song of Myself; Forget-Me-Not Lane; Tall Tales and Legends (John Henry).
Mini-Series: The Adams Chronicles.
Movies: Murder In Mississippi; Black Rainbow.
Awards: Academy Award Nomination,Golden Globe Nomination, Donatello Award, Best Actor, Amadeus. Golden Globe Nomination, Best Actor, Dominic and Eugene. Emmy Nomination and Golden Globe Nomination, Murder in Mississippi.
BONNIE HUNT (b. 1964)
Actress, Screenwriter, Producer.
Performed at the ARK Repertory Theatre in Madison.
Films: Rain Man, Beethoven, Dave, Beethoven's 2nd, Only You, Now and Then, Jumanji, Getting Away with Murder.
Televison Series: Grand, Davis Rules, The Building, The Bonnie Hunt Show.
Jeffrey Hunter ( 1926
- 1969 )
Actor, producer.
Moved to Milwaukee, WI in 1930. Real name Henry
Herman McKinnies, Jr.
Films Include: Super Colt 38, ¡VIVA AMÉRICA!, The Private Navy of Sgt. O'Farrell, Sexy Susan Sins Again (aka Frau Wirtin hat auch einen Grafen), Find a Place to Die (aka Joe! Cercati un posto per morire), A Guide for the Married Man, A Witch Without a Broom (aka Una Bruja sin escoba), Custer of the West, Joe Navidad, Dimension 5, Strange Portrait, Brainstorm (1965), Uncle Tom's Cabin (aka Onkel Toms Hütte, Murieta (aka Joaquin Murrieta), The Man From Galveston, Gold for Caesars, No Man is an Island (aka Island Escape), The Longest Day, King of Kings, Man-Trap, Key Witness, Gergeant Rutledge, Hell to Eternity, Ciudad sagrada, La, Count Five and Die, In Love and War, The Last Hurrah, Mardi Gras, No Down Payment, The True Story of Jesse James, The Way to the Gold, The Searchers, The Great Locomotive Chase, Gun for a Coward, A Kiss Before Dying (1956), The Proud Ones, Seven Angry Men, Seven Cities of Gold, White Feather, Princess of the nile, Three Young Texans, Sailor of the King, Belles on Their Toes, Breamboat, Lure of the Wilderness, Red Skies of Montana, Call Me Mister, Fourteen Hours, The Frogmen, Take Care of My Little Girl, Julius Caesar.
Television Series: Star Trek. (Hunter portrayed Capt. Christopher Pike - The original Captain of the Enterprise -- in the two part pilot. Jeffrey turned down his option to continue with the series. This pilot was later incorporated into the first season as episodes 1.11 & 1.12.)
Episodic: Insight, The F.B.I., The Monroes, The Green Hornet, Daniel Boone, Star Trek, The Legend of Jesse James, Kraft Suspense Theatre, Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre, Combat!, Death Valley Days, The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, Checkmate, Pursuit, You Asked for It, Climax!, The 20th Century-Fox Hour, The George Gobel Show.
Movies: .
AL JARREAU (b. 1940)
Singer, songwriter.
Born in Milwaukee. Attended UW-Madison; graduated
from Ripon College.
First LP: We Got By.
Other LPs: Glow; Look To the Rainbow; All Fly Home; This Time; Breakin Away (includes song "We're In This Love Together"); Jarreau; High Crime; Live In London; L Is For Lover; 1965; Jarreau Does Withers.
SALOME JENS (b. 1935)
Actress.
Born in Milwaukee, WI
Films: Angel Baby; The Fool Killer; Seconds; Me Natalie; Savages; Diary of the Dead; Cloud Dancer; Harry's War; Just Between Friends; The Clan of the Cave Bear; Coming Out Under Fire.
Television Movies: The Jolly Corner; In the Glitter Palace; Sharon:Portrait of a Mistress; The Golden Moment: An Olympic Love Story; The Two Lives of Carol Letner; A Matter of Life and Death; Tomorrow's Child; Uncommon Valor; A Killer in the Family; Grace Kelly; Playing with Fire; Cast the First Stone.
Series: Falcon Crest.
Mini: From Here to Eternity.
Kirsten Johnston (1967
- )
Actress
Raised and schooled in Milwaukee, WI. Performed in community theater.
Films Include: McClintock's Peach, Running with Scissors, Backfire, Austin Powers 2: The Spy Who Shagged Me.
Television Series: 3rd Rock from the Sun.
Episodic: The Larry Sanders Show, The Five Mrs. Buchanans, Chicago Hope.
Movies: Christmas in Washington, (Neil Simon's) London Suite.
Awards: 1997 Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series (3rd Rock from the Sun).
JANE KACZMAREK
Actress.
Born in Milwaukee
Films: Uncommon Valor; Door to Door; Falling In Love;The Heavenly Kid; Vice Versa; D.O.A.; All's Fair.
Television Series: The Paper Chase: The Second Year; Hometown; Equal Justice; Big Wave Dave's.
Mini-Series: I'll Take Manhattan.
Episodic: Hill Street Blues; St. Elsewhere; "Journey into Genius," American Playhouse.
Movies: For Lovers Only; Flight 90: Disaster on the Potomac; Something about Amelia; The Right of the People; The Christmas Gift; The Three Kings; Spooner; Equal Justice; Without Warning.
Kathy Kinney (1954 - )
Actress
Born and raised in Stevens Point, WI.
Films Include: This Boy's Life, Mr. Jones, The Linguini Incident, Arachnophobia, Stanley & Iris, Three Fugitives, Scrooged, Parting Glances.
Television Series: The Drew Carey Show, Fallen Angels, Newhart.
Episodic: Whose Line is It Anyway (1998), The Brian Benben Show, Coach, Lois & Clark: The Adventures of Superman, Boy Meets World, Full House, Seinfeld, Dream On.
Movies: Cruel Doubt, Promised a Miracle, Inherit the Wind.
DAVID KOEPP (b. 1963)
Screenwriter, Director
Born in Pewaukee. Attended UW-Madison.
Movies: Apartment Zero, Hawks, Bad Influence, Toy Soldiers, Death Becomes Her,, Jurassic Park, Carlito's Way, The Shadow, The Paper, Suspicious (directorial debut, short film), The Trigger Effect (director), Mission:Impossible, The Lost World.
LIBERACE (1919-1987)
Pianist, entertainer. Real Name: Wladziu Valentino
Liberace.
Born in West Allis
When he was seven he won a scholarship to the
Wisconsin College of Music.
Shows: Las Vegas Extravaganza
Films: South Sea Sinner, Sincerely Yours, The Loved One, When the Boys Meet the Girls.
Television: The Liberace Show.
Episodic: Kojak, Batman.
Awards: Emmy Award, Entertainer of the Year, 1973.
ALFRED LUNT (1893-1977)
Born in Milwaukee
Debut: The Aviator.
Films: Romance and Arabella; The Country Cousin; Clarence; Sweet Nell of Old Drury; Outward Bound; The Guardsman; Arms and the Man; The Brothers Karamazov; The Doctor's Dilemma; Pygmalion; Marco Millions; Volpone; Caprice; Meteor; Elizabeth the Queen; Reunion in Vienna; Design for Living; The Taming of the Shrew; Idiot's Delight; Amphitryon 38; The Seagull; There Shall Be No Night; The Pirate; O Mistress Mhne; Quadrille; The Great Sebastians; The Visit.
FRED MACMURRAY (1908-1991)
Actor, Musician, Producer.
Raised in Madison and Beaver Dam. Attended Carroll
College in Waukesha.
Film Debut: Grand Old Girl.
Films: Hands Across the Table; Alice Adams; Gilded Lady; Double Indemnity; The Egg and I; Caine Mutiny; The Shaggy Dog; The Apartment; The Absent Minded Professor; Son of Flubber.
Television Series: My Three Sons.
Episodic: The U.S. Steel Hour.
MacMurray graduated from Beaver Dam High School in 1919, where he won 10 varsity letters in athletics.
MICHAEL MANN (b. 1943)
Director, Writer, Producer, Actor.
Attended UW-Madison
Films: Smokey and the Bandit; House Calls; Every Which Way But Loose; The China Syndrome; Thief; The Keep; Band of the Hand; Manhunter; The Last of the Mohicans; Heat.
Television: Miami Vice; Crime Story; L.A. Takedown.
Episodic: Starsky and Hutch, Vega$, Police Story.
Mini-Series: Drug Wars: The Camarena Story; Drug Wars: The Cocaine Cartel.
Movies: The Jericho Mile, Swan Song, L.A. Takedown.
Pilot: Miami Vice.
Awards: Emmy, Outstanding Writing, The Jericho Mile; Outstanding Mini-Series, Drug Wars: The Camarena Story, 1987. Directors Guild of America Award, Best Director, The Jericho Mile.
FREDRIC MARCH (1897-1975)
Actor and performer.
Born in Racine and attended UW-Madison
Films: The Dummy; Smilin' Through; Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde; The Barretts of Wimpole Street; Les Miserables; Anna Karenina; A Star is Born; Bedtime Story; The Best Years of Our Lives; Death of a Salesman; The Desperate Hours; The Middle of the Night; Inherit the Wind.
Awards: Academy Award, Best Actor, Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde, The Best Years of Our Lives.
Jackie Mason (1931 - )
Comedian
Born Jacob Moshe Maza in Sheboygan, WI.
Films Include: Caddyshack II, The Perils of P.K., History of the World: Part I, The Jerk, From Bed to Worse --(Voice of the Aardvark in a series of similar animated shorts),.
Television Series: Chicken Soup.
Episodic: The Simpsons (voice).
Movies: .
Awards: 1992 Emmy Award for Outstanding Voice-Over Performance (The Simpsons).
STEVE MILLER (b. 1943)
Musician, singer.
Attended UW-Madison.
L.P's Released: Children of The Future; Sailor; Brave New World; Your Saving Grace; Number 5; Rock Love; A Journey from Eden; Anthology; The Joker; Fly Like an Eagle; Book of Dreams; Greatest Hits; Circle of Love; Abracadabra.
Films Include: Roar.
THOMAS L. MILLER (b.
1940)
Producer and writer.
Born in Milwaukee.
Films: The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas.
Love, American Style; Nanny and the Professor; Me and the Chimp; Sweepstakes; Out of the Blue, Bosom Buddies; Foul Play.
WALTER MIRISCH (b.
1921)
Producer.
Graduated from UW-Madison. Board member, University
of Wisconsin Alumni Association, 1967-73. President,
Motion Picture Academy, 1973-77.
Films: Bomba on Panther Island; Man of the West; The Man in the Net; Some Like It Hot; The Apartment; By Love Possessed; The Pink Panther; The Russians Are Coming! The Russians Are Coming!; In the Heat of the Night; Some Kind of a Nut; The Hawaiians; The Organization; Scorpio; The Spikes Gang; Mr. Majestyk; Midway; Same Time Next Year; Gray Lady Down; The Prison of Zenda; Dracula; Romantic Comedy; Terms of Endearment.
Television: Witchita Town; High Midnight.
Awards: Academy Awards, In the Heat of the Night, Terms of the Endearment.
AL MOLINARO (b. 1919)
Actor.
Born in Kenosha
Films: Freaky Friday.
Television: Debut: Green Acres.
Series: The Odd Couple; Happy Days; Joanie Loves Chachi.
Episodic: Bewitched; That Girl; Get Smart.
Movies: Mayday at 40,000 Feet!; Gridlock.
Music Video: Weezer's "Buddy Holly."
AGNES MOOREHEAD (1900-1974)
Actress.
Lived as a child in Reedsburg; attended UW-Madison.
Taught at Soldiers Grove High School.
Films: appeared in more than a hundred motion pictures - Citizen Kane; The Magnificent Ambersons; Johnny Belinda; Hush...Hush, Sweet Charlotte.
Television: Bewitched.
Best Actress, New York Film Critics, The Magnificent Ambersons.
ERROL MORRIS
Director.
Graduated from UW-Madison.
Director: Gates of Heaven, The Thin Blue Line, The Dark Wind, A Brief History of Time; Fast, Cheap and Out of Control.
EDWIN NEWMAN (b. 1919)
Television news commentator, reporter, and writer.
Graduated from UW-Madison
Films: Spies Like Us, The Pelican Brief.
Television Series: Edwin Newman Reporting; This Is NBC News; Today; The Nation's Future; JFK Reports; Meet the Press; Speaking Freely; What's Happening to America?; Comment; Sports Journal.
Episodic: Actuality Specials; drama critic, WNBC-TV; critic-at-large, New York City.
Specials: Moderator of the first Ford-Carter Television Debate; Japan: East Is West; Orient Express; Who Shall Live?; Pensions: The Broken Promise; Violence in America; I Want It All Now; Spying for Uncle Sam; Oil and American Power; The Billionaire Hunts; Kids, Drugs, and Alcohol; Guest Host - Saturday Night Live.
Christopher Noth (1957
- )
Actor, writer.
Born in Madison, WI.
Films Include: Getting to Know You, Texas Funeral, The Broken Giant, Pigeon Holed, Cold Heart, The Deli, Burnzy's Last Call, Naked in New York, Jakarta, Baby Boom, Cutter's Way.
Television Series: Law & Order.
Episodic: Touched by an Angel, Homicide: Life on the Street, Hill Street Blues, Monsters.
Movies: Exiled, Medusa's Child, Rough Riders, Abducted: A Father's Love, Born Free: A New Adventure, Nothing Lasts forever, Where Are My Children?, In the Shadows, Someone's Watching, I'll Take Manhattan, At Mother's Request, Apology, Killer in the Mirror.
Pat O'Brien (1899 - 1983)
Actor
Born as William Joseph Patrick O'Brien in Milwaukee,
WI.
Films Include: Ragtime, The End, Billy Jack Goes to Washington, The Sky's the Limit, The Phynx, Town Tamer, Some Like it Hot, The Last Hurrah, Okinawa, the People Against O'Hara, Johnny One-Eye, Fighting Father Dunne, Riffraff, Marine Raiders, Broadway, Bury Me Not on the Lone Prairie, The Fighting 69th, Knute Rockne, All American, Angels with Dirty Faces, Stars on Parade, Devil Dogs of the Air, The Front Page.
Television Series: Harrigan and Son.
Episodic: Alias Smith and Jones, The Virginian, The Unites States Steel Hour, Front Row Center, WKRP in Cininnati, Happy Days.
Movies: Scout's Honor, Kiss Me… Kill Me, Adventures of Nick Carter, Welcome Home, Johnny Bristol, The Over-the-Hill Gang.
NANCY OLSON (b. 1928)
Actress.
Born in Milwaukee, attended UW
Films: Canadian Pacific, Sunset Boulevard, Union Station, Mr. Music, Submarine Command, Force of Arms, The Boy from Oklahoma, Big Jim McLain, So Big, Pollyanna, The Absent Minded Professor, Son of Flubber, Smith!, Snowball Express, Airport 1975, Making Love.
Television: The Women, Kingston; Confidential; Paper Dolls.
JAMESON PARKER (b.
1947)
Actor, Producer.
Graduated from Beloit College
Films: The Bell Jar (debut, 1979); A Small Circle of Friends; White Dog; Jackals; Prince of Darkness; The Crystal Eye.
Television Series: One Life to Live; Somerset, Simon and Simon.
Mini: Ocean Eagle; Harold Robbins' 79 Park Avenue.
Movies: Strange New World, Crossfire, Raid on Entebbe, The Immigrants; Anatomy of a Seduction; Women at West Point; The Gathering, Part II; The Promise of Love; Callie and Son; Agatha Christie's "A Caribbean Mystery"; Who Is Julia?; Spy; She Says She's Innocent; Dead Before Dawn; Simon & Simon: In Trouble Again. .
Amy Pietz (1969- )
Actress
Born and raised in Oak Creek, WI.
Films Include: Jingle All the Way, Rudy.
Television Series: Caroline in the City, Muscle.
Episodic: Star Trek: The Next Generation, Highlander.
Movies: Every 9 Seconds.
CHARLOTTE RAE (b. 1926)
Actress and singer.
Born in Milwaukee
Films: Hello Down There: Jenny; Bananas, Hot Rock; Sidewinder I; Hair; The Worst Witch; Tom and Jerry: The Movie.
Television: From These Roots, Car 54; Where Are You?; Hot L Baltimore; The Rich Little Show; Different Strokes; The Facts of Life; "Words by Heart," Wonder Works Series; Thunder in Paradise.
Movies: Queen of the Stardust Ballroom; The Triangle Factory; File Scandal; The Facts of Life Goes to Paris.
Nickolas Ray (1911 - 1979)
Director
Born as Raymond Nicholas Kienzle in Galesville,
WI.
Films Include: Lightning Over Water, marco, We Can't Go Home Again, Wet Dreams, 55 Days at Peking, King of Kings, The Savage Innocents, Party Girl, Wind Across the Everglades, Amère victoire, The True Story of Jesse James, Hot Blood, Bigger Than Life, Rebel Without a Cause, Run for Cover (aka Colorado), Johnny Guitar, The Lusty Men, Flying Leathernecks, On Dangerous Ground, The Racket, Born to Be Bad, In a Lonely Place, A Woman's Secret, Knock on Any Door, They Live by Night.
Movies: .
GENA ROWLANDS (b. 1930)
Actress.
Born in Cambria; attended UW-Madison
Films: The High Cost of Loving; Lonely Are the Brave; The Spiral Road; A Child Is Waiting; Tony Rome; Faces,; Machine Gun McCain; Minnie and Moskowitz; A Woman Under the Influence; Two Minute Warning; The Brinks Job; Opening Night; One Summer Night; Gloria; Tempest; Love Streams; Light of Day; Another Woman; Once Around; Ted and Venus; Night on Earth; Once Around; Silent Cries; Parallel Lives; The Neon Bible; Something to Talk About, Unhook the Stars; The Neon Bible.
Television Series: 87th Precinct; Peyton Place. Episodic: The Tab Hunter Show; The Islanders; Target: The Corrupters; Dick Powell Theatre; 77 Sunset Strip; The Lloyd Bridges Show; Alfred Hitchcock Presents; Bob Hope Chrysler Theatre; Dr. Kildare; Bonanza; The Virginian; Kraft Mystery Theatre; Run for Your Life; The Long, Hot Summer; Road West; The Girl from U.N.C.L.E.; Breaking Point; Burke's Law; Medical Center; Garrison's Gorillas; Ghost Story; Columbo.
Movies: A Question of Love; Strangers: The Story of a Mother and Daughter; Thursday's Child; An Early Frost; The Betty Ford Story; Montana; Face of a Stranger; Crazy in Love.
MARK RYLANCE
Actor
Raised in Milwaukee.
Films: Hearts of Fire, Prospero's Books, The Grass Arena, Loving, Institute Benjamenta, Angels and Insects.
BOZ SCAGGS (b. 1944)
Singer, songwriter.
Attended UW-Madison.
LP's Released: Boz, Boz Scaggs, Moments, Boz Scaggs and Band, My Time, Slow Dancer, Silk Degrees, Down Two Then Left, Middleman, Hits, Other Roads, Some Change.
Scaggs and fellow music pioneer Steve Miller became childhood friends while attending St. Mark's Preparatory School in Dallas. In the early 1960s, the pair formed the Marksmen Combo and performed at local venues, then both moved to Madison to attend the University of Wisconsin. There, they met Ben Sidran, who would also later gain international fame, and the three performed together as the Ardells.
ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER
(b. 1947)
Actor, Director, Producer.
Graduated from UW-Superior
Films: Hercules in New York, The Long Goodbye; Stay Hungry; Pumping Iron; The Villain; Scavenger Hunt; Conan the Barbarian; Conan the Destroyer; The Terminator; Red Sonja; Commando; Raw Deal; Predator; The Running Man; Red Heat; Twins; Total Recall; Kindergarten Cop; Terminator 2: Judgment Day; Last Action Hero; Dave; The Innocent; True Lies; Junior; Crusade.
Television Movies: The Jayne Mansfield Story; Lincoln.
Director: Tales from the Crypt (The Switch); Christmas in Connecticut (movie).
CAMPBELL SCOTT (b.
1962)
Actor.
Attended Lawrence University in Appleton
Films: Five Corners (debut, 1988), From Hollywood to Deadwood; Longtime Companion; Ain't No Way Back; The Sheltering Sky; Dying Young; Dead Again; Singles; The Innocent; Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle; Let It Be Me.
Television Mini-Series: The Kennedys of Massachusetts.
Guest: Family Ties, L.A. Law.
Movies: The Perfect Tribute.
Tony Shalhoub (1953 - )
Actor
Raised in the Door County area of Wisconsin.
Films Include: Imposter, A Civil Action, The Siege, Paulie, Primary Colors, The Imposters, The Tic Code, A Life Less Ordinary, Men in Black, Gattaca, Big Night, I.Q., Addams Family values, Searching for Bobby Fischer, Honeymoon in Vegas, Barton Fink, Longtime Companion, Quick Change.
Television Series: Wings.
Episodic: Men In Black: The Series, Frasier, Almost Perfect, Gargoyles, The X Files, Spenser: For Hire, Dinosaurs, Monsters, The Equalizer
Movies: Fallout (video game), Radiant City, Gypsy, Money Power Murder, Day One, Alone in the Neon Jungle.
Awards: 1996 National Society of Film Critics Award - Best Supporting Actor (Big Night)
CHARLES SIEBERT
Actor.
Born in Kenosha and attended Marquette University
Television Series: Trapper John, M.D.; Search for Tomorrow; As the World Turns; Another World.
Episodic: One Day at a Time; The Blue Knight.
Movies: The Miracle Worker; The Seeding of Sarah Burns.
REX SIKES (1955- )
Actor, entertainer.
Born in Wausau. Also known as "Amazing Rex".
Films: Dante Shocko; Massacre at Central High; Killer's Matinee; Flicks, Hollyweird; Goodbye Norma Jean; Pale Horse Pale Rider.
Television: General Hospital; Archie Bunker's Place; NBC's Our Town; Things in Their Season. Perfect Proposal.
KURTWOOD SMITH (1942 -
)
Actor
Born in New Lisbon, WI.
Films Include: Deep Impact, Prefontaine, Shelter, Citizen Ruth, A Time to Kill, Broken Arrow, Last of the Dogmen, Under Siege 2: Dark Territory, To Die For, Dead on Sight, Boxing Helena, Fortress, The Crush, Shadows and Fog, Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, Oscar, Company Business, 12:01, Quick Change, Dead Poets Society, Heart of Dixie, True Believer, Rambo III, Two Idiots in Hollywood, The Delos Adventure, RoboCop, Flashpoint, Staying Alive, Roadie.
Television Series: That '70's Show, Big Wave Dave's, Eek! The Cat, New Adventures of Beans Baxter, Renegades.
Episodic: The Magnificent Seven (1998), Star Trek: Voyager, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Picket Fences, the Famous Teddy Z, The A-Team.
Movies: A Bright Shining Lie, 500 Nations, While Justice Sleeps, Doorways, The Nightmare Years, North and South II, The Christmas Gift, Deadly Messages, International Airport, The Midnight Hour, Missing Pieces, Murder in Texas.
TOM SNYDER (b. 1936)
Newscaster, Host.
Born in Milwaukee and attended Marquette University.
First job was in news department of Milwaukee's
WRIT.
Television: Tomorrow, NBC News Update, The Late, Late Show with Tom Snyder.
Specials: Fire and Rain (narrator).
Awards: Emmy for Tomorrow, 1973.
DAVID SUSSKIND (1920-1987)
Producer, talk show host.
Attended UW-Madison
Television Series: Open End (later called David Susskind Show).
Movies: Fear on Trial.
Principal Television Work: Series: Philco- Goodyear Playhouse; Mr. Peepers; Justice; Kaiser Aluminum Hour; Armstrong Circle Theatre; Dupont Show of the Month; Kraft Television Theatre; Play of the Week; Way Out; East Side/ West Side; Get Smart; On Our Own; Good Company; Esso Repertory Theatre; Festival of Performing Arts; The World Beyond.
Movies: The Glass Menagerie; All Creatures Great and Small; Eleanor and Franklin; The War between the Tates; Johnny, We Hardly Knew Ye; Goldenrod; Breaking Up; Home to Stay; Who'll Save the Children?; Walking Through the Fire; The Family Man; Blind Ambition; Father Figure; The Plutonium Incident; The Bunker; The Wall; Rita Hayworth: The Love Goddess.
Specials: Death of a Salesman; Look Homeward, Angel; Harvey; Ceasar and Cleopatra; Truman at Potsdam; Harry S. Truman: Plain Speaking; Richard Rodgers: The Sound of His Music; Ian McKellen: Acting Shakespeare; JFK: A One Man Show; The Bridge of San Luis Rey; The Ages of Man; Th Crucible; The Diary of Anne Frank; The Human Voice; Laura; Crown Matrimonial; Hedda Gabler; The Moon and Sixpence; A Moon for the Misbegotten; The Power and the Glory; The Picture of Dorian Gray; After He's Gone; Winston Churchill; Ike in Gettysburg.
Principal Film Appearances: Simon.
Films: All as producer or executive producer- Edge of the City; A Raisin in the Sun; All the Way Home; The Pursuit of Happiness; Straw Dogs; Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore; Fort Apache, The Bronx; All Creatures Great and Small; All Things Bright and Beautiful.
George Tillman, Jr. (1967
- )
Director
Born in Milwaukee, WI.
Films Include: Soul Food, Scenes for the Soul, Paula.
Television Series: Slice of Life (cable access).
Movies: .
Awards: .
SPENCER TRACY (1900-1967)
Actor.
Born in Milwaukee and attended Northwestern
Military Academy in Lake Geneva and Ripon College.
Films: Up the River; The Power and the Glory; Fury; Captain Courageous; Boys Town; Stanley and Livingstone; Northwest Passage; Edison the Man; Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde; Woman of the Year; Tortilla Flat; Keeper of the Flame; Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo; Adams Rib; Bad Day at Black Rock; The Old Man and the Sea; Guess Who's Coming to Dinner?
Spencer Tracy toyed with the idea of becoming a plastic surgeon, but, after starring in a Ripon College production pf Clyde Fitch's "The Truth," he decided he wanted to be an actor.
Awards: Academy Awards, Best Actor, Captain Courageous and Boys Town.
DANIEL J. TRAVANTI
(b. 1940)
Actor.
Born in Kenosha, graduated from UW.
Films: Who Killed Teddy Bear?; St. Ives; Midnight Crossing; Millenium; Megaville; Just Cause.
Television Series: General Hospital; Hill Street Blues; Missing Persons.
Movies: The Love War; Adam; A Case of Libel; Aurora; Murrow; Adam: His Song Continues; I Never Sang for My Father; Fellow Traveler; Howard Beach: Making the Case for Murder; Tagget; Eyes of a Witness; Weep No More, My Lady; The Christmas Stallion; In The Shadows; Someone's Watching; My Name Is Kate.
BOB UECKER (b. 1935)
Sports Announcer, Personality.
Born in Milwaukee
Films: Major League; Fatal Instinct; Major League II.
Television Series: Mr. Belvedere.
Hit .200 in 297 games but parlayed weak hitting into vehicle for humor on national television shows and banquet circuit. Claims to have gone "0 for June and July." Also broadcasts Milwaukee Brewer baseball games.
JENNIFER WARREN (b.
1941)
Actress, Director, Producer.
Graduated from UW-Madison.
Films Include: Sam's Song; Night Moves; SlapShot; Another Man, Another Chance; Ice Castles; Night Shadows; You Don't Have to Die, Fatal Beauty; Life Stinks; The Beans of Egypt, Maine.
Television Series: The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, Paper Dolls.
Pilot: Double Dare.
Movies: Banjo Hackett: Roamin' Free; Shark Kill; Steel Cowboy; First, You Cry; Champions: A Love Story; Angel City; Freedom; The Choice; The Intruder Within; Confessions of a Married Man; Amazons; Mirrors; Full Exposure: The Sex Tapes Scandal.
Mini-Series: Celebrity.
PETER WELLER (b. 1947)
Actor.
Born in Stevens Point
Films: Butch and Sundance: The Early Years, Just Tell Me What You Want, Shoot the Moon, Of Unknown Origin, The Adventures of Buckaroo Bonzai Across the 8th Dimension, Firstborn, Robocop, The Tunnel, Shakedown, A Killing Affair, Leviathan, Cat Chase, Robocop 2, Road to Ruin, Naked Lunch, Fifty/Fifty, Sunset Grill, The New Age, Decoy.
Television Episodic: Lou Grant, Exit 10.
Movies: The Man Without a Country, The Silence, Kentucky Woman, Two Kinds of Love, Apology, Women and Men: Stories of Seduction (Dust Before Fireworks), Rainbow Drive.
ORSON WELLES, (1916-1985)
Actor, writer, motion-picture, radio, and theatrical
director, Producer.
Born in Kenosha
Films: Citizen Kane; The Magnificent Ambersons; Too Much Johnson, Swiss Family Robinson, Journey Into Fear, Jane Eyre, Follow the Boys, Tomorrow and Forever, The Stranger, Monsieur Verdoux, Macbeth, The Lady From Shanghai, The Third Man, Prince of Foxes, Black Magic; The Black Rose; L'Uomo, La Bestia et la Virtu, Trent's Last Case, Othello, Trouble in the Glen, King Lear, Three Cases of Murder, Napoleon; Mr. Arkadian; Moby Dick, Man in the Shadow, The Vikings, Touch of Evil, The Roots of Heaven, The Long, Hot Summer, Ferry to Hong Kong, Compulsion, Crack in the Mirror, The Battle of Austerlitz, King of Kings (narrator), David and Goliath, The Tartors; RoGoPaG; The V.I.P.s; The Trial; Marco the Magnificent; Is Paris Burning?; A Man for All Seasons; The Sailor from Gibraltar; I'll Never Forget; What''s 'is Name; Chimes at Midnight; Casino Royale; Tepepa; The Immortal Story; The Southern Star; House of Cards; The Battle of Neretva; 12 + 1, Start the Revolution Without Me; The Kremlin Letter; Catch - 22, Waterloo, A Safe Place, Malpertuis: The Legend of Doom House; Treasure Island, Necromancy, Get to Know Your Rabbit, Ten Days Wonder, F For Fake, Ten Little Indians, Bugs Bunny Superstar, Voyage of the Damned, Filming Othello, Tesla, The Muppet Movie, The Late Great Planet Earth, The Man Who Saw Tomorrow, History of the World: Part I; Butterfly; Slapstick (Of Another Kind), In Our Hands, Almonds and Raisins, The Transformers (voice), Someone to Love, It's All True.
TV Movies: It Happened One Christmas, A Woman Called Moses.
Mini: Shogun.
Episodic: Magnum, P.I. (voice), Scene of the Crime (host), Moonlighting.
Awards: Honorary Oscar, 1970; Lifetime Achievement Award, American Film Institute, 1975.
BRADLEY WHITFORD
Actor.
Raised in Madison, graduated from Wesleyan University.
Films: Doorman; Adventures in Babysitting; Revenge of the Nerds: Nerds in Paradise; Young Guns II; Vital Signs; Presumed Innocent, Awakenings, Scent of a Woman, Web of Deception, Wayne's World 2, Robocop 3, Philadelphia, A Perfect World, My Life, The Desperate Trail, Cobb, Billy Madison.
Television Episodic: The Equalizer; The Guiding Light; All My Children; Tales from the Darkside.
Movies: The Betty Ford Story, Nothing But the Truth.
Pilot: C.A.T. Squad
GENE WILDER (b. 1935)
Actor, writer, director, Producer. (Real name
Jerome Silberman)
Born and raised in Milwaukee
Films: Bonnie and Clyde; The Producers; Start the Revolution Without Me; Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory; Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex, but Were Afraid to Ask; The World's Greatest Lover, Blazing Saddles; The Little Prince; Young Frankenstein; Adventure of Sherlock Holmes' Smarter Brother; Silver Streak; The Frisko Kid; Sunday Lovers; Stir Crazy; Hanky Panky, The Woman In Red; Haunted Honeyrnoon; See No Evil, Hear No Evil; Funny About Love; Another You.
Television: Death of a Salesman; The Scarecrow; Neil Simon Special; Anne Bancroft Special; The Trouble with People; Marlo Thomas Special.
Movies: Thursday's Games.
Series: Something Wilder.
CHARLES WINNINGER (1884-1969)
Actor.
Born in Athens
Films: Summer Bachelors, Soup to Nuts, The Sin of Madelon Claudet, Night Nurse, Fighting Caravans, Children of Dreams, Bad Sister, White Fang, Three Smart Girls, Show Boat, You Can't Have Everything, Woman Chases Man, Nothing Sacred, Cafe Metropole, Destry Rides Again, Barricade, Babes in Arms, Little Nellie Kelly, If I Had My Way, Beyond Tomorrow, Ziegfield Girl, Pot o' Gold, My Life with Caroline, The Get-Away, A Lady Takes a Chance, Flesh and Fantasy, Coney Island, Sunday Dinner for a Soldier, Broadway Rhythm, Belle of the Yu Kon, State Fair, Lover Come Back, Something in the Wind, Give My Regards to Broadway, The Sun Shines Bright, A Perilous Journey, Champ for a Day.
TOM WOPAT (b. 1951)
Actor, Performer.
Born in Lodi, attended UW-Madison
In the early 70's, while taking music classes on and off at UW-Madison, Wopat sang lead and played trombone in a Madison area band called Skyway.
Television Series: The Dukes of Hazzard; The Dukes (animated); Blue Skies; A Peaceable Kingdom; Cybill, Prime Time Country (host).
Movies: Burning Rage; Christmas Comes to Willow Creek; Just My Imagination.
AMY WRIGHT (b. 1950)
Actress.
Graduated from Beloit College.
Films Include: Not a Pretty Picture, Girlfriends, Wise Blood, The Deer Hunter; The Amityville Horror; Breaking Away; Inside Moves; Stardust Memories; Heartland, Beer, Offbeat, The Telephone, The Accidental Tourist; Crossing Delancy; Miss Firecracker; Daddy's Dyin'... Who's Got the Will?; Deceived; Love Hurts; Hard Promises, Where the River Flow North, Josh and S.A.M., Tom Sawyer.
Television Appearances: Pilot: A Fine Romance.
Movies: Trapped in Silence; Settle the Score, Largo DeSolato, In the Line of Duty, Manhunt in the Dakotas, Lethal Innocence, Final Verdict, To Dance with the White Dog.
Jerry Ziesmer (1949- )
Actor, First Assistant Director.
Grew up in Milwaukee, WI.
Films Include: Jerry Maguire, Deep Cover, Singles, Out for Justice, Love at Large, Marked for Death (aka Screwface), Say Anything, Midnight Run, Illegally Yours, Some Kind of Wonderful, Jumpin' Jack Flash, Short Circuit, Jo Jo Dancer, Your Life is Calling, American Flyers, The River, Blue Thunder, Scarface, Annie, History of the World: Part I , Rocky II, 1941, Apocalypse Now, The Bad News Bears Go to Japan, King, Black Sunday, Mitchell, Harry, and Walter Go to New York, Lost Horizon, The Way We Were, The Wrath of God, Something Big, Fools' Parade (aka Dynamite Man from Glory Jail), Honky, J.W. Coop, The Great White Hope, Tell Me That You Love Me, Junie Moon.
Movies: Life on the Mississippi, Secrets (aka Danielle Steele's 'Secrets') .
DAVID ZUCKER (b. 1947)
Producer, Writer, Director, Actor.
Born in Milwaukee. graduated from UW-Madison.
Films Include: The Kentucky Fried Movie; Airplane!; Top Secret!; Ruthless People; The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad; The Naked Gun 2 1/2: The Smell of Fear; Brain Donors; The Naked Gun 33-1/3: The Final Insult; A Walk in the Clouds, High School High.
Television Series: Police Squad!
JERRY ZUCKER (b. 1950)
Producer, Director, Writer, Actor.
Born in Milwaukee, graduated from UW-Madison
Films: The Kentucky Fried Movie; Rock 'n' Roll High School; Airplane!; Top Secret; Ruthless People; The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!; Ghost; The Naked Gun 2 1/2: The Smell of Fear; Brain Donors; My Life, The Naked Gun 33-1/3: The Final Insult; A Walk in the Clouds, First Knight.
Television Series: Police Squad!