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Born as Bobby Wayne Pearson in Seminole, Oklahoma, on August 18, 1930, singer and comedian Jesse Pearson broke into films in 1963 with a hit, but his success was too ephemeral. After recording two singles on Decca Records that had little airplay, Pearson joined the national company of the stage musical "Bye Bye Birdie", and took the role of American rock idol Conrad Birdie who is drafted by the Army at the peak of his popularity, echoing Elvis Presley's story. After a year travelling with the show all over the United States, producer Fred Kohlmar liked Jesse's performance enough to have him repeat the Birdie part in the 1963 film version. This was followed by another funny role as Corporal Silas Geary in George Marshall's comedy western "Advance to the Rear" (1964), but as he had no more film offers, Pearson turned to television, appearing in shows such as "The Great Adventure", "McHale's Navy", "The Beverly Hillbillies", "Death Valley Days", "The Andy Griffith Show" and "Bonanza".

Between acting jobs Pearson worked as composer Rod McKuen's assistant. When the musician was casting a voice for his album "The Sea" (1967), he felt the actor's presence and intimate vocal quality was just what the project needed, and it became the first in a string of albums narrated by Jesse Pearson. After he won a Gold Record for the million-selling "The Sea", Pearson recorded three more albums for McKuen: "Home to the Sea" (1968), and two recordings based on poems by Walt Whitman, "The Body Electric" and "The Body Electric-2", released in the early 1970s. Billed as Jess Pearson, he also narrated the tribute album to songwriter-singer Woody Guthrie "We Ain't Down Yet" and Bolivian composer Jaime Mendoza-Nava's religious LPs "And Jesus Said..." and "Meditation in Psalms", all in 1976. Pearson also recorded the album "The Glory of Love" for RCA Victor, which remains unreleased to this day.

Back to motion pictures in 1978, Pearson narrated the Viking saga "The Norseman", starring Lee Majors and Cornel Wilde and, as the decade allowed movies with more explicit sexual representation in cinemas, he wrote and directed the adult film "The Legend of Lady Blue" (1978) and wrote "Pro-Ball Cheerleader" (1979), under the name A. Fabritzi. But by then he was diagnosed with cancer, and moved to Monroe, Louisiana with his partner, to be close to his mother. Jesse Pearson died on December 5, 1979.

Mr. Bowen was a comedic actor and novelist, best known for his portrayal of Colonel Henry Blake in the film version of M*A*S*H (1970). He often portrayed roles as a stuffy defender of the upper class and had regular roles on a number of television series. His acting career aside, Mr. Bowen always considered himself a writer who only moonlighted as an actor; he wrote eleven novels as well as sketches for Broadway and television. He was also one of the co-founders of Chicago's famed Second City comedy and acting troupe.

Lorraine Warren was born on 31 January 1927 in Bridgeport, Connecticut, USA. She was an actress and writer, known for The Conjuring (2013), The Conjuring 2 (2016) and Amityville II: The Possession (1982). She was married to Ed Warren. She died on 18 April 2019 in Monroe, Connecticut, USA.

Nancy Coleman was born on 30 December 1912 in Everett, Washington, USA. She was an actress, known for The Gay Sisters (1942), Her Sister's Secret (1946) and Devotion (1946). She was married to Whitney Bolton. She died on 18 January 2000 in Brockport, Monroe County, New York, USA.

John Nash was an American mathematician who made fundamental contributions to game theory, differential geometry, and the study of partial differential equations. Nash's work has provided insight into the factors that govern chance and decision-making inside complex systems found in everyday life.

His theories are widely used in economics. Serving as a Senior Research Mathematician at Princeton University during the latter part of his life, he shared the 1994 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences with game theorists Reinhard Selten and John Harsanyi. In 2015, he also shared the Abel Prize with Louis Nirenberg for his work on nonlinear partial differential equations.

Nash's mental illness first began to manifest in the form of paranoia; his wife later describing his behavior as erratic. Nash seemed to believe that all men who wore red ties were part of a communist conspiracy against him; Nash mailed letters to embassies in Washington, D.C., declaring that they were establishing a government. Nash's psychological issues crossed into his professional life when he gave an American Mathematical Society lecture at Columbia University in 1959. Originally intended to present proof of the Riemann hypothesis, the lecture was incomprehensible. Colleagues in the audience immediately realized that something was wrong.

He was admitted to McLean Hospital in April 1959, staying through May of the same year. There, he was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia. According to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, or DSM, a person suffering from the disorder is typically dominated by relatively stable, often paranoid, fixed beliefs that are either false, over-imaginative or unrealistic, and usually accompanied by experiences of seemingly real perception of something not actually present. Further signs are marked particularly by auditory and perceptional disturbances, a lack of motivation for life, and mild clinical depression.

In 1961, Nash was admitted to the New Jersey State Hospital at Trenton. Over the next nine years, he spent periods in psychiatric hospitals, where he received both antipsychotic medications and insulin shock therapy.

His struggles with his illness and his recovery became the basis for Sylvia Nasar's biography, A Beautiful Mind, as well as a film of the same name starring Russell Crowe.

On May 23, 2015, Nash and his wife, Alicia Nash, were killed in a car crash while riding in a taxi on the New Jersey Turnpike.

Frank D. Gilroy, the Pulitzer-Prize-winning playwright who established himself as a screenwriter for television before breaking through as a dramatist with his 1964 Broadway hit The Subject Was Roses (1968), was born in New York City on October 13, 1925. A native of The Bronx, his father was an Irish-American coffee broker, and his mother was of German and Italian extraction. After graduating from DeWitt Clinton High School in The Bronx, he enlisted in the Army and served in Europe during WWII. A returning veteran is the protagonist of "The Subject Was Roses", which won him his Pulitzer and which he adapted for the screen.

After being demobilized, Gilroy used the G.I. Bill to go to Ivy League Dartmouth College in New Hampshire. Dartmouth gave him a financial grant that enabled him to attend the Yale School of Drama, after which he began a successful career writing dramas during the Golden Age of Television. In addition to writing for such prestigious omnibus programs like Studio One (1948), he also wrote for series television, including the Westerns The Rifleman (1958), "Wanted: Dead of Alive' (1958)_, _"The Rebel" (1960)_, and the contemporary detective series Burke's Law (1963).

He won an Obie for his 1962 off-Broadway play "Who'll Save the Plowboy?", another drama that had a WWII theme. He had a major success with his next play, "The Subject Was Roses", which opened in Broadway's Royal Theatre in May 1964 and ran for 832 performances, transferring to four other more prestigious theaters during its Broadway run. The play, which dealt with a son's reaction to the deteriorating marriage of his parents, was compared to Eugene O'Neill's Long Day's Journey Into Night (1962) which might have influenced Gilroy.

In addition to the Pulitzer, Gilroy won a Tony as best author of a play. "The Subject of Roses won a total of three Tonies, including Best Play and Best Featured Actor in a Play (Jack Albertson) while director Ulu Grosbard and actor Martin Sheen would get Tony nominations. Gilroy, Grosbard, Albertson and Sheen would all be involved in the 1968 movie version (with Patricia Neal, who was nominated for an Academy Award, taking over for Irene Dailey), with Albertson winning a best Supporting Actor Oscar

Gilroy did not know it, but he had reached his professional peak with "Roses". His next four Broadway plays "That Summer - That Fall" (1967), "The Only Game in Town" (1968), "Last Licks" (1979), and "Any Given Day" (1993) were flops, all closing within two weeks. In addition to flopping on Broadway, director George Stevens's adaptation of The Only Game in Town (1970), for which Gilroy wrote the screenplay, was one of the most notorious bombs of the early 1970s. A big budget picture starring Elizabeth Taylor and Warren Beatty (taking over for the more age-appropriate Frank Sinatra, who dropped out of the project), the picture was universally panned by critics and shunned by audiences. It ended Stevens legendary career on a low note and effectively terminated Taylor's movie super-star status.

Gilroy continued to work as a screenwriter for both movies and television. He wrote the Western novel From Noon Till Three (1976), which he adapted and directed for the screen as a vehicle for Charles Bronson. He also wrote and directed the TV movie The Turning Point of Jim Malloy (1975) which was the pilot for the short-lived TV series Gibbsville (1976). Adapted from short stories by Jack O'Hara, the series was critically acclaimed but a ratings failure, canceled after seven episodes. Gilroy had no input into the series.

Frank Gilroy has three sons from his marriage to sculptor/writer Ruth Dorothy Gaydos, screenwriters Dan Gilroy and Tony Gilroy and Dfilm editor John Gilroy. His daughter-in-law is actress Rene Russo, who is married to his son Dan.

Alicia Nash was born on 1 January 1933 in San Salvador, El Salvador. She is known for American Experience (1987), 60 Minutes (1968) and Inside a Beautiful Mind (2002). She was married to John Nash. She died on 23 May 2015 in Monroe Township, New Jersey, USA.

Don Basinger was born on 28 August 1923 in Anderson, South Carolina, USA. He was married to Ann Cordell. He died on 18 February 2016 in Monroe, Georgia, USA.

Robert Padilla was born on 1 June 1933 in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA. He was an actor and writer, known for Cthulhu (2007), The Awakening Land (1978) and Mission: Impossible (1966). He was married to Shirley Padilla. He died on 7 May 2018 in Monroe, Washington, USA.

His obituary in the The Monroe News-Star:

Georges Metaxa, d. 8 Dec. 1950, Monroe, Louisiana. Georges Metaxa Hollywood star dies suddenly in Monroe. The body of Georges Metaxa, 51, prominent actor and comedy singer of Hollywood who died suddenly in a local hotel over the weekend, was sent by Hixson Brothers Funeral home on Sunday to Dallas, Tex., where it will be cremated today. Metaxa and his wife had been on a seven-month trip to Europe and were now en route in their auto to their home in Beverly Hills. His health had been impaired to such an extent that he had been forced to refuse to take the leading role in "South Pacific," which is to be shown early in January in London. . . . His present wife, his third, was married to him in 1946. His second wife was the former Bernice MacFadden, daughter of publisher Bernarr MacFadden.

Paul Espel was born on 17 August 1947 in Clarksburg, West Virginia, USA. He was an actor, known for Scarface (1983), Search for Tomorrow (1951) and The Doctors (1963). He was married to Carol Marie Burt. He died on 7 December 2015 in Monroe, New York, USA.

Ole Anderson was born on 22 September 1942 in St. Paul, Minnesota, USA. He was an actor and producer, known for Pro Wrestling USA (1984), WCW Worldwide (1975) and World Championship Wrestling (1985). He was married to Suzanne Crowder. He died on 26 February 2024 in Monroe, Georgia, USA.

James Fogle was born on 29 September 1936 in Elcho, Wisconsin, USA. He was a writer, known for Drugstore Cowboy (1989) and Doing It All. He died on 23 August 2012 in Monroe, Washington, USA.

Gray Morrow was born on 7 March 1934 in Fort Wayne, Indiana, USA. He was an art director and director, known for Spider-Man (1967), Death to the Pee Wee Squad (1988) and Frankenstein's Bloody Terror (1968). He died on 6 November 2001 in Kunkletown, Monroe County, Pennsylvania, USA.

Bobby Frierson was a well known skydiver from Blackville, South Carolina. In addition to skydiving he was a pilot, a crop duster, a horticulturist, and a state constable. During his career Bobby made over 6,000 jumps. After nearly dying from a stroke in 2000 he retired and moved to West Columbia, SC. He eventually started skydiving again. Bobby died in a skydiving accident on September 11, 2005.

Jay Devlin was born on 8 May 1929 in Fort Dodge, Iowa, USA. He was an actor, known for Three Days of the Condor (1975), Law & Order: Criminal Intent (2001) and All My Children (1970). He was married to Callie and Jean C Lamendola. He died on 9 November 2014 in Monroe, New York, USA.

Beyond his work in films, Wildhack made far greater contributions to the arts as an illustrator, a talent he developed as an Indiana teen. During World War One, he joined some of America's leading painters, illustrators and graphic artists in founding the Division of Pictorial Publicity which created recruiting posters, Red Cross promotional materials and other public service art on behalf of the war effort. By the time he was 30, Wildhack's illustrations we're featured on the covers of many magazines including Life, Colliers and Scribner's. His posters and silk screens are prized today.

Mary J. Holmes was born on 5 April 1825 in Brookfield, Massachusetts, USA. She was a writer, known for Lena Rivers (1932), Lena Rivers (1914) and Tempest and Sunshine (1916). She was married to Daniel Holmes. She died on 6 October 1907 in Brockport, Monroe County, New York, USA.

Lane Howell was born on 28 July 1941 in Monroe, Louisiana, USA. He died on 16 January 2018 in Monroe, Louisiana, USA.

Cheryl Slavant was born on 23 January 1946 in Monroe, Louisiana, USA. She was married to James Slavant. She died on 6 November 2024 in Monroe, Louisiana, USA.

Jay Cook was born on 19 December 1966 in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. He died on 18 November 1987 in Monroe, Washington, USA.

Marc Swayze was born on 17 July 1913 in Monroe, Louisiana, USA. Marc was married to June Bloomer. Marc died on 14 October 2012 in Monroe, Louisiana, USA.

RTS Quakem was born on 17 November 1996. He was an actor, known for RTS Quakem: Diary (2019), RTS Quakem feat. Weemane: Better Myself (2019) and RTS Quakem feat. RTS Sosa: RTS (2020). He died on 1 August 2021 in Monroe, North Carolina, USA.

Paul Ritts was born on 14 May 1920 in Cleveland, Ohio, USA. He was an actor and writer, known for NBC Children's Theatre (1963), NBC Special Treat (1975) and The Errand Boy (1961). He was married to Mary Ritts. He died on 18 October 1980 in Monroe, Michigan, USA.

Tamás Homonnay was born on 2 January 1926 in Budapest, Hungary. He died on 30 May 2013 in Monroe, Connecticut, USA.