Share:

People: Famous People born in 1885

People in chronological context: 1885 (MDCCCLXXXV) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar and a common year starting on Tuesday of the Julian calendar, the 1885th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 885th year of the 2nd millennium, the 85th year of the 19th century, and the 6th year of the 1880s decade. As of the start of 1885, the Gregorian calendar was 12 days ahead of the Julian calendar, which remained in localized use until 1923. ()

People in decade: 1800s | 1810s | 1820s | 1830s | 1840s | 1850s | 1860s | 1870s | 1880s | 1890s | 1900s | 1910s | 1920s | 1930s | 1940s | 1950s | 1960s | 1970s | 1980s | 1990s | 2000s | 2010s | 2020s

Sort by:
599 people found (page 1/20):

George 'Gabby' Hayes(† 83)

Actor | Wellsville, New York (US)

George Hayes is an American character actor, the most famous of Western-movie sidekicks of the 1930s and 1940s. He worked in a circus and played semi-pro baseball while a teenager. In 1914, he married Olive Ireland and the pair became successful on the vaudeville circuit. Retired in his forties, he lost much of his money in the 1929 stock market crash and was forced to return to work. He played scores of roles in Westerns and non-Westerns alike, finally in the mid-1930s settling in to an almost exclusively Western career. He gained fame as Hopalong Cassidy's sidekick Windy Halliday in films between 1936 and 1939. Leaving the Cassidy films in a salary dispute, he was legally precluded from using the Windy nickname, and so took on the sobriquet Gabby, and was so billed from about 1940. In his early films, he alternated between whiskered comic-relief sidekicks and clean-shaven bad guys, but by the later 1930s, he worked almost exclusively as a Western sidekick to stars such as John Wayne, Roy Rogers, and Randolph Scott. After his last film in 1950, he starred as the host of The Gabby Hayes Show. He died on February 9, 1969.

Known for: Randy Rides Alone, Call of the Prairie, Sons of the Pioneers, In Old Caliente
* 05/07/1885

Hans Leibelt(† 89)

Actor | Volkmarsdorf (DE)

Hans Leibelt (11 March 1885 in Leipzig, German Empire – 3 December 1974 in Munich, West Germany) was a German film actor.

Known for: Der Schritt vom Wege, Eine Frau ohne Bedeutung, Buddenbrooks
* 03/11/1885

Hedda Hopper(† 80)

Actress | Hollidaysburg, Pennsylvania (US)

Elda Furry (May 2, 1885 – February 1, 1966), known professionally as Hedda Hopper, was an American gossip columnist and actress. At the height of her influence in the 1940s, over 35 million people read her columns. A strong supporter of the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) hearings, Hopper named suspected communists and was a major proponent of the Hollywood blacklist. Hopper continued to write her gossip column until her death in 1966. Her work appeared in many magazines and later on radio. She had an extended feud with Louella Parsons, an arch-rival and fellow gossip columnist.

Known for: Sunset Boulevard, The Last of Mrs. Cheyney, Men Must Fight, Dracula's Daughter
* 05/02/1885

Erich von Stroheim(† 71)

Actor | Vienna, Austria-Hungary [now Austria]

Erich Oswald Hans Carl Maria von Stroheim (born Erich Oswald Stroheim; September 22, 1885 – May 12, 1957) was an Austrian-American director, screenwriter, actor, and producer, most noted as a film star and avant-garde, visionary director of the silent era. His 1924 film Greed (an adaptation of Frank Norris's 1899 novel McTeague) is considered one of the finest and most important films ever made. After clashes with Hollywood studio bosses over budget and workers' rights problems, Stroheim found it difficult to find work as a director and subsequently became a well-respected character actor, particularly in French cinema. For his early innovations as a director, Stroheim is still celebrated as one of the first of the auteur directors. He helped introduce more sophisticated plots and noirish sexual and psychological undercurrents into cinema. He died of prostate cancer in France in 1957, at the age of 71. Beloved by Parisian neo-Surrealists known as Lettrists, he was honored by Lettrist Maurice Lemaître with a 70-minute 1979 film titled Erich von Stroheim.

Known for: Sunset Boulevard, Grand Illusion, The Wedding March, Blind Husbands
* 09/22/1885

Pierre Labry(† 62)

Actor | Paris (FR)

Pierre Labry (1885–1948) was a French stage and film actor. He was active in the French film industry between 1920 and 1948, appearing in more than a hundred films.

Known for: Carnival in Flanders, Fantômas, My Crimes After Mein Kampf, The Great Game
* 12/14/1885

Charles Carson(† 91)

Actor | London, England (GB)

Charles Carson (16 August 1885 – 5 August 1977) was a British actor. A civil engineer before taking to the stage in 1919, his theatre work included directed plays for ENSA during WWII. In 1960, he appeared in the television series Danger Man in the episode "The Key" as the Ambassador.

Known for: Secret Agent, Dark Journey, Forget Me Not, The Dam Busters
* 08/16/1885

Otto Kruger(† 89)

Actor | Toledo, Ohio (US)

Otto Kruger (1885–1974) was an American actor who began his career in 1915. His career was most prolific during the 1930s and 1940s.

Known for: Saboteur, High Noon, Murder, My Sweet, Escape in the Fog
* 09/06/1885

Charles Evans(† 111)

Actor | Nuremberg (DE)

- No description / details available yet. -

Known for: Demetrius and the Gladiators, Cyborg 2087, New York Confidential
* 1885

Tom Kennedy(† 80)

Actor | New York City, New York (US)

Thomas Aloyisus Kennedy (July 15, 1885 – October 6, 1965) was an American actor known for his roles in Hollywood comedies from the silent days, with such producers as Mack Sennett and Hal Roach, mainly supporting lead comedians such as the Marx Brothers, W. C. Fields, Mabel Normand, Shemp Howard, El Brendel, Laurel and Hardy, and the Three Stooges. Kennedy also played dramatic roles as a supporting actor.

Known for: The Adventurous Blonde, Torchy Runs for Mayor, Torchy Blane.. Playing with Dynamite, Blondes at Work
* 07/15/1885

Edna Ferber(† 82)

Crew | Appleton (US)

Pulitzer Prize-winning American novelist and playwright.

Known for: Giant, Show Boat, Stage Door, Come and Get It
* 08/15/1885

Wallace Beery(† 64)

Actor | Kansas City, Missouri (US)

Wallace Fitzgerald Beery (April 1, 1885 – April 15, 1949) was an American film and stage actor. He is best known for his portrayal of Bill in Min and Bill (1930) opposite Marie Dressler, as General Director Preysing in Grand Hotel (1932), as Long John Silver in Treasure Island (1934), as Pancho Villa in Viva Villa! (1934), and his title role in The Champ (1931), for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor. Beery appeared in some 250 films during a 36-year career. His contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer stipulated in 1932 that he would be paid $1 more than any other contract player at the studio. This made Beery the highest-paid film actor in the world during the early 1930s. He was the brother of actor Noah Beery and uncle of actor Noah Beery Jr. For his contributions to the film industry, Beery was posthumously inducted into the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1960.

Known for: A Date with Judy, Dinner at Eight, Grand Hotel, Viva Villa!
* 04/01/1885

Calvin Thomas(† 79)

Actor

Calvin Louis Thomas (1885 – September 26, 1964) was an American stage, film and television actor, and a theatre director.

Known for: Man Against Crime, Hallmark Hall of Fame
* 1885
Ad Protect Your Online Privacy with a VPN

Don't risk your personal information and online activities being exposed to hackers, government surveillance, and other online threats. A VPN encrypts your internet connection and hides your IP, giving you maximum security and privacy. Take control of your online safety, switch to a VPN now. Choose one of these services to learn more:

Esther Dale(† 75)

Actress | Beaufort, South Carolina (US)

Esther Dale (November 10, 1885 – July 23, 1961) was an American actress of the stage and screen. Esther Dale died in the summer of 1961 following surgery in Queen of Angels Hospital in Hollywood. Her husband, writer-director Arthur J. Beckhard, had died four months earlier.

Known for: Ten Gentlemen from West Point, Ma and Pa Kettle at Waikiki, The Awful Truth, Ma and Pa Kettle
* 11/10/1885

Rex Ingram(† 83)

Actor | Cairo, Illinois (US)

A Corsicana native, Rex (Clifford) Ingram was the son of Mack and Mamie Ingram. He graduated from Northwestern University with a degree in medicine before launching a brilliant acting career which spanned 50 years. Ingram made his screen debut during the silent era in Tarzan of the Apes (1918) . He won widespread acclaim for his portrayal of De Lawd in The Green Pastures (1936) , Ingram also appeared on the Broadway stage and in television productions, bringing skill and dignity to every performance. Actor probably best remembered for his portrayal of Jim, the fugitive slave, opposite Mickey Rooney in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1939). He died September 19, 1969 and was buried in California.

Known for: God's Little Acre, The Thief of Bagdad, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Sahara
* 10/20/1885

André Maurois(† 82)

Crew | Elbeuf, Seine-Inférieure [now Seine-Maritime] (FR)

- No description / details available yet. -

Known for: Pensione Edelweiss, Night Gallery
* 07/26/1885

Deems Taylor(† 80)

Actor | New York City, New York

Joseph Deems Taylor (December 22, 1885 – July 3, 1966) was an American composer, radio commentator, music critic and author. Nat Benchley, co-editor of The Lost Algonquin Roundtable, referred to him as "the dean of American music." He was elected a member of the American Philosophical Society in 1934.

Known for: Fantasia, Janice Meredith, The Hard-Boiled Canary
* 12/22/1885

Rudolf Klein-Rogge(† 69)

Actor | Cologne (DE)

Friedrich Rudolf Klein (24 November 1885 – 29 May 1955), better known as Rudolf Klein-Rogge, was a German film actor, best known for playing sinister figures in films in the 1920s and 1930s as well as being a mainstay in director Fritz Lang's Weimar-era films. He is probably best known in popular culture, particularly to English-speaking audiences, for playing the archetypal mad scientist role of C. A. Rotwang in Lang's Metropolis and as the criminal genius Doctor Mabuse. Klein-Rogge also appeared in several important French films in the late 1920s and early 1930s.

Known for: Metropolis, Dr. Mabuse, the Gambler, The Testament of Dr. Mabuse, Spies
* 11/24/1885

Joel Friedkin(† 69)

Actor | Kalpni (RU)

- No description / details available yet. -

Known for: Impact, Fury of the Congo, The Affairs of Jimmy Valentine, The Last Alarm
* 1885

Marie Blazková(† 90)

Actress | Prague (CZ)

- No description / details available yet. -

Known for: The Poacher's Foster Daughter or Noble Millionaire, Prstýnek, Paní Morálka kráčí městem, Grandmother
* 10/12/1885

Cheslav Sabinsky(† 55)

Crew | Vilkobruika, Kovno Governorate, Russian Empire [now Kaunas province, Lithuania]

- No description / details available yet. -

Known for: A Corpse Living
* 01/27/1885

Max Asher(† 71)

Actor | Oakland, California (US)

Max Asher, born Max Ascher, (May 5, 1885 – April 15, 1957) was an American actor whose career spanned the early silent film era to talkies in the early 1930s. His career began on stage. He appeared in various comedic shorts. He was 5 feet 9 inches (1.75 m) tall, and weighed more than 200 pounds (91 kg). In the 1920s he transitioned to character actor roles. He was born in Oakland. Asher was part of Universal Pictures' Joker Comedy unit with Gale Henry and Milburn Morante. Asher appeared in a title role with Henry in Lady Baffles and Detective Duck and 12 short films produced by Pat Powers in 1915. He died in Los Angeles.

Known for: Rip Van Winkle
* 05/05/1885

Herbert Rawlinson(† 67)

Actor | New Brighton, Cheshire, England (GB)

Herbert Banemann Rawlinson (15 November 1885 – 12 July 1953) was an English-born stage, film, radio, and television actor. A leading man during Hollywood's silent film era, Rawlinson transitioned to character roles after the advent of sound films.

Known for: The Carter Case, The Belle of Broadway, Dark Victory
* 11/15/1885

Harry O. Hoyt(† 75)

Crew | Minneapolis, Minnesota (US)

Harry O. Hoyt (6 August 1885 – 29 July 1961) was an American screenwriter and film director whose film career began in 1912, during the silent era. He graduated with a degree in literature from Yale University in 1910. His 1925 film The Lost World, based on the book by Arthur Conan Doyle, is notable as a pioneering effort in the use of stop-motion animation. His brother, actor Arthur Hoyt, also appeared in The Lost World. In November 1912, he married the former Florence Stark in Norwich, Connecticut. Together they had a son, Devereux Gerrard Hoyt, and daughter Daryl Hoyt.

Known for: Bitter Apples, The Lost World
* 08/06/1885

William Edmunds(† 96)

Actor | San Fele, Basilicata (IT)

Italian born William Edmunds (born Michele F. Pellegrino) was a stage, screen, and television actor, in films from 1934 to 1953, his television career continuing to 1959. Edmunds is best remembered for his portrayal of bar owner Giuseppe Martini in the 1946 holiday classic It's a Wonderful Life.

Known for: It's a Wonderful Life, Mr. & Mrs. Smith, Idiot's Delight, The Beast with Five Fingers
* 01/01/1885

Ernie Adams(† 62)

Actor | San Francisco, California (US)

Ernie Adams (born Ernest Stephen Dumarais; June 18, 1885 – November 26, 1947) was an American vaudevillian performer, stage and screen character actor and writer, he appeared primarily in small uncredited parts.

Known for: The Pride of the Yankees, The Man with Nine Lives, Invisible Ghost, Man With Two Lives
* 06/18/1885

Edwin Jerome(† 73)

Actor | New York City, New York (US)

- No description / details available yet. -

Known for: The Three Faces of Eve, Perry Mason, The Philco Television Playhouse, Tales of Tomorrow, Lights Out
* 12/30/1885

Steve Clemente(† 64)

Actor | Mexico (MX)

Steve Clemente (born Esteban Clemento Morro November 22, 1885 – May 7, 1950) was a Mexican-American actor known for his many villainous roles. He began acting in his teens, signing up for his first movie, The Secret Man, in 1917. His later roles were usually bit parts. In 1922, he came to Hollywood to put on a knife demonstration for a disbelieving director. He was trusted to throw knives in movies that had to land an inch or two away from a celebrity. He always got right on target, and developed a good reputation for stunts. He was a known scene stealer and was famous for his villainous snarl. He later appeared in movies including The Most Dangerous Game (1932), playing Tartar, the second henchman of Count Zarrof and played the Witch King in King Kong (1933) and its sequel Son of Kong (1933). After his last movie, Perils of Nyoka (1942), he retired from the acting scene. On May 7, 1950, he died from a cerebral hemorrhage.

Known for: King Kong, The Most Dangerous Game, The Sideshow, The Sunday Round-Up
* 11/22/1885

Bert Lytell(† 69)

Actor | New York City, New York (US)

Bertram Lytell (February 24, 1885 – September 28, 1954) was an American actor in theater and film during the silent film era and early talkies. He starred in romantic, melodrama, and adventure films.

Known for: Alias the Lone Wolf, Obey the Law, A Message from Mars, Brothers
* 02/24/1885

D.H. Lawrence(† 44)

Crew

- No description / details available yet. -

 
* 09/11/1885

Leo Peukert(† 58)

Actor | München (DE)

Leonhard "Leo" Peukert (26 August 1885 – 6 January 1944) was a prolific German film actor and film director, appearing in more than a hundred and fifty productions between 1910 and his death in 1944. While occasionally he played a leading role in his early years, such as the comedy The Happy Journey (1924), he mostly appeared as a character actor. Peukert was also a film director, making eleven short and feature films during the silent era. He was married to the actress Sabine Impekoven who appeared with him in several silent films.

Known for: Der müde Theodor
* 08/26/1885
previous page
next page