Born in Missouri. Wonderfully talented actress of stage and screen, often specializing in eccentric or neurotic character types. Most of her work was on stage, but she appeared in some great films. Considered by many to be one of the greatest American actresses of all time. Won eight Academy Award nominations.

Given name: Donna Mae Tjaden; born in Tacoma, Washington. Actress / singer / comediene on stage, screen and television. I will always remember her singing and dancing "Stereophonic Sound" with Fred Astaire in Silk Stockings.

Born in Winfield, Kansas. Loveable, jovial, rotund, gravelly-voiced actor / comedian of the 1930s and 1940s. Generally played second leads, and was very popular with audiences. Began on stage and worked in silent films, but wasn't really noticed until the sound era.

Born in Newark, New Jersey. Stammering, nervous, hand-wringing character actor of the 1930s and 1940s. Often seen as clerks, hotel managers and assistants of various sorts.

Born in Yorkshire, England. Refined, prissy, often sardonic character actor. Generally played butlers and clerks.

Born in Canada. Character actress, generally playing sweet and slightly naive young ladies. She is best remembered today as Andy Hardy's sister Marion, though she did play many other roles.

Given name: Eleanor Jean Parker; born in Ohio. Attended the Rice Summer Theatre on Martha's Vineyard in Massachusetts and Pasadena Playhouse in California. Superb actress, with a wide range of abilities. Though she appeared in dozens of films, she's best remembered today as Baroness Schraeder in The Sound of Music.

Given name: Samuel Lawrence Parks; born in Olathe, Kansas. Actor; best remembered for his exceptional portrayal of Al Jolson in The Jolson Story and Jolson Sings Again. Married to actress Betty Garrett. Admitted to being associated with the Communist Party during the McCarthy hearings, which effectively ended his (and Garrett's) career in 1951.

Given name: Helen Parrish; born in Georgia. Began as a child actress on screen, and made the transition to adulthood fairly smoothly. Probably best remembered today as Deanna Durbin's nemesis in several films. Died of cancer at a young age.

Born in Roanoke, Virgina. Actor / singer / director / producer in many 20th Century-Fox musicals of the 1940s. Payne was a professional singer before entering the acting profession in the mid-1930s. Later he worked mostly in Westerns.

NOTE: There is more than one John Payne.

Given name: Alicia Pearce; born in New York, NY. Actress / comediene on stage, screen and television.

Given name: Eldred Gregory Peck; born in La Jolla, California. One of the giants of film! Dropped out of medical school to try his hand at acting. Worked on stage in New York, then signed by RKO. An outstanding actor - one of the all-time best. His best-known film is probably To Kill a Mokingbird (1963).

Given name: Jacob Pincus Perelmuth ; born in New York. Opera star at the New York Met.

Given name: J. Pinter; born in Hungary. Popular radio comedian. After RKO featured him in New Faces of 1937, the studio began starring him in musical comedies. His career was really blossoming when he died in his sleep of a heart attack on January 10, 1941.

see also Composers P: Penner, Joe

Given name: Marion Pepper; born in New York, New York. Actress; began her career as a Goldwyn Girl.

Given name: Ghislaine Perreau-Saussine; born in Los Angeles, California. Child actress; grew up on screen and became a successful actress on stage and screen.

Born in Brooklyn, New York. Actress / director on screen and television. Had her own TV series "Angie" in 1979, but it didn't last long (I liked it!).

Given name: Bernadette Lazzara; born in Queens, New York. Very talented actress / singer of stage and screen. I really enjoy her in the film Annie where she displays her wide range of talent - acting, comedy, singing and dancing - to full advantage.

Vocal group consisting of three sisters.

Given name: Walter Davis Pigeon; born in New Brunswick, Canada. Studied music and worked on stage in Boston. Moved into films in the early 1920s. Probably best remembered today for his films with Greer Garson. But with or without Miss Garson, he is certainly one of my favorites!

Vocal group: Chuck Lowry, Harold Hopper, Clark Yocum and June Hutton (Betty Hutton's sister). The group began with 7 male vocalists, but was trimmed to three males and one female when they joined up with Tommy Dorsey around 1939. Jo Stafford was the first female vocalist with the group (1938 - 1944). When she got her own solo contract in 1944, June Hutton took her place in the group. In addition to recording and touring with Tommy Dorsey, the group worked background vocals in films and sometimes appeared on-screen.

Opera Singer, born in Rome. Performed the world over, but mostly at the New York Met.

Born in Parsons, Kansas. Actress / comedienne. Began her film career in a couple of Mary Pickford silents, and worked into dramatic roles in silents. Upon the advent of sound, she worked almost exclusively as a comedienne. Later in life, she worked stage and television as well as film. Her name is said to be a concatenation of the names of her two aunts -- "Za" from "Liza" and "Su" from Susan. Consequently, her name is sometimes spelled with two upper-case letters, "ZaSu."

Given name: Marcel Leplat; born in Pasadena, California. Dancer / actor. Shown here with Norma Doggett in a publicity photo for Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, 1954.

Jazz drummer / orchestra leader

Born in Texas. Cute, petite actress / singer. Began in films as a teenager, then moved into adult roles. She is a lot of fun! My favorite scene is Jean singing "You Take the High Note" with Red Skelton and the gang in Bathing Beauty. Jean is also a lot of fun with Virginia Weidler in The Youngest Profession (1943). In 1948 Jean married Director Edward Dmytryk. They had three children together and were married until his death in 1999. In 1984 Jean and Edward co-authored the book On Screen Acting.

Given name: Richard Ewing Powell; born in Mountain View, Arkansas. Actor / singer in Warner Bros. musicals with Ruby Keeler in the 1930s. Moved into gangster films in the 1940s and 1950s. He was much more successful playing tough guys than he had been in musicals. Married to Joan Blondell (1936 - 1944) and June Allyson (1945 - 1963).

Given name: Eleanor Powell; born in Springfield, Massachusetts. Dancer / actress; started on Broadway, moved into movies in 1935. Married Glenn Ford in 1943. Retired from films in the mid-1940s, and worked off and on throughout the rest of her life in nightclubs, Las Vegas, etc. Eleanor Powell was quite possibly the greatest dancer af all time in the movies! Her tapping was unequalled by any with the possible exception of Ann Miller, and her twirling was simply tops. My favorite Eleanor Powell dance scene is "Begin the Beguine" with Fred Astaire in Broadway Melody of 1940. It's the only dance scene in which Fred appears to be really working hard!

Given name: Suzanne Burce; born in Portland, Oregon. Jane began her singing career on Portland's KOIN radio at the age of seven. The Burce family moved to Los Angeles in the early 1940s and Jane landed a part on the radio show "Hollywood Showcase." She sang an aria from "Carmen" and knocked 'em dead. As a result, she was booked on the Charlie McCarthy radio show and offered an MGM contract.

As was their usual practice with new-hires, MGM loaned Jane out for her two first films, and when she came back she scored with Holiday in Mexico. She continued to play teenage roles until she replaced June Allyson in Royal Wedding, after which she moved into adult roles. She retired from films in 1957, but has kept busy since then with stage plays and occasional appearances on television.