Dan White (March 25, 1908 - July 7, 1980) was born to George & Orpha White about one mile from the Suwannee River in Falmouth, Florida. Falmouth was a small sleepy town then, as it is still today. He was one of 12 siblings who were moved to Lakeland sometime around WW I. Lakeland is where Dan was introduced into show business in 1922 at the age of 14. He ran away from home when the show moved on and traveled thousands of miles throughout the South in tent, minstrel, vaudeville and theater shows. Dan performed on stage with his brother Willard for nine years with a stock company in Tampa's old Rialto Theater. Frances Langford worked with him during this time and it was Dan who told her to go to Hollywood. During this period he met Matilda "Tilda" Mae Spivey on the stage, and married her on February 25, 1933. Tilda had a two-year-old child from a previous marriage by the name of Arthur "Art" Grant Gifford. Times were tough, so Dan had to get out of show business for a while to make some real money. In 1934 he found work with the Conservation Corps in Homestead, Florida, but show business was always in his heart. Dan knew he had what it took to "make it" in Hollywood, so he decided to make the move to California in 1935. They packed all their possessions into their Ford and started the long, arduous trek across the country. This was during the Great Depression, and money was very tight. They had to stop frequently in various cities across the country to make extra money to continue their journey. Dan was a very good auto mechanic and never had a problem finding this type of work wherever he went. This skill paid off once during the filming of To Kill a Mockingbird (1962). During the "mob" scene, one of the cars they were to drive away in would not start. Dan opened the hood, stepped onto the front bumper, and had the car running in no time flat.
Date of Birth 25 March 1908, Falmouth, Florida
Date of Death 7 July 1980, Tampa, Florida
Serious-minded, individualistic and thorough, the ISTJ personality types like to plan, schedule and drive through to completion, in a logical linear sequence. Any deviation from the plan would be questioned and may take some convincing of its merits. The ISTJ is essentially the engine room, the behind-the-scenes worker making it happen. Concentration, willpower and persistence epitomises the ISTJ approach to work and to life and they will begin at the beginning and end at the. Spontaneity and flexibility are less important to the ISTJ. Conservative and risk-averse ISTJs excel when it needs a steady hand and they are unlikely to ever drop the ball.
The ISTJ is the behind-the-scenes worker making things happen. Their sense of duty and loyalty means that they will rarely be happy in the front line, preferring to be in the back room making it all happen. The ISTJ is the sensible, ‘prefect-type’ character, who wants to get it right and 'do good.' Their value to the team is protection, from mistakes, from omissions, from self-delusion and from going off-track. The ISTJ loves seeing things come to fruition. Ideas, complexity and imagination are of value only if they lead to a practical end result. An ISTJ needs to be clear on what is expected, and then will plan and work with consistent and steady energy towards completion. Their opinions will be slowly arrived-at and, consequently well-thought-through, tried and tested. The ISTJ is not prone to bursts of emotion, flying by the seat of their pants nor will they thrive in a chaotic environment, unless they have the opportunity to formalise it and make it non-chaotic.
Serious-minded, individualistic and thorough, the ISTJ may focus so much on the task that they can forget the needs of others, including themselves. ISTJs like to plan, schedule and drive through to completion, in a logical linear sequence. Any deviation from the plan would be questioned and the ISTJ may take some convincing of its merits. An ISTJ can be trusted to complete, to work hard and play by the rules. However, they may not always articulate how they are feeling or even how things are progressing. The ISTJ plans the work and works the plan, so why should there be any need for up-dates. They naturally tune into the actualities and specifics of life and thus they will be reliable, loyal and work with existing, known facts and data. Conscientious, hardworking and serious about their undertakings ISTJs are built for attrition, to work tirelessly in achieving the agreed goals. The ISTJ may not have been the one to set the goals but they will make sure they are met - to the letter, working methodically, carefully and taking it very personally. Everything is taken literally (with no irony) and they pride themselves on being careful and accurate about ‘the facts.’ ISTJs are built to execute, exactly as agreed.
Quiet and thoughtful, the ISTJ work best when they are clear on what is expected and then allowed to get on with it without interruption or interference from others, preferably in a familiar way in familiar surroundings. The ISTJ does not like being thrown in at the deep-end and they have to feel that whatever they are being asked to do makes logical sense. The new, the untried worries the ISTJ as they rely instinctively on experience and prefer the known and the traditional and, as they learn best through doing so any activity with which they have no direct first-hand experience will cause a wariness and mistrust initially. Sure, the ISTJ can change but they need to see a logical reason for doing so, and they’ll need to think it through. Anything perceived as woolly will not compute. Conservative, risk-averse and methodical ISTJs come into their own when it needs a steady hand and abject attention to detail. And they are unlikely to ever drop the ball. The ISTJ will not be prone to say: ‘let’s give it a whirl.’
Others may see them as slightly cold and impersonal, possibly even uncaring. However, their decisions are based on what makes the most logical sense and as such this can mean the feelings of others may not necessarily be factored into this process. The ISTJ will then systematically carry out the task diligently and to the letter, which can make them appear inflexible, but this is simply a sign of the seriousness with which they embrace responsibility.
ISTJs will begin at the beginning and end at the end, no deviations. They have a keen sense of what’s right and wrong, are known for dedication to duty, and so doing things right, being punctual, doing what they say they’ll do, are the values they live by.
Choose another celebrity type to compare side by side the different approaches work, attitudes to conflict and the way they engage with others.
