Timelines for year 1915
Joseph P. Kennedy
Sons: Joseph Kennedy Jr. (b. 1915), John F. Kennedy (b. 1917), Robert F. Kennedy (b. 1925) and Edward (b. 1932) (Senator Ted Kennedy).
Carmen Miranda
Sister of actress Aurora Miranda (b.1915), Olinda (b.1907), Amaro (b.1911), Cecília (b.1913) and Oscar (b.1916).
Audrey Munson
A model in the early 20th century, she was the first person to appear nude in a feature film, Inspiration (1915). She had a promising career as a model and budding film actress when she was in her early 20s, but her career was destroyed by a murder scandal of which she was involuntarily a part but in which she shared no guilt. Abandoned and forgotten by her family, she spent the last 60 of her 105 years in a mental institution.
She is considered as the first nude star, in that her roles in Inspiration (1915) and Purity (1916) both had her performing nude scenes as a leading lady. She was also nude in The Girl o' Dreams (1918) and Heedless Moths (1921).
Mae Murray
Co-founded (with Robert Z. Leonard) production company Tiffany Film Corp., formed in 1915.
David Niven
His Scottish father was Lieutenant William Niven, who died at Gallipoli on 21st August 1915, aged 25, while serving with the Berkshire Yeomanry. He was reported missing until 1917. He was a landowner and left a widow Henrietta (a three quarter Frenchwoman) and two sons, Max and David and two daughters, Joyce and Grizel.
Charles Durning
He is the second youngest of five children. His sibling are James (1915-2000), Clifford (1916-1994), Frances (born 1919) and Gerald Durning (born 1926). His mother, Louise, was a laundress at West Point, and his father, James, was an Scottish immigrant who gained U.S. citizenship by joining the army.
Loretta Young
Loretta's family moved to Los Angeles in 1915. Shortly after, her father abandoned the large family. The eldest child, John R. Young ("Jack"), was adopted by two sisters who changed his surname to Lindley. He later became an attorney and the father of five. He had little contact over the years with his blood family.
Loretta's family moved to Los Angeles in 1915. Shortly after, her father abandoned the large family. The eldest child, John R. Young ("Jack"), was adopted by two sisters who changed his surname to Lindley. He later became an attorney and the father of five. He had little contact over the years with his blood family.
Charles Chaplin
Did not receive screen credit on the many comedies he made for Keystone in 1914-1915, as it was studio policy not to credit its actors (any Keystone film that credits Chaplin is a reissue print). His first screen credit appeared on His New Job (1915), his first film for Essanay.
Lon Chaney
Unbeknown to many people, who consider Chaney a "horror actor", he was an amazing dancer in his stage years. The only film that contains footage of him dancing is the incomplete The Fascination of the Fleur de Lis (1915). He was also known to be a hilarious comedian. In fact, one report of the day said, "As a comedian, he is irresistible". And according to Michael F. Blake (Chaney's biographer), Lon could even sing. Sadly, no audio recordings exist of Chaney singing, but people who knew him said that he had a rich baritone voice.
Zoe Rae
Silent screen child star briefly with the trademark blonde page-boy hair style in score of shorts and feature length films from 1915 to 1920. She signed a five-year contract at Universal Studios at the behest of Carl Laemmle for $100 a week.
Walter Long
Shaven-headed tough guy actor who appeared in many D.W. Griffith films (once notoriously as a Negro villain in The Birth of a Nation (1915), in blackface make-up),but is perhaps now best remembered as a scowling comic villain in several Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy films.
Alice Roosevelt Longworth
Husband was a Republican member of the US House of Representatives from Ohio; term of service: 4 March 1915 - 9 April 1931 (died in office).
June MacCloy
Claims she was born in 1915 but that sources got it mixed up with an older sister now deceased who was born in 1909.
John Roche
Had a leading role in "Wheat and Tares" (1915) the only major motion picture made by the Penn Yan Film Corp. before its founder and president, Ed Ramsey, was killed in an automobile accident.
Lillian Gish
She was a staunch supporter of the Republican Party and an active anti-communist. She went to her grave denying that The Birth of a Nation (1915) was racist, despite ongoing protests that it was a glorification of the Ku Klux Klan. She was thrilled to be invited to the White House by President Warren G. Harding following the premiere of Orphans of the Storm (1921), and met with Benito Mussolini, whom she greatly admired, while filming Romola (1924) in Italy. She was an ardent supporter of the America First Committee, which was opposed to the United States entering World War II, and refused to vote for either Franklin D. Roosevelt or Wendell Willkie in 1940 because both "were more interested in other countries than in their own.".
D.W. Griffith
Some of the investors for his controversial film The Birth of a Nation were Louis B. Mayer, H.E. Aitken and Jesse L. Lasky among many others in Hollywood at that time. The films success is what financed Mayer, Aitken and Lasky into forming their own studios in Hollywood, eventually becoming MGM and Paramount among others.