Regular readers of the “Now See Hear!” blog know that for the past year or so, we’ve been trying to identify some super-obscure film- , TV- and music-related photos. Though we’ve had an over 50% success rate, we still have some enduring “unknowns.” To try to facilitate some more solutions, we’ve gathered 30 of our remaining mysteries below. As always, “clicking” on the each of the thumbnails below will increase it in size. Please add guesses/solutions in the comments section below. We’ll be updating this blog as each image is “ID-ed.” THANK YOU!!
UPDATE: We are absolutely THRILLED by the incredible response we got to this group of photos and we will investigate and verify all the suggestions. We’ve added updates to some of the pictures below….
1. This gentleman (above) with the bow-tie looks familiar but we don’t know his name.
SOLVED: Late LA business man Richard Eli Lewis.
2. We’d like to know the name of this trio–either as a group or individually.
SOLVED: A 1998 West Coast Ensemble production of “Cabaret,” from left:
Brian Sturzenacker, Dean Regan, Ty Donaldson
3. Anyone recognize this guy?
SOLVED: This is UK actor Michael Knowles.
4. The man with the beard and the glasses looks familiar but we don’t–yet–know who he is.
SOLVED: Director Harold Becker!
5. We thought this gent was Bruno Ganz, but we’ve since had that disproven. Who is he?
SOVED!: This is actor Lex Van Delden.
6. The rest of this photo is NSFW. Can anyone recognize her face?
SOLVED!: This is early ’90s pin-up Angela Dawn.
7. This is NOT Dana Delany or Stephanie Zimbalist or Bonnie Bedelia. Who is she?
SOLVED: Actress is Wendy Phillips.
8. Does anyone recognize this lady with the hoops?
SOLVED!: This is April Washington Chandler of HBK Media.
9. This photo might be UK in origin due to where it was found in the collection. Who is this song and dance lady?
SOLVED!: UK Eurovision singer Patricia Bredin!
10. There’s a two-letter code on this photo: “TC.” That might be the initials of the woman in the photo or the initials of the film she is appearing in. Or it might be neither.
SOLVED: This is actress/filmmaker Esther Anderson (sometimes spelled “Ester”). The code “TC” stands for “The Touchables,” a 1968 film in which she was featured.
11. This photo is from White Studios, a busy NY-based vaudeville and Broadway photographer at one time. But who is the subject?
SOLVED: Florence McFadden, later Mr. Jack Haley.
12. We are still trying to ID this actress or the exotic film she is in.
SOLVED!: Kanza Omar.
13. No one, so far, has recognized this duo.
UPDATE: We thought this might be Wendy and Lisa but Wendy and Lisa say “no.” The possibility of it being T-Rex also didn’t pan out. Could this be the Jacobites?
14. Who is the man with the carnation?
SOLVED!: This is Walter Reade, Jr., founder of the Walter Reade Organization, a one-time big-time arthouse film distributor.
15. And who is this well-dressed man?
SOLVED!: This is Scranton-based singer/performer Tony Costa.
16. This has been a fun one: Is this a local horror host? Is it from a production of Jekyll and Hyde?
SOLVED!: This is actor Stephen Turner as he appeared in the 1970 Hammer film “Horror of Frankenstein.”
17. Who is the man with the glasses?
SOLVED!: This is F.M. Richard Simons.
18. This one has frustrated many. He looks very familiar. But we don’t know who he is.
SOLVED!: This is one-time CBS radio executive Wells Church.
19. Here’s a series of styled shots for an unknown personality.
SOLVED: Jason Laikam
20. We’d like to know the name of either of these two young men.
SOLVED: This is from “Hallmark Hall of Fame: Aftermath” (1991), that is Lance Slaughter on the left and Tommy Morgan, Jr. on the right.
21. Someone thought this was Shel Silverstein, but we know that’s not true. So any guesses?
UPDATE: The cartoon in the back is by Herb Gardner but that is not Gardner in the foreground.
22. These creatures must be in a movie or TV production of some sort–but what?
23. The identity of this director might never be solved because his face is so obscured. His hat reads “Tucson Rodeo” if that helps anyone.
SOLVED!: Geoffrey Sax.
24. We assume that this is a musical group. But their name is so far unknown.
SOLVED in November, 2022: This is the band Flying Tigers.
25. This has got to be a production of ”Knickerbocker Holiday” based upon the set, costumes, and date on the stage. But it doesn’t sync up with the Hollywood version or the Broadway debut. Suggestions?
SOLVED!: This is 1975 production of “Knickerbocker Holiday” as staged in NYC at the Hotel Dixie by the Octagon Theatre.
26. This fetching lass is, so far, without a name.
SOLVED: Actress Kimberly Brent
27. At one time, we thought this was British actress Suzy Mandel–and even Ms. Mandel said it looked like her!–but it’s not. Who is she?
SOLVED!: This is actress Marta Brennan.
28. Blond ambition: This MIGHT be from a film but which one?
SOLVED!: This is the real-life Cantrell Family of Eugene, OR, who were profiled–all of them!–in “Women’s World” magazine in 1986.
29. So many people thought this was Juliet Prowse, we eventually reached out to the late Ms. Proswe’s son who informed us that the photo is not of his mom.
SOLVED!: Mary Lou Ryhal!
30. This shot is probably from Brazilian film–due to a stamp on the front, or from another country south of the border–but we haven’t been able to ID it or the lady in the photo.
SOLVED!: “O Cantor e a Bailarina” (1960)
Comments (124)
#5 Could he be a young Sherwood Anderson?
#8 strongly resembles Phylicia Rashād. Possibly her or Debbie Allen (though not as strongly)?
Number 7 Marisa Tomei
# 8 looks like Anna Maria Horsford.
https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0395428/?ref_=tt_cl_t6
#11 looks a bit like a young Phyllis Haver?
Actually #11 could be Bessie Love
#26 Could be a very young Polly Holliday.
Could #21 be David Mamet?
I see a strong resemblance to a youthful Christopher Plummer, possibly lightly squinting in sunlight.
11. Maybe she’s a young Mary Nolan. #11
#23:
David Lynch filming Dune in Arizona in the early 1980s
#3 looks like a youthful Christopher Plummer squinting slightly in the sun
Not sure if it helps but on #21 the cartoon looks to be by Herb Gardner. He’s not the beatnik guy though.
Could #5 be a younger Truman Capote?
#28 in the front and center looks a bit like Helen Slater
#21 could possibly be a young Ed “Big Daddy” Roth or maybe lowbrow artist The Pizz as a young man.
#2 looks like Yul Brynner and #23 appears to be Hal Needham
#1, John McMartin?
#7 Looks like a very young, Carrie Fisher possibly.
#19 (blue background) maybe Ben Mendelsohn?
8 British Athlete Denise Lewis?
#11 reminds me of Mae Murray. Not her traditional pose and the facial structure isn’t quite there. Hair looks similar to other photos of her. Could be in her younger years?
number 1 could be D. W. Griffith.
#6 is Greta Garbo, I think
Am I mad to see Robert Downey Jr. on the left in #13 ?…
23 looks like Ethan Coen on the set of Raising Arizona. It was filmed near Tucson which explains the hat and sunglasses and the curly hair is tucked under the hat.
1. Tom Baker?
Is the one on the right in #13 Sigourney Weaver?
Is #4 actor Harvey Miller? He wasn’t in much, but he looks a lot like the actor who played Dr. Johnson in the 1999 film “The Other Sister.”
#28. Stephen Furst in back on the left?
#1 looks like a younger Marv Albert
#25: could this have been an off-Broadway (out of NYC) production? perhaps early television? (a lot of pre-1950 programming doesn’t survive or make the history books.)
#16 could be Kit Harrington
further to #25: “ABC’s Pulitzer Play Playhouse broadcast a live television version November 17, 1950 … with Dennis King, John Raitt, and Doretta Morrow.”
per the Kurt Weill Foundation at:
https://www.kwf.org/pages/ww-knickerbocker-holiday-an-appreciation.html
I don’t recognize King or Raitt here but perhaps someone else can confirm/deny their presence.
#26 looks like like a young “Charo”.
#11 looks like the singer/actor Yma Sumac.
#12 might be Nejla Ates, based on the get-up. The nose looks a bit different though.
No 3 is Irish Actor Noel Willman
#6 Linda Carter
I think #7 is Debbye Turner. Former Miss America
#11 looks like Clara Bow to me
#1 looks like film director Nicholas Meyer…. perhaps late 80s.
23 could be director Steve Rash who filmed Can’t Buy Me Love on location in Tuscon.
There are numerous photographs that show similarities around the mouth and of him using similar Panavision film canisters during this period.
https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0257/3165/products/RSE28413.jpeg?v=1497362135
13
possibly English musician Marc Bolan.
There are photos of him wearing similar aviator sunglasses that have the same distinctive shape.
http://images5.fanpop.com/image/photos/30300000/Marc-Bolan-marc-bolan-30398440-274-350.jpg
Could #11 be Brigitte Helm?
7 = Diana Canova
Number 10 looks like Ja’Net DuBois.
27 = Judy Strangis
#13 is Tyrannosaurus Rex, later known as T. Rex. Marc Bolan, on the left and Steve Took, on the right. Great Band.
#11 looks like Mary Nolan
#18: Al Lewis?
#28 looks like a gathering of Sweet Valley High book cover models, but I don’t know who would be in the background.
Number 21, the art from Herb Gardner looks freshly made. The only 2 people that I’ve researched who he could’ve possibly made these for is a guy called William Steig who worked for the New Yorker and a scriptwriter called Lan O’kun.
#5 looks like Klaus Maria Brandauer.
Could #7 be Diana Canova?
#13 the duo look a bit like the British group the Jacobites, featuring Nicky Sudden. Maybe not but worth investigating
Is #10 Barbi Benton?
#23 If that is Geoffrey Sax it is almost certainly from filming “Ruby Jean and Joe” at the Tucson Rodeo Grounds.
Trailer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I-eZhLBiwfw
In #19, the one in the center on the bottom row looks like Jon Bon Jovi…but none of the rest of them do, so probably not.
I don’t think this is him, but No. 1 looks like the younger Robert Mueller special prosecutor.
22 looks like a production of Snow White with the hunter and the witch.
#7 possibly Colleen Camp?
I would definitely re-consider the Shel Silverstein. The like-ness to Shel is just uncanny and the guy at the bar is not necessarily the artist posing with his work. It might have just been a coincidence and Shel was just hanging out.
#13…possibly an ancient publicity still of the Indigo Girls.
#1 looks like Tom Baker of Dr. Who
#20 on the left…Herschel Walker?
Could number 11 be actress Maria Corda?
Hello, I’m Brazilian and when I saw the image 30, I could identify that it belongs to Brazil and the producer on the stamp is Unida Filmes S.A., which was censored at the time of the Military Dictatorship. Unfortunately I could not get information about the actress in the photo. I loved the initiative !!!(Source: http://www.historiadocinemabrasileiro.com.br/unida-filmes/)
Number 5 looks a lot like Jean-Louis Trintignant…
Yep, 5 is definitely Jean-Louis Trintignant in the 70s or 80s..
Number 4 should be Jean-Luc Godard
#5 – Actor William O’Connell?
I mentioned it on Reddit and will repeat it here. I think #8 is Toni Braxton. It’s hard to see with that hair, but the facial features – jawline, nose, eyebrows, cheekbones, eye shape, are identical.
Just a guess, number 13 reminded me of the band, T Rex.
I’m going out on a limb with this one, but I think photo #1 COULD BE Will Rogers Junior. Check out his images in Google Search.
I’m pretty sure #19 is Microsoft design director Jonathan Wiedemann, who was a model in his youth. (He was also married to Isabella Rossellini.)
I’m not kidding about this one: I think #16 is a collegiate Harvey Weinstein in his Buffalo days, when he was hosting rock concerts.
#26 might be a young, pre-implants Kitten Natividad.
No. 5 is not Jean Louis Trintignant who has a much more pronounced upper lip. Klaus Maria Brandauer has a bit of a cleft chin, a vertical wrinkle on his forehead and high cheekbones, which is not seen in this person. I don’t think this is any of the persons mentioned above.
Is #8 possibly Phylicia Rashad?
I’m still convinced that #5 is Jean-Louis Trintignant
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Ngir9F7kfmA/Ve2lCzZnmRI/AAAAAAAAwR8/rEJKGR1y-8A/s1600/1.jpg
https://itpworld.files.wordpress.com/2016/09/deepwater1.jpg
#13. Wendy and Lisa
They were band members of The Revolution as in Prince and the Revolution.
#12 looks like Jennifer Beals
No IDs per se, but #1 appears to have alopecia, given his lack of eyebrows and eyelashes, if that makes an identification easier.
#19 bears a strong resemblance to singer Jon Bon Jovi (a teen favorite of mine)
#6 is female but looks like Ricky Nelson. Perhaps it could be his mother, Harriet Hilliard Nelson.
Updating my post to agree with Angela Hightower’s comment #78… Wendy & Lisa in photo #13. Miss you Prince.
#8 looks like Phylicia Rashad.
#11 Miss Los Angeles 1928 Joyce Compton?
# 13 looks like Rindi Ross from the group Quarterflash
#24: Male directly behind the female’s left shoulder resembles Dave Mustaine.
# 5 é Jean-Louis — http://newgamesrelease.com
#13 is a picture of Joan Jett and Leif Garrett
#9 looks a lot like Adele Astaire, who traveled extensively in Europe in the early days with her brother, Fred Astaire.
June Marlowe? from our gang she played miss crabtree
#5 is definitely NOT Jean-Louis Trintignant.
6. leading lady of “My Boss’s Wife” ?
9. singer Tami Terrell in a wig?
10. Fanny Brice in vaudeville era
13. Lou Reed (right) and a young (Runaways-era) Joan Jett?
22. the witch and a henchman in the silent version of “Hansel and Gretel”?
26. Lola Falana?
28. The female stars and production(/direction/writing?) staff of a mid-1980s girls’ boarding school exploitation flic called “Pretty Smart”
I thought #9 might be Adele Astaire too, but it’s not. Adele’s nose is bigger…it has a bit of a ball on the end. Not her.
#11 Silent era actress Katherine Grant?
#8 Could be the model Beverly Johnson?
#13 T Rex? Marc Bolan
There are a A LOT of photos of Marc Bolan and another band member together
#25 looks like it’s a bunch of Pilgrims to me. And year 1647 would fit with that. But no idea what the play is.
#5 is NOT Jean-Louis Trintignant at all.
Actually I agree with guess 74 about #16. It sounds strange but it does look a lot like him. Even if his hair was not that frizzy, the eyes, nose and mouth match.
I also thought of Ben Mendelsohn for #19.
Could #26 be a young Victoria Principal?
#6 could be Ruth St. Denis. The turban & the NSFW were typical for Ruth. You can find out more about her if you contact the National Museum of Dance and Hall of Fame in Saratoga Springs, NY.
#12 – The woman on the right looks like Italian actress/producer Francesca Neri who appeared in the 1990 version of Captain America. The one on the left could be another actress who played one of her henchwomen.
#9 British actress Beryl Reid? I had a quick scan on Google images, but photos of Beryl at this young age seem rare! Also, someone suggested Marc Bolan in #13. Looks a bit like, but as a life long Bolan fan, I’d say no. The collar on the leather jacket looks like 80’s at the earliest, Bolan wasn’t that thin since early 70s. Just my 2.4c (Euro conversion!).
No. 17 is definitely not Denis Norden.
#20 on the left, that looks like Congressman John Lewis.
Have you thought of using AWS Rekognition?
Is #10 not Dionne Warwick?
#2) Bottom guy – a young Keith Cooke?
The “fetching lass” #26 looks like the late Janet Munro.
Is No. 7 Daphne Zuniga?
I still think that #12 is Merle Oberon. (And even if it’s not Merle, it’s also for sure not Evelyn Keyes.)
#7 looks like Marcia Rodd.
#1 Ariel Dorfman
#7 Janet Margolin?
#25 is NOT from the TV production of “Knickerbocker Holiday.” Pictures from that version show a stage floor made to look like large cobblestones.
http://www.johnraitt.com/production-photos
No19 possibly Ziggy Lichman post Northern Line or Big Brother?
#16 is surely a young Lionel Stander.
#16 is almost certainly Lionel Stander. (Max from Hart to Hart)
Looks very much like Tom Ellis, news anchor for many years in Boston. Recently deceased.
I think #7 is a young Marisa Tomei
#18 & #19 both look like 1990s movie villains.
#18 looks exactly like a younger skinnier Nicholas Worth,best known probably for “Darkman”
https://www.aveleyman.com/ActorCredit.aspx?ActorID=18739
#19 looks like Patrick Kilpatrick
https://411mania.com/movies/the-411-douchebag-of-the-week-the-patrick-kilpatrick-edition/
I think that 12 could be a pre-stardom Mari Blanchard. She wore similar gowns in Abbot and Costello on Mars (1952), but I think it could be from a publicity still before she was star and was only a featured player.