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Known as "The Big Mouth" and considered the female equivalent to Bob Hope, Martha Raye was an American icon in her own right.

She was born Margy Reed in Butte, Montana, to Maybelle Hazel (Hooper) and Peter Reed, Jr., vaudeville performers. She had Irish, German, and English ancestry. Raye made her acting debut before the age of 10 as she toured the nation with her parents variety show "Reed and Hopper". In her late teens she was hired by band-leader Paul Ash as his lead vocalist and was spotted by a Hollywood talent scout during a New York City concert in 1934. She soon relocated to Hollywood were she began making a name for herself appearing in a string of successful screwball comedies alongside the likes of Bing Crosby, Jimmy Durante, W.C. Fields, and Joe E. Brown.

With the outbreak of World War II she took a break from film making to focus on entertaining servicemen and women traveling with the USO on many tour stops. She soon became even more famous for her dedication to America, its values, and its soldiers which helped earn her the beloved nickname "Colonel Maggie".

She continued acting into the late 1980s dividing her time between movies, TV guest spots, and occasional stage appearances. She passed away on October 19, 1994 after a long battle from pneumonia and was buried with full military honors at the Fort Bragg Main Post Cemetery, Fort Bragg, North Carolina. Martha "Colonel Maggie" Raye was 78 years old.

Keith Jardine was born on 31 October 1975 in Butte, Montana, USA. He is an actor and writer, known for Killer Kafé, Inherent Vice (2014) and Godless (2017).

Jean Parker was born Lois Mae Green in 1915. Her father was Lewis Green, a gunsmith and hunter, and her mother was Pearl Melvina Burch (later known professionally as Mildred Brenner), one of 18 children of a pioneer family that came to Montana from Missouri and Iowa. Jean's maternal grandfather was a Presbyterian minister.

Parker was an accomplished gymnast and dancer, and was adopted by the Spickard family of Pasadena during her formative years when both her father and mother were unemployed during the Great Depression. As Lois Green, she entered a poster-painting contest and won for portraying Father Time. Ida Koverman, assistant to MGM studio chief Louis B. Mayer, heard that a pretty teenage girl had won the contest; she contacted the would-be starlet, and had Mayer offer her an MGM contract.

Parker made several important films in her career, including The Ghost Goes West (1935) with Robert Donat; Sequoia (1934) with Russell Hardie, shot in the Sequoia National Forest near Springville, California; Little Women (1933) with Joan Bennett and Katharine Hepburn; Operator 13 (1934) with Marion Davies; and many other films.

After several successful cross-country trips entertaining injured servicemen during World War II, Parker wed and divorced Curt Grotter of the Braille Institute in Los Angeles; and moved on to New York to star in the play "Loco". She also starred on Broadway in "Burlesque" with Bert Lahr, and in the hit "Born Yesterday", filling in for Judy Holliday. Parker's fourth and last husband, actor Robert Lowery, played opposite her as Brock in the play for a short stint. By this marriage, Parker bore her only child, a son, Robert Lowery Hanks.

Parker died on November 30, 2005 at the Motion Picture Country Home and Hospital in Woodland Hills, California, aged 90, from a stroke. She was survived by her son and two granddaughters, Katie and Nora Hanks.

Rosemarie Bowe frequently turned heads with her flashing turquoise eyes, sultry mane of black hair and sparkling personality. Effortlessly diverting attention from the scenic location spots of her mid-'50s film adventures and dramas, her stroll before the cameras was short--it was over within a few years.

The Montana-born beauty was the daughter of a building contractor, Dennis Bowe, and his wife Ruby. She and her siblings (Clara and Sydney) were raised in Tacoma, Washington, where Rosemarie first developed an interest in the arts. Dancing and appearing in operetta-styled musicals at her high school in Tacoma, she graduated and attended Tacoma Community College for one semester before being drawn to modeling. Finding work as a photographer's model and fashion cover girl in the Seattle area, she was the winner of pageant titles, including "Miss Tacoma", and was an official entrant in the "Miss Washington" contest. Eventually she relocated to Los Angeles, where she ultimately made the cover of Life magazine, among others.

Rosemarie broke into films in the early 1950s, primarily as an extra (model, swimmer) in MGM musicals. Within a few years she had moved into TV episodic work and earned a co-starring role in the voodoo adventure The Golden Mistress (1954) which was written and directed by Abner Biberman under the pseudonym Joel Judge (he also had a supporting role as her father). The film, starring Shirley Temple's ex, John Agar, was obvious hokum but did take the time to emphasize its lovely newcomer. Rosemarie was quite stunning as a jungle captive and signed on to play a few other decorative, damsel-in-distress roles.

Nothing-special movies more or less came and went but did little to test her dramatic mettle; they were, however, providing the requisite building ground for her to move up the Hollywood ranks. The Adventures of Hajji Baba (1954) had Rosemarie playing a slave girl in support of dashing young commoner John Derek and spirited princess Elaine Stewart. In the noirish The Big Bluff (1955), Rosemarie provided a harder edge as a married nightclub singer dallying on the side with lothario John Bromfield who, in turn, is making a play for the affections of wealthy but terminally ill widow Martha Vickers. The View from Pompey's Head (1955) focused more on star Dana Wynter, a scene-stealing Marjorie Rambeau and its Southern-bred racism theme than on Rosemarie's secondary role. Her last leading film assignment was in the preachy western The Peacemaker (1956) as a benevolent lady who tries to help gunfighter-turned-minister James Mitchell (who was then better known for his dancing skills in musicals) tame a corrupt town.

Rosemarie ended her career after marrying Robert Stack, 13 years her senior, on January 23, 1956. The couple eventually became the parents of a daughter (Elizabeth) and son (Charles). Sharing a love with her husband for the outdoors, especially sailing and horseback riding, Rosemarie enjoyed life as a Hollywood celebrity and socialite and expressed no regrets in ending her career. In October of 1969 she survived a serious automobile accident in Sacramento that killed her husband's cousin and left her with injuries requiring plastic surgery. Occasionally she came out of her self-imposed retirement to appear on TV, usually in vehicles starring her husband, such as the mini-movie Murder on Flight 502 (1975).

Her beloved husband, Robert Stack, died in 2003 after 47 years of marriage. Rosemarie passed away many years later on January 20, 2019, at age 86.

Josip Elic was born on 10 March 1921 in Butte, Montana, USA. He was an actor, known for One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975), Black Rain (1989) and The Producers (1967). He died on 21 October 2019 in River Edge, New Jersey, USA.

Kathryn Card was born on 4 October 1892 in Butte, Montana, USA. She was an actress, known for I Love Lucy (1951), Born to Kill (1947) and The Hucksters (1947). She was married to Erwin Foster Card. She died on 1 March 1964 in Costa Mesa, California, USA.

Evel Knievel was born on 17 October 1938 in Butte, Montana, USA. He was an actor, known for The Bionic Woman (1976), Viva Knievel! (1977) and The Last of the Gladiators (1988). He was married to Krystal Kennedy-Knievel and Linda Knievel. He died on 30 November 2007 in Clearwater, Florida, USA.

Switching from Broadway to Hollywood in 1931, actress Esther Howard was an expert at portraying frumpy old crones, man-hungry spinsters and oversexed dowagers. Utilizing her wide, expressive eyes and versatile voice for both broad comedy and tense drama, Howard was equally at home portraying slatternly toss-pot Mrs. Florian in Murder, My Sweet (1944) as she was in the role of genteelly homicidal Aunt Sophie in Laurel and Hardy's The Big Noise (1944). She was a regular participant in the films of writer/director Preston Sturges, playing everything from an addled farm woman in Sullivan's Travels (1941) to the bejeweled wife of "The Wienie King" in The Palm Beach Story (1942). From 1935 to 1952, Esther Howard was a fixture of Columbia's short-subject unit, usually cast as the wife or sweetheart of comedian Andy Clyde.

As a child, Kirby received a scholarship to the American Conservatory of Music in Chicago. Kirby won the scholarship as a violinist and singer, but he also dabbled as a sculptor. He would play a violinist in the film, I Dream Too Much (1935), which starred Henry Fonda. While his movie career was less than spectacular, he did have the lead in a number of low- budget westerns and also played a Canadian Mountie in low-budget adventures. But it would be Television, where Kirby would gain the kind of fame that would follow him for the rest of his life. "Out of the blue of the western sky comes Sky King". Sky King (1951) was a Television series where Kirby played a wealthy gentleman rancher who used his twin engine Cessna to capture the evil ones. As everyone knows, the plane was called the "Song Bird", his ranch was "the Flying Crown Ranch", located near "Grover, Arizona", and he had a niece named Penny and a nephew named Clipper. Kirby was a lifelong flying enthusiast taught to fly by barnstormers in the 1920's. "Sky King" was a huge success and Kirby made approximately 130 episodes which guaranteed syndication. After the show ended, Kirby traveled with the Carson and Barnes Circus and retired in 1970. He later bought the title and rights to the show, Sky King (1951), and became a public relations director for Sea World in Florida.

Born in Butte Montana just before the turn of the century, Ethan Laidlaw worked as a steam fitter, bus driver, mechanic, salesman, and policeman, before moving to the Los Angeles in the early 1920's. Laidlaw's tall, lean frame and chiseled features made him a natural for gangster pictures, Westerns, and for any role that required a villain, heavy, or tough guy. While he seldom had a substantial speaking park, he found steady work for almost four decades.

Between the movies and the proliferation of TV Westerns in the 1950's, Laidlaw kept busy from 1925 until his death from a heart attack in 1963. All told, he had almost 450 known appearances in movies, and about 400 on TV. He was one of Hugh O'Brian's regulars on "The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp," (which included Jimmy Noel, Buddy Roosevelt, Bill Coontz, and Phil Schumacher), with over 130 appearances on that series alone.

An avid biker, Laidlaw could be seen traveling the countryside on his motorcycle during the few times he wasn't working. Laidlaw lived in the Whitley Hills area of Hollywood, not far from the studios, from the early 1940's until his death.

Robbie Knievel was born on 7 May 1962 in Butte, Montana, USA. He was an actor, known for Ninja III: The Domination (1984), Hawaii Five-0 (2010) and Kick Buttowski: Suburban Daredevil (2010). He died on 13 January 2023 in Reno, Nevada, USA.

Born in Butte, Montana, Mark Jenkins grew up on a cattle ranch in Wyoming and didn't discover theater until his undergraduate career in the 1960s at the University of Wyoming. He has headed the University of Washington School of Drama's Professional Actor Training Program (PATP) since 2003. A three-year graduate program leading to a Master of Fine Arts degree, the PATP is intended for students who aspire to a career in acting.

In 2003, the program was cited by the New York Times as one of the nine most outstanding professional theater programs in the United States. Jenkins studied with Lee Strasberg, who is credited with establishing the Stanislavsky "Method Acting" in the United States. Jenkins is a lifetime member of the Actors Studio.

She made only a handful of films within a span of four years (1936-1940), but gentle, soulful-eyed Andrea Leeds touched hearts with those few, culminating in an Oscar-nomination for Best Supporting Actress as the sensitive, aspiring young actress who doesn't survive the school of hard knocks in the 1937 movie version of Edna Ferber-George S. Kaufman's serio-comic play Stage Door (1937).

Andrea was born in Butte, Montana. As her father was a British-born mining engineer, the family traveled quite extensively during her "wonder years". Following graduation from UCLA with the intentions of being a screenwriter, she pursued acting instead and apprenticed in bit roles under her given name, Antoinette Lees. She appeared in Hal Roach comedy shorts with comedian Charley Chase at this same time before landing better parts in better pictures. She portrayed another actress hopeful in the fine film Letter of Introduction (1938), and gave equally affecting turns in the sentimental drama The Goldwyn Follies (1938), Swanee River (1939) (as Mrs. Stephen Foster), The Real Glory (1939) and Earthbound (1940), all blessed with her trademark gentleness, grace and humanity. Personal tragedy struck, however, when her fiancé, Jack Dunn, then an ice skating partner of Sonja Henie, died suddenly of a rare disease in July of 1938, and her once strong interest in her career began to wane dramatically. More than a year later, Andrea married wealthy sportsman Robert Stewart Howard, heir to father Charles S. Howard's racing stables, and gave up her profession completely to raise a family.

Devoutly religious, Andrea and her husband eventually settled in the Palm Springs area with their two children, Robert Jr. and Leann, the latter dying of cancer in 1971. Her life and interests would include owning and breeding horses. After her husband's death in 1962, she operated and owned a modest jewelry shop in the Palm Springs area, designing many of her own pieces. Andrea died of cancer in 1984 at age 70.

Don was born on February 3, 1918 in Butte, Montana and moved with his mother and brother and sisters to Hollywood when he was a young boy after his father died. His mother ran a boarding house in Hollywood. When he was 19 he got a job at Disney Studios on Hyperion Street in Los Angeles as an inker. He worked his way up to layout, background and art director. When Disney Studios moved to its Burbank location Don met Katherine (Kay) Lane, a secretary at the studio, and they were married. Don worked at the studio for 52 years only taking a break to join the Merchant Marines when World War II broke out. He and the other Disney animators lived by the adage, "He who dies with the most toys wins!" Each animator's office was usually littered with multiple toys which were played with often during the day. When Walt Disney opened Cal Arts Don taught drawing classes there in the school's first few years. He retired from Disney Studio after 52 years and passed away only a few years after his retirement on February 9, 1987. He and Kay had one daughter, Dolores. Kay died on September 30, 2005.

Jack Williams was born on 15 April 1921 in Butte, Montana, USA. He was an actor, known for Innerspace (1987), Wild Wild West (1999) and Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins (1985). He was married to Clare. He died on 10 April 2007 in Sylmar, California, USA.

Gertrude Sutton was born on 1 September 1903 in Butte, Montana, USA. She was an actress, known for Say It in French (1938), Barnum Was Right (1929) and Jungle Menace (1937). She died on 17 May 1980 in Los Angeles, California, USA.

Pioneer silver screen star Kathlyn Williams is primarily known as the spry blonde of the very first Hollywood cliffhanger, The Adventures of Kathlyn (1913), in which her real first name was used in the title. This accomplishment has resulted in many reference works mistakenly referring to her as an adventurous Pearl White-type silent serial queen. While Kathlyn did, in fact, go on to perform in a few other adventure-type pictures, including westerns, she was actually quite genteel and dignified in nature and primarily graced heavier drama on the screen. Having once been dubbed the Sarah Bernhardt of the screen, she never did appear in another serial.

She was born in Butte, Montana, on May 31, 1879 (most sources incorrectly list 1888) of Norwegian and Welsh descent, Kathlyn was born to Joseph E. and Mary C. Williams. With early interest and experience as a vocal recitalist, she eventually attended the Sargent School of Acting and studied at Wesleyan University (1899). Following stage experience in local stock and touring companies (from 1902) she began to develop a solid name for herself in such plays as "When We Were Twenty One". Her early career was generously sponsored by Sen. W.A. Clarke after Kathlyn's family lost their fortunes. She eventually went to Hollywood while performing with the Belasco Stock Company and began making films as early as 1908 with D.W. Griffith at the Biograph Studio.

A popular star at the Selig Polyscope Company in 1910 (she was at first publicized as "The Selig Girl"), she appeared in assorted jungle adventures for the studio as well as a number of westerns opposite cowboy star Tom Mix. She made history, however, with the very first serial adventure, which contained a number of wild animals, and it saved the faltering studio from bankruptcy. She proceeded to remain a popular item after being handed the lead in the Selig epic The Spoilers (1914), playing her signature role of Cherry Marlotte.

Once the Selig Studio folded, Kathlyn signed with Paramount Pictures following her marriage to Paramount executive Charles F. Eyton in 1916 (a former actor, he later became the studio's General Manager), and while there appeared as the star of several early dramas for both Cecil B. DeMille and his brother William C. de Mille, including The Whispering Chorus (1918), We Can't Have Everything (1918), The Tree of Knowledge (1920) and Conrad in Quest of His Youth (1920). Her numerous co-stars included veteran matinee idols (Thomas Meighan, Theodore Roberts, Tyrone Power Sr.), young established stars (Wallace Reid) and western heroes (Roy Stewart.

Kathlyn's fair, spunky, coquettish looks grew suddenly grim and matronly by the early 1920s and she moved swiftly into stately dramatic efforts, backing up such celebrity femmes of the day as May McAvoy, Betty Compson, Anita Page, Greta Garbo and even Joan Crawford before the advent of sound. She retired from films in 1935 after only a handful of talkies and, though comebacks were bantered about from time to time in the gossip mill, nothing came of it. A tragic car accident in 1949 resulted in the loss of a leg, ending any chances whatsoever of revitalizing her career. She was confined to a wheelchair for the remainder of her life.

Married and divorced three times, her only child, Victor Hugo Kainer, from her first marriage to import/export businessman Otto Kainer, was born in 1905 but died a young teenager after developing influenza and succumbing to sepsis poisoning in 1922. After a brief marriage to actor Frank R. Allen, she married Eyton. That marriage ended in 1931.

Due to the loss of her leg, Kathlyn became a wheelchair-bound invalid in the last decade of her life. She succumbed to massive heart attack in her Hollywood apartment on September 23, 1960, at age 81. She was cremated and her ashes interred in the Deodora Hall, South Columbarium in the Chapel of the Pines Crematory in Los Angeles.

Hugh Fraser was born on 15 August 1904 in Butte, Montana, USA. He is known for Lady and the Tramp (1955), Dumbo (1941) and Alice in Wonderland (1951). He was married to Mary Ann White. He died on 6 January 1994 in Walnut Creek, California, USA.

Buff Brady was born on 8 April 1918 in Butte, Montana, USA. He was an actor, known for Escape from New York (1981), Mystery Men (1999) and Silverado (1985). He died on 15 April 2004 in Los Angeles, California, USA.

Ffolliott Le Coque was born on August 7, 1923 in Butte, Montana. She started her career as a former dancer who later on transitioned into the entertainment management in Las Vegas, where she spent the rest of her life and even had the chance to land a small role in Martin Scorsese's Casino (1995). She plays Anna Scott, a powerful woman who sues Kevin Pollak's character - a casino commissioner - and then she's killed off by the Mafia in a shocking scene. The movie marked as her only on-screen appearance.

She passed away on December 10, 2015 at age 92.

Carol Marie Beethe was born on 10 October 1954 in Butte, Montana, USA. She died on 9 August 1990 in Bellevue, Washington, USA.

A child musical prodigy, Donna Lee O'Leary, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. John O'Leary of 605 West Mercury Street in Butte, Montana, was the subject of considerable favorable comment In southern California's musical circles. At age five, she had signed a five-picture contract with Republic Studios. Later she appeared on several radio programs including "A Date With Judy".

Robert N. Lee was born on 12 May 1890 in Butte, Montana, USA. Robert N. was a writer, known for Little Caesar (1931), Armored Car (1937) and The Mysterious Rider (1933). Robert N. was married to Betty Torpen. Robert N. died on 18 September 1964 in Hollywood, California, USA.

Dorothy White was born on 22 September 1911 in Butte, Montana, USA. She was an actress, known for Hold 'Em Navy (1937). She died on 11 October 2008 in Sun City, Arizona, USA.

Paul Hostetler was born on 9 July 1921 in Butte, Montana, USA. He was an actor, known for Malatesta's Carnival of Blood (1973), Damn Citizen (1958) and The Beans of Egypt, Maine (1994). He died on 22 June 2002 in Seattle, Washington, USA.