Category: Scream Queens & Their Directors

Some people come to New York chasing fame; Jessica Blank came chasing stories that hurt. She just didn’t flinch when she found them. Born in New Haven, raised between there and Washington, D.C., she didn’t come from some polished Manhattan pedigree. She went through Macalester and the University of Minnesota, drifting through the Midwest with … Read More “Jessica Blank – the woman who turned other people’s hell into theater and somehow walked through it still standing” »

There are kids who get famous and there are kids who get forged. Rowan Blanchard belongs to the second category—the ones who grow up under a lamp hot enough to melt the edges and still learn to keep their spine straight. Born October 14, 2001, in Los Angeles, she arrived in this world with a … Read More “Rowan Blanchard – the Girl Who Grew Up Under the Spotlight and Learned to Look Back” »

There are performers who drift into fame like it’s some gentle tide.And then there are the ones like Ronee Blakley — the kind who arrive like a weather front out of the Idaho desert, full of static and thunder and something that feels like prophecy. Born August 24, 1945, in Nampa, she grew up surrounded … Read More “Ronee Blakley – the Sweetheart of the Sawtooths Who Sang Herself Into a Breakdown” »

Pamela Blake didn’t start life with that name. She began as Adele Pearce, born August 6, 1915, in Oakland, California—motherless at three, raised by an aunt and uncle in Petaluma, a quiet Northern California town where kids learned early how to be sturdy. Her childhood wasn’t polished; it was practical. But even then she had … Read More “Pamela Blake – the beauty-contest ingénue who rode straight into the rough country of B-Western stardom, survived a face-shattering car wreck, and kept working anyway” »

Madge Blake (born May 31, 1899) didn’t enter acting the way most people do—starry-eyed and young, clutching headshots and caffeine. She entered like someone showing up late to a party and deciding to become the most unforgettable person in the room. Before she ever set foot on a soundstage, she and her husband, James Lincoln … Read More “Madge Blake – Hollywood’s late-blooming spark plug, the sweet-faced scene-stealer who stepped into the frame at fifty and spent the next two decades lighting it up” »

Amanda Blake came squalling into the world as Beverly Louise Neill on February 20, 1929, the only child of a banker father and a mother with more grit than her soft smile let on. She grew up in Buffalo, New York, spent time at Brenau Academy, answered phones as a telephone operator, tried out college, … Read More “Amanda Blake – the flame-haired saloon queen who outlived every gunshot, every rumor, and every cage she ever rattled” »

Selma Blair came into the world on June 23, 1972, in Southfield, Michigan—born Selma Blair Beitner, the youngest of four daughters in a house thick with intellect, argument, and the blunt honesty that comes from two lawyer parents. Her father was a labor arbitrator and a loud, complicated Democratic Party operative; her mother was sharp, … Read More “Selma Blair – the brilliant, bruised, wickedly funny survivor who built a career out of sharp edges and soft wounds” »

Janet Blair started life as Martha Janet Lafferty, born April 23, 1921, in Altoona, Pennsylvania—one of those American towns with train whistles for lullabies and church choirs for entertainment. Her childhood soundtrack was a family affair: her father conducting choirs and singing solos, her mother playing piano and organ with the kind of quiet competence … Read More “Janet Blair – the good-voiced girl from Altoona who sang her way into Hollywood, Broadway, television, and the long memory of anyone who ever watched her light up a frame” »

Joan Blaine was born on April 20, 1900, in Fort Dodge, Iowa—though some records leave the year clouded, as if even her birth understood she’d grow into a woman halfway made of mystery. She came from a line with political thunder in its bones: a descendant of James G. Blaine, the twice-failed presidential candidate whose … Read More “Joan Blaine – the velvet-voiced pioneer who ruled radio’s daytime dreams” »

Clarice Blackburn came into the world on February 26, 1921, in San Francisco, but she didn’t stay rooted to the coast for long. Her father sold things for a living—whatever kept the car moving—so the family drifted from California sun to Wisconsin chill to the dry Arizona heat, then Louisiana’s swampy breath and the big, … Read More “Clarice Blackburn – a quiet storm in character actress clothing, all grit under the lace” »