February 24 Birthday Wishes

Marjorie Main [1890 - 1975]

James Warren [1913 - 2001]

Fred Steiner [1923 -2011]

Robert Knapp [1924 - 2001]

John Vernon [1932 - 2005]

Pete Duell [1940 - 1971]

Thadd Turner [1960 - ]

Howdy Manco!!

Marjorie Main was probably best known for her portrayals of Ma Kettle in the Ma And Pa Kettle films. A bit of trivia about Marjorie Main, even though her husband was deceased, she would often stop during a scene and talk with him, then let the director know that her husband approved and go on with the scene as if nothing had happened.

Fred Steiner was a composer for both film and t.v. He not only composed the themes for Have Gun Will Travel, Gunsmoke, the original Star Trek, Rawhide, he also composed the theme for Star Trek, The Motion Picture and was involved with the theme for Star Wars, Return Of The Jedi.

John Vernon always reminds me of Victor French. Like French, he was often cast as a villain in films. I remember him best from Animal House with John Belushi and The Outlaw Josey Wales with Clint Eastwood.

Peter Duell was a young actor on his way up. He had almost completed 2 seasons as Hannibal Heyes on the hit t.v. series, Alias Smith And Jones with Ben Murphy as Kid Curry, when sometime during the night, his fiancee heard a loud noise and woke to find Duell dead of a gunshot wound. What a tragedy for fans of the show and this young actor, who had such an engaging smile and seemed to be so cheerful.

Ed, Fred Steiner compose music for the original Star Trek series, but the theme for that series was done by Alexander Courage (who also composed the theme to The Waltons). Jerry Goldsmith did the soundtrack for Star Trek: The Motion Picture, although Steiner did some additional music that's went uncredited. Steiner's best known music is the theme song to Perry Mason.

John Vernon played a good heel. And he has such a recognizable voice. If you've ever seen any of the old Marvel Superheroes cartoons from the 1960s, Batman: The Animated Series, the 1994 Fantastic Four cartoon, or the 1997 Incredible Hulk cartoon, you'll recognize John Vernon's voice in many of the episodes.

When I think of John Vernon the first film that comes to mind is The Outlaw Josey Wales. A great actor.
Robert Knapp was a personal friend of Jim and me.....His first film was Rogue River with Rory Calhoun and Peter Graves. Before that one he started working as a messenger at Warner Brothers when he was 18, then went into publicity, and from publicity he became part of the first motion picture unit and produced all the training films during World War II, and then went with the motion picture unit to India, Ceylon, Auwstralia and the Philippines. After the war he went back to Warner Brothers and began work as an assistant director until the big strike came and he was out of work. He thought that he always wanted to be an actor and began working in stage plays in Los Angeles and San Francisco, one of the plays being "Kitty Doone" directed by Charlie Chaplin. An agent signed him and he began film work in the aforementioned "Rogue River." His western movie credits include "Jubal" with Glenn Ford, "Tomahawk Trail" with Chuck Connors, "Rawhide Trail" with Rex Reason, "Outlaw's Son" with Dane Clark, and "Revolt at Fort Laramie" with John Dehner. His TV work included non-westerns like Perry Mason, Dragnet, The FBI, Navy Log, and in many westerns as Hopalong Cassidy, Roy Rogers, Stories of the Century (as gunfighter Jim Courtright), Gunsmoke (6 episodes), Rifleman, Bonanza, Rin Tin Tin, Death Valley Days, Laramie, Broken Arrow, Cheyenne, & Black Saddle. He and House Peters Jr. were two of the actors who auditioned for, but lost to Richard Simmons, for the role of Sergeant Preston of the Yukon. A real fine gentleman and professional actor. On stage he worked with folks like Gary Cooper, Neville Brand & Akim Tamiroff. Happy birthday to my friend Bob Knapp.