James Dean
James Dean was born to Winton and Mildred Wilson Dean at the “Seven Gables” apartment house, at the intersection of 4th and McClure Streets in Marion, Indiana. Six years after his father had left farming to become a dental technician, James and his family moved to Santa Monica, California. The family spent some years there, and by all accounts young Jimmy was very close to his mother. According to Michael DeAngelis, she was “the only person capable of understanding him.” He was enrolled in Brentwood Public School until his mother died of cancer in 1940. Dean’s “moodiness and antisocial behavior are consistently attributed to her loss,” and even in later years he still attempted to regain his mother’s “sense of understanding in all of his relationships with women during his acting career.”
Unable to care for his nine year old son, Winton Dean sent young Dean to live with Winton’s sister Ortense and her husband Marcus Winslow on a farm in Fairmount, Indiana, where he entered high school and was brought up with a Quaker background. Here Dean sought the counsel of, and formed an enduring friendship with a Methodist pastor, Rev. James DeWeerd. DeWeerd seemed to have had a formative influence upon the teenager, especially upon his future interests in bull fighting, motor racing and the theater. According to Billy J. Harbin, “Dean had an intimate relationship with his pastor… which began in his senior year of high school and ‘endured for many years.’ ”
In high school, Dean’s overall performance was mediocre, but he successfully played on the baseball and basketball team and studied forensics and drama. After graduating from Fairmount High School on May 16, 1949, Dean moved back to California with his beagle, Maxx, to live with his father and stepmother.
He enrolled in Santa Monica College (SMCC), pledged to the Sigma Nu fraternity and majored in pre-law. Dean transferred to UCLA and changed his major to drama, which resulted in estrangement from his father. While at UCLA, he beat out 350 actors to land the role of Malcolm in Macbeth. At that time, he also began acting with James Whitmore’s acting workshop. In January 1951, he dropped out of college to pursue a career as an actor.
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Theron was born in Benoni, Gauteng, South Africa. Her father, Charles Theron, was a construction company owner of French Huguenot descent; her mother, Gerda, is of German descent and took over her husband’s business after his death. Theron’s first language is Afrikaans. She is also fluent in English and speaks some Xhosa. In the United States, both in her films and while being interviewed, etc., Theron speaks with a typical American accent and style of speech, leading most people to assume she is American.
Charlie Chaplin was born on 20 April 1889, in East Street, Walworth, London, England. His parents were both entertainers in the Music Hall tradition and separated before Charlie was three. He learned singing from his parents. The 1891 census shows that his mother, the actress Lily Harvey (Hannah Harriet Hill), lived with Charlie and his older brother Sydney on Barlow Street, Walworth. As a child Charlie also lived with his mother in various addresses in and around Kennington Road in Lambeth, including 3 Pownall Terrace, Chester Street, and 46 Methley Street. One of his paternal great-grandmothers was Roma, a fact his father was very proud of, but which Chaplin also described as “the skeleton in our family cupboard”. Chaplin’s father was also an alcoholic and had little contact with his son, though Chaplin and his brother briefly lived with their father and his mistress Louise at 287 Kennington Road (which address is now ornamented with a plaque commemorating Chaplin’s residence there). The brothers resided there when their mother became mentally ill and was admitted to the Cane Hill Asylum at Coulsdon. The father’s mistress sent the young Chaplin to Kennington Road school. Chaplin’s father died when Charlie was twelve in 1901. At the time of the 1901 Census, Charles resided at 94 Ferndale Road, Lambeth with the The Eight Lancashire Lads that was led by John William Jackson (the 17 year old son of one of the founders).
Rice was born in Birmingham, Alabama, and grew up in the neighborhood of Titusville. She is the only child of Presbyterian minister Reverend John Wesley Rice, Jr., and his wife, Angelena Ray. Reverend Rice was a guidance counselor at Ullman High School and minister of Westminster Presbyterian Church, which had been founded by his father. Angelena was a science, music and oratory teacher at Ullman.
