Alan Ladd (1913-1964) [The Black Cat (1941); Whispering Smith (1948); Shane (1953); The Carpetbaggers (1964)] was born in Hot Springs, AR. His father died when he was four. His mother married a house painter who moved them to California when he was eight. He picked fruit, delivered papers, and swept stores. He was malnourished, undersized, and nicknamed Tiny. In high school he discovered track and swimming. By 1931 he was training for the 1932 Olympics, but an injury put an end to those plans. He opened a hamburger stand called Tiny's Patio, and later worked as a grip at Warner Brothers Pictures. He married friend Midge in 1936 but couldn't afford her, so they lived apart. In 1937 they shared a friend's apartment. They had a son, Alan Ladd Jr., and his destitute alcoholic mother moved in with them. He witnessed her agonizing suicide from ant poison. His size and coloring were regarded as not right for movies, so he worked hard at radio where talent scout and former actress Sue Carol discovered him early in 1939. After shopping him through bit parts he tested for This Gun for Hire (1942). His fourth-billed role as the psychotic killer "Raven" made him a star. He was drafted in January 1943 for World War II and discharged in November with an ulcer and double hernia. Throughout the 1940s his tough-guy roles filled theaters and he was one of the very few males whose cover photos sold movie magazines. In the 1950s he was performing in lucrative but unrewarding films (an exception being what many regard as his greatest role, Shane). By the end of the 1950s, liquor and a string of so-so films had taken their toll. In November 1962 he was found unconscious lying in a pool of blood with a bullet wound near his heart. In January 1964 he was found dead, apparently due to an accidental combination of alcohol and sedatives. -- [Text excerpted from IMDB.]

Hedy Lamarr (1914 - 2000) [Algiers (1938); Samson and Delilah (1949)] was born Hedwig Eva Maria Kiesler in Vienna, Austria, to a banker and his wife. Following the outbreak of World War II, actress Hedy Lamarr, who despised Nazis, collaborated with experimental music pioneer George Antheil on an invention for radio-controlled torpedoes. Lamarr, who never even attended college, had picked up some useful knowledge while married to a German arms dealer, whom she ditched -- by drugging her maid and slipping away in her uniform -- after he became involved with the Nazis. Her invention was so revolutionary it's the basis for modern mobile telecommunications. Not bad for an actress most famous for her nude scene -- cinema's first! -- in the film Ecstasy. She also raised $7 million in war bonds for the Allied effort, largely by selling kisses.

Burt Lancaster (1913-1994) [From Here to Eternity (1953); Airport (1970)] was born Burton Steven Lancaster in New York City. He was one of five children born to a postal worker. He was a tough street kid who took an early interest in gymnastics. He joined the circus as an acrobat and worked there until he was injured. He served in the Army during Worlld War II as a member of the Special Services branch, entertaining troops. He was stationed in Italy for much of the war and was introduced to acting in the USO. His first film was The Killers (1946), and that made him a star. He was a self-taught actor who learned the business as he went along. Lancaster was a very close friend and civil rights activist with Harry Belafonte who is an avowed and proud anti-American communist. Belafonte is an admirer and close personal friend of Fidel Castro of Cuba and Hugo Chavez, the communist tyrant-dictator of Venezuela.

Charles Lane (1905-2007) [You Can't Take It with You (1938); Date with an Angel (1987)] was born Charles Gerstle Levison in San Francisco and was actually one of the last survivors of that city's famous 1906 earthquake. He started out selling insurance but that soon changed. After dabbling here and there in various theatre shows, he was prodded by a friend, director Irving Pichel, to consider acting as a profession. In 1928 he joined the Pasadena Playhouse company. Lane's career was interrupted for a time serving in the Coast Guard during World War II. After the war he hit the ground running and by 1947 was earing $750 per week acting. He also found TV quite welcoming, settling there as well for over four decades.

Peter Lawford (1923-1984) [at one time, a brother-in-law of JFK] was born in London, England, son of a British World War I hero. He spent most of his childhood in Paris and began his acting career at a very young age. His parents were not married when Peter was born and, as a result of the scandal, the Lawfords fled to America. As a child, Peter had seriously injured his arm on a broken glass door and the lack of full range of arm motion disqualified him for World War II service. Lawford starred in his first major movie called A Yank at Eton (1942), co-starring Mickey Rooney, Ian Hunter and Freddie Bartholomew. His performance was widely praised. During this time, Lawford started to get more leads when major MGM star Clark Gable went off to war. Later, it was Good News (1947), co-starring June Allyson that became Lawford's greatest fame. Besides his successful career and being a socialite, Lawford was also part of the Rat Pack, with Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra, Joey Bishop and Sammy Davis Jr.

Norman Lear (1922- ) was born Norman Milton Lear to mother, Jeanette (Seicol) and father, Herman Lear in New Haven, Connecticut. He is a World War II veteran, actor, writer, producer, director, and creator of such legendary sitcoms as All In The Family, Good Times, Sanford And Son, The Jeffersons, Maude and participated in many others which revolutionized American television. At 19 he was attending Emerson College but dropped out when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. He joined the U.S. Army and was a radio operator until his discharge in 1945.

Christopher Lee (1922- ) was born in Belgravia, London, England, UK. After attending Wellington College from age 14 to 17, Lee worked as an office clerk in a couple of London shipping companies until 1941 when he enlisted in the RAF during World War II. Following his release from military service, Lee joined the Rank Organisation in 1947, training as an actor in their "Charm School" and playing a number of bit parts in such films as Corridor of Mirrors (1948). He made a brief appearance in Laurence Olivier's Hamlet (1948), in which his future partner-in-horror Peter Cushing also appeared. Both actors also appeared later in Moulin Rouge (1952) but did not meet until their horror films together.

Phil Leeds (1916-1998) [Varity of TV roles beginning in 1951; Rosemary's Baby (1968)] was born in New York City, his entrance into the entertainment business began with a job as a peanut vendor at the city's baseball stadiums, and from there, he began a stint as a stand-up comic in the Borscht Belt in the Catskill Mountains, opening for many of the top acts of the day. He had a short career on the Broadway stage before entering the army during World War II, and upon his discharge, he resumed his stand-up career. Unfortunately, he got caught up in the McCarthy-era, anti-Communism hysteria in the early 1950s and found himself among many entertainers who were blacklisted, and it took him a while to work out of that.

Jack Lemmon (1925-2001). Lemmon's father was the president of a doughnut company. Jack attended prep schools before Harvard, where he was in the Dramatic Club. He was also in Navy ROTC at Harvard and graduated with a degree in "War Service Sciences." During WW II, he served in the Naval Reserve and was the communications officer on the USS Lake Champlain. After service he played piano in a beer hall and performed on radio, off Broadway, on TV and on Broadway. His movie debut was with Judy Holliday in It Should Happen to You (1954). He won Best Supporting Actor as Ensign Pulver in Mister Roberts (1955). He received nominations in comedy for Some Like It Hot (1959) and The Apartment (1960) and nominations in drama for Days of Wine and Roses (1962), The China Syndrome (1979), Tribute (1980) and Missing (1982). He won the Best Actor Oscar for Save the Tiger (1973) and the Cannes Best Actor award for Syndrome and Missing. He made his debut as a director with Kotch (1971) and in 1985 on Broadway in Long Day's Journey into Night. In 1988 he received the Life Achievement Award of the American Film Institute.

Desmond Llewelyn (1914-1999) [Goldfinger (1964); Licence to Kill (1989)]. British actor who played Q, James Bond's quartermaster in the Bond movies. Q provides Bond with exploding pens, magnetic wristwatches, amphibian cars and other gadgets. Desmond Wilkinson Llewelyn was born in Newport, South Wales, the son of a coal mining engineer. In high school, he worked as a stagehand in the school's productions and then picked up sporadic small parts. The outbreak of World War II in September 1939 halted his acting career, and Llewelyn was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the British army. In 1940, he was captured by the German army in France, and was held as a POW for five years. Since 1963, Llewelyn appeared as Q in every Bond film, except Live and Let Die (1973), through The World Is Not Enough (1999).

John Lodge (1903-1985) [The Woman Accused (1933); Just Like a Woman (1939)] was an American actor (later politician) born John Davis Lodge in Washington, D.C., the grandson of Massachusetts Senator Henry Cabot Lodge and brother of Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr., Richard Nixon's former Senate companion and running mate during the 1960 Presidential election. He was a liaison between the French and U.S. Fleets during World War II. He was decorated with the rank of Chevalier in the French Legion of Honor and with the Croix de Guerre with Palm by General de Gaulle. He later served as U.S. Ambassador to Spain, 1955-January 1961. He was National President, Junior Achievement, Inc., 1963-64; Chairman, Committee on Foreign Policy Research Institute, University of Pennsylvania, 1964-69; Delegate and Floor Leader for Connecticut, Constitutional Convention, 1965; U.S. Ambassador to Switzerland, 1983. He was a resident of Westport, Connecticut, until his death in New York City.

Carole Lombard (1908-1942) [Bolero (1934); My Man Godfrey (1936)] was born Jane Alice Peters in Fort Wayne, Indiana. An establish star, she crisscrossed the nation selling war bonds for World War II, raising millions of dollars for the war effort. It was during one such drive that the beautiful wife of Clark Gable died in a plane crash outside of Las Vegas, Nevada. Lombard, who had just raised $2.5 million for the cause, had also starred in an anti-Nazi film, the hilarious To Be or Not to Be, with Jack Benny. When she died, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt eulogized her, saying, "She gave unselfishly of time and talent to serve her government in peace and war."

Jack Lord (1920-1998) [Hawaii Five-O (tv 1968-1980)] was the son of William Lawrence Ryan, steamship company executive. He learned his equestrian skills at his mother's fruit farm in the Hudson River Valley. At age 15 he started spending summers at sea in the Merchant Marine, and from the deck of ships, painted and sketched the landscapes he encountered; Africa, Mediterranean, China.

Education: New York school system, Trumbull Naval Academy, in New London, CT., graduating an Ensign with a Third Mates License. During World War II he served in the Merchant Navy. While making maritime training films during the Korean War he took to the idea of acting. This is when he decided to attend the Neighborhood Playhouse, working as a Cadillac salesman in New York to fund his studies. Later, at the Actor's Studio, he studied with Marlon Brando, Paul Newman, and Marilyn Monroe. His first work on Broadway was in, Traveling Lady, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof; followed by his first in Hollywood, Court Martial of Billy Mitchell with Gary Cooper.

Myrna Loy (1905-1993) [Evelyn Prentice (1934); Midnight Lace (1960)] was born Myrna Williams in Radersburg, Montana. Her father was the youngest person ever elected to the Montana State legislature. Later on her family moved to Helena where she spent her youth. At the age of 13, Myrna's father died of influenza and the rest of the family moved to Los Angeles. She was educated in L.A. and the Westlake School for Girls where she caught the acting bug. At the end of the silent era, she started her career as an exotic, Theda Bara-like femme fatale. Fortunately, she was rescued by the advent of the sound picture, where she was recast in the role of the witty, urbane, professional woman. To old to serve active duty during World War II she quit making movies and served with the Red Cross. She is best remembered for her role of Nora Charles opposite William Powell in six "Thin Man" movies (The Thin Man (1934)) and as the dutiful wife of Sgt. Al Stephenson (Frederic March) in The Best Years of Our Lives (1946).

Allen Ludden (1917-1981) was born Allen Packard Ellsworth in Mineral Point, Wisconsin. His father died in the worldwide flu epidemic of 1919 and his mother married Homer Ludden, Jr. Allen was given his adoptive father's name, Allen Ellsworth Ludden. The family moved to Texas when Allen was still a small child. An English and dramatics major at the Univ. of Texas, Ludden graduated with Phi Beta Kappa honors in 1940 and received his Master of Arts in English from the same university in 1941. He served in the U.S. Army during World War II, received a Bronze Star, and was discharged with the rank of captain in 1946. During the late 1940s and early 1950s he carved out a career as an adviser for youth in teen magazine columns and on radio. His radio show for teenagers, Mind Your Manners, received a Peabody Award in 1950. He became an American television personality, emcee and game show host, perhaps most well known for hosting various incarnations of the game show Password between 1961 and 1980. In 1963 he married Betty White (with him in pic above), an American actress, comedienne, singer, author and television personality. He died of stomach cancer in 1981 at age 63 in Los Angeles.

Sidney Lumet (1924- ) [As an actor: ...One Third of a Nation... (1939); The Manchurian Candidate (2004)] was born in Philadelphia, the son of actor Baruch Lumet and dancer Eugenia Wermus Lumet, he made his stage debut at age four at the Yiddish Art Theater in New York but turned to directing in 1951. He is a master of cinema. Known for his technical knowledge and his skill at getting first-rate performances from his actors -- and for shooting most of his films in his beloved New York -- Lumet has made over 40 movies, often emotional, but seldom overly sentimental. He has directed 17 different actors in Oscar-nominated performances: Katharine Hepburn, Rod Steiger, Al Pacino, Ingrid Bergman, Albert Finney, Chris Sarandon, Faye Dunaway, Peter Finch, Beatrice Straight, William Holden, Ned Beatty, Peter Firth, Richard Burton, Paul Newman, James Mason, Jane Fonda and River Phoenix. Bergman, Dunaway, Finch and Straight won oscars for their performances in one of Lumets movies. He served in the Army during World War II.

John Lund (1911-1992) [To Each His Own (1946); The Mating Season (1951)] was an American film actor of Norwegian ancestry who is probably best remembered for his role in the film A Foreign Affair (1948), directed by Billy Wilder. Handsome blond, blue-eyed actor who started out promisingly in engaging romantic leads in the late 40s, but settled quickly into playing stuffed shirts and the third wheel in love triangles. He served in World War II. Early in his career, after Edmond O'Brien left the show, Lund became the new Johnny Dollar on CBS Radio's "Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar." He starred in the series from 1952 till 1954. He was vice-president of the Screen Actor's Guild from 1950-1959. He wrote the book and lyrics for the Broadway revue "New Faces of 1943." A New York City advertiser at the time, he was asked by a friend to appear in an industrial show during the 1939 World's Fair. He got hooked and two years later was appearing on Broadway in As You Like It. Lund retired to his house in Coldwater Canyon in the Hollywood Hills in 1963.

Freeman Lusk (1905-1970) [The Caddy (1953); To the Shores of Hell (1966)] was born in Huntington Park, CA. His father was a Methodist minister and his mother Vice Principal at John Adams Junior High School in Los Angeles. Lusk graduated from Huntington Park High School and USC. He retired from the U.S. Navy as a commander after 27 years, including service during World War II. He had his own TV show in L.A. called "Freedom Forum." He ran for U.S. Congress 46th district in 1946. Last appearance was in Funny Girl as the Judge. One son, John. Lusk appears as Capt. Horton in the Perry Mason episode, The Case of the Slandered Submarine.

Ben Lyon (1901-1979) [Open Your Eyes (1919); The Lyons in Paris (1955)] was a film personality of the Depression-era 1930s. Although he never rose above second-tier stardom, he enjoyed success in both the U.S. and England. Born Ben Lyon, Jr. in Atlanta, Georgia, the future singer/ actor was the son of a pianist-turned-businessman and youngest of four. Raised in Baltimore, he started performing in amateur productions as a teen before earning marquee value on Broadway. Hollywood took notice of the baby-faced charmer and soon he was appearing opposite silent film's most honored leading ladies. During World War II he served in the U.S. Army Air Force and rose to the rank of Lt. Colonel in charge of Special Services (entertainment, etc.) for the U.S. Air Corps in England.