Monte Hawley
Monte Hawley was the top black actor of stage and screen of his time of the independent black cast films and of Harlem's Golden Era. Monte Hawley was a handsome and talented actor, he was most used in black films than any other black actor. He was born October 25 1901, in Chicago and got an early start in Show Business. Richard B. Harrison who gained fame as "De Lawd" in "Green Pastures" spied Monte when he was still in his teens. He liked the youth's "get up and go" and his natural flair for acting. He took young Monte under his wing, becoming his first tutor. From then on it was show business for Monte. He was a member of the famous Lafayette Players who scored such successes both in Chicago and later on the West coast in Hollywood and Los Angeles. Monte's first big time shows were "Shuffle Along" and "Runnin' Wild," in addition to several strictly road shows. It was while he was a member of the Lafayette Players in Hollywood that he cracked silent movies, becoming known as "one shot Monte" because he never had to make a retake. Then followed films with Louise Beavers and Hattie McDaniel and even one with Lena Horne which was her first movie, incidentally - which was made when Hawley was already a veteran actor - the picture was The Duke is Tops, and Monte also did a glorious film Gang Smashers with another top Black actress of the time Nina Mae McKinney. In Vaudeville, Monte was teamed for long periods of time with Mantan Moreland and Eddie Rochester Anderson before those men struck it big. In between Monte sandwiched pictures with Warner Brothers, Republic and Columbia, but was too handsome and too talented for the Hollywood studios, and wouldn't play the stereotypical uncle-Tom roles. He appeared for many years with various stage shows at Chicago's Regal theater and in several hits on Broadway. Monte achieved his greatest screen fame working for Harry Popkin's Million Dollar Productions where he and Ralph Cooper were the top actors. He was very versatile and often played the role of a comedic policemen, relentless detective or tack-less gangster or gambler in kind of the same style of Humphrey Bogart, James Cagney, Robert Taylor, Pat O'Brien and Clark Gable. When baseball star, Jackie Robinson, made his tour a couple of years ago, Monte was his emcee, as he was previously with the Scottsboro boys. In later years, he became affiliated with the play "Anna Lucasta," as stage manager and also acting in the play. He had signed a contract to take the current "Lucasta" group overseas when he was stricken in New York City on November 30 1950. Monte Hawley was laid to rest in Chicago, many black celebrities of the time attended. Famed band leader, songwriter Noble Sissle said the eulogy and Eubie Blake played appropriate selections on the piano.
Monte Hellman
Monte Hellman was born on July 12, 1929, in New York City, where his parents were visiting, but he grew up in Los Angeles. He studied drama at Stanford University--on an NBC scholarship--and film at UCLA. After a few years directing in summer theater, Hellman hooked up with legendary "B" movie producer Roger Corman in the late 1950s. Corman helped finance Hellman's production of "Waiting For Godot", the the first time that Samuel Beckett's play had been staged in Los Angeles; the Los Angeles Times said it was "directed with wisdom, devotion and perception." Hellman made his film directorial debut with Beast from Haunted Cave (1959) and directed portions of Corman's The Terror (1963). Hellman joined forces with frequent collaborator Jack Nicholson for two pictures shot back-to-back in the Philippines: Back Door to Hell (1964) and Flight to Fury (1964), then re-teamed with Nicholson for two existential westerns filmed in Utah under similar conditions: The Shooting (1966) and Ride in the Whirlwind (1966). After editing several films for Corman, including The Wild Angels (1966), Hellman directed what many consider to be his best work, Two-Lane Blacktop (1971), which starred Warren Oates and featured singer James Taylor and The Beach Boys' drummer Dennis Wilson in dramatic roles. It was included in the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress in 2012. Hellman's next film was Cockfighter (1974), an adaptation of Charles Willeford's novel, also starring Oates. Hellman collaborated with the actor once more on the European western Amore, piombo e furore (1978). After completing Avalanche Express (1979) following the death of its original director, Mark Robson. Hellman made Iguana (1988) and the darkly humorous Silent Night, Deadly Night 3: Better Watch Out! (1989). Hellman's work was a major influence on Quentin Tarantino, and he served as executive producer on Tarantino's directorial debut, Reservoir Dogs (1992). After a lengthy absence from the screen, he returned to directing with the short Stanley's Girlfriend (2006), included in the horror anthology Trapped Ashes (2006), and the feature film Road to Nowhere (2010), which won a Special Golden Lion at Venice: the award was presented by jury president Tarantino, who introduced Hellman as "a great cinematic artist and a minimalist poet". Hellman was one of 70 directors asked to contribute a 90-second movie to _Venice 70: Future Reloaded (2013), which opened the 70th Venice Film Festival in 2013. His latest project is "Love or Die", which is scheduled to commence shooting in Lisbon, Portugal, in March 2014. -------------- Biography by Woodyanders. Corrected by A. Nonymous. Revised, corrected and updated by Brad Stevens, author of 'Monte Hellman: His Life and Films', in 2014. Corrected by A. Nonymous.
Monte James
Monte James is an actor, known for Opposite Actions (2017), Pseudo (2019) and Psychos (2017).
Monte Kai-Him Cho
Monte Kai-Him Cho is an actor, known for The Great Detective Sherlock Holmes: The Great Jail-Breaker (2019).
Monte Landis
Monte Landis was born on 20 April 1931 in Glasgow, Scotland, UK. He is an actor, known for Pee-wee's Big Adventure (1985), Real Genius (1985) and Body Double (1984).
Monte Light
Light received his Bachelor of Arts Degree in Theater from the University of Northern Colorado, where he performed in Little Theater of the Rockies and directed for the stage. Through his film company, American Courtyard Productions, Light's work has been recognized by Toronto Wildsound Film Festival, Las Vegas Film Festival, and Austin Film Festival. He lives in Los Angeles, California.
Monte Mansfield
Monte Mansfield was born on December 8, 1929 in New York, USA. He was an actor, known for The Naked Kiss (1964), Get Smart (1965) and The Big Valley (1965). He died on February 2, 2010 in Rancho Mirage, California, USA.
Monte Markham
Monte Markham- Actor, Director, Filmmaker While enjoying a substantial career as a versatile, award winning actor/director/writer in feature motion pictures, television, and on Broadway, in 1992, Monte, with his son Jason Markham and wife Klaire Markham, founded their independent production company, "Perpetual Motion Films". The rest is history. With innovative style and high production quality, they immediately hit the ground running, producing 26 hours of programming for US News and the A&E Network. Quickly evolving as a multi-disciplined "can-do" company, they expanded production and were soon filming multi-hour documentaries and series programming on locations all over the world. Monte has produced, directed, narrated, and appeared as on-camera host for over 150 hours of documentary films for network television, launching The History Channel with their 35-hour series, The Great Ships, and 10 premiere "Epic" Biographies that inaugurated A&E's landmark Biography series. Today, with over 2,000 biographies on Amazon, his Michelangelo remains among the all time best sellers. From the Amazon to the Arctic, filming on every kind of commercial and military machine that floats, flies, races, or dives, Monte's producer/director assignments have taken him from carrier landings and launches, ground zero at the World Trade Center, 30 below on the Greenland Icepack, to the most intimate levels of culture, peoples, and governments in China, Japan, the UK, Europe, Russia, Brazil, India, Africa, and the US. He was the first Westerner to use an all-Chinese crew for his 2,000 mile journey up the Yangtze for China's Great Dam, filming the Dam construction, the Great Wall, Tiananmen Square, and the Forbidden City. For The Imperial Japanese Navy, with an all- Japanese crew,he achieved unprecedented access to historical, sacred, and controversial locations, and was invited to film on board the 75 ship Grand Review with Premier Koizumi. For The Russian Navy, Monte was the first American to film the Russian Typhoon Class Submarine - the world's largest - at its secret base in the Arctic Circle. With Prince Andrew as Host, Prince Phillip at Greenwich, on locations at Windsor, Portsmouth, and throughout the UK, he produced and directed the 4 hour Royal Navy. Throughout his years of non-stop world-wide production, Monte found little opportunity to accept acting offers. In 2009, deciding it was time to wind down a full time, aggressive production schedule, he resumed his acting career - and has found a whole new world of opportunity.
Monte Murray
Monte Murray is known for WiseGirls (2002), The Sinner (2017) and Kids vs. Aliens (2022).
Monte Rawlins
Monte Rawlins was born Dean Spencer in Yakima, Washington. His job as an aerial "barnstormer" in the 1930s landed him some aerial stuntwork in a few films. His big break came when he got the starring role in The Adventures of the Masked Phantom (1939), but the film, an independent effort, didn't have major studio backing and wound up being distributed via the states-rights system. After a few more small roles, Rawlins joined the U.S. Marine Corps during World War II. He stayed in the Marine Reserves after the war ended and was called up for service during the Korean conflict. In civilian life he had given up acting and took up a career in the sound recording field, first at Monogram Pictures and then at Walt Disney Studios. After retiring from Disney he moved to Hawaii, where he died in 1988.
