Daniel Pinna

Lafray Eliza (McCall) Carter was born to Marshall McCall and Ola G. Scroggins. In 1937, Lafray was a student living in Austin Texas, and by 1942 she was a teacher in the same area. Lafray McCall married Allen Carter (1912-1982) in 1952 and they had two sons, Thomas and Michael. Her son Thomas is an award winning director and actor. He directed "Equal Justice" on ABC and also the HBO movie "Don King: Only in America". Lafray also had a step-son, Allen Carter and a step-daughter, Gloria. Lafray seems to have lived in Texas her entire life and in the 1960s she was a teacher at Smithville High School, Smithville Texas. After 4 decades of teaching, Lafray retired from teaching and became the first African-American school board member in the history of Smithville Texas. A scholarship in her name was created at Smithville High School.

Callie Cole was born on June 10, 1889, and died at age 73 years old on March 3, 1963. Family, friend, or fan, this family history biography is for you to remember Callie Cole.

Alexis Smith Biography Born June 8, 1921 in Penticton, British Columbia, Canada Died June 9, 1993 in Los Angeles, California, USA (brain cancer) Birth Name Margaret Alexis Fitzsimmons-Smit Height 5' 9" (1.75 m) Statuesque, smart Canadian-born Alexis Smith, with her blue/green eyes and a seductively husky voice, lent a touch of class to her leading ladies of the 1940s and 1950s. After her family moved to California, Alexis grew into a precocious talent, performing ballet in public by the age of thirteen, dancing to 'Carmen' at the Hollywood Bowl. She later graduated with a degree in drama from Los Angeles City College, having previously won an acting contest whilst still in high school. During a performance of a play on campus, she was spotted by a Warner Brothers talent scout and signed to a contract in 1941. Until the early 1950s she was paired with the top male stars in Hollywood, including Clark Gable, Humphrey Bogart, William Holden and Bing Crosby. While often simply decorative (as, for example, in Of Human Bondage (1946) and Stallion Road (1947)), stylishly attired by costume designers like Milo Anderson and Helen Rose in the most glamorous gowns, Alexis also proved to be a capable and spirited actress, in spite of relatively few opportunities to break out of the mold of "the other woman". At the beginning of her career the studio's publicity department touted Alexis, much to her chagrin, as the "Dynamite Girl". While she claimed in later years to have typecast herself, and that few of her assigned roles ever challenged her on any level, Alexis frequently enjoyed good critical reviews for many of her performances (she was also popular with directors and film crews, who appreciated her relaxed, professional manner on the set). To begin with, she was cast in two films with Errol Flynn (she would make a total of four films with him): Dive Bomber (1941) and the boxing drama Gentleman Jim (1942). Though decidedly second fiddle to both the action and the charismatic Flynn, Alexis made a good first impression as the fetching romantic interest. Her next performance, in The Constant Nymph (1943) opposite Charles Boyer, was described by a reviewer as an "intelligent rendition". Her biggest hit of the mid-1940s was as Cole Porter's wife in the inaccurate--but hugely successful--biopic Night and Day (1946). She also appeared in two "noir" films with Humphrey Bogart at his most menacing: the interesting and underrated Conflict (1945) and the excellent The Two Mrs. Carrolls (1947). As Clark Gable's wife in the gambling drama Any Number Can Play (1949), she was critically lauded as "genuinely appealing". In between there were also some conspicuous failures, in particular her somewhat stolid performance in the period drama The Woman in White (1948). She had little to do in Here Comes the Groom (1951) and The Turning Point (1952) and her best part in the 1950s, though small, was that of Carol Wharton in The Young Philadelphians (1959). During the 1960s Alexis took a sabbatical from the screen to appear on stage with her husband, actor Craig Stevens (her marriage, a rare Hollywood success, lasted 49 years) in "Critic's Choice", "Cactus Flower" and "Mary, Mary". She reserved her best acting for the stage, becoming the Tony Award-winning star of Stephen Sondheim's musical "Follies", in which she played Phyllis during the 1971 run on Broadway (which landed her on the cover of the May 3 issue of 'Time' Magazine) and at the Shubert Theatre in Los Angeles in 1972. In 1973 she played Sylvia Fowler in a revival of Clare Boothe Luce's "The Women" and was nominated for another Tony for her leading role of Lila Halliday in "Platinum" in 1979. On television Alexis was seen infrequently from the mid-'50s, sometimes appearing on the same show opposite her husband. She had a recurring role as the homicidal Lady Jessica Montfort in Dallas (1978) during the 1984 and 1990 seasons, and was nominated for an Emmy for a guest-starring role on Cheers (1982). It was fitting, or perhaps ironic, that her last film role, in The Age of Innocence (1993), was as a New York socialite, a type of character she had portrayed frequently in her heyday at Warner's.

Grandpa James Elaster of Chattanooga, Hamilton County, Tennessee 37416 was born on August 25, 1887, and died at age 88 years old in February 1976.

When Jennifer and Isaac divorced in 2013, they had 2 children. We know nothing else about Jennifer, except that she seems to have lived her entire life in Texas. If you can honor her memory, please add a comment or story on this page.

Adele Fournier "Dita" Davis was born to Robert Davis (1881 - 1949) and Edwina Bailey McCarty (1888 - 1951). Her father was born in Maine and her mother was born in Alabama. She had three sisters: Edwina, Elizabeth, and Barbara. "Dita" Davis married twice. First to Cameron Randolph Beard Sr. (1905 - 1973) on February 13, 1953. They had a son, Cameron Beard, and a daughter and they divorced in December of 1966. She then married Benjamin Atwood and they had a daughter and two sons. Dita Beard, the ITT (International Telephone and Telegraph) lobbyist who wrote the memo, was quite a character. Read about her memo at "She Played the Game". She was this hard-drinking, foul-mouthed, chain-smoking dealmaker in Washington at a time when very few women had any power. She did not dress or act the ladylike part. She would walk around disheveled and drink like a fish and curse like a sailor. And she was pretty frank, and that’s what got her in trouble by writing the memo in the first place and admitting it to Hume in the second place. And then refusing to recant until it was too late in the game when it was obvious that she was being cornered, which she was. If Hollywood ever makes a movie, whoever gets to play Dita will have a great role. I’m thinking Kathy Bates. To read an May 2023 updated article on her life, see What happend to Dita Beard?.

Harold Irving Beckelman was born to Charles Clarence Beckelman (1896-1940) and Mary Emily Lane (1899-1997) and had four brothers and two sisters including Frederick R. (1918-1964), John Clarence (1919-1992), Charles Carl (1921-1996), Francis J. (1926-1941) and Maude Beckelman (1928-1994). He was born in Staten Island and was raised in Richmond and Rockland New York. He enlisted in the United States military on April 27th, 1943 and served during World War II. Harold worked as a warehouse manager for Bristol-Myers Squibb Company in New Brunswick for 34 years, was married to Dorthy Furber Beckelman and had daughters Dianne and June, and sons Kevin and Robert.

Liliana Tatiana Bucci-Pertoldi was born on September 19, 1937 in Fiume, Italy to parents Mira Perlow and Giovanni Bucci. She had a sister, Alessandra Luciana Bucci. Tatiana and her sister Andra were just four and six when they were sent to the Auschwitz death camp in April 1944 with their mother, Mira, and other family members. Unlike the vast majority of children there, the two sisters lived. The reason why they survived is still a mystery and we may never know the truth, but it is speculated that the two sisters were able to avoid death because they were mistaken for twins which was of great interest to Mengele. The two sisters did look very much alike and only had two years of age between them, see Andra and Tatiana Another theory why they were not sent to immediate death was because they were from a "mixed" family, and not 100% Jewish. The girls father was Catholic, and their mother was Jewish. She is now living in Belgium with her husband and two sons and wrote a book with her sister, "Always Remember Your Name" by Andra and Tatiana Bucci (Manilla Press), translated by Ann Goldstein. A version of the book can be read here: [external link].

Marsha A Lowrey of Texas was born c. 1953. Family, friend, or fan, this family history biography is for you to remember Marsha A. (Bills) Lowrey.

Josephine D. (Shamus) Toczek was born to Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Shamus of Schoentown Pennsylvania. She was married to Stanley J. Toczek (1918-1998) in 1942, and they had a daughter Donna M. Toczek who married Thomas J. Hoffman on October 2nd 1965.