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P. Padmarajan was an Indian author, screenwriter, and film director who was known for his landmark works in Malayalam literature and Malayalam cinema. Padmarajan was the founder of a new school of film making in Malayalam, along with Bharathan, in the 1980s, which created films that were widely received while also being critically acclaimed.

Padmarajan was born on 23 May 1946 in Muthukulam near Haripad in Alappuzha district as the sixth son of Thundathil Anantha Padmanabha Pillai and Njavarakkal Devaki Amma. After early schooling at Muthukulam, he studied at M. G. College and University College Trivandrum, graduating with a BSc in chemistry (1963). Subsequently, he learned Sanskrit from the scholar Cheppad Achyutha Warrier at Muthukulam. He then joined All India Radio, Trichur (1965), starting as a program announcer, and later settled at Poojappura, Trivandrum (1968); he would remain at All India Radio until 1986, when his busy involvement in films would prompt him to retire voluntarily.

His stories deal with deceit, murder, romance, mystery, passion, jealousy, libertinism, anarchism, individualism, and the life of peripheral elements of society. Some of them are considered as among the best in Malayalam literature, his first novel Nakshathrangale Kaaval (With only the stars as witness) won the Kerala Sahithya Academy award (1972).

He entered the world of Malayalam films by writing the screenplay for Bharathan's directorial debut Prayaanam (1975) to take first steps to be one of the most talented script writers to have graced Malayalam cinema.

He later began to direct films based on his own screenplays, beginning with Peruvazhiyambalam (The Street as a Choultry) (1979), which are greatly popular among the common people as well as intellectuals and film critics, while maintaining richness in artistic and thematic originality and excellence. Padmarajan was a great experimenter who explored all walks of life in his works. His screen plays had such hitherto-unheard of features and subjects - such as casting rain as a character in Thoovanthumbikal (Dragonflies in the Spraying Rain), friendship between two young school girls in Desadanakili Karayarilla (Migratory Birds Don't Cry), unusual climax (By traditional standards) in Namukku Parkkan Munthiri Thoppukal (Vineyards for us to dwell) and Oridaththoru Phayalvaan (There Lived a Wrestler). Many of his films bear the mark of his romanticism.

He is celebrated for his possibly unparalleled attention to detail in his screenplays. Some of his scripts are arguably the smoothest narratives ever penned in the Malayalam language. They are also ample proof for his keen observation, acute perception, and astute portrayal of human relationships and emotions. Many of his films have stunning and haunting climaxes, most of them not commonly portrayed in Malayalam movies. His characters were portrayed with great sensitivity and intensity on the screen and many of the scenes are generously sprinkled with humor. The dialogues of characters are quite natural, in the language of the common man, and yet have a subtle lyrical quality.

Indeed, a just case may be made that his directorial merit flowed easily from his exquisitely crafted screenplays: he never directed a film based on a script written by someone else (unlike other Malayalam film directors of comparable stature, say, Bharathan and K. G. George), and rarely adapted his script from a story not his own. Consequently, he had an unusually intimate knowledge of the characters in his films in combination with his mastery of the script.

Charles served in the US Army during World War II. Following his tour of duty, Kissinger established himself as a local theatre institution in Louisville, Kentucky thanks to his performances in both Shakespeare in the Park productions and his work with Louisville's prestigious Actors Theatre. Moreover, Charles was also a prolific writer, TV commercial actor, and voice-over artist for various radio spots. However, Kissinger achieved his greatest and most enduring popularity in the Louisville, Kentucky area with his beloved stint as creepy host The Fearmonger for the horror double feature television program Fright Night, which was broadcast on Louisville's WDRB-41 network on Saturday evenings from 1971 to 1975. In addition, Charles also acted in a handful of movies directed by independent filmmaker William Girdler that included lead roles in the low-budget horror items Asylum of Satan (1972) and Three on a Meathook (1972). Kissinger continued to work on a regular basis in both theatre and advertising throughout the 1980's. Charles died at age 66 from heart failure at the St. Anthony Medical Center in Louisville, Kentucky on January 23, 1991.

Annie Markart was born on 5 August 1907 in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. She was an actress, known for An Ideal Spouse (1935), Im weißen Rößl (1935) and Die Welt ohne Maske (1934). She was married to Alexander Golling and Herbert Selpin. She died on 23 January 1991 in Munich, Germany.

Robert Sobels was born on 13 November 1915 in Lisse, Zuid-Holland, Netherlands. He was an actor, known for De fabriek (1981), Turkish Delight (1973) and De vergeten medeminnaar (1963). He was married to Diny de Neef and Tineke van Leer. He died on 23 January 1991.

Tibor Vichta was born on 17 July 1933 in Nové Mesto nad Váhom, Czechoslovakia. He was a writer, known for Kým sa skoncí táto noc (1966), Jeden den pre starú paniu (1967) and Pripad pre obhájcu (1964). He died on 23 January 1991 in Bratislava, Slovakia.

Lela Simone was a solo pianist with the MGM studio orchestra, joining MGM on a part-time basis in 1937 and fulltime by 1939. She had fled her native Germany in 1933, where she had been a child piano prodigy, giving concerts at age sixteen. At MGM she became part of "the Freed Unit" (with Arthur Freed, Roger Edens and Conrad Salinger), known on the lot as The Royal Family. It was Simone who assembled the first complete soundtrack recording for MGM, "Till The Clouds Roll By". Simone also worked as vocal coach, piano instructor, music editor, and other functions in the MGM music department, finally resigning after her work for "Gigi" (1958) was completed.

Northrop Frye was born on 14 July 1912 in Sherbrooke, Québec, Canada. He was an actor, known for The Passerby (1995), University (1961) and The Scholar in Society: Northrop Frye in Conversation (1984). He was married to Elizabeth Brown and Helen Kemp. He died on 23 January 1991 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.