1542) Desmond Tester

Sydney Desmond Tester (1919 – 2002). English film and television actor, host and executive.

He made his first stage appearance at the age of 11, in The Merry Wives of Windsor, 1930, receiving positive reviews from London.

From 1934 he became better known as a child actor. Tester's characters were often doomed to untimely deaths in such early films as Carol Reed's Midshipman Easy (1935), Tudor Rose (1936), The Stars Look Down (1939) and Sabotage (1936). He was a musical prodigy in Robert Stevenson's Non-Stop New York (1937) and a drummer boy in The Drum (1938).

After the Second World War, he moved to Australia and embarked in careers in radio, theatre, and television. He spent fifteen years at Channel Nine, taking charge of children's programming, and became more involved behind the scenes in production and publicity. He compered "Desmond and the Channel 9-Pins" an Australian children’s television series which aired from 1957 to 1962 on Sydney station TCN-9. In 1961, Tester retired from appearing on-screen on the series, but continued to write, produce and direct the show.

On 10 November 1939 Tester was registered as a conscientious objector, conditional upon performing farm work, which he did on a pig farm, saying he liked it. He also said, "We know from history that war does not rid the world of fear. War breeds war and greater fear".

 

- "An alternative story is that the formidable actress-manager Nancy Price had noticed his shock of red hair and given him his first credited role..." https://elhg.org.uk/discovery/lives/lives-desmond-tester/

 

- "SYDNEY DESMOND TESTER, young red-haired actor who played the Highland drummer-boy with Sabu in the film "The Drum," recently appared as a conscientious objector before the South Eastern Tribunal at Southwark." https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/58975044

 

 

1541) Joe Kittinger

Joseph William Kittinger II (1928 – 2022). Officer in the United States Air Force (USAF) who served from 1950 to 1978, and earned Command Pilot status before retiring with the rank of colonel. He held the world record for the highest skydive—102,800 feet (31.3 km)—from 1960 until 2012.

He participated in the Project Manhigh and Project Excelsior high-altitude balloon flight projects from 1956 to 1960 and was the first man to fully witness the curvature of the Earth.

A fighter pilot during the Vietnam War, Kittinger shot down a North Vietnamese MiG-21 jet fighter. He was later shot down as well, subsequently spending 11 months as a prisoner of war in a North Vietnamese prison before he was repatriated in 1973.

In 1984, he became the first person to make a solo crossing of the Atlantic Ocean in a gas balloon.

 

- "He is named as the “red-haired captain”..." https://firstflightfoundation.org/honoring-100-aviation.../

 

- "A short, stocky man with reddish hair and freckles was a relative newcomer to Hanoi." https://www.pownetwork.org/bios/k/k073.htm

 

- "Known to his colleagues as “Red”. Armed with a smile from ear to ear and the brightest red hair..." https://arizonahotairballoons.com/joe-kittinger-balloon.../

 

 

1540) Jean Cadell

Jean Dunlop Cadell (1884 – 1967). Scottish character actress. Although her married name was Jean Dunlop Perceval-Clark she retained her maiden name in the context of acting.

She performed in the cinema and on the stage. Among her best-known cinema roles was in the Ealing Studios comedy Whisky Galore! (1949), as well as Pygmalion (1938) and I Know Where I'm Going! (1945). She also worked in Hollywood, cast as Mrs. Micawber in Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's 1935 production of David Copperfield.

Her brother, Francis Cadell, was one of the Scottish Colourists. Her grandson Simon Cadell and her granddaughter Selina Cadell also became actors.

 

- "Cadell was a successful character actress, noted for her striking red hair." https://www.scottish-places.info/people/famousfirst2880.html

 

- "Those few film historians who've commented upon Scottish character actress Jean Cadell have invariably emphasized her flaming red hair (in her earlier appearances) and piercing blue eyes." https://www.metacritic.com/person/jean-cadell

 

- "This, combined with her sharp features, flaming red hair and steely blue eyes led to her being more often than not typecast as acerbic spinsters or imperious dowagers." https://celebs.filmifeed.com/wiki/jean-cadell/