By Frank Worth

Fredrick Martin MacMurray (1908-1991) was an actor who appeared in over one hundred movies and a highly successful television series during a career that lasted from the 1930s to the 1970s.

MacMurray's most famous role was in the 1944 film noir Double Indemnity, in which he starred with Barbara Stanwyck. Later in life, he became better known as the slightly stammering Steve Douglas, the widowed patriarch on the CBS TV series, My Three Sons. The show ran from 1960 until 1972.

Fred MacMurray was often typecast as a lovable, friendly fellow, and he capitalized on this by starring in a number of live-action comedies for Walt Disney during the later part of his career, with his biggest hits being The Shaggy Dog (1959) and The Absent-Minded Professor (1961). Other films where he was cast against type include The Apartment, The Caine Mutiny and Pushover.

Richard Ewing ‘Dick’ Powell (1904-1963) was an American singer, actor, producer, and director.

He starred as a boyish crooner in musicals such as 42nd Street, Footlight Parade, Gold Diggers of 1933, Dames, Flirtation Walk and On the Avenue.

In 1944 he was cast in the first of a series of films noir as Private Detective Philip Marlowe in Murder, My Sweet and Cornered. He became a popular ‘tough guy’ lead, appearing in movies such as Johnny O'Clock and Cry Danger and later he appeared in lighter fare such as The Reformer and the Redhead and Susan Slept Here.

From 1949 until 1953, Powell played the lead role in the NBC radio theatre production Richard Diamond, Private Detective. His character in the 30 minute weekly was a likeable private detective with a quick wit.

In the 1950s Dick Powell produced and directed several B-movies and was one of the founders of Four Star Television, appearing in and supervising several shows for that company. His film The Enemy Below (1957) won an Academy Award for special effects.

Born Benjamin Kubelsky, Jack Benny (1894-1974) was an American comedian, vaudeville performer and an actor on radio, television and film. He was one of the biggest stars in classic American radio and was also a major television personality.

Born Issur Danielovitch Demsky (1916), Kirk Douglas is an American actor and film producer known for his gravelly voice and his recurring roles as ‘sons of bitches’. He is also father to Hollywood actor and producer Michael Douglas.

His first screen role was in The Strange Love of Martha Ivers in 1946. Notable films include The Big Trees, 20,000 Leagues under the Sea, Ulysses, Gunfight at the OK Corral, The Vikings, Spartacus, The Heroes of Telemark and Paths of Glory.

He completed more than 70 films and received three Academy Award nominations for his work in Champion, The Bad and the Beautiful and Lust for Life (as Vincent Van Gogh). He received a special Oscar in 1996 for 50 years as a moral and creative force in the motion picture community.

Kirk Douglas has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6263 Hollywood Blvd. In October 2004, the avenue ‘Kirk Douglas Way’ in Palm Springs, California was named in his honour by the Palm Springs International Film Society and Film Festival.
Popular at home and around the world, Kirk Douglas received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1981, the French Legion of Honor in 1985, and the National Medal of the Arts in 2001.