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This is a topic from the The Writing on the Walrus forum on inthe00s.
Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: ninny on 04/17/10 at 6:32 am
The person who was born on this day...William Holden
William Holden (April 17, 1918 – November 12, 1981) was an American film actor.
Holden won the Academy Award for Best Actor in 1954, and the Emmy Award for Best Actor in 1974. One of the top stars of the 1950s, he was named one of the "Top 10 stars of the year" six times (1954–1958, 1961) and appeared on the American Film Institute's AFI's 100 Years... 100 Stars list as #25. Holden, eldest of three sons (brothers were Robert & Richard), was born as William Franklin Beedle, Jr. in O'Fallon, Illinois, the son of Mary Blanche (née Ball), a schoolteacher, and William Franklin Beedle, Sr., an industrial chemist. The family, which moved to South Pasadena, California when he was three, was of English descent; Holden's paternal great-grandmother, Rebecca Westfield, was born in England in 1817, while some of his mother's ancestors emigrated in the 17th century to Millenback, Lancaster County, Virginia in the U.S. from England.
After graduating from South Pasadena High School, Holden attended Pasadena Junior College, where he became involved in local radio plays. Contrary to legend and theatre publicity, he did not study at the Pasadena Playhouse, nor was he discovered in a play there. Rather, he was spotted by a talent scout from Paramount Pictures in 1937 while appearing as an old man in a play at the Playbox, a separate and private theatre owned by Pasadena Playhouse director Gilmor Brown. His first film role was in Prison Farm the following year.
Hollywood's "Golden Boy"
His first starring role was in Golden Boy (1939), in which he played a violinist turned boxer. That was followed by the role of George Gibbs in the film adaptation of Our Town.
After Columbia Pictures picked up half of his contract, he alternated between starring in several minor pictures for Paramount and Columbia before serving as a 2nd lieutenant in the United States Army Air Forces during World War II, where he acted in training films. Beginning in 1950, his career took off when Billy Wilder tapped him to star as the down-at-the-heels screenwriter Joe Gillis who is taken in by faded silent-screen star Norma Desmond (Gloria Swanson) in Sunset Boulevard, for which Holden earned his first Best Actor Oscar nomination.
Following this breakthrough film, he played a series of roles that combined good looks with cynical detachment, including a prisoner-of-war entrepreneur in Stalag 17 (1953), for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor, a pressured young engineer/family man in Executive Suite (1954), an acerbic stage director in The Country Girl (1954), a conflicted jet pilot in the Korean War film The Bridges at Toko-Ri (1954), a wandering braggart in Picnic (1955), a dashing war correspondent in Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing (1955), an ill-fated prisoner in The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957) and a WWII tug boat captain in The Key (1958).
He also played a number of sunnier roles in light comedy, such as the handsome architect pursuing virginal Maggie McNamara in the controversial Production Code-breaking The Moon is Blue (1953), as Judy Holliday's tutor in Born Yesterday (1950), as a playwright captivated by Ginger Rogers' character in Forever Female (1953) and as Humphrey Bogart's younger brother, a playboy, in Sabrina (1954), which also starred Audrey Hepburn.
Holden starred in his share of forgettable movies — which he was forced to do by studio contracts — such as Paris When It Sizzles (1964), also co-starring Audrey Hepburn. By the mid-1960s, his roles were having less critical and commercial impact.
Later career
In 1969, Holden starred in director Sam Peckinpah's graphically violent Western The Wild Bunch, winning much acclaim. Also in 1969, Holden starred in director Terence Young's family film L'Arbre de Noel, co-starring Italian actress Virna Lisi, based on the novel of the same name by Michel Bataille. This film was originally released in the United States as The Christmas Tree and on home video as When Wolves Cry.
Five years later, he starred with Paul Newman and Steve McQueen in The Towering Inferno. He was also praised for his Oscar-nominated leading performance in Sidney Lumet's Network (1976), playing an older version of the character type he had perfected in the 1950s, only now more jaded and aware of his own mortality. In 1980, Holden appeared in The Earthling with child actor Ricky Schroder, playing a loner dying of cancer who goes to the Australian outback to end his days, meets a young boy whose parents have been killed in an accident, and teaches him how to survive. Schroder later named one of his sons Holden.
During his last years, he also appeared in When Time Ran Out and Blake Edwards's S.O.B.. While his second Irwin Allen was a critical and commercial failure and largely disliked by Holden himself, his other last film directed by Edwards was more successful and a Golden Globe-nominated picture.
Personal life
Brenda Marshall, 1952
Holden was married to actress Brenda Marshall from 1941 until their divorce (after many long separations) in 1971. They had two sons, Peter Westfield (born in 1944) and Scott Porter (born in 1946, died 2005, San Diego, CA). He also adopted his wife's daughter Virginia from her first marriage.
Although never involved in politics himself, he was best man at the marriage of his friend Ronald Reagan to Nancy Davis in 1952. He maintained a home in Switzerland and also spent much of his time working for wildlife conservation as a managing partner in an animal preserve in Africa. His Mount Kenya Safari Club in Nanyuki, Kenya, (founded 1959) became a mecca for the international jet set.
In 1974, he began a relationship with actress Stefanie Powers which sparked her interest in animal welfare. After his death, Powers set up the William Holden Wildlife Foundation at Holden's Mount Kenya Game Ranch.
His younger brother, Robert W. "Bobbie" Beedle, was a Navy fighter pilot who was killed in action in World War II, on January 5, 1945. After The Bridges at Toko-Ri (1955) was released, Beedle was remembered by his squadron-mates as having been very much like Holden's character Lt. Harry Brubaker.
Death
In late 1980 Holden reportedly was diagnosed with lung cancer after visiting a lung specialist in Hanover. Holden was alone and intoxicated in his apartment in Santa Monica, California, when he apparently slipped on a throw rug, severely lacerated his head on a night table, and bled to death. Evidence suggests he was conscious for at least half-an-hour after the fall but may not have realized the severity of the injury and did not summon aid or was unable to call for help. His body was found on November 16, 1981, but forensic evidence suggests Holden likely died four days earlier. He was 63 years old.
Holden was cremated and his ashes scattered in the Pacific Ocean.
Filmography
Features
* Prison Farm (1938) (uncredited)
* Million Dollar Legs (1939) (uncredited)
* Golden Boy (1939)
* Invisible Stripes (1939)
* Our Town (1940)
* Those Were the Days! (1940)
* Arizona (1940)
* I Wanted Wings (1941)
* Texas (1941)
* The Fleet's In (1942)
* The Remarkable Andrew (1942)
* Meet the Stewarts (1942)
* Young and Willing (1943)
* Blaze of Noon (1947)
* Dear Ruth (1947)
* Variety Girl (1947)
* The Man from Colorado (1948)
* Rachel and the Stranger (1948)
* Apartment for Peggy (1948)
* The Dark Past (1948)
* Streets of Laredo (1949)
* Miss Grant Takes Richmond (1949)
* Dear Wife (1949)
* Father Is a Bachelor (1950)
* Sunset Boulevard (1950)
* Union Station (1950)
* Born Yesterday (1950)
* Force of Arms (1951)
* Submarine Command (1951)
* Boots Malone (1952)
* The Turning Point (1952)
* Stalag 17 (1953)
* The Moon Is Blue (1953)
* Forever Female (1953)
* Escape from Fort Bravo (1953)
* Executive Suite (1954)
* Sabrina (1954)
* The Country Girl (1954)
* The Bridges at Toko-Ri (1954)
* Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing (1955)
* Picnic (1955)
* The Proud and Profane (1956)
* Toward the Unknown (1956)
* The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)
* The Key (1958)
* The Horse Soldiers (1959)
* The World of Suzie Wong (1960)
* Satan Never Sleeps (1962)
* The Counterfeit Traitor (1962)
* The Lion (1962)
* Paris, When It Sizzles (1964)
* The 7th Dawn (1964)
* Alvarez Kelly (1966)
* Casino Royale (1967)
* The Devil's Brigade (1968)
* The Wild Bunch (1969)
* The Christmas Tree (1969)
* Wild Rovers (1971)
* The Revengers (1972)
* Breezy (1973)
* Open Season(1974)
* The Towering Inferno (1974)
* Network (1976)
* Fedora (1978)
* Damien: Omen II (1978)
* Ashanti (1979)
* The Earthling (1980)
* When Time Ran Out (1980)
* S.O.B. (1981)
Short subjects
* Reconnaissance Pilot (1943)
* Wings Up (1943)
* You Can Change the World (1951)
Awards and nominations
Academy Award
* Best Actor Nomination for Sunset Boulevard (1951)
* Best Actor Award for Stalag 17 (1953)
* Best Actor Nomination for Network (1977)
BAFTA Award
* Best Foreign Actor Nomination for Picnic (1955)
* Best Foreign Actor Nomination for Network (1976)
Emmy Award
* Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor – Miniseries or a Movie Award for The Blue Knight (film) (1974)
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Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: ninny on 04/17/10 at 6:36 am
The person who died on this day...Eddie Cochran
Edward Ray Cochran (October 3, 1938 – April 17, 1960) was an American rock and roll musician and an important influence on popular music during the late 1950s, early 1960s Cochran was born in Albert Lea, Minnesota, as Edward Ray Cochran. His parents were from Oklahoma and he always stated in interviews that he was from Oklahoma. He took music lessons in school, but quit the band to play drums. Also, rather than taking piano lessons, he began learning guitar, playing the country music he heard on the radio. In 1955, Cochran's family moved to Bell Gardens, California. As his guitar playing improved, he formed a band with two friends from his junior high school. During a show featuring many performers at an American Legion hall, he met Hank Cochran (later a country music songwriter). Although they were not related, they recorded as The Cochran Brothers and began performing together. Eddie Cochran also worked as a session musician, and began writing songs, making a "demo" with Jerry Capehart, his future manager.
Guitars
When playing with Hank Cochran, Eddie Cochran played a Gibson electric acoustic guitar with a single florentine cutaway. This guitar featured a pair of Gibson P90 pickups, sometimes called 'dog ear' pickups due to their shape.
Later, Cochran moved to a 1956 Gretsch 6120 Chet Atkins Western model, which Eddie had modified. He replaced the neck position De Armond Dynasonic pickup with a black covered Gibson P-90 pickup. He also used Martin acoustic guitars.
Solo success
In 1956, Boris Petroff asked Cochran if he would appear in the musical comedy film The Girl Can't Help It. He agreed and sang a song called "Twenty Flight Rock" in the movie. In 1957, Cochran starred in his second film, Untamed Youth and also had his first hit, "Sittin' in the Balcony," one of the few songs he recorded that were written by other songwriters (in this case John D. Loudermilk). "Twenty Flight Rock" was written by AMI staff writer Ned Fairchild. AMI granted Cochran a co-writer credit, but no royalties, a common arrangement by which publishers move songs from demos to commercial recordings. This allowed Cochran to re-write or add to the song to turn it into a rock and roll song. Fairchild, who was not a rock and roll performer, merely provided the initial form of the song which Cochran later turned into a rock and roll song. His co-writing credit reflects his changes and contributions to the final product.
However, his most famous hit, "Summertime Blues" (co-written with Jerry Capehart), was an important influence on music in the late 1950s, both lyrically and musically. (The song, released on Liberty recording #55144, charted #8 on August 25, 1958.) Cochran's brief career included only a few more hits, such as "C'mon Everybody", "Somethin' Else", "My Way", "Weekend","Teenage Heaven"' "Sitting in the Balcony"' "Three Stars", "Nervous Breakdown", and his posthumous UK number one hit "Three Steps to Heaven." In 1959, he backed Skeets McDonald at Columbia's studios for "You Oughta See Grandma Rock" and "Heart Breaking Mama."
Death
On Saturday, April 16, 1960, at about 11:50 p.m., while on tour in the United Kingdom, 21-year-old Cochran died in a traffic accident in a taxi (a Ford Consul, not, as widely quoted, a London Hackney carriage) traveling through Chippenham, Wiltshire, on the A4. The taxi crashed into a lamp post on Rowden Hill, where a plaque now commemorates the event (no other car was involved). Cochran was thrown through the windscreen, suffered severe head injuries, and was taken to St. Martin's Hospital, Bath, but died at 4:10 p.m. the following day. Songwriter Sharon Sheeley and singer Gene Vincent survived the crash, Vincent sustaining injuries that would shorten his career and affected him for the rest of his life.
The taxi driver, George Martin, was convicted of dangerous driving, fined £50, disqualified from driving for 15 years, and sent to prison for six months.
The car and other items from the crash were impounded at the local police station until a coroners' inquest could be held. At that time, David Harman, better known as Dave Dee of the band Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich, was a police cadet at the station. He taught himself to play guitar on Cochran's impounded Gretsch. Coincidentally, earlier in the tour, the same guitar had been carried to the car for Cochran by a young fan called Mark Feld, later to become famous as Marc Bolan of T.Rex and who, in a further coincidence, was also killed while a passenger in a single-car automobile accident.
Eddie Cochran is interred in the Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Cypress, California. A posthumous album, My Way, was released in 1964.
Posthumous releases and honors
Cochran was a prolific performer, and the British Label, Rockstar Records, has released more of his music posthumously than had been released during his life. The company is still looking for unpublished songs.
One of his posthumous releases was "Three Stars," a tribute to J.P. Richardson, better known as The Big Bopper, and Eddie's friends Buddy Holly and Ritchie Valens, who had all died together in a plane crash just one year earlier. It was originally written and recorded by Tommy Dee just hours after the deaths were officially reported, and Cochran recorded his version the day after. His voice broke during the lyrics about Valens and Holly.
In 1987, Cochran was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. His pioneering contribution to the genre of rockabilly has also been recognised by the Rockabilly Hall of Fame. Several of his songs have been re-released since his death, such as "C'mon Everybody," which was a number 14 hit in 1988 in the UK.
Cochran's life is chronicled in several publications, including Don’t Forget Me – The Eddie Cochran Story, written by Julie Mundy and Darrel Higham (ISBN 0-8230-7931-7), and Three Steps To Heaven, written by Bobby Cochran (ISBN 0-634-03252-6).
On 2 June 2008, The Very Best of Eddie Cochran was released by EMI Records.
Influence
One of the first rock & roll artists to write his own songs and overdub tracks, Cochran is credited with being one of the first to use an unwound third string, in order to 'bend' notes up a whole tone - an innovation (imparted to UK guitarist Joe Brown, who secured much session work as a result) which has since become an essential part of the standard rock guitar vocabulary. Artists such as The Clash, The Rolling Stones, Bruce Springsteen, Van Halen, Tom Petty, Rod Stewart, Motorhead, Humble Pie, Lemmy Kilmister, UFO (band), T. Rex, The Stray Cats, Brian Setzer, Cliff Richard, The Who, The Beach Boys, The Beatles, Blue Cheer, Led Zeppelin, The White Stripes, The Sex Pistols, Rush, Buck Owens, Tiger Army, Dion, Simple Minds, Guitar Wolf, Paul McCartney, Alan Jackson, Joe Strummer and the Mescaleros, Keith Richards & The X-Pensive Winos, and Jimi Hendrix have covered his songs.
It was because Paul McCartney knew the chord and words to "Twenty Flight Rock" that he became a member of The Beatles. John Lennon was so impressed that he invited Paul to play with his band, The Quarrymen. Jimi Hendrix performed "Summertime Blues" early in his career, and Pete Townshend of The Who was heavily influenced by Cochran's guitar style ("Summertime Blues" was a Who live staple at one time and is featured on their Live At Leeds album). Glam rock artist Marc Bolan had his main Les Paul model refinished in a transparent orange to resemble the Gretsch 6120 guitar played by Cochran, who was his music hero.. He was also a heavy influence on the nascent rockabilly guitar legend Brian Setzer from Stray Cats, who plays a 6120 just like Cochran, whom he portrayed in the film La Bamba. Cochran is easily one of the first musicians, alongside Chuck Berry, that the late Rory Gallagher was always quick to mention as a strong influence on his musical taste and performance.
In 1988, "C'mon Everybody" was used by Levi Strauss & Co. in an advertisement to promote its 501 Jeans catalogue and re-released as a promotional single, hitting #14 in the UK charts. The advertisement told a story of how the narrator, Sharon Sheeley, attracted Cochran by wearing her 501s.
Discography
Chart positions from Billboard Hot 100.
Hit Singles
* "Drive In Show" b/w "Am I Blue? Liberty F55087 (July 1957) #82
* "Summertime Blues" b/w "Love Again" Liberty F55144 (July 1958) #8
* "C'mon Everybody" b/w "Don't Ever Let Me Go" Liberty F55166 (October 1958) #35
* "Teenage Heaven" b/w "I Remember" Liberty 55177 (February 1959) #99
* "Somethin' Else" b/w "Boll Weevil Song" Liberty 55203 (July 1959) #58
Albums
* Singin' To My Baby Liberty LRP-3061 (November 1957)
* 12 of His Biggest Hits Liberty LRP-3172 (April 1960) reissued as The Eddie Cochran Memorial Album (May 1960)
* Never To Be Forgotten Liberty LRP-3220 (5 January 1962)
* Cherished Memories (December 1962)
* The Best Of Eddie Cohran Liberty-EMI U.K. (1985) (The mono 16 track LP/cassette is from the Rock 'N' Roll Masters series.)
* Greatest Hits Curb Records (1990)
* Singin' to My Baby and Never To Be Forgotten EMI Records (1993)
* The Very Best of Eddie Cochran (June 2008)
* Eddie Cochran Story (6 July 2009)
Literature
* Bobby Cochran with Susan Van Hecke: Three Steps to Heaven: The Eddie Cochran Story. Milwaukee, WI: Hal Leonard 2003. ISBN 0-634-03252-6
* Julie Mundy and Darrel Higham: Don't Forget Me: The Eddie Cochran Story. Edinburgh: Mainstream Publishing Company 2000. ISBN 0-8230-7931-7
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Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: Howard on 04/17/10 at 2:50 pm
The word of the day...Boulevard
A boulevard is a wide street in a city, usually with trees along each side
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Boulevard of Broken Dreams.
Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: ninny on 04/18/10 at 6:15 am
The word of the day...Kids
You can refer to a child as a kid.
Young people who are no longer children are sometimes referred to as kids.
You can refer to your younger brother as your kid brother and your younger sister as your kid sister.
A kid is a young goat
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Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: ninny on 04/18/10 at 6:19 am
The person born on this day...Rick Moranis
Frederick Alan "Rick" Moranis (born April 18, 1953) is a retired Canadian comedian, actor and musician. Coming to prominence in the 1980s on Second City Television, before moving on to appearances in several Hollywood films including Ghostbusters; Spaceballs; Little Shop of Horrors; Honey, I Shrunk the Kids; Little Giants; Parenthood; and My Blue Heaven.
In 1996-1997, Moranis announced that because he had other obstacles in his life, he would retire from acting, though he occasionally does voice-over work. Moranis was born in Toronto, Ontario, and went to high school at the Sir Sandford Fleming Secondary School. He went to elementary school with Geddy Lee, frontman of the rock band Rush.
SCTV
Main article: Second City Television
He followed that with his work at SCTV, enjoying particular success portraying "Bob" of Bob and Doug McKenzie. Doug was played by Canadian actor Dave Thomas.
His other SCTV characterizations include motor-mouthed film producer Larry Siegel, terminally ill rock star Clay Collins, smooth-voiced VJ Gerry Todd, pop star Linsk Minyk from the fictional country Leutonia, kid-brother amateur comic Skip Bittman, head cheese butcher Carl Scutz, and morning homily intellect Rabbi Karlov.
Feature films
The handprints of Rick Moranis in front of The Great Movie Ride at Walt Disney World's Disney's Hollywood Studios theme park.
After his SCTV work, Moranis had a busy film career that lasted over a decade. In a 2004 interview, Moranis talked about the kinds of films he enjoyed the most:
“ On the last couple of movies I made — big-budget Hollywood movies — I really missed being able to create my own material. In the early movies I did, I was brought in to basically rewrite my stuff, whether it was Ghostbusters or Spaceballs. By the time I got to the point where I was "starring" in movies, and I had executives telling me what lines to say, that wasn't for me. I’m really not an actor. I'm a guy who comes out of comedy, and my impetus was always to rewrite the line to make it funnier, not to try to make somebody’s precious words work. ”
Retirement
He left the film industry in 1997, a few years after the 1991 loss of his wife, Anne, to liver cancer. He later explained that he "pulled out of making movies in about '96 or '97. I'm a single parent and I just found that it was too difficult to manage raising my kids and doing the traveling involved in making movies. So I took a little bit of a break. And the little bit of a break turned into a longer break, and then I found that I really didn't miss it".
As of 2004, Moranis was on the Advisory Committee for the comedy program at Humber College.
In 2005, Moranis released an album entitled The Agoraphobic Cowboy, featuring country songs with lyrics which Moranis says follow in the comic tradition of songwriters/singers such as Roger Miller, Kinky Friedman, and Jim Stafford. The album was produced by Tony Scherr, and is distributed through ArtistShare, as well as Moranis' official web site. Commenting on the origins of the songs, he said that in 2003, "out of the blue, I just wrote a bunch of songs. For lack of a better explanation, they’re more country than anything. And I actually demoed four or five of them, and I'm not sure at this point what I’m going to do with them—whether I’m going to fold them into a full-length video or a movie. But, boy, I had a good time doing that".
On December 8, 2005, The Agoraphobic Cowboy was announced as a nominee for the 2006 Grammy for Best Comedy Album. (A previous album by Moranis was entitled You, Me, The Music, and Me (1989)). On February 3, 2006, Moranis performed Press Pound on Late Night with Conan O'Brien and discussed the development of his music career.
In November 2007, Moranis reunited with Dave Thomas for a 24th anniversary special of Bob and Doug McKenzie, titled Bob and Doug McKenzie's 2-4 Anniversary. The duo shot new footage for this special. Thomas subsequently created a new animated Bob and Doug McKenzie series, Bob & Doug, for his company Animax Entertainment. Moranis declined to voice the role of Bob, which was taken over by Dave Coulier, but remains involved in the series as an executive producer.
On June 24, 2008, Moranis declined to come out of retirement to join the other cast members of Ghostbusters in the production of a new video game based on the films. The following year, Ghostbusters' Harold Ramis told Entertainment Weekly of a proposed Ghostbusters 3 that, "Everybody said they'd do it". Ramis later stated to Student Life "Rick won’t do it. Rick has retired from show business. But everyone else says they’ll do it." However, Cinematical recently reported that Moranis may come out of retirement to reprise his role as Louis Tully.
Discography
Albums
* The Great White North (1981)
* You, Me, the Music and Me (1989)
* The Agoraphobic Cowboy (2005)
Filmography
Year Film Role Notes
1983 Strange Brew Bob McKenzie
1984 Hockey Night Coach
The Wild Life Harry
Ghostbusters Louis Tully
Streets of Fire Billy Fish
1985 Brewster's Millions Morty King
1986 Little Shop of Horrors Seymour Krelborn
Head Office Howard Gross
Club Paradise Barry Nye
1987 Spaceballs Lord Dark Helmet
1989 The Rocket Boy Automatic Safety System
Ghostbusters II Louis Tully
Parenthood Nathan Huffner
Honey, I Shrunk the Kids Wayne Szalinski
1990 My Blue Heaven Barney Coopersmith
1991 L.A. Story Gravedigger uncredited
1992 Honey, I Blew Up the Kid Wayne Szalinski
1993 Splitting Heirs Henry Bullock
1994 Little Giants Danny O'Shea
The Flintstones Barney Rubble
Honey, I Shrunk the Audience Wayne Szalinski
1996 Big Bully David Leary
1997 Honey, We Shrunk Ourselves Wayne Szalinski
2001 Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and the Island of Misfit Toys The Toy Taker / Mr. Cuddles the Teddy Bear voice
2003 Brother Bear Rutt voice
2006 Brother Bear 2 Rutt voice
Audio/Video
* Rock Radio Scrapbook 1973, with a RealAudio clip of Rick Allen from June 1973
* Rick Moranis Radio Interview with Chris Comer & Rob Ervin April 18, 2006
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Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: ninny on 04/18/10 at 6:24 am
The person who died on this day...Albert Einstein
Albert Einstein (pronounced /ˈælbərt ˈaɪnstaɪn/; German: ( listen); 14 March 1879–18 April 1955) was a German-born Swiss-American theoretical physicist, philosopher and author who is widely regarded as one of the most influential and best known scientists and intellectuals of all time. He is often regarded as the father of modern physics. He received the 1921 Nobel Prize in Physics "for his services to Theoretical Physics, and especially for his discovery of the law of the photoelectric effect."
His many contributions to physics include the special and general theories of relativity, the founding of relativistic cosmology, the first post-Newtonian expansion, explaining the perihelion advance of Mercury, prediction of the deflection of light by gravity and gravitational lensing, the first fluctuation dissipation theorem which explained the Brownian movement of molecules, the photon theory and wave-particle duality, the quantum theory of atomic motion in solids, the zero-point energy concept, the semiclassical version of the Schrödinger equation, and the quantum theory of a monatomic gas which predicted Bose–Einstein condensation.
Einstein published more than 300 scientific and over 150 non-scientific works. Einstein additionally wrote and commentated prolifically on numerous philosophical and political issues. Albert Einstein (pronounced /ˈælbərt ˈaɪnstaɪn/; German: ( listen); 14 March 1879–18 April 1955) was a German-born Swiss-American theoretical physicist, philosopher and author who is widely regarded as one of the most influential and best known scientists and intellectuals of all time. He is often regarded as the father of modern physics. He received the 1921 Nobel Prize in Physics "for his services to Theoretical Physics, and especially for his discovery of the law of the photoelectric effect."
His many contributions to physics include the special and general theories of relativity, the founding of relativistic cosmology, the first post-Newtonian expansion, explaining the perihelion advance of Mercury, prediction of the deflection of light by gravity and gravitational lensing, the first fluctuation dissipation theorem which explained the Brownian movement of molecules, the photon theory and wave-particle duality, the quantum theory of atomic motion in solids, the zero-point energy concept, the semiclassical version of the Schrödinger equation, and the quantum theory of a monatomic gas which predicted Bose–Einstein condensation.
Einstein published more than 300 scientific and over 150 non-scientific works. Einstein additionally wrote and commentated prolifically on numerous philosophical and political issues.
* There is too much to put here, so you can go to Wikipedia to read more on him
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Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: Howard on 04/18/10 at 6:56 am
The word of the day...Kids
You can refer to a child as a kid.
Young people who are no longer children are sometimes referred to as kids.
You can refer to your younger brother as your kid brother and your younger sister as your kid sister.
A kid is a young goat
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I remember when I was a kid.
Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: CatwomanofV on 04/18/10 at 11:41 am
I remember when I was a kid.
Did you look like this?
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Cat
Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: Howard on 04/18/10 at 7:19 pm
Did you look like this?
http://www.missouridairygoats.com/images/legend-goat.jpg
Cat
BAAAA! ::)
Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: ninny on 04/19/10 at 6:43 am
The word of the day...Buxom
If you describe a woman as buxom, you mean that she looks healthy and attractive and has a rounded body and big breasts.
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Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: ninny on 04/19/10 at 6:46 am
The person born on this day...Jayne Mansfield
Jayne Mansfield (April 19, 1933 – June 29, 1967) was an American actress working both on Broadway and in Hollywood. One of the leading blonde sex symbols of the 1950s, Mansfield starred in several popular Hollywood films that emphasized her platinum-blonde hair, hourglass figure and cleavage-revealing costumes.
While Mansfield's film career was short-lived, she had several box office successes. She won the Theatre World Award, a Golden Globe and a Golden Laurel. As the demand for blonde bombshells declined in the 1960s, Mansfield was relegated to low-budget film melodramas and comedies, but remained a popular celebrity.
In her later career she continued to attract large crowds in foreign countries and in lucrative and successful nightclub tours. Mansfield had been a Playboy Playmate of the Month and appeared in the magazine several additional times. She died in an automobile accident at age 34. Mansfield's husband at the time, Paul Mansfield, hoped the birth of their child would discourage her interest in acting. When it did not, he agreed to move to Los Angeles in late 1954 to help further her career. Between a variety of odd jobs, including a stint as a candy vendor at a movie theatre, Mansfield studied drama at UCLA. Her movie career began with bit parts at Warner Brothers. She was signed by the studio after one of its talent scouts discovered her in a production at the Pasadena Playhouse. Mansfield had small roles in Female Jungle (1954), and in Pete Kelly's Blues (1955) which starred Jack Webb.
In 1955, Paul Wendkos offered her the dramatic role of Gladden in The Burglar, his film adaptation of David Goodis' novel. The film was done in film noir style, and Mansfield appeared alongside Dan Duryea and Martha Vickers. The Burglar was released two years later when Mansfield's fame was at its peak. She was successful in this straight dramatic role, though most of her subsequent film appearances would be either comedic in nature or capitalize on her sex appeal. She made two more movies with Warner Brothers, one of which gave her a minor role as Angel O'Hara, opposite Edward G. Robinson, in Illegal (1955).
In 1955, she enjoyed a successful Broadway run acting in Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?. Returning to Hollywood she starred in the film production of Frank Tashlin's The Girl Can't Help It (1956). This was Mansfield's first starring role and she portrayed an outrageously voluptuous but apparently tone-deaf girlfriend of a retired racketeer. The film features some early performances from Fats Domino, The Platters and Little Richard.
Film career
Hollywood films
On May 3, 1956, Mansfield signed a long-term contract with 20th Century Fox. She then played a straight dramatic role in The Wayward Bus in 1957. With her role in this film she attempted to move away from her "dumb blonde" image and establish herself as a serious actress. This film was adapted from John Steinbeck's novel, and the cast included Dan Dailey and Joan Collins. The film enjoyed reasonable success at the box office. She won a Golden Globe in 1957 for New Star Of The Year - Actress, beating Carroll Baker and Natalie Wood, for her performance as a "wistful derelict" in The Wayward Bus. It was "generally conceded to have been her best acting," according to The New York Times, in a fitful career hampered by her flamboyant image, distinctive voice ("a soft-voiced coo punctuated with squeals"), voluptuous figure, and limited acting range.
Mansfield reprised her role of Rita Marlowe in the 1957 movie version of Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?, co-starring Tony Randall and Joan Blondell. The Girl Can't Help It and Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? were popular successes in their day and are considered classics.
In Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? (1957)
Mansfield's fourth starring role in a Hollywood film was in Kiss Them for Me (1957) in which she received prominent billing alongside Cary Grant. However, in the film itself she is little more than comedy relief while Grant's character shows a preference for a sleek, demure redhead portrayed by fashion model Suzy Parker.
Kiss Them for Me was a box office disappointment and would prove to be her final starring role in a mainstream Hollywood studio film. The movie was described as "vapid" and "ill-advised". It was also one of the last attempts of 20th Century Fox to publicize her.
The continuing publicity around her physical presence failed to sustain her career. Mansfield was offered a part opposite Jack Lemmon in Bell, Book and Candle, but had to turn it down due to pregnancy.
1960s films
Despite the publicity and her public popularity, good film roles dried up for Mansfield after 1959. She kept busy in a series of low-budget films, mostly made in Europe. Fox tried to cast Mansfield opposite Paul Newman in his ill-fated first attempt at comedy, Rally 'Round the Flag, Boys!, but Mansfield's Wayward Bus co-star Joan Collins was selected for the role. In 1960 Fox lent her to appear in two independent gangster thrillers in England. These were Too Hot to Handle, which was directed by Terence Young and co-starred Karlheinz Böhm, and The Challenge, co-starring Anthony Quayle. Fox also lined up "Playgirl After Dark" and It Happened in Athens. This Olympic-themed movie was filmed in Greece and would not be released until 1962. Despite receiving top billing in It Happened in Athens, Mansfield was relegated to a colorful, scantily-clad supporting role.
In Promises! Promises!, the first Hollywood motion picture with sound to feature a mainstream star in the nude.
In 1963, Tommy Noonan persuaded Mansfield to become the first mainstream American actress to appear nude with a starring role in the film Promises! Promises!. Photographs of a naked Mansfield on the set were published in Playboy. In one notorious set of images, Mansfield stares at one of her breasts, as does her male secretary and a hair stylist, then grasps it in one hand and lifts it high. The sold-out issue resulted in an obscenity charge for Hugh Hefner, which was later dropped. Promises! Promises! was banned in Cleveland, but it enjoyed box office success elsewhere. As a result of the film's success, Mansfield landed on the Top 10 list of Box Office Attractions for that year. The autobiographical book, Jayne Mansfield's Wild, Wild World, she wrote together with Mickey Hargitay, was published right after Promises! Promises! and contains 32 pages of black-and-white photographs from the film printed on glossy paper.
By 1962 Mansfield still commanded high prices as a live performer, though she openly yearned to establish a more sophisticated image. She announced that she wanted to study acting in New York, in apparent emulation of Marilyn Monroe's stint with the Actors' Studio. But her reliance on the racy publicity that had set her path to fame would also prove to be her downfall. Fox did not renew its contract with her in 1962.
In 1963 Mansfield appeared in the low-budget West German movie Homesick for St. Pauli with Austrian-born schlager singer Freddy Quinn. She played Evelyne, a sexy American singer who is traveling to Hamburg by ship. She is followed by an Elvis-like American pop star played by Quinn. Mansfield sang two German songs in the movie, though her speaking voice was dubbed. Despite her film career setbacks Mansfield remained a highly visible personality through the early 1960s through her publicity antics and stage performances. For her last film Single Room Furnished, Mansfield acted without make up and had worn a black wig to break out of the stereotype.
Publicity stunts
with jockeys Johnny Longden, Eddie Arcaro and Willie Shoemaker at Jockeys' Ball in Los Angeles, Calif., 1957
Mansfield appeared in about 2,500 newspaper photographs between September 1956 and May 1957, and had about 122,000 lines of newspaper copy written about her during this time. Because of the successful media blitz, Mansfield was a household name. Throughout her career, Mansfield was compared by the media to the reigning sex symbol of the period, Marilyn Monroe. Of this comparison, she said, "I don't know why you people like to compare me to Marilyn or that girl, what's her name, Kim Novak. Cleavage, of course, helped me a lot to get where I am. I don't know how they got there." Even with her film roles drying up she was widely considered to be Monroe's primary rival in a crowded field of contenders that included Mamie Van Doren (whom Mansfield considered her professional nemesis), Diana Dors, Cleo Moore, Barbara Nichols, Joi Lansing, and Sheree North.
Sophia Loren (left) and Jayne Mansfield (right), at Romanoff's in Beverly Hills
In April 1957, her bosom was the feature of a notorious publicity stunt intended to deflect attention from Sophia Loren during a dinner party in the Italian star's honor. Photographs of the encounter were published around the world. The most famous image showed Loren raising an eyebrow at the American actress who, sitting between Loren and her dinner companion, Clifton Webb, had leaned over the table, allowing her breasts to spill over her low neckline and exposing one nipple. A similar incident, resulting in the full exposure of both breasts, occurred during a film festival in West Berlin, when Mansfield was wearing a low-cut dress and her second husband, Mickey Hargitay, picked her up so she could bite a bunch of grapes hanging overhead at a party; the movement caused her breasts to erupt out of the dress. The photograph of that episode was a UPI sensation, appearing in newspapers and magazines with the word "censored" hiding the actress's exposed bosom. The world media was quick to condemn Mansfield's stunts, and one editorial columnist wrote, "We are amused when Miss Mansfield strains to pull in her stomach to fill out her bikini better. But we get angry when career-seeking women, shady ladies, and certain starlets and actresses ... use every opportunity to display their anatomy unasked." Mansfield's most celebrated physical attributes would fluctuate in size due to her pregnancies and breast feeding five children. Her smallest measurement was 40D (which she was throughout the 50s), and largest at 46DD, when measured by the press in 1967. According to Playboy, her measurement was 40D-21-36 and her height was 5'6". According to her autopsy report, she was 5'8".
By the late 1950s, Mansfield began to generate a great deal of negative publicity due to her repeated successful attempts to expose her breasts in carefully staged public "accidents". Her bosom was so much a part of her public persona that talk-show host Jack Paar once welcomed the actress to The Tonight Show by saying, "Here they are, Jayne Mansfield", a line that was written for Paar by Dick Cavett and became the title of her biography by Raymond Strait. Early in her career, the prominence of her breasts was considered problematic, leading her to be cut from her first professional assignment, an advertising campaign for General Electric, which depicted several young women in bathing suits relaxing around a pool.
Career outside film
Stage work
Mansfield acted on stage as well as in film. In 1955, she went to New York and appeared in a prominent role in the Broadway production of George Axelrod's comedy Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?. The New York Times described the "commendable abandon" of her scantily clad rendition of Rita Marlowe in the play, "a platinum-pated movie siren with the wavy contours of Marilyn Monroe.
In October 1957, Mansfield went on a 16-country tour of Europe for 20th Century Fox. She also appeared in stage productions of Gentlemen Prefer Blondes and Bus Stop, which were well reviewed and co-starred Hargitay. Dissatisfied with her film roles, Mansfield and Hargitay headlined at the Dunes in Las Vegas in an act called The House of Love, for which the actress earned $35,000 a week. It proved to be such a hit that she extended her stay, and 20th Century Fox Records subsequently recorded the show for an album called Jayne Mansfield Busts Up Las Vegas, in 1962.
With her film career floundering, she still commanded a salary of $8,000-$25,000 per week for her nightclub act. She traveled all over the world with it. In 1967, the year she died, Mansfield's time was split between nightclub performances and the production of her last film, Single Room Furnished, a low-budget production directed by then-husband Matt Cimber.
Recordings
In addition to singing in English and German in a number of films, in 1964, Mansfield released a novelty album called Jayne Mansfield: Shakespeare, Tchaikovsky & Me, on which she recited Shakespeare's sonnets and poems by Marlowe, Browning, Wordsworth, and others against a background of Tchaikovsky's music. The album cover depicted a bouffant-coiffed Mansfield with lips pursed and breasts barely covered by a fur stole, posing between busts of the Russian composer and the Bard of Avon.
The New York Times described the album as the actress reading "30-odd poems in a husky, urban, baby voice". The paper's reviewer went on to state that "Miss Mansfield is a lady with apparent charms, but reading poetry is not one of them."
Jimi Hendrix played bass and lead guitar for Mansfield in 1965 on two songs, "As The Clouds Drift By" and "Suey", released together on two sides. According to Hendrix historian Steven Roby (Black Gold: The Lost Archives Of Jimi Hendrix, Billboard Books) this collaboration happened because they shared the same manager.
Television
Though her acting roles were becoming marginalized, in 1964 Mansfield turned down the role of Ginger Grant in Gilligan's Island, claiming that the role, which eventually was given to Tina Louise, epitomized the stereotype she wished to rid herself of.
Mansfield toured with Bob Hope for the USO and appeared on numerous television programs, including The Ed Sullivan Show and The Jack Benny Show (where she played the violin), The Steve Allen Show, Down You Go, The Match Game (one rare episode exists with her as a team captain), and The Jackie Gleason Show. Mansfield's television roles included appearances in Burke's Law and Alfred Hitchcock Presents. On returning from New York to Hollywood, she made several television appearances, including several spots as a featured guest star on game shows.
In 1962, Mansfield appeared with Brian Keith in ABC's Follow the Sun dramatic series in an acclaimed episode entitled "The Dumbest Blonde" in which her character "Scottie" is a beautiful blonde who feels insecure in the high society of her older boyfriend, played by Keith. The plot was based on the film of Born Yesterday.
Personal life
Mansfield was married three times, divorced twice, and had five children. Reportedly she also had affairs and sexual encounters with numerous individuals, including Claude Terrail (the owner of the Paris restaurant La Tour d'Argent), Robert F. Kennedy, John F Kennedy the Brazilian billionaire Jorge Guinle, and Anton LaVey.
She secretly married Paul Mansfield on January 28, 1950. The couple had a public wedding on May 10, 1950 and were divorced on January 8, 1958. During this marriage they had one child, Jayne Marie Mansfield. Two weeks before her mother's death, Jayne Marie, then 16, accused her mother's boyfriend, Sam Brody, of beating her. The girl's statement to officers of the West Los Angeles police department the following morning implicated her mother in encouraging the abuse, and days later, a juvenile-court judge awarded temporary custody of Jayne Marie to a great-uncle, W.W. Pigue.
Mansfield married Miklós Hargitay, an actor and bodybuilder, (publicly known as Mickey Hargitay, who won the Mr. Universe title in 1955) on January 13, 1958 at The Wayfarers Chapel in Rancho Palos Verdes, California. The unique glass chapel made public and press viewing of the wedding much easier. Jayne herself wore a transparent wedding gown, adding to the occasion's publicity aspect. The couple divorced in Juarez, Mexico in May 1963. The Mexican divorce was initially declared invalid in California, and the two reconciled in October 1963. After the birth of their third child, Mansfield sued for the Juarez divorce to be declared legal and won. The divorce was recognized in the United States on August 26, 1964. She had previously filed for divorce on May 4, 1962, but told reporters, "I'm sure we will make it up." Their acrimonious divorce had the actress accusing Hargitay of kidnapping one of her children to force a more favorable financial settlement. During this marriage she had three children — Miklós Jeffrey Palmer Hargitay (born December 21, 1958), Zoltán Anthony Hargitay (born August 1, 1960), and Mariska Magdolina Hargitay (born January 23, 1964), an actress best known for her role as Olivia Benson in Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.
In November 1957 (shortly before her marriage to Hargitay), Mansfield bought a 40-room Mediterranean-style mansion formerly owned by Rudy Vallee at 10100 Sunset Boulevard in Beverly Hills. Mansfield had the house painted pink, with cupids surrounded by pink fluorescent lights, pink furs in the bathrooms, a pink heart-shaped bathtub, and a fountain spurting pink champagne, and then dubbed it the Pink Palace. Hargitay, a plumber and carpenter before getting into bodybuilding, built a pink heart-shaped swimming pool. Mansfield decorated the Pink Palace by writing to furniture and building suppliers requesting free samples. She received over $150,000 worth of free merchandise while paying only $76,000 for the mansion itself (a large sum nonetheless when the average house cost under $7,500 at the time ).
Mansfield married Matt Cimber (alias Matteo Ottaviano, né Thomas Vitale Ottaviano) an Italian-born film director on September 24, 1964. The couple separated on July 11, 1965, and filed for divorce on July 20, 1966. Cimber was a director with whom the actress had become involved when he directed her in a widely praised stage production of Bus Stop in Yonkers, New York, which costarred Hargitay. Cimber took over managing her career during their marriage. With him she had one son, Antonio Raphael Ottaviano (alias Tony Cimber, born October 17, 1965).
She had a brief affair with Jan Cremer, a young Dutch writer who dedicated his 1965 autobiographical novel, I, Jan Cremer, to her.. Jan Cremer wrote a large part of his book I, Jan Cremer - III about their relationship. She also had a well-publicized relationship in 1963 with the singer Nelson Sardelli, whom she said she planned to marry once her divorce from Hargitay was finalized. Work on her last film, Single Room Furnished, was suspended as her marriage to director Matt Cimber began to collapse in the wake of Mansfield's alcohol abuse, open infidelities, and her claim to Cimber that she had only ever been happy with her former lover, Nelson Sardelli.
At the time of her death, Mansfield was accompanied by Sam Brody, her married divorce lawyer and lover at the time.
Death
Gravestone, picture taken in 2007
While in Biloxi, Mississippi, for an engagement at the Gus Stevens Supper Club, Mansfield stayed at the Cabana Courtyard Apartments, which were near the supper club. After a June 28, 1967 evening engagement, Mansfield, Brody, and their driver, Ronnie Harrison, along with the actress's children Miklós, Zoltán, and Mariska, set out in Stevens' 1966 Buick Electra 225 for New Orleans, where Mansfield was to appear in an early morning television interview. Prior to leaving Biloxi, the party made a stop at the home of Rupert and Edna O'Neal, a family that lived nearby. After a late dinner with the O'Neals, during which the last photographs of Ms. Mansfield were taken, the party set out for New Orleans. On June 29 at approximately 2:25 a.m., on U.S. Highway 90, the car crashed into the rear of a tractor-trailer that had slowed because of a truck spraying mosquito fogger. The automobile struck the rear of the semi tractor and went under it. Riding in the front seat, the adults were killed instantly. The children in the rear survived with minor injuries.
The cenotaph at Hollywood Forever, with incorrect birth year
Rumors that Mansfield was decapitated are untrue, though she did suffer severe head trauma. This urban legend was spawned by the appearance in police photographs of a crashed automobile with its top virtually sheared off, and what resembles a blonde-haired head tangled in the car's smashed windshield. It is believed that this was either a wig that Mansfield was wearing or was her actual hair and scalp. The death certificate stated that the immediate cause of Mansfield's death was a "crushed skull with avulsion of cranium and brain." Following her death, the NHTSA began requiring an underride guard, a strong bar made of steel tubing, to be installed on all tractor-trailers. This bar is also known as a Mansfield bar, and on occasions as a DOT bar.
Mansfield's funeral was held on July 3, in Pen Argyl, Pennsylvania. The ceremony was officiated by a Methodist minister, though Mansfield, who long tried to convert to Catholicism, had become interested in Judaism at the end of her life through her relationship with Sam Brody. She is interred in Fairview Cemetery, southeast of Pen Argyl. Her gravestone reads "We Live to Love You More Each Day". A memorial cenotaph, showing an incorrect birth year, was erected in the Hollywood Forever Cemetery, Hollywood, California. The cenotaph was placed by The Jayne Mansfield Fan Club and has the incorrect birth year because Mansfield herself tended to provide incorrect information about her age.
Legacy
Shortly after Mansfield's funeral, Mickey Hargitay sued his former wife's estate for more than $275,000 to support the children, whom he and his third and last wife, Ellen Siano, would raise. Mansfield's youngest child, Tony, was raised by his father, Matt Cimber, whose divorce from the actress was pending when she was killed. In 1968, wrongful-death lawsuits were filed on behalf of Jayne Marie Mansfield and Matt Cimber, the former for $4.8 million and the latter for $2.7 million. The Pink Palace was sold and its subsequent owners have included Ringo Starr, Cass Elliot, and Engelbert Humperdinck. In 2002, Humperdinck sold it to developers, and the house was demolished in November of that year. Much of her estate is managed by CMG Worldwide, an intellectual property management company.
Recognition
See also: Jayne Mansfield in popular culture
* In February 1955, Mansfield was the Playmate of the Month in Playboy, in which she subsequently appeared over 30 times.
* Although Mansfield was reluctant to appear in the play, she received the Theatre World Award of 1956 for her performance in the Broadway production of George Axelrod's comedy Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?.
* Mansfield won a Golden Globe in 1957 for New Star Of The Year - Actress
* Mansfield won a Golden Laurel in 1959 for Top Female Musical Performance for her role in The Sheriff of Fractured Jaw, a western spoof directed by Raoul Walsh, although the songs were performed by Connie Francis.
* In 1963, Mansfield was voted one of the Top 10 Box Office Attractions by an organization of American theater owners for her performance in Promises! Promises!, a film banned in areas around the US.
* Mansfield has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6328 Hollywood Boulevard.
Filmography
Year Movie Title Role Director Note
1955 Hell on Frisco Bay Mario's Dance Partner at Nightclub Frank Tuttle
1955 Female Jungle Candy Price Bruno VeSota Alternative title: The Hangover
1955 Pete Kelly's Blues Cigarette Girl Jack Webb
1955 Illegal Angel O'Hara Lewis Allen
1956 The Girl Can't Help It Jerri Jordan Frank Tashlin
1957 The Burglar Gladden Paul Wendkos
1957 The Wayward Bus Camille Oakes Victor Vicas
1957 Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? Rita Marlowe Frank Tashlin Alternative title: Oh! For a Man! (UK)
1957 Kiss Them for Me Alice Kratzner Stanley Donen
1958 The Sheriff of Fractured Jaw Kate Raoul Walsh The three musical numbers in this movie - "In the valley of love", "Strolling down the lane with Billy", and "If the San Francisco Hills could only talk" - were only lip-synced by Jayne Mansfield; the singing voice was provided by Connie Francis. Of these three, only "In the valley of love" was released on record, albeit only in the United Kingdom and Japan.
1960 The Challenge Billy John Gilling Alternative title: It Takes a Thief (US)
1960 Too Hot to Handle Midnight Franklin Terence Young Alternative title: Playgirl After Dark (US)
1960 The Loves of Hercules Queen Dianira/Hippolyta Carlo Ludovico Bragaglia Alternative titles Gli Amori di Ercole (Italy), Les Amours d'Hercule (France), Hercules vs. the Hydra (TV title)
1961 The George Raft Story Lisa Lang Joseph M. Newman Alternative title: Spin of a Coin (UK)
1962 Lykke og krone Documentary
1962 It Happened In Athens Eleni Costa Andrew Marton
1963 Heimweh nach St. Pauli Evelyne Werner Jacobs Alternative title: Homesick for St. Pauli (US)
1963 Promises! Promises! Sandy Brooks King Donovan
1964 L'Amore Primitivo Dr. Jane Luigi Scattini Alternative title: Primitive Love (US)
1964 Panic Button Angela George Sherman, Giuliano Carnimeo Alternative title: Let's Go Bust (US)
1964 Dog Eat Dog Darlene Richard E. Cunha, Gustav Gavrin Alternative titles: When Strangers Meet (UK), Einer frißt den anderen (West Germany), La morte vestita di dollari (Italy)
1965 The Loved One Scenes deleted
1966 The Las Vegas Hillbillys Tawny Arthur C. Pierce Alternative title: Country Music (US)
1966 The Fat Spy Junior Wellington Joseph Cates
1967 A Guide for the Married Man Technical Adviser (Girl with Harold) Gene Kelly
1967 Spree Documentary
1967 Mondo Hollywood Documentary
1968 The Wild, Wild World of Jayne Mansfield Documentary
1968 Single Room Furnished Johnnie/Mae/Eileen Matt Cimber Posthumous release
Discography
Albums
* Jayne Mansfield Busts up Las Vegas (20th Century Fox, 1962)
* Shakespeare, Tchaikovsky & Me (MGM, 1964)
* I Wanna Be Loved By You (Golden Options, 2000)
* Dyed Blondes (Recall Records, 2002)
* Too Hot to Handle (Blue Moon, France, 2003)
Singles
* That Makes It (The Las Vegas Hillbillys)
* Too Hot to Handle (Too Hot to Handle)
* Little Things Mean a Lot
* As The Clouds Drift By (with Jimi Hendrix, A-side)
* Suey (with Jimi Hendrix, B-side)
* You Were Made for Me
* Wo Ist Der Mann (Homesick for St. Pauli)
* Snicksnack-Snucklchen (Homesick for St. Pauli)
* It's a Living
Theater performances
* Death of a Salesman (1953)
* Bus Stop (1965)
* Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1966)
* Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? (1955–1956)
* Rabbit Habit (1965)
Books
* Jayne Mansfield's Wild, Wild World (Holloway House; 1963; co-author: Mickey Hargitay)
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Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: ninny on 04/19/10 at 6:50 am
The person who died on this day...Layne Staley
Layne Thomas Staley (August 22, 1967 – c. April 5, 2002) was an American musician who served as the lead singer and co-lyricist of the rock group Alice in Chains, which was formed in Seattle, Washington in 1987 by Staley and guitarist Jerry Cantrell. Alice in Chains rose to international fame as part of the grunge movement of the early 1990s. The band became known for its distinct vocal style, which often included the "snarl-to-a-scream" vocals of Staley, as well as the harmonized vocals of Staley and Cantrell. Staley was also a member of the supergroups Mad Season and Class of '99. He struggled throughout his career with severe drug addiction, which eventually led to his death in April 2002. Layne Staley was born to Phil Staley and Nancy McCallum (née Layne) in Kirkland, Washington. He was seven years old when his parents divorced, after which he was raised by his mother and stepfather, Jim Elmer. He took his stepfather's name while in high school and was known for some time as Layne Elmer. In early 2002, shortly before his death, he would describe the experience of witnessing his parents' divorce: "My world became a nightmare, there were just shadows around me. I got a call saying that my dad had died, but my family always knew he was around doing all kind of drugs. Since that call I always was wondering, 'Where is my dad?' I felt so sad for him and I missed him. He dropped out of my life for 15 years." In that same interview he hinted that his parents' break-up and his father's drug use were at least partially responsible for his own drug problems, and also said that he was convinced that if he became a celebrity his dad would return.
Staley began playing drums at age 12; he played in several glam bands in his early teens, but by this point, Staley had aspirations of becoming a singer. In 1985, Staley formed a band called Sleze, which also featured future Second Coming members Johnny Bacolas and James Bergstrom. With the addition of guitarist Nick Pollock in 1986, Sleze morphed into Alice N' Chains, a band which Staley said "dressed in drag and played speed metal." The new band performed around the Seattle area playing Slayer and Armored Saint covers. Staley met guitarist Jerry Cantrell while working at Music Bank rehearsal studios, where the two struggling musicians became roommates, and lived in a rehearsal space they shared. Alice N' Chains soon disbanded and Staley joined a funk band who at the time also required a guitarist. He asked Cantrell to join as a sideman. Cantrell agreed on condition that Staley join Cantrell's band Diamond Lie, which at the time included drummer Sean Kinney and bassist Mike Starr. Eventually the funk project broke up and in 1987 Staley joined Cantrell on a full time basis. Diamond Lie played in clubs around the Pacific Northwest, often stretching 15 minutes of material into a 45-minute set. The band eventually took the name of Alice in Chains.
Alice in Chains
Main article: Alice in Chains
Alice in Chains released their debut album Facelift on August 21, 1990. The second single, "Man in the Box", with lyrics written by Staley, became a huge hit. "Man in the Box" is widely recognized for its distinctive "wordless opening melody, where Layne Staley's peculiar, tensed-throat vocals are matched in unison with an effects-laden guitar" followed by "portentous lines like: 'Jesus Christ/Deny your maker' and 'He who tries/Will be wasted' with Cantrell's drier, and less-urgent voice." Facelift has since been certified double platinum by the RIAA for sales of two million copies in the United States. The band toured in support of the album for two years before releasing the acoustic EP Sap in early 1992. In September 1992, Alice in Chains released Dirt. The critically-acclaimed album, also the band's most successful, debuted at number six on the Billboard 200, and was certified quadruple platinum. The band did not tour in support of Dirt for very long, due to Staley's drug addiction. While touring, Starr left the band due to personal reasons and was replaced by Mike Inez.
Although Cantrell wrote or co-wrote along with Kinney, Starr, and Inez almost all of the music for Alice in Chains, Staley wrote more and more lyrics as time went on, eventually receiving credit for about half the lyrics from their entire catalog as well as writing three songs musically and lyrically—"Hate to Feel", "Angry Chair" and "Head Creeps". Staley's lyrics are largely viewed as having often dealt with his struggle against heroin addiction, God, and other personal troubles. The album Dirt showcased the former in songs like "Sickman", "Junkhead", "God Smack" and "Angry Chair", the only single for which Staley wrote the music as well as the lyrics.
1994 saw the release of Alice in Chains' second acoustic EP, Jar of Flies. It debuted at number one, making it the first Alice in Chains release—and the first-ever EP—to do so. The other members of Alice in Chains, seeing Staley's deteriorating condition, opted not to tour in support of Jar of Flies. Following its release, Staley entered a rehabilitation clinic and began to work on a side project with several Seattle musicians, including Mike McCready of Pearl Jam and Barrett Martin of Screaming Trees. The band worked on material for several months and eventually scheduled a show at the Crocodile Cafe under the name The Gacy Bunch. Within a few weeks, the band changed its name to Mad Season. In January 1995, Mad Season performed two songs on Pearl Jam's Self-Pollution satellite radio broadcast, "Lifeless Dead" and "I Don't Know Anything". The band completed an album, titled Above, which was released in March 1995. The first single, "River of Deceit", became a modest success on alternative radio, and "I Don't Know Anything" still receives occasional airplay. A live performance filmed at the Moore Theatre in Seattle was released in August 1995 as a home video, Live at the Moore.
During Alice in Chains' hiatus, reports of Staley's addiction began to gain widespread circulation in fan and media communities, in part from changes to his physical condition brought on by prolonged heroin abuse. He struggled tremendously. Referencing Staley's guest-singing appearance with Tool on the song "Opiate", the Seattle Post-Intelligencer reported, "At KISW-FM's 'Rockstock' concert at the Kitsap County Fairgrounds in Bremerton in May 1994—just a month after the death of Kurt Cobain—Staley made a surprise appearance. He looked sickly and wore a wool ski mask to hide his face." Some of the more persistent and unsubstantiated rumors, ranging from gangrene to missing fingers, surfaced during this period. Mark Arm of Mudhoney is quoted as saying: "I remember seeing him in '95… he turned up and was totally green, and my stomach turned at that point—watching somebody on a track that they couldn't get off."
Alice in Chains regrouped to record Alice in Chains, sometimes referred to as "Tripod" (largely due to the image of Jerry Cantrell's three-legged dog, Sunshine, featured on the cover), which was released late in 1995. The self–titled album debuted at the top of the U.S. charts, and has since been awarded—along with Facelift and Jar of Flies—double platinum status. With the exceptions of "Grind", "Heaven Beside You", and "Over Now", the lyrics are all written by Staley, making this album his greatest lyrical contribution to the band's catalogue. To accompany the album, the band released a home video, The Nona Tapes, in which they poked fun at the rumors of Staley's addiction, but the band lapsed again, failing to complete tours planned in support of the album. When asked about the frustration of not touring to support the record, Cantrell provided some insight into how Staley's addictions led to repercussive tensions within the band: "Very frustrating, but we stuck it out. We rode the good times together, and we stuck together through the hard times. We never stabbed each other in the back and spilled our guts and do that kind of bullsheesh that you see happen a lot."
During the band's appearance on MTV Unplugged, Staley was visibly weak and emaciated, but still able to deliver a strong performance. He made his last performance on July 3, 1996, in Kansas City, Missouri, while Alice in Chains were touring with Kiss after their Unplugged appearance. In October 1996, Staley's ex-fiancée, Demri Lara Parrott, died from secondary complications caused by drug use (bacterial endocarditis). "Drugs worked for me for years," Staley told Rolling Stone in 1996, "and now they're turning against me, now I'm walking through hell."
Final years: 1997–2002
Staley remained out of the spotlight until February 26, 1997, when he and the other members of Alice in Chains attended the Grammy Awards after "Again" (from the self-titled album) was nominated for Best Hard Rock Performance. In September 1998, Staley re-emerged to help record two tracks ("Get Born Again" and "Died") with Alice in Chains, which were released on the Music Bank box set in 1999. Additional reports of Staley's deteriorating condition persisted in the midst of the sessions. Dirt producer Dave Jerden—who was originally chosen by the band for the production—said, "Staley weighed 80 pounds…and was white as a ghost." Cantrell refused to comment on the singer's appearance, simply replying "I'd rather not comment on that…", and band manager Susan Silver said she hadn't seen the singer since "last year". Staley was thought to have left behind his "self-imposed rock & roll exile" when in November 1998 he laid down additional vocal tracks as part of a supergroup called Class of '99, featuring members of Rage Against the Machine, Jane's Addiction and Porno for Pyros. The group recorded parts one and two of Pink Floyd's "Another Brick in the Wall" for the soundtrack to Robert Rodriguez's 1998 horror/sci-fi film, The Faculty, with a music video filmed for part two. While the other members of the band were filmed specifically for the video, Staley's appearance consisted of footage pulled from Mad Season's 1995 Live at the Moore video. On July 19, 1999, syndicated radio program Rockline was hosting Cantrell, Inez, and (via telephone) Kinney for a discussion on the release of Nothing Safe: Best of the Box, when, unexpectedly, Staley called in to participate in the discussion.
Charles R. Cross would later say that they had Staley's obituary on stand-by at The Rocket in the late 1990s. Upon the retirement of Alice in Chains' manager, Susan Silver, in 1998, The Rocket published an article asking the question "But who's to wipe and clean Alice in Chains now?", supposedly a jab at the rumors of Staley's addiction. Joe Ehrbar, the editor of The Rocket at that time, said, "A few days later, we received a package containing a jar of piss and a bag of sheesh, with a note attached saying, 'Wipe and change this, motherfudgeers!.' It had to be from Layne. What a classic response.'"
From 1999 to 2002, Staley became more reclusive; little is known about the details of his life during this period. Staley's mother owns the last known photo of Staley, taken in November 2001, which features him holding his new-born nephew, Oscar. This photo has never been released to the public, and may never be, due to Staley's sickly physical appearance. Other than this rare incident, Staley was not seen often by family or friends. In his last interview, Staley stated, "Don't try to contact any AIC (Alice in Chains) members. They are not my friends." Kinney has commented on Staley's final years and isolation period:
"I kept trying to make contact...Three times a week, like clockwork, I'd call him, but he'd never answer. Every time I was in the area, I was up in front of his place yelling for him...Even if you could get in his building, he wasn't going to open the door. You'd phone and he wouldn't answer. You couldn't just kick the door in and grab him, though there were so many times I thought about doing that. But if someone won't help themselves, what, really, can anyone else do?"
In his last interview, given in early 2002 months before his death, Staley admitted, "I know I'm near death, I did crack and heroin for years. I never wanted to end my life this way." Staley's physical appearance had become even worse than before: he had lost several teeth, his skin was sickly pale, and he was severely gaunt. In the same interview Staley spoke of the damage caused by his heroin addiction:
"I'm not using drugs to get high like many people think. I know I made a big mistake when I started using this sheesh. It's a very difficult thing to explain. My liver is not functioning, and I'm throwing up all the time and sheeshting my pants. The pain is more than you can handle. It's the worst pain in the world. Dope sick hurts the entire body."
As far as published reports are concerned, such as Blender's "We Left Him Alone", close friends such as Matt Fox have said, "If no one heard from him for weeks, it wasn’t unusual." Further in the article, reporter Pat Kearny provides a glimpse into Staley's daily life and public routine:
"It appears that Staley’s last few weeks were typically empty. According to an employee of the Rainbow, a neighborhood bar close to Staley’s condo, the singer was a frequent patron, stopping by at least once a week. 'He minded his own business,' said the employee, who wished to remain anonymous. Staley would never buy anything to drink, the employee said, but would simply sit at a small table in the back corner of the bar and 'nod off. We just left him alone'."
Staley's close friend Mark Lanegan had much of the same to say with respect to Staley's isolation: "He didn't speak to anybody as of late… It's been a few months since I talked to him. But for us to not talk for a few months is par for the course."
On April 19, 2002, Layne's mother placed a call with 911 to say "she hadn't heard from… in about two weeks." Staley was found dead in his home after his mother and stepfather went to his condo with the police. As reported by Rick Anderson of the Seattle Weekly, his body was surrounded by various drug possessions and paraphernalia: "When police kicked in the door to Layne Staley's University District apartment on April 20, there, on a couch, lit by a flickering TV, next to several spray-paint cans on the floor, not far from a small stash of cocaine, near two crack pipes on the coffee table, reposed the remains of the rock musician." The article also stated that the 6'1" Staley weighed just 86 pounds when his body was discovered. The autopsy report later concluded that Staley had died after injecting a mixture of heroin and cocaine known as a "speedball".
Post-death
An informal memorial was held for Staley on the night of April 20 at the Seattle Center which was attended by at least 100 fans and friends, including Cantrell, Starr, Inez, Kinney and Soundgarden frontman Chris Cornell. Cantrell dedicated his 2002 solo album, Degradation Trip, released two months after Staley's death, to his memory. Following Staley's death, Alice in Chains officially disbanded. For the next several years, the band refused to perform together out of respect for Staley. In 2005, the remaining members reunited for a benefit concert for victims of the December 26, 2004 tsunami, with several vocalists filling in for Staley, including Patrick Lachman from Damageplan, Phil Anselmo of Pantera and Down fame, Wes Scantlin from Puddle of Mudd, Maynard James Keenan from Tool (a friend of Staley's), and Ann Wilson from Heart, who had previously worked with Alice in Chains when she sang on the Sap EP (performing backing vocals on the songs "Brother" and "Am I Inside"). Following positive response, the band decided to reunite formally in 2006.
In an interview with MTV News, Kinney noted that the band would use the reunion concerts to pay tribute to the songs and to Staley. William DuVall, a member of Cantrell's solo touring band (who often sang Staley's parts on the Alice in Chains songs that Cantrell performed), was announced to sing Staley's part for the reunion shows. In the same interview, Kinney noted the reunion didn't necessarily foretell a future for Alice in Chains:
"If we found some other dude, I'd love to move on, write some cool tunes and change the name and go on like that. I don't see continuing as Alice and replacing somebody… We're not trying to replace Layne. We want to play these songs one more time, and if it seems like the right thing to do, it'll happen. I don't know how long it will go or where it will take us. It's kind of a tribute to Layne and our fans, the people who love these songs."
The reformed Alice in Chains (with Duvall) are also known to have an intermission to include a five-minute filmed tribute in between sets to Staley. The title track to Alice in Chains' 2009 album, Black Gives Way to Blue, was written as a tribute to Staley.
Legacy
Cold's song "The Day Seattle Died" (from the 2003 album, Year of the Spider) was an ode to Staley, as well as Kurt Cobain, who were both figureheads of the grunge rock movement. In addition, Staind featured a song called "Layne" in memory to the singer on the 2003 album, 14 Shades of Grey. Eddie Vedder, lead singer of Pearl Jam, also recorded a song eulogizing Staley, titled "4/20/02" (the day Vedder heard the news and subsequently wrote the song). The song featured only Vedder singing and playing the guitar in a ukulele-inspired tuning, and was released as a hidden track on Pearl Jam's 2003 B-sides and rarities album, Lost Dogs. Zakk Wylde also wrote a song about Staley called "Layne" on Black Label Society's 2004 album, Hangover Music Vol. VI. A further tribute entitled "Layne to Rest" was recorded by former Babes in Toyland frontwoman Kat Bjelland with her band Katastrophy Wife for the 2004 album, All Kneel. Tyler Connolly of Theory of a Deadman stated that their song "Shadow" (an outtake from the 2008 album, Scars & Souvenirs) was written about Staley.
Staley's influence has likewise been felt in other genres. Two books have been written about him, both authored by Adriana Rubio—Layne Staley: Angry Chair and the more recent, Layne Staley: Get Born Again, which was described as "a 'brand new book' that has been revised and updated with the inclusion of two new chapters: 'Hate to Feel' and 'Get Born Again' as a revival of the acclaimed Angry Chair book." On September 28, 2006, Blabbermouth.net reported on a movie project related to Rubio's most recent book on Staley: "According to a press release from ARTS Publications, Argentinean journalist/author Adriana Rubio has been contacted by writer/director Eric Moyer from Philadelphia about turning her biography of late Alice in Chains frontman Layne Staley, titled Layne Staley: Get Born Again, into a movie." Music Historian Maxim W. Furek released the comprehensive The Death Proclamation of Generation X: A Self-Fulfilling Prophesy of Goth, Grunge and Heroin, i-Universe. ISBN 978-0-595-46319-0, that revisited the tragic deaths of numerous grunge artists.
Staley ranked #27 on Hit Parader magazine's list of "Heavy Metal's All-Time Top 100 Vocalists" (published in the November 2006 issue). Staley was an inspiration for the title of Metallica's 2008 album, Death Magnetic. Lead guitarist Kirk Hammett brought a photograph of Staley to the studio where Metallica was recording. "That picture was there for a long time," said Hammett, "I think it pervaded James' psyche."
Layne Staley Fund
In 2002, Staley's mother, Nancy McCallum, and Jamie Richards, a drug and alcohol counselor, formed the Layne Staley Fund, a non-profit organization that raises money for drug treatment and works with the Seattle music community. It holds a yearly tribute in August, on or around Staley's birthday.
Discography
Alice in Chains
Main article: Alice in Chains discography
Other appearances
Year Album details Band Notes
1993 Desire Walks On
* Released: November 16, 1993
* Label: Capitol
Heart Guest vocals on the song "Ring Them Bells".
1995 Above
* Released: March 14, 1995
* Label: Columbia
Mad Season U.S. #24, Gold
Working Class Hero: A Tribute to John Lennon
* Released: October 10, 1995
* Label: Hollywood
Vocals on "I Don't Wanna Be a Soldier".
L.O.V.Evil
* Released: December 15, 1995
* Label: Red Rocket
Second Coming Guest vocals on the song "It’s Coming After".
1998 The Faculty: Music from the Dimension Motion Picture
* Released: December 8, 1998
* Label: Sony
Class of '99 Vocals on "Another Brick in the Wall" part 2.
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Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: Howard on 04/19/10 at 6:56 am
The word of the day...Buxom
If you describe a woman as buxom, you mean that she looks healthy and attractive and has a rounded body and big breasts.
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WOW,so many boobs! :o :o
Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: ninny on 04/19/10 at 8:04 am
WOW,so many boobs! :o :o
LOL ;D
Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: CatwomanofV on 04/19/10 at 11:38 am
Personally, I think Jayne Mansfield is SOOOO much better than Marlyn Monroe on so many aspects. I think she was a better actress, she was prettier, and she was extremely smart. And she wasn't a druggie/alcoholic like Marlyn was. It was such a shame that her life was cut so short.
Cat
Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: Howard on 04/19/10 at 1:55 pm
LOL ;D
I thought the word of the day was very sexy.
Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: gibbo on 04/19/10 at 6:25 pm
WOW,so many boobs! :o :o
Yes...a shameful attempt to get more male traffic on this thread! Ninny...I'm so shocked! ;) ;D
Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: ninny on 04/20/10 at 6:34 am
Yes...a shameful attempt to get more male traffic on this thread! Ninny...I'm so shocked! ;) ;D
Who me :-X ;D ;)
Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: ninny on 04/20/10 at 6:45 am
The word of the day...Gardens
In British English, a garden is a piece of land next to a house, with flowers, vegetables, other plants, and often grass. In American English, the usual word is yard, and a garden refers only to land which is used for growing flowers and vegetables.
If you garden, you do work in your garden such as weeding or planting.
Gardens are places like a park that have areas of plants, trees, and grass, and that people can visit and walk around.
http://i778.photobucket.com/albums/yy65/amyjayne10/Gardens%20and%20Landscapes/0a5e3283.jpg
http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c114/MissDazey/powell2.jpg
http://i924.photobucket.com/albums/ad88/skyee13/31514Kyoto.jpg
http://i921.photobucket.com/albums/ad56/CapitolHillHousing/Burke%20Gilman%20Gardens/Burke_Gilman_Gardens_Sign2.jpg
http://i611.photobucket.com/albums/tt199/yorkifrankphotos/Sister%20Week/DSCN1512.jpg
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http://i567.photobucket.com/albums/ss117/Ceridwen_of_Tir/Vegetable-Garden.jpg
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y92/mrsmarv/Garden/HolidaysWineriesGarden076.jpg
Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: ninny on 04/20/10 at 6:48 am
The person born on this day...Jessica Lange
Jessica Phyllis Lange (born April 20, 1949) is an American stage and screen actress. With a career that has spanned thirty-five years and six Academy Award nominations (including two wins), she may be most notable for her performances in Frances, Tootsie, Sweet Dreams, Blue Sky, and Grey Gardens. Lange, the third of four children, was born in Cloquet, Minnesota, the daughter of Dorothy Florence (née Sahlman) and Albert John Lange, who was a teacher and salesman. Her maternal grandparents were of Finnish descent, while her paternal grandparents were German, Polish, and Dutch. She studied art briefly at the University of Minnesota before going to Paris, France, where she studied mime with Étienne Decroux. She returned to New York City, New York in 1973 and took acting lessons while working as a waitress and a fashion model for the Wilhelmina Models agency. She was discovered by the fashion illustrator Antonio in 1974.
Career
Film
In 1976, Dino De Laurentiis cast her in his motion picture remake of King Kong, which started and almost ended her career. Although the King Kong remake was a top moneymaker for Paramount Pictures, critics were not kind to the film and Lange did not appear in another film for three years, when Bob Fosse cast her as the glamorous figure of death in All That Jazz (1979). The unfavorable reviews were devastating but critics took notice with her impressive turn in Bob Rafelson's remake of The Postman Always Rings Twice (1981).
Her performance in her next film, Frances (1982), in which she portrayed actress Frances Farmer, was highly lauded and earned her a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress. She received two Academy Award nominations that year, the other for Best Supporting Actress in the comedy Tootsie (1982), for which she won. She continued giving impressive performances through the 1980s and 1990s in films such as Sweet Dreams (1985) (playing country/western singer Patsy Cline), Music Box (1989), Men Don't Leave (1990), and Blue Sky (1994), directed by Tony Richardson, for which she won the Academy Award for Best Actress. She portrayed the wife to the legendary Scottish hero in Rob Roy alongside Liam Neeson (1995).
Since 2000, Lange has mostly appeared in supporting roles on screen. In her most recent film, Grey Gardens (2009) , a remake of the 1970s cult documentary, she played Edith "Big Edie" Bouvier Beale which earned her an Emmy Award.
Broadway/Stage
In 1992, Lange made her Broadway-theatre début in New York City opposite Alec Baldwin in Tennessee Williams's A Streetcar Named Desire. She appeared in the West End in London, United Kingdom, in 2000, as Mary Tyrone in Eugene O'Neill's Long Day's Journey Into Night. In 2005, she returned to Broadway in another Tennessee Williams play, The Glass Menagerie with Christian Slater.
Humanitarian work and political views
She is a Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF). She has also been a public critic of former U.S. President George W. Bush, once calling his administration, "a self-serving regime of deceit, hypocrisy and belligerence."
Personal life
Lange was married to photographer Paco Grande from 1970-1981. Since 1982, she has lived with playwright/actor Sam Shepard. She has three children, Aleksandra (born 1981) from her relationship with dancer/actor Mikhail Baryshnikov, and Hannah Jane (born 1985) and Samuel Walker (born 1987) with Shepard.
Lange currently lives in New York City.
Filmography
Year Film Role Notes
1976 King Kong Dwan Golden Globe Award for New Star of the Year – Actress
1979 All That Jazz Angelique
1980 How to Beat the High Co$t of Living Louise
1981 Notre Dame of the Cross uncredited documentary
The Postman Always Rings Twice Cora Papadakis
The Best Little Girl in the World TV
1982 Tootsie Julie Nichols Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress
Boston Society of Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actress
Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture
Kansas City Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actress
National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actress
New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actress
Nominated — BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role
Frances Frances Farmer Nominated — Academy Award for Best Actress
Moscow International Film Festival Prize for Best Actress
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama
1984 Country Jewell Ivy Nominated — Academy Award for Best Actress
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama
1985 Sweet Dreams Patsy Cline Nominated — Academy Award for Best Actress
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof Maggie TV
1986 Crimes of the Heart Margaret 'Meg' Magrath
1988 Far North Kate
Everybody's All-American Babs Rogers Grey
1989 Music Box Ann Talbot Nominated — Academy Award for Best Actress
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama
1990 Men Don't Leave Beth Macauley
1991 Cape Fear Leigh Bowden
1992 O Pioneers! Alexandra Bergson Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Miniseries or Television Film
Night and the City Helen Nasseros
1994 A Century of Cinema Herself documentary
Blue Sky Carly Marshall Academy Award for Best Actress
Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama
Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress
Nominated — Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role
1995 Losing Isaiah Margaret Lewin
Rob Roy Mary MacGregor
A Streetcar Named Desire Blanche DuBois Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Miniseries or Television Film
Nominated — Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress – Miniseries or a Movie
1997 A Thousand Acres Ginny Cook Smith Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama
Off the Menu: The Last Days of Chasen's Herself uncredited; documentary
1998 Hush Martha Baring
Cousin Bette Cousin Bette
1999 Titus Tamora Nominated — Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture
2001 Prozac Nation Mrs. Wurtzel
2003 XXI Century documentary
Masked and Anonymous Nina Veronica
Big Fish Older Sandra Bloom
Normal Irma Applewood Nominated — Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress – Miniseries or a Movie
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Miniseries or Television Film
Nominated — Satellite Award for Best Actress – Miniseries or Television Film
2004 Peace by Peace: Women on the Frontlines Narrator documentary
2005 The Needs of Kim Stanley documentary
Broken Flowers Carmen
Don't Come Knocking Doreen
Neverwas Katherine Pierson
2006 Bonneville Arvilla
2007 Sybil Dr. Cornelia Wilbur TV
Nominated — Prism Award for Performance in a TV Movie or Miniseries
2009 Grey Gardens "Big Edie" TV
Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress – Miniseries or a Movie
Nominated: Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Miniseries or Television Film
Nominated: Satellite Award for Best Actress - Miniseries or Television Film
Nominated: Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Miniseries or Television Movie
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Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: ninny on 04/20/10 at 7:00 am
The person who died on this day...Rachel Scott
Rachel Joy Scott (August 5, 1981 – April 20, 1999) was the first victim of the Columbine High School massacre, which claimed the lives of 12 students and one teacher, along with the two perpetrators, in one of the deadliest school shootings in United States history.
She has since been the subject of several books and is the inspiration for Rachel’s Challenge, a nationwide school outreach program for the prevention of teen violence, based on her life and writings. The program's speakers include her father, Darrell Scott, and brother, Craig Scott. Her mother, Beth Nimmo, has also authored books and is the speaker for Rachel Joy Scott Ministries, to perpetuate her daughter's legacy.Rachel Joy Scott was born on August 5, 1981, one of five children of Darrell Scott (born 1949) and Beth Nimmo. Her older sisters are Bethanee (born 1975) and Dana (born 1976) and her two younger brothers are Craig (born 1983) and Mike (born 1984). Her father had formerly pastored a church in Lakewood, Colorado, but left the ministry when the marriage ended in divorce in 1989. The following year, Beth and the children moved to the Littleton, Colorado, area, where she remarried in 1995. Darrell Scott became a sales manager for a food company in the Denver area and had joint custody of the children with their mother. As a child, she attended Governor's Ranch Elementary School, and subsequently Ken Caryl Middle School. Coincidentally, she knew Dylan Klebold since kindergarten, and she would remain in the same classes with him up until her death (the two were both members of Columbine's theater production club).
At the time of her death, the 17-year old Columbine High School junior was an aspiring writer and actress, having had the leading role in a student-written play. Described as a devout Christian by her mother, she was active as a youth group leader at Orchard Road Christian Center church near Littleton and was said to be known for her friendliness and compassionate nature. Rachel left behind six diaries and several essays about her belief in God and how she wanted to change the world through small acts of kindness. Shortly before her death, she wrote an essay for school stating, “I have this theory that if one person can go out of their way to show compassion then it will start a chain reaction of the same.”
The day of the shooting
See also: Columbine High School massacre
Rachel Scott was shot while eating lunch with a friend, Richard Castaldo, on the lawn outside of the school's library. She was killed by multiple gunshot wounds to the head, chest, arm, and leg. Afterwards, her car was turned into an impromptu flower-bedecked memorial in the school's parking lot by grieving students.
Early news reports said that one of the gunmen, after having first shot Rachel in her leg, asked the wounded girl if she still believed in God, and that she had simply answered "You know I do", provoking a second, fatal shot to her head at point-blank range. The FBI later concluded that this interaction did not take place. Some accounts attributed this version of events to Castaldo, who was severely wounded in the attack himself. Although his mother told a Dateline NBC interviewer about the exchange, Castaldo denied telling this story in a December, 1999, Time magazine interview. Despite the controversy surrounding this issue, Rachel’s parents contend in their book, Rachel’s Tears: the Spiritual Journey of Columbine Martyr Rachel Scott, that their daughter was targeted by the killers and died as a martyr for her Christian faith, based on videotapes made by the teenage perpetrators in which they are said to mock Rachel by name for her beliefs.
Funeral
Scott's funeral on April 24, 1999, was attended by more than 2,000 people and was televised nationwide. It was the most watched event on CNN up to that point, surpassing even the funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales. Roger Rosenblatt of Time magazine wrote in his commentary that her funeral was "... ineradicable because of the photograph of your bright and witty face, now sadly familiar to the country, and because of the loving and admiring testimonies of your family."
"Rachel’s Challenge"
Scott's father, Darrell, decided shortly after the Columbine tragedy to resign his job and speak to youth groups and communities, along with Scott's mother, Beth Nimmo, in a non-profit organization called Columbine Redemption. Beginning in December, 1999, Columbine Redemption published a monthly magazine, Rachel's Journal, providing articles by her family and guest columnists, and excerpts from her writings, along with profiles of other Columbine victims, such as teacher William David "Dave" Sanders.
The April 2000 issue of the Rachel's Journal monthly magazine, with its theme "Triumph from Tragedy"
Later, Scott established Rachel's Challenge as a non-profit organization, to perpetuate his daughter's example and the two-page "Code of Ethics" she wrote a month before her death. Its mission statement is to "motivate, educate and bring positive change to many young people". The Rachel’s Challenge presentations are given in schools and communities by members of her family and other speakers, using video footage of the Columbine High School massacre and its aftermath, combined with Scott’s drawings and writings, in a campaign to quell school violence, bullying, and teen suicide. As of 2009, Rachel's Challenge has developed a team of 30 speakers addressing young people in schools and colleges worldwide about Rachel's example. The Rachel's Challenge program includes establishing Friends of Rachel clubs in schools, following the initial presentation, to sustain the campaign's goals on a long-term basis.
Darrell Scott has co-authored three books about his daughter's life and her impact, urging students to practice compassion and kindness. Newsweek magazine said of him in October 2006, "Though the wounds from his daughter's death will never truly heal, Scott has devoted his life to preventing future Columbines ...the Rachel's Challenge non-profit organization — under Scott’s leadership — has reached out to thousands of schools to deliver a "chain reaction" of hope through school assemblies, workshops and outreach programs." Scott told Newsweek, "...principals and teachers always need to be on the lookout for that kid who's isolated, or that's quiet, who always stays to himself, because that's typically the type of kid who ends up exploding. They also need to create an atmosphere in the school where students share with someone if they ever hear or see a threat. We know there have been numerous school shootings prevented because a student saw another student writing that he wanted to kill someone or something like that. I think that taking every single threat of any kind seriously is of utmost importance, and again to me it's cultivating an atmosphere, a climate and a culture where everyone's accepted. Because when people feel accepted they're not going to do something like Eric and Dylan did."
Scott’s younger brother Craig, a 16-year old Columbine High School sophomore at the time of the shootings, was physically unharmed but witnessed several classmates being killed in the school library as he huddled under a table with two other boys, both of whom were slain. The next day, he was interviewed at length by Katie Couric on the Today show. The tearful interview, which NBC did not interrupt with normally scheduled station breaks, was described a year later by USA Today as "one of the most indelible moments of the tragedy".
Craig wrote of his sister Rachel, "...her love for people was less conditional than anyone I knew... It didn't matter to her what you looked like or who your friends were. Another thing I liked and respected so much was that she made it clear... what her beliefs were".
He continues to make frequent speaking appearances on behalf of Rachel's Challenge, urging teens to strive for a classroom "atmosphere of kindness and compassion" to stem school violence. He is also periodically interviewed on various television programs, such as 20/20, Dateline NBC, and the Today show, to discuss the loss of his sister and his difficult recovery from the traumatic ordeal he experienced as an eyewitness to the murderous rampage.
Recent years
Craig Scott with then-United States President George W. Bush at a White House meeting on October 10, 2006
At the White House Conference on School Safety held in Washington, DC, on October 10, 2006, Craig Scott addressed the President of the United States, the U.S. Attorney General, and the Secretary of Education, saying, in part, "Kindness and compassion can be the biggest antidotes to anger and hatred, and I believe the biggest antidotes to violence. We've seen bullying stopped, incidents where a student came up with hit lists or plans to shoot up his school, and told either the speaker or told the teacher about their plans, but had a change of heart. How have we done it? We've done it with a simple story of a young girl who believed in compassion, Rachel Joy Scott. But my sister is not the only one who believes in kindness, and she's not been the only one in her brave stance against the injustice willing to stand up for the one who gets put down in school, to sit by the student that sits all alone at lunch, and to talk to or reach out to the one who is consistently ignored or made fun of. She literally has inspired millions of people to continue the chain reaction she started...".
In the aftermath of the April 16, 2007, Virginia Tech massacre, Darrell and Craig Scott were interviewed on various television programs, such as Showbiz Tonight, The Oprah Winfrey Show, Fox & Friends, and Geraldo at Large, to share their thoughts about school violence and to remember Rachel Scott near the eighth anniversary of the Columbine tragedy. Craig Scott urged viewers on the Oprah show two days later to refrain from too much focus on the shooter, saying "I have found students that actually idolize the two shooters at Columbine... We've focused on my sister, who's so compassionate and kind. And from that, that's the opposite of that anger and hatred."
On April 20, 2009, the tenth anniversary of the Columbine shootings, Darrell Scott told NBC interviewer Natalie Morales on the Today show, "We've seen a lot of lives changed from her story and our program, Rachel's Challenge, has touched literally 13 million lives over the last ten years". He said that from September, 2008, to April, 2009, his organization received 105 emails from teens dissuaded from suicide because of attending a Rachel's Challenge program. In a separate interview aired the same day, Craig Scott told Morales that, "I meet a lot of hurting students out there and I share with them my hurtful story, but I'm not just carrying a sob story around ... I'm trying to share with them some of the things that I learned to get through it and to be a better person because of it". As of 2008, Craig Scott has spoken to more than one million people in making appearances for Rachel's Challenge, while pursuing a career in filmmaking. He hopes to produce inspirational films and is on the board of directors of the American Screenwriters Association.
Awards
Rachel Joy Scott was posthumously awarded the 2001 National Kindness Award for Student of the Year by the Acts of Kindness Association. In 2006, the National Education Association (NEA) of New York awarded Darrell Scott and Rachel’s Challenge the Friend of Education Award.
In June, 2009, Darrell Scott was selected in a nationwide vote of more than 750,000 baseball fans as the Colorado Rockies "All-Stars Among Us" winner, based on individual public service for his efforts in starting the Rachel's Challenge campaign. He was honored along with the other 29 winners representing all major league baseball teams as part of the pregame ceremonies at the 2009 Major League Baseball All-Star Game in St. Louis, Missouri, on July 14, 2009.
http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e124/Kellie8907/idols/rachel.jpg
http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e184/juicyboix12/Rachel.jpg
Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: CatwomanofV on 04/20/10 at 12:20 pm
The person who died on this day...Rachel Scott
Rachel Joy Scott (August 5, 1981 – April 20, 1999) was the first victim of the Columbine High School massacre, which claimed the lives of 12 students and one teacher, along with the two perpetrators, in one of the deadliest school shootings in United States history.
She has since been the subject of several books and is the inspiration for Rachel’s Challenge, a nationwide school outreach program for the prevention of teen violence, based on her life and writings. The program's speakers include her father, Darrell Scott, and brother, Craig Scott. Her mother, Beth Nimmo, has also authored books and is the speaker for Rachel Joy Scott Ministries, to perpetuate her daughter's legacy.Rachel Joy Scott was born on August 5, 1981, one of five children of Darrell Scott (born 1949) and Beth Nimmo. Her older sisters are Bethanee (born 1975) and Dana (born 1976) and her two younger brothers are Craig (born 1983) and Mike (born 1984). Her father had formerly pastored a church in Lakewood, Colorado, but left the ministry when the marriage ended in divorce in 1989. The following year, Beth and the children moved to the Littleton, Colorado, area, where she remarried in 1995. Darrell Scott became a sales manager for a food company in the Denver area and had joint custody of the children with their mother. As a child, she attended Governor's Ranch Elementary School, and subsequently Ken Caryl Middle School. Coincidentally, she knew Dylan Klebold since kindergarten, and she would remain in the same classes with him up until her death (the two were both members of Columbine's theater production club).
At the time of her death, the 17-year old Columbine High School junior was an aspiring writer and actress, having had the leading role in a student-written play. Described as a devout Christian by her mother, she was active as a youth group leader at Orchard Road Christian Center church near Littleton and was said to be known for her friendliness and compassionate nature. Rachel left behind six diaries and several essays about her belief in God and how she wanted to change the world through small acts of kindness. Shortly before her death, she wrote an essay for school stating, “I have this theory that if one person can go out of their way to show compassion then it will start a chain reaction of the same.”
The day of the shooting
See also: Columbine High School massacre
Rachel Scott was shot while eating lunch with a friend, Richard Castaldo, on the lawn outside of the school's library. She was killed by multiple gunshot wounds to the head, chest, arm, and leg. Afterwards, her car was turned into an impromptu flower-bedecked memorial in the school's parking lot by grieving students.
Early news reports said that one of the gunmen, after having first shot Rachel in her leg, asked the wounded girl if she still believed in God, and that she had simply answered "You know I do", provoking a second, fatal shot to her head at point-blank range. The FBI later concluded that this interaction did not take place. Some accounts attributed this version of events to Castaldo, who was severely wounded in the attack himself. Although his mother told a Dateline NBC interviewer about the exchange, Castaldo denied telling this story in a December, 1999, Time magazine interview. Despite the controversy surrounding this issue, Rachel’s parents contend in their book, Rachel’s Tears: the Spiritual Journey of Columbine Martyr Rachel Scott, that their daughter was targeted by the killers and died as a martyr for her Christian faith, based on videotapes made by the teenage perpetrators in which they are said to mock Rachel by name for her beliefs.
Funeral
Scott's funeral on April 24, 1999, was attended by more than 2,000 people and was televised nationwide. It was the most watched event on CNN up to that point, surpassing even the funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales. Roger Rosenblatt of Time magazine wrote in his commentary that her funeral was "... ineradicable because of the photograph of your bright and witty face, now sadly familiar to the country, and because of the loving and admiring testimonies of your family."
"Rachel’s Challenge"
Scott's father, Darrell, decided shortly after the Columbine tragedy to resign his job and speak to youth groups and communities, along with Scott's mother, Beth Nimmo, in a non-profit organization called Columbine Redemption. Beginning in December, 1999, Columbine Redemption published a monthly magazine, Rachel's Journal, providing articles by her family and guest columnists, and excerpts from her writings, along with profiles of other Columbine victims, such as teacher William David "Dave" Sanders.
The April 2000 issue of the Rachel's Journal monthly magazine, with its theme "Triumph from Tragedy"
Later, Scott established Rachel's Challenge as a non-profit organization, to perpetuate his daughter's example and the two-page "Code of Ethics" she wrote a month before her death. Its mission statement is to "motivate, educate and bring positive change to many young people". The Rachel’s Challenge presentations are given in schools and communities by members of her family and other speakers, using video footage of the Columbine High School massacre and its aftermath, combined with Scott’s drawings and writings, in a campaign to quell school violence, bullying, and teen suicide. As of 2009, Rachel's Challenge has developed a team of 30 speakers addressing young people in schools and colleges worldwide about Rachel's example. The Rachel's Challenge program includes establishing Friends of Rachel clubs in schools, following the initial presentation, to sustain the campaign's goals on a long-term basis.
Darrell Scott has co-authored three books about his daughter's life and her impact, urging students to practice compassion and kindness. Newsweek magazine said of him in October 2006, "Though the wounds from his daughter's death will never truly heal, Scott has devoted his life to preventing future Columbines ...the Rachel's Challenge non-profit organization — under Scott’s leadership — has reached out to thousands of schools to deliver a "chain reaction" of hope through school assemblies, workshops and outreach programs." Scott told Newsweek, "...principals and teachers always need to be on the lookout for that kid who's isolated, or that's quiet, who always stays to himself, because that's typically the type of kid who ends up exploding. They also need to create an atmosphere in the school where students share with someone if they ever hear or see a threat. We know there have been numerous school shootings prevented because a student saw another student writing that he wanted to kill someone or something like that. I think that taking every single threat of any kind seriously is of utmost importance, and again to me it's cultivating an atmosphere, a climate and a culture where everyone's accepted. Because when people feel accepted they're not going to do something like Eric and Dylan did."
Scott’s younger brother Craig, a 16-year old Columbine High School sophomore at the time of the shootings, was physically unharmed but witnessed several classmates being killed in the school library as he huddled under a table with two other boys, both of whom were slain. The next day, he was interviewed at length by Katie Couric on the Today show. The tearful interview, which NBC did not interrupt with normally scheduled station breaks, was described a year later by USA Today as "one of the most indelible moments of the tragedy".
Craig wrote of his sister Rachel, "...her love for people was less conditional than anyone I knew... It didn't matter to her what you looked like or who your friends were. Another thing I liked and respected so much was that she made it clear... what her beliefs were".
He continues to make frequent speaking appearances on behalf of Rachel's Challenge, urging teens to strive for a classroom "atmosphere of kindness and compassion" to stem school violence. He is also periodically interviewed on various television programs, such as 20/20, Dateline NBC, and the Today show, to discuss the loss of his sister and his difficult recovery from the traumatic ordeal he experienced as an eyewitness to the murderous rampage.
Recent years
Craig Scott with then-United States President George W. Bush at a White House meeting on October 10, 2006
At the White House Conference on School Safety held in Washington, DC, on October 10, 2006, Craig Scott addressed the President of the United States, the U.S. Attorney General, and the Secretary of Education, saying, in part, "Kindness and compassion can be the biggest antidotes to anger and hatred, and I believe the biggest antidotes to violence. We've seen bullying stopped, incidents where a student came up with hit lists or plans to shoot up his school, and told either the speaker or told the teacher about their plans, but had a change of heart. How have we done it? We've done it with a simple story of a young girl who believed in compassion, Rachel Joy Scott. But my sister is not the only one who believes in kindness, and she's not been the only one in her brave stance against the injustice willing to stand up for the one who gets put down in school, to sit by the student that sits all alone at lunch, and to talk to or reach out to the one who is consistently ignored or made fun of. She literally has inspired millions of people to continue the chain reaction she started...".
In the aftermath of the April 16, 2007, Virginia Tech massacre, Darrell and Craig Scott were interviewed on various television programs, such as Showbiz Tonight, The Oprah Winfrey Show, Fox & Friends, and Geraldo at Large, to share their thoughts about school violence and to remember Rachel Scott near the eighth anniversary of the Columbine tragedy. Craig Scott urged viewers on the Oprah show two days later to refrain from too much focus on the shooter, saying "I have found students that actually idolize the two shooters at Columbine... We've focused on my sister, who's so compassionate and kind. And from that, that's the opposite of that anger and hatred."
On April 20, 2009, the tenth anniversary of the Columbine shootings, Darrell Scott told NBC interviewer Natalie Morales on the Today show, "We've seen a lot of lives changed from her story and our program, Rachel's Challenge, has touched literally 13 million lives over the last ten years". He said that from September, 2008, to April, 2009, his organization received 105 emails from teens dissuaded from suicide because of attending a Rachel's Challenge program. In a separate interview aired the same day, Craig Scott told Morales that, "I meet a lot of hurting students out there and I share with them my hurtful story, but I'm not just carrying a sob story around ... I'm trying to share with them some of the things that I learned to get through it and to be a better person because of it". As of 2008, Craig Scott has spoken to more than one million people in making appearances for Rachel's Challenge, while pursuing a career in filmmaking. He hopes to produce inspirational films and is on the board of directors of the American Screenwriters Association.
Awards
Rachel Joy Scott was posthumously awarded the 2001 National Kindness Award for Student of the Year by the Acts of Kindness Association. In 2006, the National Education Association (NEA) of New York awarded Darrell Scott and Rachel’s Challenge the Friend of Education Award.
In June, 2009, Darrell Scott was selected in a nationwide vote of more than 750,000 baseball fans as the Colorado Rockies "All-Stars Among Us" winner, based on individual public service for his efforts in starting the Rachel's Challenge campaign. He was honored along with the other 29 winners representing all major league baseball teams as part of the pregame ceremonies at the 2009 Major League Baseball All-Star Game in St. Louis, Missouri, on July 14, 2009.
http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e124/Kellie8907/idols/rachel.jpg
http://i39.photobucket.com/albums/e184/juicyboix12/Rachel.jpg
Thank you, ninny for honoring the students of Columbine. It was so tragic.
Cat
Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: Howard on 04/20/10 at 3:01 pm
http://www.tvparty.com/bgifs18/mg11.jpg
How about The Magic Garden?
Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: ninny on 04/20/10 at 6:19 pm
Thank you, ninny for honoring the students of Columbine. It was so tragic.
Cat
Your welcome :)
Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: ninny on 04/21/10 at 4:49 am
The word of the day...Taxi
A taxi is a car driven by a person whose job is to take people where they want to go in return for money.
When an aircraft taxis along the ground, or when a pilot taxis a plane somewhere, it moves slowly along the ground.
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http://i650.photobucket.com/albums/uu224/Tucson99s/2010%20March%2013th%20Pound%20Rides/Readytotaxi.jpg
Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: ninny on 04/21/10 at 4:52 am
The person born on this day...Tony Danza
Tony Danza (born April 21, 1951) is an American actor best known for starring on the TV series Taxi and Who's the Boss?, for which Danza was nominated for an Emmy Award and four Golden Globe Awards. In 1998, Danza won the People's Choice Award for Favorite Male Performer in a New Television Series for his role on the sitcom The Tony Danza Show.
Danza was born Anthony Salvatore Iadanza in Brooklyn, New York, to parents Anne Cammisa (1925-1993) and Matty Iadanza (1920-1983). Anne was born in Campobello di Mazara (Trapani) Sicily and immigrated to the United States with five brothers and sisters in 1929. Danza has one younger brother, Matty Jr. (born 1954), who owns a restaurant in Los Angeles called Matty's on Melrose. When Danza was 14, he and his family relocated to the Long Island community of Malverne, and Danza attended Malverne High School, graduating in 1969 and was said to score a near perfect SAT score.. Danza earned a bachelor's degree in history education from the University of Dubuque, which he attended on a wrestling scholarship, graduating in 1973. It was during his first year of college that he got the Robert Crumb Keep on Truckin' tattoo on his upper right arm. In a 1985 interview in Us Weekly magazine, Danza remarked, "I was playing pool with a guy who had all these tattoos, and I wanted to be friends." Danza now also sports a "Keep Punching"/boxing gloves tattoo on his right shoulder. Also while in college, Danza met and married his first wife, Rhonda (Yeoman) Iadanza, and they have two children together.
Shortly after his college graduation, Danza was discovered by a producer at a boxing gymnasium in New York. He then earned a spot on the television show Taxi.
From 1976 to 1979, Danza was a professional boxer with a 9-3 record, with all of his fights, wins and losses, ending by knockout.
In 1986, Danza married for the second time, to Tracy Robinson. The couple divorced in 2007 and have two daughters, Katherine (born 1987) and Emily (born 1993).
In 2005, Tony Danza became a grandfather when his son Marc and his wife, Julie, had a son, Nicholas. In 2008, Danza and his son Marc published a cookbook Don't Fill Up on the Antipasto: Tony Danza's Father-Son Cookbook.
Acting and show business
Danza is best known for his roles in Taxi (1978-1983), in which he played cab driver and part-time boxer, "Tony Banta," and Who's the Boss? (1984-1992), portraying a retired baseball player working as a housekeeper and single father, "Tony Micelli."
Danza also starred in the short-lived sitcoms Hudson Street (1995) and The Tony Danza Show (1997), not to be confused with his talk show of the same name. He had a role in the TV drama Family Law from 2000 until 2002. He took his first role with a nonspeaking part as a poker player in National Lampoon's Animal House.
He was nominated for an Emmy Award for a guest-starring 1998 role in the TV series The Practice. His movie debut was in the comedy The Hollywood Knights (1980), which was followed by Going Ape! (1981). He received critical acclaim for his performance in the 1999 Broadway revival of the Eugene O'Neill play The Iceman Cometh.
In 2002, Danza released his debut album The House I Live In as a 1950s-style crooner.
Danza hosted his own TV talk show, The Tony Danza Show, a nationally syndicated program produced each weekday morning in his hometown of New York (where it aired live). On May 9, 2005, during a go-kart race with NASCAR star Rusty Wallace, who was a guest on the show, Danza's kart flipped after Wallace accidentally bumped him. Neither he nor Wallace was wearing a helmet at the time. Danza returned to go-kart racing on October 20, 2005, to challenge IndyCar driver Danica Patrick, but his brakes malfunctioned and he skidded into a wall, unharmed. His daytime talk show ended in May 2006; the last live episode aired on May 26, 2006. The last episode was celebrated with performers from the Ringling Brothers Traveling Circus.
He starred on Broadway as "Max Bialystock" in The Producers, from December 19, 2006, to March 11, 2007.
As of August 2007, he is continuing his starring role in The Producers at the Paris Las Vegas.
He reprised his role as "Max Bialystock" in The Producers, at the Paris Las Vegas from August 13, 2007, to February 9, 2008.
In May 2008, Danza released, Don't Fill Up On the Antipasto: Tony Danza's Father-Son Cookbook, a cookbook written by him and his son Marc, a chef.
In September 2008, it was reported that Danza will host The Contender Season 4. The full season was recorded in Singapore and will start December 3, 2008, on the Versus TV sports channel.
In August 2009, it was reported that Danza will star in a new A&E reality show "Teach" in which he will co-instruct a 10th Grade English class at Northeast High School in Philadelphia. Filming has begun since September 8, 2009 during the school hours.
The mathcore band The Tony Danza Tapdance Extravaganza is named after Tony Danza.
Filmography
* The Hollywood Knights (1980) ... Duke went by the name of Tony Nancy listed in credits
* Going Ape! (1981) ... Foster
* Cannonball Run II (1984) ... Terry
* Mr. Thompson and His Bananas (1988) ... Geraldo Thompson
* She's Out of Control (1989) ... Doug Simpson
* I'm From Hollywood (1992) ... Cameo
* Angels in the Outfield (1994) ... Mel Clark
* Illtown (1996) ... D'Avalon
* Dear God (1996) ... Himself
* Glam (1997) ... Sid
* The Girl Gets Moe (1997) (on video) ... Moe
* A Brooklyn State of Mind (1997) ... Louie Crisci
* Meet Wally Sparks (1997) ... New York Cab Driver
* The Whisper (2004) .... Simon
* Crash (2005) ... Fred
* The Nail: The Story of Joey Nardone (2009) ... Chickie
* Aftermath (2009) .... King
* Firedog (2010) (voice) .... Rocky
TV appearances
* Taxi (1978) (series) ... Tony Banta
* Murder Can Hurt You (1980) ... Pony Lambretta
* Single Bars, Single Women (1984) ... Dennis
* Who's the Boss? (1984) (series) ... Anthony Morton "Tony" Micelli
* Doing Life (1986) ... Jerry Rosenberg
* Freedom Fighter (1988) ... Vic Ross
* The Whereabouts of Jenny (1991) ... Rowdy Patron
* Baby Talk (1991) (series) (voice) ... Baby Mickey Campbell
* Dead and Alive: The Race for Gus Farace (1991) ... Constible Farace
* The Mighty Jungle (1994) (series) (voice) ... Vinnie, the Alligator
* Deadly Whispers (1995) ... Tom Acton
* Hudson Street (1995) (series) ... Tony Canetti
* Sinatra: 80 Years My Way (1995) ... Cameo
* Freakazoid! (1996) ... Cameo Reference
* Berenstain Bears (1985) ... voices
* Bob Hope: Laughing with the Presidents (1996) ... Co-host
* North Shore Fish (1996) ... Sal
* 12 Angry Men (1997) ... Juror #7
* The Tony Danza Show (1997) (series) ... Tony DiMeo
* The Garbage Picking Field Goal Kicking Philadelphia Phenomenon (1998) ... Barney Gorman
* Noah (1998) ... Norman Waters
* The Practice (1999)
* Family Law (2000) ... Joe Celano
* Miss America Pageant (2001) ... Host
* Stealing Christmas (2003) ... Jack Clayton
* The Tony Danza Show (2004 – 2006) (talk show) ... Host
* All My Children (2005) (guest) ... Hotel Mgr.
* Rita Rocks (2008) ... Jay's Boss
* The Contender 4 (2008) ... Host
* Hannity (2009) ... Special Guest
http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/kk233/angievelarde/Tony_Danza.jpg
http://i144.photobucket.com/albums/r162/nativewolf74/danza.jpg
Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: ninny on 04/21/10 at 4:57 am
the person who died on this day...Sandy Denny
Sandy Denny (6 January 1947 – 21 April 1978), born Alexandra Elene Maclean Denny, was an English singer and songwriter who has been described by Allmusic's Richie Unterberger as "the pre-eminent British folk rock singer". She emerged in the mid 1960s while still a teenager, performing on the folk revival scene where she displayed her mastery of traditional singing and interpretation. Her song, "Who Knows Where the Time Goes?", written during these early years, has been covered by numerous artists and is regarded as a classic of its type.
Denny's renown grew after her death, and her songs have been covered by many other artists. She is considered a founder of the British folk rock movement and perhaps its most important female singer and personality. It has been suggested that her effortless and smooth vocal delivery still sets the standard for many of today's female folk-based singers.
Over a ten year career Sandy Denny left an extensive legacy and remains influential. She is remembered for the crystal-clear purity but also the strength of her voice as well as her pivotal involvement with the British folk rock movement, where, as a member of Fairport Convention, she moved the band away from west coast American cover versions and into performing traditional material and original compositions. She is also noted for her duet with Robert Plant on Led Zeppelin's fourth album in 1971, on the song "The Battle of Evermore", and to date she remains the only guest vocalist on a Led Zeppelin album.
Denny was born at Nelson Hospital, Kingston Road, Merton Park, London and studied classical piano as a child. Her Scottish grandmother was a singer of traditional songs. At an early age Denny showed an interest in singing, despite the disapproval of her strict parents. Sandy Denny attended Coombe Girls' School in Kingston upon Thames. After leaving school, she started training as a nurse at the Royal Brompton Hospital.
Early career
In 1965, after graduating from the Kingston School of Art she enrolled at the Wimbledon College of Art (Night Class) in London, where she became involved in the folk club on campus. Contemporaries included John Renbourn, Jimmy Page, and Eric Clapton. After her first public appearance at the Barge in Kingston-Upon-Thames Sandy started working the folk club circuit in the evenings with an American-influenced repertoire, including songs by Tom Paxton, together with folk songs. She travelled in to Earls Court to play at The Troubadour folk club, where a member of Strawbs heard her. In 1967, she was invited to join the band, and recorded one album with them in Denmark. The album includes an early version of her best-known (and widely covered) song, Who Knows Where the Time Goes. Judy Collins recorded the song, helping to bring attention to Sandy Denny.
Denny's earliest professional recordings were made in mid-1967 for the Saga Records label, featuring traditional songs and covers of folk contemporaries including a boyfriend of this period, Jackson C. Frank. They were released on the albums Alex Campbell and his Friends and Sandy and Johnny. These recordings were collected on the 1970 album It's Sandy Denny.
Professional career
Following the departure of Judy Dyble after their debut album, Fairport Convention conducted auditions in 1968 for a replacement singer, and Denny became the obvious choice. Simon Nicol has said "it was a one horse race really ... she stood out like a clean glass in a sink full of dirty dishes". Initially recording three albums with them including the influential Liege & Lief, Denny is credited with encouraging Fairport Convention to explore the traditional British folk repertoire, and is thus regarded as a key figure in the development of British folk rock.
Denny left Fairport Convention in 1969, after recording and, very briefly, touring Liege & Lief. The other members of Fairport were interested in exploring folk rock, but Denny wanted to develop her own songwriting. She formed her own band, Fotheringay, which included her boyfriend, Australian born Trevor Lucas, but dissolved the group after one album to record solo albums, with several members of Fairport Convention as guests. The North Star Grassman and the Ravens and Sandy remain her most popular solo albums and Melody Maker twice voted her the "Best Female Singer" in 1971 and 1972. In 1973, she married Lucas and returned to Fairport Convention in 1975 for a world tour and another album, Rising for the Moon, which featured several of her own compositions.
During her solo period, Denny appeared in a brief cameo on Lou Reizner's version of The Who's rock opera, Tommy, and duetted memorably with Robert Plant on "The Battle of Evermore" from Led Zeppelin's 1971 album (Led Zeppelin IV), becoming the only guest vocalist ever to appear on a Led Zeppelin album.
Together with contemporaries including Richard Thompson and Ashley Hutchings, she participated in a one-off project called The Bunch to record a collection of rock and roll era standards released under the title of "Rock On".
She gained a devoted cult following, but remained deprecating of her talent and unsure of her true direction. Some of her best-loved recordings are interpretations of British traditional songs. Denny herself was unsure as to whether she wanted to continue in that vein (in the manner of Steeleye Span and Maddy Prior) or that of a singer-songwriter like Joni Mitchell. She yearned for success in the mass market, but her shy, unpredictable nature and insecurity about her appearance were impediments. Her solo albums feature efforts in all three directions, gaining her a reputation for charming eclecticism rather than the stardom she and Lucas craved.
Her charisma and extraordinary alto voice were never in doubt. The stress of the Fairport Convention world tour in 1974 made it apparent that Denny's heavy drinking and smoking were damaging her voice, inclining her to put elaborate string arrangements on her last two solo albums, Like an Old Fashioned Waltz and Rendezvous, which were not well received by the critics. Denny began to question her career goals and turned her attention to raising a family. Her substance abuse became critical and her behaviour began to worry and even alienate most of her fellow musicians, including Lucas and her erstwhile Fairport Convention colleagues.
A live album, Gold Dust, was released in 1998.
Death
In March 1978, while on holiday with her parents in Cornwall, Denny was injured when she fell down a staircase. A month after the fall she collapsed at a friend's home; four days later she died in Atkinson Morley Hospital. Her death was ruled to be the result of a traumatic mid-brain haemorrhage. It has been suggested that Denny's problems arose from substance abuse and uncertainty about her career path, but Jill Broun, a close friend, attributes the haemorrhage to a brain tumour. This would also explain the headaches and collapses which she suffered for some time prior to her death, the fall down stairs at her parents' home and her final fatal collapse. She is buried at Putney Vale Cemetery.
At the time of her death she was living apart from Trevor Lucas and her daughter Georgia, who had travelled to Lucas' native Australia. Lucas died in 1989 of heart failure.
Tributes, references
* Former Fairport Convention bandmate Richard Thompson's tune "That's All, Amen, Close The Door" on 1999's Mock Tudor is about Sandy Denny.
* Dave Pegg of Fairport Convention recorded the tribute "Song for Sandy" on his 1983 solo album The Cocktail Cowboy Goes It Alone.
* In 1998, a variety of Daylily was named after her.
* Mandy Morton and Spriguns changed the title of their 1978 album to Magic Lady after hearing of Denny's death while recording.
* Dave Cousins of Strawbs wrote "Ringing Down the Years" in memory of Sandy Denny as early as 1978-1979, and the song was first published as a single in 1979. The song is the title track on the Strawbs 1991 album Ringing Down the Years, and is also found on the CD Georgia On Our Mind, published for the benefit of Sandy Denny's daughter.
* The New Zealand-born singer-songwriter Paul Metsers wrote a tribute, "Sandy's Song", which appears on his 1981 album Caution to the Wind.
* Yo La Tengo covered Sandy Denny's song "By the Time it Gets Dark" on their 1998 EP, Little Honda.
* Mark Olson's (founding member of the Jayhawks) 2007 album The Salvation Blues has a song entitled "Sandy Denny".
* The Ocean Colour Scene's song "She's Been Writing" (from the North Atlantic Drift album) is about Sandy Denny.
* Kate Bush's song, "Blow Away (For Bill)" on her album Never for Ever, mentions Sandy Denny. In this song Kate Bush ponders the existence of an afterlife and recalls departed friends and musicians. Buddy Holly and Marc Bolan are among the others mentioned.
* The song "Remember", on the Groove Armada album Lovebox (2003), is composed of Denny's vocals, sampled from her song "Autopsy" (from Fairport Convention's Unhalfbricking album), backed by The London Community Gospel Choir.
* Philip Lynott of Thin Lizzy recorded "A Tribute to Sandy Denny", the instrumental version of which was played at his funeral in January 1986 at Howth, Dublin, by a local band Clann Éadair. The song was written by band member Pearse 'Snowy' McLaughlin and released by Irish independent label Crashed Records. It was one of Lynott's last recorded vocals.
* Tim Rogers mentions Sandy Denny in a song about turning twenty-eight on his 1999 album What Rhymes With Cars And Girls. The lyric is "you dreamt she sang like Sandy Denny and smoked like a malle tree".
* In the 2007 BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards "Who Knows Where the Time Goes" was voted "Favourite Folk Track of All Time" by the audience.
* Ex-Marillion frontman Fish covered "Solo" on his 1993 album Songs from the Mirror.
* Paul Westerberg included the first few lines of "Who Knows Where The Time Goes" at the end of the song "Folk Star" on his 2004 album Folker.
* Linde Nijland recorded the album of cover versions, Linde Nijland sings Sandy Denny, in 2003.
* In April 2008, a tribute concert was held at The Troubadour in London, to mark the thirtieth anniversary of Denny's death. Those taking part included Martin Carthy, Linda Thompson and Joe Boyd.
* A further tribute concert, ‘The Lady: A Tribute to Sandy Denny’, took place at London’s Southbank Centre, in December 2008, earning a 4* review in The Guardian. Backed by members of Bellowhead, artists on that occasion included Marc Almond, Jim Moray, Dave Swarbrick, PP Arnold and Mary Epworth.
* In 2008, Bob Harris made the BBC Radio 2 documentary portrait "The Sandy Denny Story: Who knows where the time goes", including Sandy Denny archive interview material and interviews with Robert Plant, Joe Boyd, Linde Nijland, Richard Thompson and others. The documentary was awarded silver at the Sony Radio Awards in 2009.
Discography
Albums
Year Title Context Type
1967 Alex Campbell and his Friends Alex Campbell Studio
1967 Sandy and Johnny Sandy and Johnny Studio
1968 All Our Own Work Sandy Denny and the Strawbs Studio
1968 - 69 Heyday Fairport Convention Studio
1969 (January) What We Did on Our Holidays Fairport Convention Studio
1969 (June) Unhalfbricking Fairport Convention Studio
1969 (December) Liege & Lief Fairport Convention Studio
1970 (June) Fotheringay Fotheringay Studio
1970 It's Sandy Denny Compilation
1971 (September) The North Star Grassman and the Ravens Solo Studio
1972 Rock On The Bunch Studio
1972 (September) Sandy Solo Studio
1973 (June) Like an Old Fashioned Waltz Solo Studio
1974 Fairport Live Convention Fairport Convention Live
1975 Rising for the Moon Fairport Convention Studio
1977 Rendezvous Solo Studio
1985 Who Knows Where the Time Goes? (boxed set) Mixed Compilation
1991 Sandy Denny and the Strawbs Sandy Denny and the Strawbs Reissue
1997 The BBC Sessions 1971-1973 Solo Studio
1998 Gold Dust Solo Live
2000 No More Sad Refrains: The Anthology (2 CD set) Mixed Compilation
2004 A Boxful of Treasures (5 CD set) Mixed Compilation
2007 Live at the BBC (boxed set) Solo Studio
2008 Fotheringay 2 Fotheringay Studio
Singles
Year Title Context Catalogue
1968 "Meet On The Ledge"/"Throwaway Street Puzzle" Fairport Convention Island Records WIP 6047
1969 "Si Tu Dois Partir"/"Genesis Hall" Fairport Convention Island Records WIP 6064
1970 "Peace In The End"/"Winter Winds" Fotheringay Island Records WIP 6085
1972 "When Will I Be Loved?"/"Willie & the Hand Jive" The Bunch Island Records WIP 6130
1972 "Listen, Listen"/"Tomorrow Is a Long Time" Solo Island Records WIP 6142
1974 "Whispering Grass"/"Until the Real Thing Comes Along" Solo Island Records WIP 6176
1974 "Like an Old Fashioned Waltz"/"Friends" Solo Island Records WIP 6195
1977 "Candle in the Wind"/"Still Waters Run Deep" Solo Island Records WIP 6391
Guest appearances
* 1969, The Young Tradition's album Galleries (Transatlantic TRA 172)
* 1970, Stefan Grossman's album The Ragtime Cowboy Jew (Transatlantic) backing vocals in the chorus of "A Pretty Little Tune"
* 1971, Iain Matthews' (then: Ian Matthews) album If You Saw Thro' My Eyes (Vertigo), his first solo album, she provided piano and backing vocals.
* 1971, "The Battle of Evermore" on Led Zeppelin's fourth album, where she sings a duet with Robert Plant; in the footnotes of that album's sleeve notes, she is credited and has her own rune symbol of three triangles much like the symbols chosen by the other members of Led Zeppelin.
* 1972, two tracks, "Here In Silence" and "Man of Iron" for the film Pass of Arms
* 1972, stage version of the Who's Tommy performed with the London Symphony Orchestra; Sandy plays the nurse and sings "It's a Boy"
* 1975, Charlie Drake's "You Never Know" single for Charisma Records (CB270), produced by Peter Gabriel
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Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: Howard on 04/21/10 at 6:48 am
The person born on this day...Tony Danza
Tony Danza (born April 21, 1951) is an American actor best known for starring on the TV series Taxi and Who's the Boss?, for which Danza was nominated for an Emmy Award and four Golden Globe Awards. In 1998, Danza won the People's Choice Award for Favorite Male Performer in a New Television Series for his role on the sitcom The Tony Danza Show.
Danza was born Anthony Salvatore Iadanza in Brooklyn, New York, to parents Anne Cammisa (1925-1993) and Matty Iadanza (1920-1983). Anne was born in Campobello di Mazara (Trapani) Sicily and immigrated to the United States with five brothers and sisters in 1929. Danza has one younger brother, Matty Jr. (born 1954), who owns a restaurant in Los Angeles called Matty's on Melrose. When Danza was 14, he and his family relocated to the Long Island community of Malverne, and Danza attended Malverne High School, graduating in 1969 and was said to score a near perfect SAT score.. Danza earned a bachelor's degree in history education from the University of Dubuque, which he attended on a wrestling scholarship, graduating in 1973. It was during his first year of college that he got the Robert Crumb Keep on Truckin' tattoo on his upper right arm. In a 1985 interview in Us Weekly magazine, Danza remarked, "I was playing pool with a guy who had all these tattoos, and I wanted to be friends." Danza now also sports a "Keep Punching"/boxing gloves tattoo on his right shoulder. Also while in college, Danza met and married his first wife, Rhonda (Yeoman) Iadanza, and they have two children together.
Shortly after his college graduation, Danza was discovered by a producer at a boxing gymnasium in New York. He then earned a spot on the television show Taxi.
From 1976 to 1979, Danza was a professional boxer with a 9-3 record, with all of his fights, wins and losses, ending by knockout.
In 1986, Danza married for the second time, to Tracy Robinson. The couple divorced in 2007 and have two daughters, Katherine (born 1987) and Emily (born 1993).
In 2005, Tony Danza became a grandfather when his son Marc and his wife, Julie, had a son, Nicholas. In 2008, Danza and his son Marc published a cookbook Don't Fill Up on the Antipasto: Tony Danza's Father-Son Cookbook.
Acting and show business
Danza is best known for his roles in Taxi (1978-1983), in which he played cab driver and part-time boxer, "Tony Banta," and Who's the Boss? (1984-1992), portraying a retired baseball player working as a housekeeper and single father, "Tony Micelli."
Danza also starred in the short-lived sitcoms Hudson Street (1995) and The Tony Danza Show (1997), not to be confused with his talk show of the same name. He had a role in the TV drama Family Law from 2000 until 2002. He took his first role with a nonspeaking part as a poker player in National Lampoon's Animal House.
He was nominated for an Emmy Award for a guest-starring 1998 role in the TV series The Practice. His movie debut was in the comedy The Hollywood Knights (1980), which was followed by Going Ape! (1981). He received critical acclaim for his performance in the 1999 Broadway revival of the Eugene O'Neill play The Iceman Cometh.
In 2002, Danza released his debut album The House I Live In as a 1950s-style crooner.
Danza hosted his own TV talk show, The Tony Danza Show, a nationally syndicated program produced each weekday morning in his hometown of New York (where it aired live). On May 9, 2005, during a go-kart race with NASCAR star Rusty Wallace, who was a guest on the show, Danza's kart flipped after Wallace accidentally bumped him. Neither he nor Wallace was wearing a helmet at the time. Danza returned to go-kart racing on October 20, 2005, to challenge IndyCar driver Danica Patrick, but his brakes malfunctioned and he skidded into a wall, unharmed. His daytime talk show ended in May 2006; the last live episode aired on May 26, 2006. The last episode was celebrated with performers from the Ringling Brothers Traveling Circus.
He starred on Broadway as "Max Bialystock" in The Producers, from December 19, 2006, to March 11, 2007.
As of August 2007, he is continuing his starring role in The Producers at the Paris Las Vegas.
He reprised his role as "Max Bialystock" in The Producers, at the Paris Las Vegas from August 13, 2007, to February 9, 2008.
In May 2008, Danza released, Don't Fill Up On the Antipasto: Tony Danza's Father-Son Cookbook, a cookbook written by him and his son Marc, a chef.
In September 2008, it was reported that Danza will host The Contender Season 4. The full season was recorded in Singapore and will start December 3, 2008, on the Versus TV sports channel.
In August 2009, it was reported that Danza will star in a new A&E reality show "Teach" in which he will co-instruct a 10th Grade English class at Northeast High School in Philadelphia. Filming has begun since September 8, 2009 during the school hours.
The mathcore band The Tony Danza Tapdance Extravaganza is named after Tony Danza.
Filmography
* The Hollywood Knights (1980) ... Duke went by the name of Tony Nancy listed in credits
* Going Ape! (1981) ... Foster
* Cannonball Run II (1984) ... Terry
* Mr. Thompson and His Bananas (1988) ... Geraldo Thompson
* She's Out of Control (1989) ... Doug Simpson
* I'm From Hollywood (1992) ... Cameo
* Angels in the Outfield (1994) ... Mel Clark
* Illtown (1996) ... D'Avalon
* Dear God (1996) ... Himself
* Glam (1997) ... Sid
* The Girl Gets Moe (1997) (on video) ... Moe
* A Brooklyn State of Mind (1997) ... Louie Crisci
* Meet Wally Sparks (1997) ... New York Cab Driver
* The Whisper (2004) .... Simon
* Crash (2005) ... Fred
* The Nail: The Story of Joey Nardone (2009) ... Chickie
* Aftermath (2009) .... King
* Firedog (2010) (voice) .... Rocky
TV appearances
* Taxi (1978) (series) ... Tony Banta
* Murder Can Hurt You (1980) ... Pony Lambretta
* Single Bars, Single Women (1984) ... Dennis
* Who's the Boss? (1984) (series) ... Anthony Morton "Tony" Micelli
* Doing Life (1986) ... Jerry Rosenberg
* Freedom Fighter (1988) ... Vic Ross
* The Whereabouts of Jenny (1991) ... Rowdy Patron
* Baby Talk (1991) (series) (voice) ... Baby Mickey Campbell
* Dead and Alive: The Race for Gus Farace (1991) ... Constible Farace
* The Mighty Jungle (1994) (series) (voice) ... Vinnie, the Alligator
* Deadly Whispers (1995) ... Tom Acton
* Hudson Street (1995) (series) ... Tony Canetti
* Sinatra: 80 Years My Way (1995) ... Cameo
* Freakazoid! (1996) ... Cameo Reference
* Berenstain Bears (1985) ... voices
* Bob Hope: Laughing with the Presidents (1996) ... Co-host
* North Shore Fish (1996) ... Sal
* 12 Angry Men (1997) ... Juror #7
* The Tony Danza Show (1997) (series) ... Tony DiMeo
* The Garbage Picking Field Goal Kicking Philadelphia Phenomenon (1998) ... Barney Gorman
* Noah (1998) ... Norman Waters
* The Practice (1999)
* Family Law (2000) ... Joe Celano
* Miss America Pageant (2001) ... Host
* Stealing Christmas (2003) ... Jack Clayton
* The Tony Danza Show (2004 – 2006) (talk show) ... Host
* All My Children (2005) (guest) ... Hotel Mgr.
* Rita Rocks (2008) ... Jay's Boss
* The Contender 4 (2008) ... Host
* Hannity (2009) ... Special Guest
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Here is Tony with gray hair.
Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: ninny on 04/21/10 at 7:50 am
http://www.contactmusic.com/pics/mb/Lizas_At_The_Palace_departures_041208/tony_danza_2201377.jpg
Here is Tony with gray hair.
Thanks Howie
Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: Frank on 04/21/10 at 3:11 pm
Hard to believe he is almost 60.
Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: ninny on 04/21/10 at 5:06 pm
Hard to believe he is almost 60.
That's what I was thinking.
Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: Howard on 04/21/10 at 7:14 pm
Hard to believe he is almost 60.
and I remember him from Who's The Boss.
Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: ninny on 04/22/10 at 4:25 am
The word of the day...Nights
nights is a morphological form of night
The night is the part of each day when the sun has set and it is dark outside, especially the time when people are sleeping
The night is the period of time between the end of the afternoon and the time that you go to bed, especially the time when you relax before going to bed
A particular night is a particular evening when a special event takes place, such as a show or a play
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Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: ninny on 04/22/10 at 4:29 am
The person born on this day...Glenn Campbell
Glen Travis Campbell (born April 22, 1936 in Delight, Arkansas) is a Grammy, Dove Award-winning and two time Golden Globe-nominated American country pop singer, guitarist and occasional actor. He is best known for a series of hits in the 1960s and 1970s, as well as for hosting a television variety show called The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour on CBS television.
Campbell's hits include John Hartford's "Gentle on My Mind", Jimmy Webb's "By the Time I Get to Phoenix" and "Wichita Lineman", Allen Toussaint's "Southern Nights" and Larry Weiss's "Rhinestone Cowboy". Campbell made history by winning a Grammy in both country and pop categories in 1967: "Gentle on My Mind" snatched the country honors, and "By the Time I Get to Phoenix" won in pop. He owns trophies for Male Vocalist of the Year from both the CMA and the ACM, and took the CMA's top honor as Entertainer of the Year.
During his 50 years in show business, Campbell has released more than 70 albums. He has sold 45 million records and racked up 12 RIAA Gold albums, 4 Platinum albums and 1 Double-Platinum album. Of his 75 trips up the charts, 27 landed in the Top 10. Campbell was hand-picked by actor John Wayne to play alongside him in the 1969 film True Grit, which gave Campbell a Golden Globe nomination for Most Promising Newcomer, and gave Wayne his only Academy Award. Campbell sang and had a hit with the title song (by the same name) which was nominated for an Academy Award. He performed it live at that year's Academy Awards Show.
In 2005, Campbell was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame.
Campbell, one of twelve children born right outside the tiny community of Delight in Pike County, Arkansas, in a town called Billstown, then a community of fewer than one hundred residents, started playing guitar as a youth without learning to read music. Though widely reported that Glen is a seventh son of a seventh son, that information is not true. Campbell said that at the age of one and a half he almost drowned but was revived. He often reflects on this and thanks God for giving him a second chance at life
By the time he was eighteen, he was touring the South as part of the Western Wranglers. In 1958, he moved to Los Angeles to become a session musician. He was part of the 1959 line-up of the group The Champs, famous for their instrumental "Tequila".
Campbell was in great demand as a session musician in the 1960s. He was part of the famous studio musicians clique known as "The Wrecking Crew," many of whom went from session to session together as the same group. In addition to Campbell, Hal Blaine on drums, Leon Russell on piano, Carol Kaye on bass guitar, and Al Casey on guitar were part of this elite group of session musicians that defined many pop and rock recordings of the era. They were also heard on Phil Spector's "Wall of Sound" recordings in the early 1960s.
He is heard on some of the biggest-selling records of the era by such artists as Bobby Darin, Ricky Nelson, The Kingston Trio, Merle Haggard, The Monkees, Elvis Presley, Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, The Troggs, Frankie Laine, The Association, Jan & Dean, and The Mamas & the Papas.
He was a touring member of The Beach Boys, filling in for Brian Wilson in 1964 and 1965. He played guitar on the group's Pet Sounds album, among other recordings. On tour, he played bass guitar and sang falsetto harmonies.
Other classics featuring his guitar playing include: "Strangers in the Night" by Frank Sinatra, "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'" by The Righteous Brothers, and "I'm a Believer" by The Monkees.
He can be seen briefly in the 1965 film Baby the Rain Must Fall, playing guitar in support of Steve McQueen.
Campbell was also the uncredited lead vocalist on "My World Fell Down" by the psychedelic rock act Sagittarius, which became a minor hit in 1967.
Late 1960s
As a solo artist, he had moderate success regionally with his first single, "Turn Around, Look at Me." "Too Late to Worry, Too Blue to Cry" and "Kentucky Means Paradise" (cut with a bluegrass group called the Green River Boys) were similarly popular within only a small section of the country audience.
In 1962, Campbell signed with Capitol Records and released two instrumental albums and a number of vocal albums during his first five years with the label. However, despite releasing singles written by Brian Wilson ("Guess I'm Dumb" in 1965) and Buffy Sainte-Marie the same year ("The Universal Soldier"), Campbell was not achieving major success as a solo artist. It was rumored that Capitol was considering dropping him from the label in 1966, when he was teamed with producer Al DeLory, and together they collaborated on 1967's Dylanesque "Gentle On My Mind," written by John Hartford.
The overnight success of "Gentle On My Mind" proved Campbell was ready to break through to the mainstream. It was followed by the even bigger triumph of "By the Time I Get to Phoenix" later in 1967, and "I Wanna Live" and "Wichita Lineman" in 1968.
Campbell would win two Grammy Awards, for his performances on "Gentle on My Mind" and "By the Time I Get to Phoenix."
His biggest hits in 1968-69 were with evocative songs written by Jimmy Webb: "By the Time I Get to Phoenix," "Wichita Lineman," "Where's The Playground, Susie?" and "Galveston." An album of mainly Webb-penned compositions, Reunion: The Songs of Jimmy Webb, was released in 1974, but it produced no hit single records.
"Wichita Lineman" was selected as one of the greatest songs of the 20th century by Mojo magazine in 1997 and by Blender in 2001.
1970s: The Goodtime Hour, Rhinestone Cowboy, and Southern Nights
After he hosted a 1968 summer replacement for television's The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour variety show, Campbell hosted his own weekly variety show, The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour, from January 1969 through June 1972. At the height of his popularity, a 1970 biography by Freda Kramer, The Glen Campbell Story, was published.
With Campbell's session-work connections, he hosted major names in music on his show including: The Beatles (on film), David Gates and Bread, The Monkees, Neil Diamond, Linda Ronstadt, Johnny Cash, Merle Haggard, Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Roger Miller and helped launch the careers of Anne Murray, Mel Tillis and Jerry Reed who were regulars on his Goodtime Hour program.
In 1973, banjo player Carl Jackson joined Campbell's band for 12 years and went on to win two Grammy awards.
During the late 1960s and early 1970s, Campbell released a long series of singles and appeared in the movies True Grit (1969) with John Wayne and Kim Darby and Norwood (1970) with Kim Darby and Joe Namath.
In 1971, Campbell took his show The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour on the road for two nights to The Muny in Forest Park, (the largest and oldest outdoor theater in America) in St. Louis, Missouri.
After the cancellation of his CBS series in 1972, Campbell remained a regular on network television. He co-starred in a made-for-television movie, Strange Homecoming with Robert Culp and up and coming teen idol, Leif Garrett. He hosted a number of television specials, including 1976's Down Home, Down Under with Olivia Newton-John. He co-hosted the American Music Awards from 1976–78 and headlined the 1979 NBC special, "Glen Campbell: Back To Basics" with guest-stars Seals and Crofts and Brenda Lee. He was a guest on many network talk and variety shows, including: Donny & Marie, The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, Cher, The Redd Foxx Comedy Hour, Merv Griffin, The Midnight Special with Wolfman Jack, DINAH!, Evening at Pops with Arthur Fiedler and The Mike Douglas Show. From 1982–83 he hosted a 30 minute syndicated music show on NBC, The Glen Campbell Music Show.
In the mid-1970s, he had more big hits with "Rhinestone Cowboy", "Southern Nights" (both U.S. #1 hits), "Sunflower" (U.S. #39) (written by Neil Diamond), and "Country Boy (You Got Your Feet in L.A.)." (U.S. #11).
"Rhinestone Cowboy" was Campbell's largest-selling single, initially with over 2 million copies sold in a matter of months. Campbell had heard the songwriter Larry Weiss' version while on tour of Australia in 1974 and felt it was the perfect song for him to record. It was included in the Jaws movie parody song "Mr. Jaws" which also reached the top 10 in 1975. "Rhinestone Cowboy" continues to be used in movie soundtracks and TV shows, including "Desperate Housewives", Daddy Day Care, and High School High. It was the inspiration for the 1984 Dolly Parton/Sylvester Stallone movie Rhinestone.
Campbell made a techno/pop version of the song in 2002 with UK artists Rikki & Daz and went to the top 10 in the UK with the dance version and related music video.
"Southern Nights," by Allen Toussaint, his other #1 pop-rock-country crossover hit was generated with the help of Jimmy Webb who turned Campbell onto the song and Jerry Reed who inspired the famous guitar lick introduction to the song, which was the most-played jukebox number of 1977.
1980s–2000s: Later Career and Country Music Hall of Fame Induction
After his #1 crossover chart successes in the mid- to late 1970s, Campbell's career cooled off. He left Capitol Records in 1981 after a reported dispute over the song "Highwayman" written by Jimmy Webb that the label would not release as a single. The song would become a #1 country hit in 1985 when it was performed by The Highwaymen, a quartet of country legends: Willie Nelson, Kris Kristofferson, Waylon Jennings and Johnny Cash.
Campbell made a cameo appearance in the 1980 Clint Eastwood movie Any Which Way You Can, for which he recorded the title song.
Although he would never reach the top 40 pop charts after 1978, Glen Campbell continued to reach the country top 10 throughout the 1980s with songs such as "Faithless Love", "A Lady Like You", "Still Within The Sound of My Voice" and "The Hand That Rocks The Cradle" (a duet with Steve Wariner).
When Campbell began having trouble reaching the charts, he began to abuse himself with drugs. At the same time, he was frequently featured in the tabloids, particularly during his affair with Tanya Tucker. By 1989, however, he had quit drugs and was regularly reaching the country Top 10; songs like "She's Gone, Gone, Gone" were extremely popular.
In the 1990s, Campbell had slowed from recording, though he has not quit entirely. In all, over 40 of his albums reached the charts. In 1992, he voiced the character of Chanticleer in the animated film, Rock-A-Doodle. In 1994, his autobiography, Rhinestone Cowboy, was published.
In 1992 he began headlining the 4,000 seat Grand Palace theatre in Branson, Missouri. He would go on to open his own 2,000 seat theatre in the tourist town in 1994. The theatre was named The Glen Campbell Goodtime Theatre. Later he would leave his permanent residence in the Branson theatre district and would appear in limited engagements at the Grand Palace and Andy Williams’ Moon River Theatre.
In 1999 Campbell was featured on VH-1's Behind the Music, A&E Network's Biography in 2001, and on a number of CMT programs. Campbell ranked 29th on CMT's 40 Greatest Men of Country Music in 2003.
He is also credited with giving Alan Jackson his first big break. Campbell met Jackson's wife (a flight attendant with Piedmont Airlines) at the Atlanta Airport and gave her his publishing manager's business card. Jackson went to work for Campbell's music publishing business in the early 1990s and later had many of his hit songs published in part by Campbell's company, Seventh Son Music. Campbell also served as an inspiration to Keith Urban. Urban cites Campbell as a strong influence on his performing career.
Although for almost a decade Campbell had professed his sobriety to fans at concerts and in his autobiography, in November 2003 he was arrested for drunk driving that included a charge of battery to a police officer (later dropped). He was sentenced to 10 days in jail and community service, due to the high level of intoxication.
In 2005, Campbell was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame.
In February 2008, Glen performed with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra at The Sydney Opera House in his 'Farewell to Australia' tour. In the lead up to the tour, Campbell spoke with Country HQ in Dec 2007 in an interview where he not only reflected on his stellar career, but also his plans for the upcoming tour and more details on proposed CD with songwriter Jimmy Webb.
It was announced in April 2008 that Campbell was returning to his signature label, Capitol, to release his new album, Meet Glen Campbell. The album was released on August 19. With this album he has branched off in a different musical direction, covering tracks from artists such as Travis, U2, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Jackson Browne and Foo Fighters. It is Campbell's first release on Capitol in over 15 years. Musicians from Cheap Trick and Jellyfish contributed to the album as well. The first single, a cover of Green Day's "Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)", was released to radio in July 2008. Glen Campbell was a musical guest on The Late, Late Show with Craig Ferguson on February 13, 2009. Glen sang "Rhinestone Cowboy."
Personal life
Campbell has been married 4 times and is the father of eight children, now ranging in age from 20 to 52 (5 sons and 3 daughters). Shortly after his second wife Billie divorced him in 1975, he had an affair with and later married singer Mac Davis' second wife, Sarah Barg, in 1976. They had one child together (Dillon) and then divorced. Subsequently, in his mid 40s he had a relationship with the 21 year-old country star Tanya Tucker. He has been married to Kimberly Woolen since 1982. Woolen was a Radio City Music Hall Rockette when she and Glen met on a blind date in 1981. A few near-death drug experiences and an ultimatum from his wife led him to give up drugs and claim to give up alcohol. They have three children together. Glen's eldest daughter, Debby, has been touring across the globe with her father since 1987 and performs many of the duets made famous by Campbell with Bobbie Gentry and Anne Murray.
In November 2003, Campbell was arrested on drunk driving and hit and run charges. According to the police report, Campbell drove his BMW into another auto at a Phoenix intersection. He left the accident scene, but was arrested at his nearby home. After he was booked into a Maricopa County lockup, Campbell kneed a sergeant in the thigh--for which the country star was hit with an aggravated assault on a police officer charge. Campbell plead guilty in May 2004 to extreme DUI and leaving the scene of an accident and received a 10-day jail sentence.
Glen is an avid golfer and hosted his namesake GLEN CAMPBELL LOS ANGELES OPEN Golf Tournament at the Riveria Country Club from 1971-83. It was a major event on the PGA circuit. Glen was ranked in the top #15 celebrity golfers list by Golf Digest magazine in 2005.
Discography
Main article: Glen Campbell discography
Videography
Main article: Glen Campbell videos
Industry Awards
Academy of Country Music
* 1967 Album of the Year - Gentle on My Mind
* 1967 Top Male Vocalist
* 1968 Album of the Year - Bobbie Gentry & Glen Campbell
* 1968 Top Male Vocalist
* 1968 TV Personality of the Year
* 1971 TV Personality of the Year
* 1975 Single of the Year - "Rhinestone Cowboy"
American Music Awards
* 1976 Favorite Pop/Rock Single - "Rhinestone Cowboy"
* 1976 Favorite Country Single - "Rhinestone Cowboy"
* 1977 Favorite Country Album - Rhinestone Cowboy
Country Music Association
* 1968 Entertainer of the Year
* 1968 Male Vocalist of the Year
Country Music Association of Great Britain
* 1974 Entertainer of the Year
Country Music Hall of Fame
* Inducted in 2005
Gospel Music Association (Dove Awards)
* 1986 Album by a Secular Artist - No More Night
* 1992 Southern Gospel Recorded Song of the Year - "Where Shadows Never Fall"
* 2000 Country Album of the Year - A Glen Campbell Christmas
Grammy Awards
* 1967 Best Country & Western Solo Vocal Performance, Male - "Gentle on My Mind"
* 1967 Best Country & Western Recording - "Gentle on My Mind"
* 1967 Best Vocal Performance, Male - "By the Time I Get to Phoenix"
* 1967 Best Contemporary Male Solo Vocal Performance - "By the Time I Get to Phoenix"
* 1968 Album of the Year - "By the Time I Get to Phoenix"
* 2000 Grammy Hall of Fame Award - "Wichita Lineman"
* 2004 Grammy Hall of Fame Award - "By the Time I Get to Phoenix"
* 2008 Grammy Hall of Fame Award - "Gentle on My Mind"
Musicians Hall of Fame
* Inducted in 2007 (as a member of The Wrecking Crew)
Q Awards
* 2008 Q Legend Award
Filmography
Year Title Role
1965 Baby the Rain Must Fall Band Member
1967 The Cool Ones Patrick
1969 True Grit La Boeuf
1970 Norwood Norwood Pratt
1980 Any Which Way You Can Singer at Lion Dollar Cowboy Bar
1986 Uphill All the Way Capt. Hazeltine
1991 Rock-A-Doodle Chanticleer (voice)
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Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: ninny on 04/22/10 at 4:34 am
The person who died on this day...Pat Tillman
Patrick Daniel "Pat" Tillman (November 6, 1976 – April 22, 2004) was an American football player who left his professional sports career and enlisted in the United States Army in May 2002 in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks. He joined the United States Army Rangers and served multiple tours in combat before he was killed by friendly fire in the mountains of Afghanistan. Details about the circumstances surrounding his death have been the subject of controversy and military investigations.
Pat Tillman was born in San Jose, California. He started his college career as a linebacker for Arizona State University in 1994, when he secured the last remaining scholarship for the team. Tillman excelled as a linebacker at Arizona State, despite being relatively small for the position at five-feet eleven-inches (1.80 m) tall. As a senior, he was voted the Pac-10 Defensive Player of the Year. Academically, Tillman majored in marketing and graduated in three and a half years with a 3.84 GPA.
In the 1998 NFL Draft, Tillman was selected as the 226th pick by the Arizona Cardinals. Tillman moved over to play the safety position in the NFL and started ten of sixteen games in his rookie season.
At one point in his NFL career, Tillman turned down a five-year, $9 million contract offer from the St. Louis Rams out of loyalty to the Cardinals.
Sports Illustrated football writer Paul Zimmerman (Dr. Z) named Tillman to his 2000 NFL All-Pro team after Tillman finished with 155 tackles (120 solo), 1.5 sacks, 2 forced fumbles, 2 fumble recoveries, 9 pass deflections and 1 interception for 30 yards.
Tillman finished his career with totals of 238 tackles, 2.5 sacks, 3 interceptions for 37 yards, 3 forced fumbles, 2 pass deflections, and 3 fumble recoveries in 60 career games. In addition he also had 1 rush attempt for 4 yards and returned 3 kickoffs for 33 yards.
In May 2002, eight months after the September 11, 2001, attacks and after completing the fifteen remaining games of the 2001 season which followed the attacks (at a salary of $512,000 per year), Tillman turned down a contract offer of $3.6 million over three years from the Cardinals to enlist in the U.S. Army.
Military career
He enlisted, along with his brother Kevin, who gave up the chance of a career in professional baseball. The two brothers completed the Ranger Indoctrination Program in late 2002 and were assigned to the second battalion of the 75th Ranger Regiment in Fort Lewis, Washington. He resided in University Place with his wife before being deployed to Iraq. After participating in the initial invasion of Operation Iraqi Freedom, he graduated from Ranger School.
Religious and political beliefs
According to speakers at his funeral, he was very well-read, having read a number of religious texts including the Bible, Qur’an and Book of Mormon as well as transcendentalist authors such as Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau; his younger brother Rich stated that he "is not with God... He was not religious." Another article quotes him as having told then-general manager of the Seattle Seahawks Bob Ferguson in December 2003 that "you know I'm not religious".
The September 25, 2005, edition of the San Francisco Chronicle newspaper reported that Tillman held views which were critical of the Iraq war. According to Tillman's mother, a friend of Tillman had arranged a meeting with author Noam Chomsky, a prominent critic of American foreign and military policy, to take place after his return from Afghanistan. Chomsky has confirmed this.
Death
Tillman was subsequently deployed to Afghanistan again. On April 22, 2004, he was killed in a friendly fire incident while on patrol. The specific details of his death and its aftermath are currently being investigated by the US Congress.
The Army initially claimed that Tillman and his unit were attacked in an apparent ambush on a road outside of the village of Sperah about 25 miles (40 km) southwest of Khost, near the Pakistan border. An Afghan militia soldier was killed, and two other Rangers were injured as well.
The Army Special Operations Command initially claimed that there was an exchange with hostile forces. After a lengthy investigation conducted by Brigadier General Jones, the U.S. Department of Defense concluded that both the Afghan militia soldier's and Pat Tillman's deaths were due to friendly fire aggravated by the intensity of the firefight.
A more thorough investigation concluded that no hostile forces were involved in the firefight and that two allied groups fired on each other in confusion after a nearby explosive device was detonated.
On July 26, 2007, the AP received official documents stating that the investigating doctors performing the autopsy suspected that Tillman was murdered.
Controversy surrounding Tillman's death
A report described in The Washington Post on May 4, 2005, (prepared upon the request of Tillman's family) by Brig. Gen. Gary M. Jones revealed that in the days immediately following Tillman's death, U.S. Army investigators were aware that Tillman was killed by friendly fire, shot three times to the head. Jones reported that senior Army commanders, including Gen. John Abizaid, knew of this fact within days of the shooting but nevertheless approved the awarding of the Silver Star, Purple Heart, and a posthumous promotion.
Lt. Gen. Stanley McChrystal approved the Silver Star citation on April 28, 2004, which gave a detailed account of Tillman's death including the phrase "in the line of devastating enemy fire", but the next day he sent a P4 memo warning senior government members that Tillman might actually have been killed by friendly fire. Top commanders within the U.S. Central Command, including former Commander of the United States Central Command (CENTCOM) General John Abizaid, should have been notified by the P4 memo, which described Tillman's "highly possible" fratricide, four days before Tillman's nationally televised memorial service during which he was lauded as a war hero for dying while engaging the enemy.
Jones reported that members of Tillman's unit burned his body armor and uniform in an apparent attempt to hide the fact that he was killed by friendly fire. Perhaps most tragically, his notebook, in which, according to author Jon Krakauer, Tillman had recorded some of his thoughts on Afghanistan, was also burned, a blatant violation of protocol. Several soldiers were subsequently punished for their actions by being removed from the United States Army Rangers. Jones believed that Tillman should retain his medals and promotion, since, according to Jones, he intended to engage the enemy and, in Jones's opinion, behaved heroically.
Tillman's family was not informed of the finding that he was killed by friendly fire until weeks after his memorial service, although at least some senior Army officers knew of that fact prior to the service. According to author and journalist Jon Krakauer's book Where Men Win Glory: The Odyssey of Pat Tillman, the extensive cover-up that followed his death included the military ordering Tillman's comrades to lie to his family at the funeral. Tillman's parents have sharply criticized the Army's handling of the incident; Tillman's father charges that the Army "purposely interfered in the investigation" because of the effect it could have on their recruiting efforts, while Tillman's mother charges that "this lie was to cover their image".
His mother Mary Tillman told The Washington Post, "The fact that he was the ultimate team player and he watched his own men kill him is absolutely heartbreaking and tragic. The fact that they lied about it afterward is disgusting." Tillman's father, Patrick Tillman, Sr., was incensed by the coverup of the cause of his son's death, which he attributed to a conscious decision by the leadership of the U.S. Army to protect the Army's image.
“ After it happened, all the people in positions of authority went out of their way to script this. They purposely interfered with the investigation; they covered it up. I think they thought they could control it, and they realized that their recruiting efforts were going to go to hell in a handbasket if the truth about his death got out. They blew up their poster boy. ”
He also blamed high-ranking Army officers for presenting "outright lies" to the family and to the public.
Later, Tillman's father suggested in a letter to The Washington Post that the Army hierarchy's purported mistakes were part of a pattern of conscious misconduct:
“ With respect to the Army's reference to 'mistakes in reporting the circumstances of death': those 'mistakes' were deliberate, calculated, ordered (repeatedly), and disgraceful — conduct well beneath the standard to which every soldier in the field is held. ”
These complaints and allegations led the Pentagon's Inspector General to open a further inquiry into Tillman's death in August 2005.
On March 4, 2006, the U.S. Defense Department Inspector General directed the Army to open a criminal investigation of Tillman's death. The Army's Criminal Investigative Division will determine if Tillman's death was the result of negligent homicide.
On March 26, 2007, the Pentagon released their report on the events surrounding Tillman's death and coverup. The report reads in part:
“ ...we emphasize that all investigators established the basic facts of CPL Tillman's death -- that it was caused by friendly fire, that the occupants of one vehicle in CPL Tillman's platoon were responsible, and that circumstances on the ground caused those occupants to misidentify friendly forces as hostile. None of the investigations suggested that CPL Tillman's death was anything other than accidental. Our review, as well as the investigation recently completed by Army CID, obtained no evidence contrary to those key findings. ”
On April 24, 2007, his brother Kevin Tillman, testifying at a congressional hearing, stated, "The deception surrounding this case was an insult to the family: but more importantly, its primary purpose was to deceive a whole nation. We say these things with disappointment and sadness for our country. Once again, we have been used as props in a Pentagon public relations exercise."
After Kevin's testimony Pete Geren, acting secretary of the Army stated to reporters, "We as an Army failed in our duty to the Tillman family, the duty we owe to all the families of our fallen soldiers: Give them the truth, the best we know it, as fast as we can."
Tillman's diary was never returned to his family, and its whereabouts are not publicly known.
One investigation of the autopsy report and photographs by two forensic pathologists in November, 2006, concluded that Tillman was most likely killed as a result of fire from a M249 light machine gun, previously designated the M249 Squad Automatic Weapon (SAW). The M249 uses the same ammunition as the M16 but is capable of a substantially higher rate of fire. The higher rate of fire would have allowed for a competent user to place three bullets within a several inch target from forty or fifty yards away, even from a moving vehicle.
On July 26, 2007, Chris Matthews reported on Hardball that Tillman's death may have been a case of fragging - specifically that the bullet holes were tight and neat, suggesting a shot at close range. Matthews based his speculation on a report from the doctors who investigated Tillman's body. The following day the Associated Press reported that a doctor who examined Tillman's body after his death wrote, "The medical evidence did not match up with the, with the scenario as described," also noting that the wound entrances appeared as though he had been shot with an M16 rifle from less than 10 yards (9 m) away. A possible motive, however, has never been identified. According to one of his fellow soldiers, Tillman "was popular among his fellow soldiers and had no enemies".
In addition:
* There has never been evidence of enemy fire found on the scene, and no members of Tillman's group had been hit by enemy fire.
* The three-star general who withheld details of Tillman's death from his parents for a number of months, told investigators he (the general) had a bad memory, and could not recall details of his actions on more than 70 occasions.
* Army attorneys congratulated each other in emails for impeding criminal investigation as they concluded Tillman's death was the result of friendly fire, and that only administrative, or non-criminal, punishment was indicated.
* Army doctors told the investigators that these wounds suggested murder and urged them to launch a criminal investigation
* It has been revealed that there were never-before-mentioned US snipers in the second group that had encountered Tillman's squad
Congressional inquiries
On April 24, 2007, Spc. Bryan O'Neal, the last soldier to see Pat Tillman alive, testified before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform that he was warned by superiors not to divulge information that a fellow soldier killed Tillman, especially to the Tillman family. Later, Pat Tillman's brother Kevin Tillman, who was also in the convoy traveling behind his brother at the time of the 2004 incident in Afghanistan but did not witness it, testified that the military tried to spin his brother's death to deflect attention from emerging failings in the Afghan war.
Thereafter the committee sought further information. The Bush administration turned over thousands of documents, described as "mostly press clippings," but refused to release others, citing "executive branch confidentiality interests." The committee's chair, Democrat Henry Waxman, and its ranking minority member, Republican Thomas M. Davis, wrote a joint letter describing the disclosure as "inadequate," saying, "The document production from the White House sheds virtually no light on these matters."
On August 13, 2007, Sports Illustrated reported that twenty U.S. military veterans who fought in Iraq and Afghanistan asked the NFL commissioner, Roger Goodell, to help secure the release of all documents relating to the death of Pat Tillman.
On July 14, 2008 the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform released a proposed report titled "Misleading Information from the Battlefield: The Tillman and Lynch Episodes". The committee stated that its "investigation was frustrated by a near universal lack of recall" among "senior officials at the White House" and the military. It concluded:
The pervasive lack of recollection and absence of specific information makes it impossible for the Committee to assign responsibility for the misinformation in Corporal Tillman’s and Private Lynch’s cases. It is clear, however, that the Defense Department did not meet its most basic obligations in sharing accurate information with the families and with the American public.
Reactions to Tillman's death
Memorials and tributes
Tillman's portrait - Faces of the Fallen gallery - Arlington National Cemetery.
After his death, the Pat Tillman Foundation was established to carry forward its view of Tillman's legacy by inspiring and supporting those striving for positive change in themselves and the world around them.
A highway bypass around the Hoover Dam will have a bridge bearing Tillman's name. When completed in September 2010, the Mike O'Callaghan-Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge will span the Colorado River between Nevada and Arizona.
Lincoln Law School of San Jose has established the Pat Tillman Scholarship in honor of Tillman. Tillman's father, Patrick Kevin Tillman, earned his Juris Doctor from Lincoln in 1983.
On Sunday, September 19, 2004, all teams of the NFL wore a memorial decal on their helmets in honor of Pat Tillman. The Arizona Cardinals continued to wear this decal throughout the 2004 season. Former Cardinals quarterback Jake Plummer requested to also wear the decal for the entire season but the NFL turned him down saying his helmet would not be uniform with the rest of the Denver Broncos. Plummer would later grow a full beard and his hair long in honor of Tillman, who had such a style in the NFL before cutting his hair and shaving his beard off to fit military uniform guidelines. Plummer, now retired from the NFL, has since gone back to cutting his hair short but maintains the beard.
A memorial to Pat Tillman was created at Sun Devil Stadium, where he played football for the Sun Devils and the Cardinals.
In 2005, Mike Ricci of the Phoenix Coyotes switched his uniform number to 40 in honor of Tillman.
The Cardinals retired his number 40, and Arizona State did the same for the number 42 he wore with the Sun Devils. The Cardinals have named the plaza surrounding their University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Pat Tillman Freedom Plaza. Later, on November 12, 2006, during a Cardinals game versus the Cowboys, a bronze statue was revealed in his honor. ASU also named the entryway to Sun Devil Stadium the "Pat Tillman Memorial Tunnel" and made a "PT-42" patch that they placed on the neck of their uniforms a permanent feature.
Pat Tillman's high school, Leland High School in San Jose, California, renamed its football field after him.
In 2004, the NFL donated $250,000 to the United Service Organizations to build a USO center in memory of Tillman. The Pat Tillman USO Center, the first USO center in Afghanistan, opened on Bagram Air Base on April 1, 2005.
Forward Operating Base Tillman is close to the Pakistan border, near the village of Lwara in Paktia Province, Afghanistan.
On Saturday, April 15, 2006, more than 10,000 participants turned out for Pat's Run in Tempe, Arizona. The racers traveled along the 4.2-mile (6.8 km) course around Tempe Town Lake to the finish line, on the 42-yard (38 m) line of Sun Devil Stadium in order to commemorate the number which he wore as a Sun Devil and was later retired in his honor. A second race took place in San Jose. Sponsored by the Pat Tillman Foundation, a total of 14,000 runners took part. In 2005, about 6,000 took part in a single race in Tempe.
Just south of San Jose, California, in the small community of New Almaden where Pat Tillman grew up, a memorial was constructed near the Almaden Quicksilver County Park. This memorial was dedicated in September 2007 during the annual New Almaden Day celebration.
The skateboarding bulldog featured on YouTube and in an Apple iPhone commercial was named after Tillman.
Two books about Tillman were published in 2009. Jon Krakauer, best-selling author of Into Thin Air and Into the Wild, chronicles Tillman's story in Where Men Win Glory: The Odyssey of Pat Tillman, published by Doubleday on September 15. Meanwhile, Tillman's mother, Mary Tillman, also wrote a book about her son, Boots on the Ground by Dusk, which was released in April.
Following Tillman's death, the Ohio State Linebackers Corp consisting of A.J. Hawk, Bobby Carpenter, and Anthony Schlegel, as well as center Nick Mangold grew their hair in tribute to Tillman, imitating Tillman's trademark locks.
In September 2008, Rory Fanning, a fellow Army Ranger who was stationed with Tillman in Fort Lewis, WA, began his "Walk for Pat" — a walk across the United States in an effort to raise money and awareness for the Pat Tillman Foundation. The stated fundraising goal is $3.6 million — the value of the contract Tillman turned down when he decided to enlist in the military.
The Pacific-10 Conference football defensive player of the year is named in his honor.
Controversial criticisms
After reports of Tillman's anti-war views became public, Ted Rall who had previously written a comic calling Tillman a "fool" and "idiot", said that he was wrong to have assumed Tillman to be a "right wing poster child" when Tillman regarded the invasion of Iraq as illegal.
Lieutenant Colonel Ralph Kauzlarich, Regimental Executive Officer at Forward Operating Base Salerno on Khowst, Afghanistan under which Tillman was serving at the time of his death, and who led the second investigation into Tillman's death, has made controversial statements about the Tillman family’s search for the truth based on Tillman's apparent agnosticism. In comments to ESPN, Kauzlarich said: "These people have a hard time letting it go. It may be because of their religious beliefs" and "When you die, I mean, there is supposedly a better life, right? Well, if you are an atheist and you don’t believe in anything, if you die, what is there to go to? Nothing. You are worm dirt. So for their son to die for nothing and now he is no more... I do not know how an atheist thinks, I can only imagine that would be pretty tough." Lt. Col. Ralph Kauzlarich conducted the second investigation into Tillman's death which lasted a week, from May 8, 2004, to May 15, 2004. Brigadier General Rodney Johnson, the Commanding General of the United States Army Criminal Investigations Command, testified before Congress that he found these statements "totally unacceptable." Acting Department of Defense Inspector General Thomas Gimble also testified that he was "shocked" that Lt. Col. Kauzlarich would make these statements. According to AP analysis, Kauzlarich may be one of three lower level officers expected to be punished whose names have not yet been released by the military. Tillman's mother continues to reject the Pentagon's characterization of the officers' offenses as "errors" in reporting Tillman's death, because several officers have said they made conscious decisions not to tell the Tillman family that friendly fire was suspected.
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Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: Howard on 04/22/10 at 6:48 am
The word of the day...Nights
nights is a morphological form of night
The night is the part of each day when the sun has set and it is dark outside, especially the time when people are sleeping
The night is the period of time between the end of the afternoon and the time that you go to bed, especially the time when you relax before going to bed
A particular night is a particular evening when a special event takes place, such as a show or a play
http://i803.photobucket.com/albums/yy316/superfly2000/NWN/10174.jpg
http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e109/johnd456/PinupNightsApril2010_0001424x600-1.jpg
http://i616.photobucket.com/albums/tt243/JonaSapien2010/thwastefridaynightswithyou.jpg
http://i319.photobucket.com/albums/mm476/laiken-/qoutes/friends-3.jpg
http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c158/leinahtan31/Image0517.jpg
http://i198.photobucket.com/albums/aa162/leo-gio/LS/Otown_bkg-1.jpg
http://i1003.photobucket.com/albums/af152/stifler159b/City/city.jpg
http://i282.photobucket.com/albums/kk280/KingSean_album/steven%20seagal/Harrison%20Ford/SixDaysSevenNights.jpg
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Nights On Broadway-Bee Gees
Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: ninny on 04/22/10 at 8:12 am
Nights On Broadway-Bee Gees
Good song :)
Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: Frank on 04/22/10 at 11:54 am
Nights On Broadway-Bee Gees
Excellent song. One of the 1st albums I ever bought, Bee Gees - Main Course.
Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: CatwomanofV on 04/22/10 at 12:03 pm
We are the knights who say NI!
Oh wait, that is nights, not knights.
That's different. Never mind.
Cat
Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: Frank on 04/22/10 at 12:05 pm
We are the knights who say NI!
Oh wait, that is nights, not knights.
That's different. Never mind.
Cat
Cat is posting spam spam spam spam spam again... :D
Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: CatwomanofV on 04/22/10 at 12:19 pm
Cat is posting spam spam spam spam spam again... :D
But I don't like spam.
Cat
Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: Howard on 04/22/10 at 7:15 pm
But I don't like spam.
Cat
Spam is good.
Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: nally on 04/22/10 at 10:21 pm
I remember sneaking downstairs to watch Laugh-In. :)
I hadn't been well acquainted with that show until I saw its reruns on the now-defunct TRIO channel around 2002 or so. I'd like to see it again someday.
Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: nally on 04/22/10 at 10:22 pm
Spam is good.
If it's the lunchmeat, I suppose it would be.
Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: Frank on 04/23/10 at 12:09 am
We are the knights who say NI!
Oh wait, that is nights, not knights.
That's different. Never mind.
Cat
I didn't catch the Emily Litella part until now...
shame on me.
Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: Philip Eno on 04/23/10 at 5:53 am
Cat is posting spam spam spam spam spam again... :D
Lovely spam, wonderful spam!
Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: Philip Eno on 04/23/10 at 5:55 am
British Person of the Day: William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare was born in Stratford-upon-Avon in Warwickshire and was baptised on 26 April 1564. His father was a glovemaker and wool merchant and his mother, Mary Arden, the daughter of a well-to-do local landowner. Shakespeare was probably educated in Stratford's grammar school. The next documented event in Shakespeare's life is his marriage in 1582 to Anne Hathaway, daughter of a farmer. The couple had a daughter the following year and twins in 1585. There is now another gap, referred to by some scholars as 'the lost years', with Shakespeare only reappearing in London in 1592, when he was already working in the theatre.
Shakespeare's acting career was spent with the Lord Chamberlain's Company, which was renamed the King's Company in 1603 when James succeeded to the throne. Among the actors in the group was the famous Richard Burbage. The partnership acquired interests in two theatres in the Southwark area of London, near the banks of the Thames - the Globe and the Blackfriars.
Shakespeare's poetry was published before his plays, with two poems appearing in 1593 and 1594, dedicated to his patron Henry Wriothesley, Earl of Southampton. Most of Shakespeare's sonnets were probably written at this time as well. Records of Shakespeare's plays begin to appear in 1594, and he produced roughly two a year until around 1611. His earliest plays include 'Henry VI' and 'Titus Andronicus'. 'A Midsummer Night's Dream', 'The Merchant of Venice' and 'Richard II' all date from the mid to late 1590s. Some of his most famous tragedies were written in the early 1600s including 'Hamlet', 'Othello', 'King Lear' and 'Macbeth'. His late plays, often known as the Romances, date from 1608 onwards and include 'The Tempest'.
Shakespeare spent the last five years of his life in Stratford, by now a wealthy man. He died on 23 April 1616 and was buried in Holy Trinity Church in Stratford. The first collected edition of his works was published in 1623 and is known as 'the First Folio'.
Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: Philip Eno on 04/23/10 at 5:56 am
British Person of the Day: William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare was born in Stratford-upon-Avon in Warwickshire and was baptised on 26 April 1564. His father was a glovemaker and wool merchant and his mother, Mary Arden, the daughter of a well-to-do local landowner. Shakespeare was probably educated in Stratford's grammar school. The next documented event in Shakespeare's life is his marriage in 1582 to Anne Hathaway, daughter of a farmer. The couple had a daughter the following year and twins in 1585. There is now another gap, referred to by some scholars as 'the lost years', with Shakespeare only reappearing in London in 1592, when he was already working in the theatre.
Shakespeare's acting career was spent with the Lord Chamberlain's Company, which was renamed the King's Company in 1603 when James succeeded to the throne. Among the actors in the group was the famous Richard Burbage. The partnership acquired interests in two theatres in the Southwark area of London, near the banks of the Thames - the Globe and the Blackfriars.
Shakespeare's poetry was published before his plays, with two poems appearing in 1593 and 1594, dedicated to his patron Henry Wriothesley, Earl of Southampton. Most of Shakespeare's sonnets were probably written at this time as well. Records of Shakespeare's plays begin to appear in 1594, and he produced roughly two a year until around 1611. His earliest plays include 'Henry VI' and 'Titus Andronicus'. 'A Midsummer Night's Dream', 'The Merchant of Venice' and 'Richard II' all date from the mid to late 1590s. Some of his most famous tragedies were written in the early 1600s including 'Hamlet', 'Othello', 'King Lear' and 'Macbeth'. His late plays, often known as the Romances, date from 1608 onwards and include 'The Tempest'.
Shakespeare spent the last five years of his life in Stratford, by now a wealthy man. He died on 23 April 1616 and was buried in Holy Trinity Church in Stratford. The first collected edition of his works was published in 1623 and is known as 'the First Folio'.
He is to been allege to be born on April 23rd, three days before the baptism, for back then it was a tradition to baptise the baby three days after the birth.
Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: Philip Eno on 04/23/10 at 5:57 am
He is to been allege to be born on April 23rd, three days before the baptism, for back then it was a tradition to baptise the baby three days after the birth.
btw, he died on 23 April in 1616.
Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: Howard on 04/23/10 at 6:42 am
British Person of the Day: William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare was born in Stratford-upon-Avon in Warwickshire and was baptised on 26 April 1564. His father was a glovemaker and wool merchant and his mother, Mary Arden, the daughter of a well-to-do local landowner. Shakespeare was probably educated in Stratford's grammar school. The next documented event in Shakespeare's life is his marriage in 1582 to Anne Hathaway, daughter of a farmer. The couple had a daughter the following year and twins in 1585. There is now another gap, referred to by some scholars as 'the lost years', with Shakespeare only reappearing in London in 1592, when he was already working in the theatre.
Shakespeare's acting career was spent with the Lord Chamberlain's Company, which was renamed the King's Company in 1603 when James succeeded to the throne. Among the actors in the group was the famous Richard Burbage. The partnership acquired interests in two theatres in the Southwark area of London, near the banks of the Thames - the Globe and the Blackfriars.
Shakespeare's poetry was published before his plays, with two poems appearing in 1593 and 1594, dedicated to his patron Henry Wriothesley, Earl of Southampton. Most of Shakespeare's sonnets were probably written at this time as well. Records of Shakespeare's plays begin to appear in 1594, and he produced roughly two a year until around 1611. His earliest plays include 'Henry VI' and 'Titus Andronicus'. 'A Midsummer Night's Dream', 'The Merchant of Venice' and 'Richard II' all date from the mid to late 1590s. Some of his most famous tragedies were written in the early 1600s including 'Hamlet', 'Othello', 'King Lear' and 'Macbeth'. His late plays, often known as the Romances, date from 1608 onwards and include 'The Tempest'.
Shakespeare spent the last five years of his life in Stratford, by now a wealthy man. He died on 23 April 1616 and was buried in Holy Trinity Church in Stratford. The first collected edition of his works was published in 1623 and is known as 'the First Folio'.
To Be or not To Be.
Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: Philip Eno on 04/23/10 at 12:08 pm
To Be or not To Be.
That is the question.
Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: Philip Eno on 04/23/10 at 12:14 pm
He is to been allege to be born on April 23rd, three days before the baptism, for back then it was a tradition to baptise the baby three days after the birth.
http://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm66/Phil_O-Sopher/Holiday180.jpg
A photo of the grave of William Shakespeare I took back in 2008.
Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: CatwomanofV on 04/23/10 at 12:20 pm
Lord, what fools these mortals be.
-OR-
Lord, what foods these morsels be.
Cat
Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: Frank on 04/23/10 at 1:55 pm
To Be or not To Be.
Slave, thou hast slain me: villain, take my purse:
If ever thou wilt thrive, bury my body;
And give the letters which thou find'st about me
To Edmund Earl of Gloucester, seek him out
Upon the British party: O, untimely death!
William Shakespeare..or..I am the walrus.
Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: Philip Eno on 04/23/10 at 2:40 pm
Slave, thou hast slain me: villain, take my purse:
If ever thou wilt thrive, bury my body;
And give the letters which thou find'st about me
To Edmund Earl of Gloucester, seek him out
Upon the British party: O, untimely death!
William Shakespeare..or..I am the walrus.
Goo goo g' joob
Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: ninny on 04/23/10 at 2:47 pm
British Person of the Day: William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare was born in Stratford-upon-Avon in Warwickshire and was baptised on 26 April 1564. His father was a glovemaker and wool merchant and his mother, Mary Arden, the daughter of a well-to-do local landowner. Shakespeare was probably educated in Stratford's grammar school. The next documented event in Shakespeare's life is his marriage in 1582 to Anne Hathaway, daughter of a farmer. The couple had a daughter the following year and twins in 1585. There is now another gap, referred to by some scholars as 'the lost years', with Shakespeare only reappearing in London in 1592, when he was already working in the theatre.
Shakespeare's acting career was spent with the Lord Chamberlain's Company, which was renamed the King's Company in 1603 when James succeeded to the throne. Among the actors in the group was the famous Richard Burbage. The partnership acquired interests in two theatres in the Southwark area of London, near the banks of the Thames - the Globe and the Blackfriars.
Shakespeare's poetry was published before his plays, with two poems appearing in 1593 and 1594, dedicated to his patron Henry Wriothesley, Earl of Southampton. Most of Shakespeare's sonnets were probably written at this time as well. Records of Shakespeare's plays begin to appear in 1594, and he produced roughly two a year until around 1611. His earliest plays include 'Henry VI' and 'Titus Andronicus'. 'A Midsummer Night's Dream', 'The Merchant of Venice' and 'Richard II' all date from the mid to late 1590s. Some of his most famous tragedies were written in the early 1600s including 'Hamlet', 'Othello', 'King Lear' and 'Macbeth'. His late plays, often known as the Romances, date from 1608 onwards and include 'The Tempest'.
Shakespeare spent the last five years of his life in Stratford, by now a wealthy man. He died on 23 April 1616 and was buried in Holy Trinity Church in Stratford. The first collected edition of his works was published in 1623 and is known as 'the First Folio'.
Thanks Phil :) I think I may have heard of him :D
Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: ninny on 04/23/10 at 2:52 pm
The word of the day...Temple
A temple (from the Latin word templum) is a structure reserved for religious or spiritual activities, such as prayer and sacrifice, or analogous rites. A templum constituted a sacred precinct as defined by a priest, or augur. It has the same root as the word "template," a plan in preparation of the building that was marked out on the ground by the augur. Templa also became associated with the dwelling places of a god or gods. This tradition dates back to prehistoric times. For the ancient Egyptians, the word pr could refer not only to a house, but also to a sacred structure since it was believed that the gods resided in houses. The word "temple" (which dates to about the 6th century BCE), despite the specific set of meanings associated with the religion of the ancient Rome, has now become quite widely used to describe a house of worship for any number of religions and is even used for time periods prior to the Romans.
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http://i985.photobucket.com/albums/ae340/msimps2/IMG_0622.jpg
Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: Philip Eno on 04/23/10 at 2:53 pm
Thanks Phil :) I think I may have heard of him :D
I suffered from him at school, but now I appreciate him.
Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: ninny on 04/23/10 at 2:56 pm
The person born on this day...Shirley Temple
Shirley Jane Temple (born April 23, 1928) is a former American child actress. She began her screen career in 1932 at the age of three, and, in 1934, skyrocketed to superstardom in Bright Eyes, a feature film designed specifically for her talents. She received a special Academy Award in February 1935, and blockbusting super hits such as Curly Top and Heidi followed year after year during the mid to late 1930s. Licensed merchandise that capitalized on her wholesome image included dolls, dishes, and clothing. Temple's box office popularity waned as she reached adolescence and she left the film industry at the age of twelve to attend high school. She appeared in a few films of varying quality in her mid to late teens, and retired completely from the silver screen in 1950 at the age of twenty-one. She was the top box-office draw four years in a row (1935–1938) in a Motion Picture Herald poll.
In 1958, Temple returned to show biz with a two-season television anthology series of fairy tale adaptations. She made guest appearances on various television shows in the early 1960s and filmed a sitcom pilot that was never released. She sat on the boards of many corporations and organizations including The Walt Disney Company, Del Monte Foods, and the National Wildlife Federation. In 1967, she ran unsuccessfully for United States Congress, and was appointed United States Ambassador to Ghana in 1974 and to Czechoslovakia in 1989. In 1988, she published her autobiography, Child Star. Temple is the recipient of many awards and honors including Kennedy Center Honors and a Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award.
In 1945, seventeen-year-old Temple married Army Air Force sergeant John Agar, who, after being discharged from the service, entered the acting profession. The couple made two films together before Temple divorced him on the grounds of mental cruelty in 1949. She received custody of their daughter Linda Susan and the restoration of her maiden name in the process. In January 1950, Temple met the conservative scion of a patrician California family and United States Navy Silver Star recipient Charles Alden Black. She married him in December 1950 following the finalization of her divorce and retired from films the same day, to become a homemaker. Her son, Charles Alden Black, Jr. was born in 1952 and her daughter, Lori Alden Black was born in 1954.
The Baby Burlesks were eight 10–11 minute films produced by Jack Hays and directed by Charles Lamont that satirized contemporary motion pictures, celebrities, events, and politics. The casts were composed entirely of preschoolers who wore adult costumes on top and diapers fastened with enormous safety pins on the bottom. Universal Studios put up 75 percent of the backing for the Baby Burlesks and a proposed Universal contract for Temple guaranteeing two years of work, twenty-four films, and plenty of benefits but pay only for days before the camera. Expenses and rehearsals (sometimes as many as ten days) were not remunerated. Temple was sometimes disciplined at the studio by being confined to a small "black box" isolation chamber with only a block of ice to sit upon. Her first day on the job entailed almost twelve hours of work with two naps. She took home a $10.00 check, a considerable sum at the time. Her films thereafter usually demanded four days of shooting, days of unpaid rehearsals, and publicity photo shoots.
Temple made her screen debut in April 1932 with Runt Page, a spoof of the play and film The Front Page by Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur. It was the only film in the series dubbed by adults. The remaining films in the series would by voiced by the children themselves. Temple's first spoken screen line was "Mais oui, mon cher" in War Babies, and her first on-screen tap dance and song, "She's Only a Bird in a Gilded Cage", occurred in Glad Rags to Riches.
Two-reelers and first feature films
Temple appeared in all eight films in the series, and graduated to a series of Educational two-reelers called Frolics of Youth portraying Mary Lou Rogers, a youngster in a contemporary suburban family. She was paid $15 a day or $50 a picture. In order to underwrite film production costs at Educational, Temple and her juvenile co-stars were peddled as models for chewing gum, breakfast cereal, cigar, and candy bar promotional gimmicks and photographs.
While under contract for Educational, Temple was loaned-out to other studios. Her first appearance in a feature film was a barely visible role in The Red-Haired Alibi for Tower Productions, Inc. in 1932. In 1933, she made several short films for Educational, and, again, was loaned out for bit parts in feature films at Universal, Paramount, and Warner Bros..
Fox Films
In February 1934, she signed a contract with Fox Films after Educational declared bankruptcy in September 1933. She appeared in bit parts for Fox and was loaned out for a two-reeler and two feature films at Paramount and a feature film for Warner Bros.-First National. Fox publicists did their best to promote Temple as a wunderkind of some sort, but Mrs. Temple conducted her own interviews, often correcting the hyperbole of others and requiring interviewers to submit copy for her approval.
In April 1934, Stand Up and Cheer! became Temple's breakthrough film. Fox became aware of her charisma while the film was in production and began promoting Temple well before the film's release. She was billed third, preparing critics and film goers to give her their undivided attention. Within months, she represented wholesome family entertainment. She received widespread critical acclaim and truckloads of fan mail. Her salary was raised to US$1,250 a week, and her mother's to $150 as coach and hairdresser. In June, Temple garnered more critical and popular acclaim for her performance in Paramount's Little Miss Marker.
Bright Eyes and Academy Award
She finished 1934 with the December 28 release of Bright Eyes—the first feature film crafted specifically for her talents and the first in which her name was raised above the title. In the film's one musical number, she introduced what would become her signature song, On the Good Ship Lollipop. The song was an instant hit and sold 500,000 sheet music copies. The film (more than any other Temple film up to that time) demonstrated her ability to portray a fully dimensional character and established a formula for future roles of a lovable, parentless waif mellowing a gruff older man.
In February 1935, Temple received a special miniature Oscar statuette in recognition of her contributions to film entertainment in 1934. A month later, she added her foot and hand prints to the forecourt at Grauman's Chinese Theatre.
Twentieth Century-Fox
1934
In 1934, Fox Films faced serious financial difficulties and merged with producer Darryl F. Zanuck's Twentieth Century Pictures to become Twentieth Century-Fox. Thereafter, studio head Zanuck focused his attention and resources upon cultivating Temple's superstar status. Temple was the studio's greatest asset, and, after four successful films—Stand Up and Cheer!, Little Miss Marker, Baby Take a Bow, and Bright Eyes—the public adored her. The studio's top priority became developing projects, vehicles, and stories for Temple, and, to that end, the "Shirley Temple Story Development" team of nineteen writers went to work creating eleven original stories and adaptions of the classics.
Analysis
Under the development team, Temple's films would propose a simple natural solution to the Great Depression's woes—open one's heart and give of oneself. On the screen, her goodness, innocence, and charm would melt the hearts of cold authority figures like military officers, corporation heads, and orphanage matrons, and touch the lives of the grumpy, the wizened, the rich, the bratty, the miserly, and the criminal with positive results.
Eleanor Roosevelt seated with Temple immediately to her left. The two are looking at each other apparently engaged in conversation.
Temple and Eleanor Roosevelt (July 1938)
Temple films were seen as generating hope and optimism, and President Franklin D. Roosevelt said, "It is a splendid thing that for just a fifteen cents an American can go to a movie and look at the smiling face of a baby and forget his troubles."
Most Temple films were cheaply made ($200,000 or $300,000 per picture) comedy-dramas with songs and dances added, sentimental and melodramatic situations aplenty, and little in the way of production values. Her film titles are a clue to the way she was marketed—Curly Top and Dimples, and her "little" pictures such as The Little Colonel and The Littlest Rebel. Temple often played a fixer-upper, a precocious Cupid, or the good fairy in these films, reuniting her estranged parents or smoothing out the wrinkles in the romances of young couples. She was very often motherless, sometimes fatherless, and sometimes an orphan confined to a dreary asylum. Elements of the traditional fairy tale were woven into her films: wholesome goodness triumphing over meanness and evil, for example, or wealth over poverty, marriage over divorce, or a booming economy over a depressed one. As Temple matured into a pre-adolescent, the formula was altered slightly to encourage her naturalness, naïveté, and tomboyishness to come forth and shine while her infant innocence, which had served her well at six but was inappropriate for her tweens, was toned down.
1935–1936
At Zanuck's request, Temple's parents agreed to four films a year from their daughter (rather than the three they wished), and the child star's contract was reworked with bonuses to sweeten the deal. A succession of films followed: The Little Colonel, Our Little Girl, Curly Top, and The Littlest Rebel in 1935. Curly Top and The Littlest Dudeeeet were named to Variety's list of top box office draws for 1935. In 1936, Captain January, Poor Little Rich Girl, Dimples, and Stowaway were released.
1937–1939
Based on Temple's many screen successes, Zanuck decided to increase budgets and production values for her films. In 1937, John Ford was hired to direct the sepia-toned Wee Willie Winkie (Temple's own favorite) and a top-drawer cast was secured that included Victor McLaglen, C. Aubrey Smith, and Cesar Romero. The film was a critical and commercial hit, but British film critic Graham Greene muddied the waters in October 1937 when he wrote in a British magazine that Temple was a "complete totsy" and accused her of being too nubile for a nine-year-old:
Her admirers—middle-aged men and clergymen—respond to her dubious coquetry, to the sight of her well-shaped and desirable little body, packed with enormous vitality, only because the safety curtain of story and dialogue drops between their intelligence and their desire.
Temple and Twentieth Century-Fox sued for libel and won. The settlement remained in trust for Temple in England until she turned twenty-one, at which time it was used to build a youth center in England.
The only other Temple film released in 1937 was Heidi, a story suited to her maturing personality. Her blond hair had darkened to ash blond and the ringlets brushed back into soft curls. Her theatrical instincts had sharpened and she suggested the Dutch song and dance dream sequence and its placement within the film. After minor disagreements about the dance steps with the other children in the scene, director Allan Dwan had badges made with 'Shirley Temple Police' inscribed upon them. Every child was issued one after swearing allegiance and obedience to Temple.
In 1938, Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm, Little Miss Broadway, and Just Around the Corner were released. The latter two were critical duds with Corner the first Temple film to falter at the box office. The following year, Zanuck secured the rights to the children's novel, A Little Princess, believing the book would be an ideal vehicle for Temple. He budgeted the film at $1.5 million (twice the amount of Corner) and chose it to be her first Technicolor feature. The Little Princess was a 1939 critical and commercial success with Temple's acting at its peak. Convinced Temple would make the transition from child star to teenage actress, Zanuck declined a substantial offer from MGM to star Temple as Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz and cast her instead in the banal Susannah of the Mounties, her last money-maker for Twentieth Century-Fox. The film dropped Temple from number one box-office favorite in 1938 to number five in 1939.
1940
In 1940, Temple starred in two consecutive flops at Twentieth Century-Fox (The Blue Bird and Young People). Zanuck preferred to disassociate himself and the studio from a child star whose career was clearly finished. Temple's parents were furious but bought up the remainder of her contract in 1940 and sent her at the age of twelve to Westlake School for Girls, an exclusive and pricey country day school in Los Angeles. At the studio, Temple's bungalow was renovated, all traces of her tenure expunged, and the building reassigned as an office complex.
Last films and retirement
MGM
Within a year of her departure from Twentieth Century-Fox, MGM signed Temple for her comeback. Plans were made to team her with Judy Garland and Mickey Rooney for the Andy Hardy series, but her comeback film became Kathleen (1941), a story about an unhappy teenager, her busy, rich Dad, and her female psychologist. The film flopped and her MGM contract was cancelled after mutual consent.
Other studios
Miss Annie Rooney (1942, United Artists) followed, but it bombed. The actress retired for almost two years from films, throwing herself into school life and activities. In 1944, David O. Selznick signed Temple to a personal four-year contract. She appeared in two wartime hits for him: Since You Went Away and I'll Be Seeing You. Selznick however became involved with Jennifer Jones and lost interest in developing Temple's career. She was loaned-out to other studios with Kiss and Tell (1945, Columbia), The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer (1947, RKO), and Fort Apache (1948, RKO) being the few good films among a string of duds.
Although her 1947–9 films did not lose money, most had a cheap B look about them and her performances were colorless and apathetic. Selznick suggested she move to Italy with her daughter, study the culture, gain maturity as an actress, and even change her name. He made it clear she had been detrimentally typecast in Hollywood and her career was in perilous straits. After auditioning (and being rejected) in August 1950 for the role of Peter Pan on the Broadway stage, Temple took stock, admitted her recent movies had been poor fare, and announced her official retirement from films on December 16, 1950—the same day she married Charles Alden Black.
Temple-related merchandise and endorsements
Many Temple-inspired products were manufactured and released during the 1930s. Ideal Toy and Novelty Company in New York City negotiated a license for dolls with the company's first doll wearing the polka-dot dress from Stand Up and Cheer!. Shirley Temple dolls realized $45 million in sales before 1941.
A mug, a pitcher, and a cereal bowl in cobalt blue with a decal of Temple were given away as a premium with Wheaties. Successfully-selling Temple items included a line of girls' dresses and accessories, soap, dishes, cutout books, sheet music, mirrors, paper tablets, and numerous other items. Before 1935 ended, Temple's income from licensed merchandise royalties would exceed $100,000, doubling her income from her movies. In 1936, her income would top $200,000 from royalties. She endorsed Postal Telegraph, Sperry Drifted Snow Flour, the Grunow Teledial radio, Quaker Puffed Wheat, General Electric, and Packard automobiles.
In popular culture
* The Shirley Temple was invented for Temple by a Chasen's bartender; the adult version of the drink is called a "Dirty Shirley"
* "Shirley Temple's Pussy" was a former name used by the Stone Temple Pilots
* Shirley Jones and Shirley MacLaine were named after Temple
* Magic Circle Club: the character "Curley Dimples" was a spoof of Temple
* Hairspray: "(The Legend of) Miss Baltimore Crabs" references Temple
* Interpol's "The Specialist" references Temple
* Weird Al Yankovic's "Confessions Part III" references Temple
* Phish's "The Wolfman's Brother" references Temple
* Carol Burnett often aped Temple's "On the Good Ship Lollipop"
* On the cover of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
* The Brady Bunch: "The Snooper Star", Cindy believes that she is going to become the next Shirley Temple
* Family Guy: "Road to Rhode Island", Stewie Griffin sings "On the Good Ship Lollipop"
* Shrek the Third: Gingerbread Man sings "On the Good Ship Lollipop"
* Star Trek: The Next Generation: "The Arsenal of Freedom", Riker says that he serves on the USS Lollipop
* Gilmore Girls: "Rory’s Birthday Party", Lorelai drinks a Shirley Temple, and references the Good Ship Lollipop
* Mork & Mindy: "Pilot (1)", Mork does an impersonation of Temple
* Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye uses Temple as "evidence" that the "ideal beauty" is a blue-eyed white girl
* That '70s Show: "My Wife", Hyde, Jackie, Eric, and Donna sing "On the Good Ship Lollipop"
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Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: ninny on 04/23/10 at 3:01 pm
The person who died on this day...John Mills
Sir John Mills, CBE (22 February 1908 – 23 April 2005) was an English actor, who made more than 120 films in a career spanning seven decades. Lewis Ernest Watts Mills was born at the Watts Naval School in North Elmham, Norfolk, England, and grew up in Felixstowe, Suffolk. He was educated at Norwich High School for Boys (which since its move after World War II to Langley Park, Loddon, is now known as Langley School), where it is said that his initials can still be seen carved into the brickwork on the side of the building in Upper St Giles Street. He made his acting debut on the stage of the Sir John Leman School in Beccles in a performance of A Midsummer Night's Dream when he played the part of Puck.
Mills took an early interest in acting, making his professional debut at the London Hippodrome in The Five O'Clock Girl in 1929. He also starred in the Noël Coward revue Words and Music. He made his film debut in The Midshipmaid (1932), and appeared as Colley in the 1939 film version of Goodbye, Mr Chips, opposite Robert Donat.
In September 1939, at the start of World War II, Mills enlisted in the Royal Engineers. He was later commissioned as a Second Lieutenant. But in 1942 he received a medical discharge because of a stomach ulcer . He starred in Noël Coward's In Which We Serve.
Mills took the lead in Great Expectations in 1946, and subsequently made his career playing traditionally British heroes such as Captain Robert Falcon Scott in Scott of the Antarctic (1948). Over the next decade he became particularly associated with war dramas, such as The Colditz Story (1954), Above Us the Waves (1955) and Ice-Cold in Alex (1958). He often acted in the roles of people who are not at all exceptional, but become heroes due to their common sense, generosity and right judgement. Altogether he appeared in over 120 films.
From 1959 through the mid-1960s, Mills starred in several films alongside his daughter Hayley. Their first film together was the 1959 crime drama Tiger Bay, in which John plays a police detective investigating a murder that Hayley's character witnessed. Following Hayley's rise to fame in Pollyanna (1960) and the 1961 family comedy The Parent Trap, John and Hayley again starred together, in the 1965 teen sailing adventure The Truth About Spring, the 1964 drama The Chalk Garden (with Deborah Kerr in the lead role), and the 1966 comedy-drama The Family Way, in which John plays an insecure, overbearing father and Hayley plays his son's newlywed wife.
As Col. Barrow in "Tunes of Glory", Mills won the best Actor Award at the 1960 Venice Film Festival. For his role as the village idiot in Ryan's Daughter (1970) — a complete departure from his usual style — Mills won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. His most famous television role was probably as the title character in Quatermass for ITV in 1979. Also on the small screen, in 1974 he starred as Captain Tommy "The Elephant" Devon in the six-part television drama series The Zoo Gang, about a group of former underground freedom fighters from World War II, with Brian Keith, Lilli Palmer, and Barry Morse.
Mills also starred as Gus: The Theatre Cat in the filmed version of the musical Cats in 1998.
In 2002 Mills released his extensive home movie footage in a documentary film entitled John Mills' Moving Memories, with interviews with Mills, his children Hayley, Juliet and Jonathon and Richard Attenborough. The film was directed and edited by Marcus Dillistone, and features behind the scenes footage and stories from films such as Ice-Cold in Alex and Dunkirk. In addition the film also includes home footage of many of John Mills' friends and fellow cast members including Sir Laurence Olivier, Harry Andrews, Walt Disney, David Niven, Sir Dirk Bogarde, Sir Rex Harrison and Tyrone Power.
Honours
He was appointed a Commander of Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 1960. In 1976 he was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II.
In 2002, he received a Fellowship of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA), the highest award given by the Academy, and was named a Disney Legend by The Walt Disney Company.
Family
The Wick on Richmond Hill in Richmond, Greater London, was the family home for many years.
His sister Annette Mills was known for being the partner of the puppet "Muffin", in the BBC Television series Muffin the Mule between 1946 and 1955.
His first wife was the actress Aileen Raymond. They were married in 1927 and divorced in 1941.
His second wife was the dramatist Mary Hayley Bell. Their marriage on 16 January 1941 lasted 64 years, until his death in 2005. They were married in a rushed civil ceremony, due to the war, and it was not until 60 years later that they had their union blessed by a church. They had two daughters, Juliet, star of television's Nanny and the Professor and Hayley, a Disney child star noted for starring in Pollyanna and The Parent Trap, and one son, Jonathan Mills. In 1947 he appeared with his daughters in the film So Well Remembered. Mills' grandson by his daughter Hayley, Crispian Mills, is a musician, best known for his work with the alternative rock group Kula Shaker.
Death
In the years leading up to his death, he appeared on television only on special occasions, his sight having failed almost completely in 1992. After that, his film roles were brief but notable cameos.
He died aged 97 on 23 April 2005 in Chiltern, Buckinghamshire, following a chest infection. A few months after Sir John's death, Mary Hayley Bell (Lady Mills) died on 1 December 2005.
Selected filmography
* Britannia of Billingsgate (1933)
* Brown on Resolution (later reissued in the UK as Forever England) (1935)
* Charing Cross Road (1935)
* The First Offence (1936)
* O.H.M.S. (1937)
* Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1939)
* Cottage to Let (1941)
* In Which We Serve (1942)
* We Dive at Dawn (1943)
* This Happy Breed (1944)
* Waterloo Road (1944)
* The Way to the Stars (1945)
* Great Expectations (1946)
* So Well Remembered (1947)
* Scott of the Antarctic (1948)
* The History of Mr Polly (1949)
* Morning Departure (1950)
* The Rocking Horse Winner (1950, also produced)
* The Long Memory (1952)
* Hobson's Choice (1954)
* The Colditz Story (1955)
* Above Us the Waves (1955)
* War and Peace (1956)
* It's Great to Be Young (1956)
* The Vicious Circle (1957)
* Ice-Cold in Alex (1958)
* Dunkirk (1958)
* I Was Monty's Double (1958)
* Tiger Bay (1959) — (with daughter Hayley Mills)
* Swiss Family Robinson (1960)
* Tunes of Glory (1960)
* The Singer Not the Song (1961)
* Flame in the Streets (1961)
* Tiara Tahiti (1962)
* The Truth About Spring (1964) - (with daughter Hayley Mills)
* The Chalk Garden (1964) - (with daughter Hayley Mills)
* King Rat (1965)
* The Family Way (1966)
* The Wrong Box (1966)
* Oh! What a Lovely War (1969)
* Run Wild, Run Free (1969)
* Ryan's Daughter (1970)
* Dulcima (1971)
* Young Winston (1972)
* Oklahoma Crude (1973)
* The Thirty Nine Steps (1978)
* Zulu Dawn (1979)
* Gandhi (1982)
* When the Wind Blows (1986)
* Who's That Girl (1987)
* Night of the Fox (1990)
* Deadly Advice (1993)
* Hamlet (1996)
* Bean (1997)
* Bright Young Things (2003)
* Lights 2 (2005)
Stage performances
* The Good Companions (1974)
* Great Expectations (1976)
* Cats (1998)
* Goodbye, Mr. Chips
* Of Mice and Men
Principal television performances
* Dundee and the Culhane (1967)
* The Zoo Gang (1974)
* Quatermass (1979)
* Young at Heart (1980-1982)
* Martin Chuzzlewit (1994)
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Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: Philip Eno on 04/23/10 at 3:24 pm
The person born on this day...Shirley Temple
Shirley Jane Temple (born April 23, 1928) is a former American child actress. She began her screen career in 1932 at the age of three, and, in 1934, skyrocketed to superstardom in Bright Eyes, a feature film designed specifically for her talents. She received a special Academy Award in February 1935, and blockbusting super hits such as Curly Top and Heidi followed year after year during the mid to late 1930s. Licensed merchandise that capitalized on her wholesome image included dolls, dishes, and clothing. Temple's box office popularity waned as she reached adolescence and she left the film industry at the age of twelve to attend high school. She appeared in a few films of varying quality in her mid to late teens, and retired completely from the silver screen in 1950 at the age of twenty-one. She was the top box-office draw four years in a row (1935–1938) in a Motion Picture Herald poll.
In 1958, Temple returned to show biz with a two-season television anthology series of fairy tale adaptations. She made guest appearances on various television shows in the early 1960s and filmed a sitcom pilot that was never released. She sat on the boards of many corporations and organizations including The Walt Disney Company, Del Monte Foods, and the National Wildlife Federation. In 1967, she ran unsuccessfully for United States Congress, and was appointed United States Ambassador to Ghana in 1974 and to Czechoslovakia in 1989. In 1988, she published her autobiography, Child Star. Temple is the recipient of many awards and honors including Kennedy Center Honors and a Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award.
In 1945, seventeen-year-old Temple married Army Air Force sergeant John Agar, who, after being discharged from the service, entered the acting profession. The couple made two films together before Temple divorced him on the grounds of mental cruelty in 1949. She received custody of their daughter Linda Susan and the restoration of her maiden name in the process. In January 1950, Temple met the conservative scion of a patrician California family and United States Navy Silver Star recipient Charles Alden Black. She married him in December 1950 following the finalization of her divorce and retired from films the same day, to become a homemaker. Her son, Charles Alden Black, Jr. was born in 1952 and her daughter, Lori Alden Black was born in 1954.
The Baby Burlesks were eight 10–11 minute films produced by Jack Hays and directed by Charles Lamont that satirized contemporary motion pictures, celebrities, events, and politics. The casts were composed entirely of preschoolers who wore adult costumes on top and diapers fastened with enormous safety pins on the bottom. Universal Studios put up 75 percent of the backing for the Baby Burlesks and a proposed Universal contract for Temple guaranteeing two years of work, twenty-four films, and plenty of benefits but pay only for days before the camera. Expenses and rehearsals (sometimes as many as ten days) were not remunerated. Temple was sometimes disciplined at the studio by being confined to a small "black box" isolation chamber with only a block of ice to sit upon. Her first day on the job entailed almost twelve hours of work with two naps. She took home a $10.00 check, a considerable sum at the time. Her films thereafter usually demanded four days of shooting, days of unpaid rehearsals, and publicity photo shoots.
Temple made her screen debut in April 1932 with Runt Page, a spoof of the play and film The Front Page by Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur. It was the only film in the series dubbed by adults. The remaining films in the series would by voiced by the children themselves. Temple's first spoken screen line was "Mais oui, mon cher" in War Babies, and her first on-screen tap dance and song, "She's Only a Bird in a Gilded Cage", occurred in Glad Rags to Riches.
Two-reelers and first feature films
Temple appeared in all eight films in the series, and graduated to a series of Educational two-reelers called Frolics of Youth portraying Mary Lou Rogers, a youngster in a contemporary suburban family. She was paid $15 a day or $50 a picture. In order to underwrite film production costs at Educational, Temple and her juvenile co-stars were peddled as models for chewing gum, breakfast cereal, cigar, and candy bar promotional gimmicks and photographs.
While under contract for Educational, Temple was loaned-out to other studios. Her first appearance in a feature film was a barely visible role in The Red-Haired Alibi for Tower Productions, Inc. in 1932. In 1933, she made several short films for Educational, and, again, was loaned out for bit parts in feature films at Universal, Paramount, and Warner Bros..
Fox Films
In February 1934, she signed a contract with Fox Films after Educational declared bankruptcy in September 1933. She appeared in bit parts for Fox and was loaned out for a two-reeler and two feature films at Paramount and a feature film for Warner Bros.-First National. Fox publicists did their best to promote Temple as a wunderkind of some sort, but Mrs. Temple conducted her own interviews, often correcting the hyperbole of others and requiring interviewers to submit copy for her approval.
In April 1934, Stand Up and Cheer! became Temple's breakthrough film. Fox became aware of her charisma while the film was in production and began promoting Temple well before the film's release. She was billed third, preparing critics and film goers to give her their undivided attention. Within months, she represented wholesome family entertainment. She received widespread critical acclaim and truckloads of fan mail. Her salary was raised to US$1,250 a week, and her mother's to $150 as coach and hairdresser. In June, Temple garnered more critical and popular acclaim for her performance in Paramount's Little Miss Marker.
Bright Eyes and Academy Award
She finished 1934 with the December 28 release of Bright Eyes—the first feature film crafted specifically for her talents and the first in which her name was raised above the title. In the film's one musical number, she introduced what would become her signature song, On the Good Ship Lollipop. The song was an instant hit and sold 500,000 sheet music copies. The film (more than any other Temple film up to that time) demonstrated her ability to portray a fully dimensional character and established a formula for future roles of a lovable, parentless waif mellowing a gruff older man.
In February 1935, Temple received a special miniature Oscar statuette in recognition of her contributions to film entertainment in 1934. A month later, she added her foot and hand prints to the forecourt at Grauman's Chinese Theatre.
Twentieth Century-Fox
1934
In 1934, Fox Films faced serious financial difficulties and merged with producer Darryl F. Zanuck's Twentieth Century Pictures to become Twentieth Century-Fox. Thereafter, studio head Zanuck focused his attention and resources upon cultivating Temple's superstar status. Temple was the studio's greatest asset, and, after four successful films—Stand Up and Cheer!, Little Miss Marker, Baby Take a Bow, and Bright Eyes—the public adored her. The studio's top priority became developing projects, vehicles, and stories for Temple, and, to that end, the "Shirley Temple Story Development" team of nineteen writers went to work creating eleven original stories and adaptions of the classics.
Analysis
Under the development team, Temple's films would propose a simple natural solution to the Great Depression's woes—open one's heart and give of oneself. On the screen, her goodness, innocence, and charm would melt the hearts of cold authority figures like military officers, corporation heads, and orphanage matrons, and touch the lives of the grumpy, the wizened, the rich, the bratty, the miserly, and the criminal with positive results.
Eleanor Roosevelt seated with Temple immediately to her left. The two are looking at each other apparently engaged in conversation.
Temple and Eleanor Roosevelt (July 1938)
Temple films were seen as generating hope and optimism, and President Franklin D. Roosevelt said, "It is a splendid thing that for just a fifteen cents an American can go to a movie and look at the smiling face of a baby and forget his troubles."
Most Temple films were cheaply made ($200,000 or $300,000 per picture) comedy-dramas with songs and dances added, sentimental and melodramatic situations aplenty, and little in the way of production values. Her film titles are a clue to the way she was marketed—Curly Top and Dimples, and her "little" pictures such as The Little Colonel and The Littlest Rebel. Temple often played a fixer-upper, a precocious Cupid, or the good fairy in these films, reuniting her estranged parents or smoothing out the wrinkles in the romances of young couples. She was very often motherless, sometimes fatherless, and sometimes an orphan confined to a dreary asylum. Elements of the traditional fairy tale were woven into her films: wholesome goodness triumphing over meanness and evil, for example, or wealth over poverty, marriage over divorce, or a booming economy over a depressed one. As Temple matured into a pre-adolescent, the formula was altered slightly to encourage her naturalness, naïveté, and tomboyishness to come forth and shine while her infant innocence, which had served her well at six but was inappropriate for her tweens, was toned down.
1935–1936
At Zanuck's request, Temple's parents agreed to four films a year from their daughter (rather than the three they wished), and the child star's contract was reworked with bonuses to sweeten the deal. A succession of films followed: The Little Colonel, Our Little Girl, Curly Top, and The Littlest Rebel in 1935. Curly Top and The Littlest Dudeeeet were named to Variety's list of top box office draws for 1935. In 1936, Captain January, Poor Little Rich Girl, Dimples, and Stowaway were released.
1937–1939
Based on Temple's many screen successes, Zanuck decided to increase budgets and production values for her films. In 1937, John Ford was hired to direct the sepia-toned Wee Willie Winkie (Temple's own favorite) and a top-drawer cast was secured that included Victor McLaglen, C. Aubrey Smith, and Cesar Romero. The film was a critical and commercial hit, but British film critic Graham Greene muddied the waters in October 1937 when he wrote in a British magazine that Temple was a "complete totsy" and accused her of being too nubile for a nine-year-old:
Her admirers—middle-aged men and clergymen—respond to her dubious coquetry, to the sight of her well-shaped and desirable little body, packed with enormous vitality, only because the safety curtain of story and dialogue drops between their intelligence and their desire.
Temple and Twentieth Century-Fox sued for libel and won. The settlement remained in trust for Temple in England until she turned twenty-one, at which time it was used to build a youth center in England.
The only other Temple film released in 1937 was Heidi, a story suited to her maturing personality. Her blond hair had darkened to ash blond and the ringlets brushed back into soft curls. Her theatrical instincts had sharpened and she suggested the Dutch song and dance dream sequence and its placement within the film. After minor disagreements about the dance steps with the other children in the scene, director Allan Dwan had badges made with 'Shirley Temple Police' inscribed upon them. Every child was issued one after swearing allegiance and obedience to Temple.
In 1938, Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm, Little Miss Broadway, and Just Around the Corner were released. The latter two were critical duds with Corner the first Temple film to falter at the box office. The following year, Zanuck secured the rights to the children's novel, A Little Princess, believing the book would be an ideal vehicle for Temple. He budgeted the film at $1.5 million (twice the amount of Corner) and chose it to be her first Technicolor feature. The Little Princess was a 1939 critical and commercial success with Temple's acting at its peak. Convinced Temple would make the transition from child star to teenage actress, Zanuck declined a substantial offer from MGM to star Temple as Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz and cast her instead in the banal Susannah of the Mounties, her last money-maker for Twentieth Century-Fox. The film dropped Temple from number one box-office favorite in 1938 to number five in 1939.
1940
In 1940, Temple starred in two consecutive flops at Twentieth Century-Fox (The Blue Bird and Young People). Zanuck preferred to disassociate himself and the studio from a child star whose career was clearly finished. Temple's parents were furious but bought up the remainder of her contract in 1940 and sent her at the age of twelve to Westlake School for Girls, an exclusive and pricey country day school in Los Angeles. At the studio, Temple's bungalow was renovated, all traces of her tenure expunged, and the building reassigned as an office complex.
Last films and retirement
MGM
Within a year of her departure from Twentieth Century-Fox, MGM signed Temple for her comeback. Plans were made to team her with Judy Garland and Mickey Rooney for the Andy Hardy series, but her comeback film became Kathleen (1941), a story about an unhappy teenager, her busy, rich Dad, and her female psychologist. The film flopped and her MGM contract was cancelled after mutual consent.
Other studios
Miss Annie Rooney (1942, United Artists) followed, but it bombed. The actress retired for almost two years from films, throwing herself into school life and activities. In 1944, David O. Selznick signed Temple to a personal four-year contract. She appeared in two wartime hits for him: Since You Went Away and I'll Be Seeing You. Selznick however became involved with Jennifer Jones and lost interest in developing Temple's career. She was loaned-out to other studios with Kiss and Tell (1945, Columbia), The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer (1947, RKO), and Fort Apache (1948, RKO) being the few good films among a string of duds.
Although her 1947–9 films did not lose money, most had a cheap B look about them and her performances were colorless and apathetic. Selznick suggested she move to Italy with her daughter, study the culture, gain maturity as an actress, and even change her name. He made it clear she had been detrimentally typecast in Hollywood and her career was in perilous straits. After auditioning (and being rejected) in August 1950 for the role of Peter Pan on the Broadway stage, Temple took stock, admitted her recent movies had been poor fare, and announced her official retirement from films on December 16, 1950—the same day she married Charles Alden Black.
Temple-related merchandise and endorsements
Many Temple-inspired products were manufactured and released during the 1930s. Ideal Toy and Novelty Company in New York City negotiated a license for dolls with the company's first doll wearing the polka-dot dress from Stand Up and Cheer!. Shirley Temple dolls realized $45 million in sales before 1941.
A mug, a pitcher, and a cereal bowl in cobalt blue with a decal of Temple were given away as a premium with Wheaties. Successfully-selling Temple items included a line of girls' dresses and accessories, soap, dishes, cutout books, sheet music, mirrors, paper tablets, and numerous other items. Before 1935 ended, Temple's income from licensed merchandise royalties would exceed $100,000, doubling her income from her movies. In 1936, her income would top $200,000 from royalties. She endorsed Postal Telegraph, Sperry Drifted Snow Flour, the Grunow Teledial radio, Quaker Puffed Wheat, General Electric, and Packard automobiles.
In popular culture
* The Shirley Temple was invented for Temple by a Chasen's bartender; the adult version of the drink is called a "Dirty Shirley"
* "Shirley Temple's Pussy" was a former name used by the Stone Temple Pilots
* Shirley Jones and Shirley MacLaine were named after Temple
* Magic Circle Club: the character "Curley Dimples" was a spoof of Temple
* Hairspray: "(The Legend of) Miss Baltimore Crabs" references Temple
* Interpol's "The Specialist" references Temple
* Weird Al Yankovic's "Confessions Part III" references Temple
* Phish's "The Wolfman's Brother" references Temple
* Carol Burnett often aped Temple's "On the Good Ship Lollipop"
* On the cover of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
* The Brady Bunch: "The Snooper Star", Cindy believes that she is going to become the next Shirley Temple
* Family Guy: "Road to Rhode Island", Stewie Griffin sings "On the Good Ship Lollipop"
* Shrek the Third: Gingerbread Man sings "On the Good Ship Lollipop"
* Star Trek: The Next Generation: "The Arsenal of Freedom", Riker says that he serves on the USS Lollipop
* Gilmore Girls: "Rory’s Birthday Party", Lorelai drinks a Shirley Temple, and references the Good Ship Lollipop
* Mork & Mindy: "Pilot (1)", Mork does an impersonation of Temple
* Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye uses Temple as "evidence" that the "ideal beauty" is a blue-eyed white girl
* That '70s Show: "My Wife", Hyde, Jackie, Eric, and Donna sing "On the Good Ship Lollipop"
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How different would The Wizard of OZ been is Shirley Temple would had been Dorothy?
Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: Howard on 04/23/10 at 7:13 pm
The person born on this day...Shirley Temple
Shirley Jane Temple (born April 23, 1928) is a former American child actress. She began her screen career in 1932 at the age of three, and, in 1934, skyrocketed to superstardom in Bright Eyes, a feature film designed specifically for her talents. She received a special Academy Award in February 1935, and blockbusting super hits such as Curly Top and Heidi followed year after year during the mid to late 1930s. Licensed merchandise that capitalized on her wholesome image included dolls, dishes, and clothing. Temple's box office popularity waned as she reached adolescence and she left the film industry at the age of twelve to attend high school. She appeared in a few films of varying quality in her mid to late teens, and retired completely from the silver screen in 1950 at the age of twenty-one. She was the top box-office draw four years in a row (1935–1938) in a Motion Picture Herald poll.
In 1958, Temple returned to show biz with a two-season television anthology series of fairy tale adaptations. She made guest appearances on various television shows in the early 1960s and filmed a sitcom pilot that was never released. She sat on the boards of many corporations and organizations including The Walt Disney Company, Del Monte Foods, and the National Wildlife Federation. In 1967, she ran unsuccessfully for United States Congress, and was appointed United States Ambassador to Ghana in 1974 and to Czechoslovakia in 1989. In 1988, she published her autobiography, Child Star. Temple is the recipient of many awards and honors including Kennedy Center Honors and a Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award.
In 1945, seventeen-year-old Temple married Army Air Force sergeant John Agar, who, after being discharged from the service, entered the acting profession. The couple made two films together before Temple divorced him on the grounds of mental cruelty in 1949. She received custody of their daughter Linda Susan and the restoration of her maiden name in the process. In January 1950, Temple met the conservative scion of a patrician California family and United States Navy Silver Star recipient Charles Alden Black. She married him in December 1950 following the finalization of her divorce and retired from films the same day, to become a homemaker. Her son, Charles Alden Black, Jr. was born in 1952 and her daughter, Lori Alden Black was born in 1954.
The Baby Burlesks were eight 10–11 minute films produced by Jack Hays and directed by Charles Lamont that satirized contemporary motion pictures, celebrities, events, and politics. The casts were composed entirely of preschoolers who wore adult costumes on top and diapers fastened with enormous safety pins on the bottom. Universal Studios put up 75 percent of the backing for the Baby Burlesks and a proposed Universal contract for Temple guaranteeing two years of work, twenty-four films, and plenty of benefits but pay only for days before the camera. Expenses and rehearsals (sometimes as many as ten days) were not remunerated. Temple was sometimes disciplined at the studio by being confined to a small "black box" isolation chamber with only a block of ice to sit upon. Her first day on the job entailed almost twelve hours of work with two naps. She took home a $10.00 check, a considerable sum at the time. Her films thereafter usually demanded four days of shooting, days of unpaid rehearsals, and publicity photo shoots.
Temple made her screen debut in April 1932 with Runt Page, a spoof of the play and film The Front Page by Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur. It was the only film in the series dubbed by adults. The remaining films in the series would by voiced by the children themselves. Temple's first spoken screen line was "Mais oui, mon cher" in War Babies, and her first on-screen tap dance and song, "She's Only a Bird in a Gilded Cage", occurred in Glad Rags to Riches.
Two-reelers and first feature films
Temple appeared in all eight films in the series, and graduated to a series of Educational two-reelers called Frolics of Youth portraying Mary Lou Rogers, a youngster in a contemporary suburban family. She was paid $15 a day or $50 a picture. In order to underwrite film production costs at Educational, Temple and her juvenile co-stars were peddled as models for chewing gum, breakfast cereal, cigar, and candy bar promotional gimmicks and photographs.
While under contract for Educational, Temple was loaned-out to other studios. Her first appearance in a feature film was a barely visible role in The Red-Haired Alibi for Tower Productions, Inc. in 1932. In 1933, she made several short films for Educational, and, again, was loaned out for bit parts in feature films at Universal, Paramount, and Warner Bros..
Fox Films
In February 1934, she signed a contract with Fox Films after Educational declared bankruptcy in September 1933. She appeared in bit parts for Fox and was loaned out for a two-reeler and two feature films at Paramount and a feature film for Warner Bros.-First National. Fox publicists did their best to promote Temple as a wunderkind of some sort, but Mrs. Temple conducted her own interviews, often correcting the hyperbole of others and requiring interviewers to submit copy for her approval.
In April 1934, Stand Up and Cheer! became Temple's breakthrough film. Fox became aware of her charisma while the film was in production and began promoting Temple well before the film's release. She was billed third, preparing critics and film goers to give her their undivided attention. Within months, she represented wholesome family entertainment. She received widespread critical acclaim and truckloads of fan mail. Her salary was raised to US$1,250 a week, and her mother's to $150 as coach and hairdresser. In June, Temple garnered more critical and popular acclaim for her performance in Paramount's Little Miss Marker.
Bright Eyes and Academy Award
She finished 1934 with the December 28 release of Bright Eyes—the first feature film crafted specifically for her talents and the first in which her name was raised above the title. In the film's one musical number, she introduced what would become her signature song, On the Good Ship Lollipop. The song was an instant hit and sold 500,000 sheet music copies. The film (more than any other Temple film up to that time) demonstrated her ability to portray a fully dimensional character and established a formula for future roles of a lovable, parentless waif mellowing a gruff older man.
In February 1935, Temple received a special miniature Oscar statuette in recognition of her contributions to film entertainment in 1934. A month later, she added her foot and hand prints to the forecourt at Grauman's Chinese Theatre.
Twentieth Century-Fox
1934
In 1934, Fox Films faced serious financial difficulties and merged with producer Darryl F. Zanuck's Twentieth Century Pictures to become Twentieth Century-Fox. Thereafter, studio head Zanuck focused his attention and resources upon cultivating Temple's superstar status. Temple was the studio's greatest asset, and, after four successful films—Stand Up and Cheer!, Little Miss Marker, Baby Take a Bow, and Bright Eyes—the public adored her. The studio's top priority became developing projects, vehicles, and stories for Temple, and, to that end, the "Shirley Temple Story Development" team of nineteen writers went to work creating eleven original stories and adaptions of the classics.
Analysis
Under the development team, Temple's films would propose a simple natural solution to the Great Depression's woes—open one's heart and give of oneself. On the screen, her goodness, innocence, and charm would melt the hearts of cold authority figures like military officers, corporation heads, and orphanage matrons, and touch the lives of the grumpy, the wizened, the rich, the bratty, the miserly, and the criminal with positive results.
Eleanor Roosevelt seated with Temple immediately to her left. The two are looking at each other apparently engaged in conversation.
Temple and Eleanor Roosevelt (July 1938)
Temple films were seen as generating hope and optimism, and President Franklin D. Roosevelt said, "It is a splendid thing that for just a fifteen cents an American can go to a movie and look at the smiling face of a baby and forget his troubles."
Most Temple films were cheaply made ($200,000 or $300,000 per picture) comedy-dramas with songs and dances added, sentimental and melodramatic situations aplenty, and little in the way of production values. Her film titles are a clue to the way she was marketed—Curly Top and Dimples, and her "little" pictures such as The Little Colonel and The Littlest Rebel. Temple often played a fixer-upper, a precocious Cupid, or the good fairy in these films, reuniting her estranged parents or smoothing out the wrinkles in the romances of young couples. She was very often motherless, sometimes fatherless, and sometimes an orphan confined to a dreary asylum. Elements of the traditional fairy tale were woven into her films: wholesome goodness triumphing over meanness and evil, for example, or wealth over poverty, marriage over divorce, or a booming economy over a depressed one. As Temple matured into a pre-adolescent, the formula was altered slightly to encourage her naturalness, naïveté, and tomboyishness to come forth and shine while her infant innocence, which had served her well at six but was inappropriate for her tweens, was toned down.
1935–1936
At Zanuck's request, Temple's parents agreed to four films a year from their daughter (rather than the three they wished), and the child star's contract was reworked with bonuses to sweeten the deal. A succession of films followed: The Little Colonel, Our Little Girl, Curly Top, and The Littlest Rebel in 1935. Curly Top and The Littlest Dudeeeet were named to Variety's list of top box office draws for 1935. In 1936, Captain January, Poor Little Rich Girl, Dimples, and Stowaway were released.
1937–1939
Based on Temple's many screen successes, Zanuck decided to increase budgets and production values for her films. In 1937, John Ford was hired to direct the sepia-toned Wee Willie Winkie (Temple's own favorite) and a top-drawer cast was secured that included Victor McLaglen, C. Aubrey Smith, and Cesar Romero. The film was a critical and commercial hit, but British film critic Graham Greene muddied the waters in October 1937 when he wrote in a British magazine that Temple was a "complete totsy" and accused her of being too nubile for a nine-year-old:
Her admirers—middle-aged men and clergymen—respond to her dubious coquetry, to the sight of her well-shaped and desirable little body, packed with enormous vitality, only because the safety curtain of story and dialogue drops between their intelligence and their desire.
Temple and Twentieth Century-Fox sued for libel and won. The settlement remained in trust for Temple in England until she turned twenty-one, at which time it was used to build a youth center in England.
The only other Temple film released in 1937 was Heidi, a story suited to her maturing personality. Her blond hair had darkened to ash blond and the ringlets brushed back into soft curls. Her theatrical instincts had sharpened and she suggested the Dutch song and dance dream sequence and its placement within the film. After minor disagreements about the dance steps with the other children in the scene, director Allan Dwan had badges made with 'Shirley Temple Police' inscribed upon them. Every child was issued one after swearing allegiance and obedience to Temple.
In 1938, Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm, Little Miss Broadway, and Just Around the Corner were released. The latter two were critical duds with Corner the first Temple film to falter at the box office. The following year, Zanuck secured the rights to the children's novel, A Little Princess, believing the book would be an ideal vehicle for Temple. He budgeted the film at $1.5 million (twice the amount of Corner) and chose it to be her first Technicolor feature. The Little Princess was a 1939 critical and commercial success with Temple's acting at its peak. Convinced Temple would make the transition from child star to teenage actress, Zanuck declined a substantial offer from MGM to star Temple as Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz and cast her instead in the banal Susannah of the Mounties, her last money-maker for Twentieth Century-Fox. The film dropped Temple from number one box-office favorite in 1938 to number five in 1939.
1940
In 1940, Temple starred in two consecutive flops at Twentieth Century-Fox (The Blue Bird and Young People). Zanuck preferred to disassociate himself and the studio from a child star whose career was clearly finished. Temple's parents were furious but bought up the remainder of her contract in 1940 and sent her at the age of twelve to Westlake School for Girls, an exclusive and pricey country day school in Los Angeles. At the studio, Temple's bungalow was renovated, all traces of her tenure expunged, and the building reassigned as an office complex.
Last films and retirement
MGM
Within a year of her departure from Twentieth Century-Fox, MGM signed Temple for her comeback. Plans were made to team her with Judy Garland and Mickey Rooney for the Andy Hardy series, but her comeback film became Kathleen (1941), a story about an unhappy teenager, her busy, rich Dad, and her female psychologist. The film flopped and her MGM contract was cancelled after mutual consent.
Other studios
Miss Annie Rooney (1942, United Artists) followed, but it bombed. The actress retired for almost two years from films, throwing herself into school life and activities. In 1944, David O. Selznick signed Temple to a personal four-year contract. She appeared in two wartime hits for him: Since You Went Away and I'll Be Seeing You. Selznick however became involved with Jennifer Jones and lost interest in developing Temple's career. She was loaned-out to other studios with Kiss and Tell (1945, Columbia), The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer (1947, RKO), and Fort Apache (1948, RKO) being the few good films among a string of duds.
Although her 1947–9 films did not lose money, most had a cheap B look about them and her performances were colorless and apathetic. Selznick suggested she move to Italy with her daughter, study the culture, gain maturity as an actress, and even change her name. He made it clear she had been detrimentally typecast in Hollywood and her career was in perilous straits. After auditioning (and being rejected) in August 1950 for the role of Peter Pan on the Broadway stage, Temple took stock, admitted her recent movies had been poor fare, and announced her official retirement from films on December 16, 1950—the same day she married Charles Alden Black.
Temple-related merchandise and endorsements
Many Temple-inspired products were manufactured and released during the 1930s. Ideal Toy and Novelty Company in New York City negotiated a license for dolls with the company's first doll wearing the polka-dot dress from Stand Up and Cheer!. Shirley Temple dolls realized $45 million in sales before 1941.
A mug, a pitcher, and a cereal bowl in cobalt blue with a decal of Temple were given away as a premium with Wheaties. Successfully-selling Temple items included a line of girls' dresses and accessories, soap, dishes, cutout books, sheet music, mirrors, paper tablets, and numerous other items. Before 1935 ended, Temple's income from licensed merchandise royalties would exceed $100,000, doubling her income from her movies. In 1936, her income would top $200,000 from royalties. She endorsed Postal Telegraph, Sperry Drifted Snow Flour, the Grunow Teledial radio, Quaker Puffed Wheat, General Electric, and Packard automobiles.
In popular culture
* The Shirley Temple was invented for Temple by a Chasen's bartender; the adult version of the drink is called a "Dirty Shirley"
* "Shirley Temple's Pussy" was a former name used by the Stone Temple Pilots
* Shirley Jones and Shirley MacLaine were named after Temple
* Magic Circle Club: the character "Curley Dimples" was a spoof of Temple
* Hairspray: "(The Legend of) Miss Baltimore Crabs" references Temple
* Interpol's "The Specialist" references Temple
* Weird Al Yankovic's "Confessions Part III" references Temple
* Phish's "The Wolfman's Brother" references Temple
* Carol Burnett often aped Temple's "On the Good Ship Lollipop"
* On the cover of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
* The Brady Bunch: "The Snooper Star", Cindy believes that she is going to become the next Shirley Temple
* Family Guy: "Road to Rhode Island", Stewie Griffin sings "On the Good Ship Lollipop"
* Shrek the Third: Gingerbread Man sings "On the Good Ship Lollipop"
* Star Trek: The Next Generation: "The Arsenal of Freedom", Riker says that he serves on the USS Lollipop
* Gilmore Girls: "Rory’s Birthday Party", Lorelai drinks a Shirley Temple, and references the Good Ship Lollipop
* Mork & Mindy: "Pilot (1)", Mork does an impersonation of Temple
* Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye uses Temple as "evidence" that the "ideal beauty" is a blue-eyed white girl
* That '70s Show: "My Wife", Hyde, Jackie, Eric, and Donna sing "On the Good Ship Lollipop"
http://i773.photobucket.com/albums/yy16/twentybeauties/TwentyBeautiesMontage/shirleytemple.jpg
http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/kk154/chenta_91/Shirley_Temple.png
What she doing these days? ???
Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: gibbo on 04/23/10 at 8:10 pm
I was always a fan of Shirley Temple. I think she was extremely talented at a very young age. I don't know of any 4 or 5 year old who could do what she could.
The whole Mills family were also talented. I still consider Pollyanna one of the all-time family classics (and I have the DVD).
Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: Philip Eno on 04/24/10 at 2:49 am
What she doing these days? ???
Living in graceful retirement.
Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: Philip Eno on 04/24/10 at 7:05 am
British Person of the Day: Paula Yates
Paula Elizabeth Yates (24 April 1960 – 17 September 2000) was a British television presenter and writer, best known for her work on two iconic television programmes, The Tube and The Big Breakfast.
Early life
Born in Colwyn Bay, North Wales, she was brought up in a show business family. Her mother was Elaine Smith, a former showgirl, actress and writer of erotic novels, who used the stage names Helene Thornton and Heller Toren. Until late in her life, Yates believed her father to be Jess Yates, who was known as "the Bishop" and presented the ITV religious programme Stars On Sunday. Yates and Smith were married from 1958 to 1975, though Yates was 16 years older than his wife and their marriage was unconventional. Jess Yates was fired from his job in 1974 because of scandalous newspaper stories about his private life.
In an unsettled childhood, Yates attended school at Penrhos College, Ysgol Aberconwy. The Yates family ran the Deganwy Castle Hotel for a time, before moving to a large house in Rowen, Conwy. After the break-up of her parents' marriage in 1975, Yates lived mostly with her mother, including periods in Malta and Mallorca where she was a pupil at Bellver International College, before returning to Britain.
Career
Yates became a fan of the Boomtown Rats and their lead singer, Bob Geldof, with whom she became involved and who fathered her first three daughters. She posed naked for Penthouse in 1978, just before she became a music journalist, writing a column called "Natural Blonde" in the Record Mirror. She first came to prominence in the 1980s, as co-presenter (with Jools Holland) of the Channel 4 pop music programme The Tube. She also appeared alongside friend Jennifer Saunders in 1987 for a spoof 'mockumentary' on Bananarama.
In 1982, she released a version of the Nancy Sinatra hit song "These Boots Are Made for Walkin'".
After the birth of her daughters, Yates wrote two books on motherhood.
Yates continued with her rock journalism, in addition to being presenter of cutting-edge music show The Tube. She became most notorious for her "on the bed" interviews on the show The Big Breakfast, produced by Geldof. On 27 October 1995 Yates appeared on the quiz programme Have I Got News For You and repeatedly clashed with Ian Hislop. Yates referred to Hislop as being "the sperm of the devil".
Personal life
Yates met Geldof in the early days of the Boomtown Rats. They became a couple in 1976 when she flew to Paris to surprise him while the band was playing there. Their first daughter, Fifi Trixibelle, was born on 31 March 1983. After 10 years together, they married on 31 August 1986 in Las Vegas, with Simon Le Bon of Duran Duran acting as Geldof's best man. The couple then had two more daughters, Peaches Geldof on 13 March 1989, and Little Pixie Geldof on 17 September 1990. Pixie is said to be named after a celebrity daughter character from the cartoon Celeb in the satirical magazine Private Eye, itself a lampoon of the unusual names the Geldofs gave to their first children.
Many people still erroneously think that Yates and the INXS singer Michael Hutchence first met during the infamous interview on the Big Breakfast bed in October 1994, but Yates had interviewed him as early as 1985 on Channel 4's The Tube rock magazine programme. During this appearance on "The Tube", Paula was asked to leave Michael alone by the Road Manager of INXS when Paula walked up to him and said, "I'm going to have that boy." "Paula was unmoved and began to show up at INXS gigs everywhere for the next few years...she even brought her kid, (Fifi Geldof)." Yates doggedly maintained an irregular contact during the interceding nine years and their affair had been underway long before the Big Breakfast interview. In 1995, Yates left Geldof.
Geldof and Yates divorced in May 1996. Two months later Yates's daughter with Hutchence, Heavenly Hiraani Tiger Lily Hutchence (known as Tiger) was born on 22 July 1996.
On 22 November 1997, Hutchence was found dead in a hotel room in Sydney. Paula Yates wrote in her police statement that Michael Hutchence was "frightened and couldn't stand a minute more without his baby" during their phone conversations that morning of his suicide; he had said, "I don't know how I'll live without Tiger". Yates also wrote that Bob Geldof had threatened them repeatedly with, "Don't forget, I am above the law." Yates became distraught, refusing to accept the coroner's verdict of suicide. She eventually sought psychiatric treatment. In June 1998, Bob Geldof won full custody of the couple's three daughters and Yates attempted suicide. Michael Hutchence's father,Kell Hutchence "launched proceedings in Australia seeking sole custody of after concerns over a new relationship Miss Yates began while being treated at a clinic for a nervous breakdown earlier this year. She met Kingsley O'Keke, 26, , during her stay but the pair broke up after a six-week romance. O'Keke later sold his story to a tabloid newspaper."
Yates's dispute with the Hutchence family over Michael's estate saw her struggling to bring up her daughter. While battling grief and problems with addiction, she was also in an extremely difficult financial situation. Yates resorted to selling her jewellery in order to pay bills, including the three amethyst rings Geldof gave her after the birth of each of their daughters. She downsized to living in a small mews house in the years prior to her death, but also purchased a second home in Hastings.
While fighting for custody of Tiger, it was reported in the media that Jess Yates had not been Yates's natural father. A paternity test proved that the quiz show host Hughie Green, who died six months before Hutchence, had in fact been her natural father.
In his memoir Red Carpets and Other Banana Skins (2006), actor Rupert Everett wrote that he had a six-year affair with Yates.
Death
On 17 September 2000 Yates was found dead at her home in London, the same day as her daughter Pixie's 10th birthday, at the age of 40, of an accidental heroin overdose. The coroner ruled that it was not a suicide, but a result of "foolish and incautious" behaviour.
Soon after her death, ex-husband Bob Geldof assumed a foster custody of Tiger Lily with the willing consent of Hutchence's parents, so that she could be raised with her three older half-sisters, Fifi, Peaches and Pixie. Her aunt, Tina Hutchence, the sister of INXS singer Michael Hutchence, was denied permission by the judge to apply for Tiger Lily to live with her in California.
In 2007, Geldof further applied to a British court for and was granted formal adoption of Tiger Lily and a change of her surname to Geldof, despite vocal opposition from Hutchence's mother and sister. Since January 2008 her legal full name has been Heavenly Hiraani Tiger Lily Hutchence Geldof.
http://img.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2007/11_01/bobandpaulaREX_468x700.jpg
http://resources3.news.com.au/images/2007/11/12/va1237276843707/Michael-Hutchence-and-Paula-Yates-Jeff-Darmanin-5746243.jpg
Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: ninny on 04/24/10 at 7:10 am
British Person of the Day: Paula Yates
Paula Elizabeth Yates (24 April 1960 – 17 September 2000) was a British television presenter and writer, best known for her work on two iconic television programmes, The Tube and The Big Breakfast.
Early life
Born in Colwyn Bay, North Wales, she was brought up in a show business family. Her mother was Elaine Smith, a former showgirl, actress and writer of erotic novels, who used the stage names Helene Thornton and Heller Toren. Until late in her life, Yates believed her father to be Jess Yates, who was known as "the Bishop" and presented the ITV religious programme Stars On Sunday. Yates and Smith were married from 1958 to 1975, though Yates was 16 years older than his wife and their marriage was unconventional. Jess Yates was fired from his job in 1974 because of scandalous newspaper stories about his private life.
In an unsettled childhood, Yates attended school at Penrhos College, Ysgol Aberconwy. The Yates family ran the Deganwy Castle Hotel for a time, before moving to a large house in Rowen, Conwy. After the break-up of her parents' marriage in 1975, Yates lived mostly with her mother, including periods in Malta and Mallorca where she was a pupil at Bellver International College, before returning to Britain.
Career
Yates became a fan of the Boomtown Rats and their lead singer, Bob Geldof, with whom she became involved and who fathered her first three daughters. She posed naked for Penthouse in 1978, just before she became a music journalist, writing a column called "Natural Blonde" in the Record Mirror. She first came to prominence in the 1980s, as co-presenter (with Jools Holland) of the Channel 4 pop music programme The Tube. She also appeared alongside friend Jennifer Saunders in 1987 for a spoof 'mockumentary' on Bananarama.
In 1982, she released a version of the Nancy Sinatra hit song "These Boots Are Made for Walkin'".
After the birth of her daughters, Yates wrote two books on motherhood.
Yates continued with her rock journalism, in addition to being presenter of cutting-edge music show The Tube. She became most notorious for her "on the bed" interviews on the show The Big Breakfast, produced by Geldof. On 27 October 1995 Yates appeared on the quiz programme Have I Got News For You and repeatedly clashed with Ian Hislop. Yates referred to Hislop as being "the sperm of the devil".
Personal life
Yates met Geldof in the early days of the Boomtown Rats. They became a couple in 1976 when she flew to Paris to surprise him while the band was playing there. Their first daughter, Fifi Trixibelle, was born on 31 March 1983. After 10 years together, they married on 31 August 1986 in Las Vegas, with Simon Le Bon of Duran Duran acting as Geldof's best man. The couple then had two more daughters, Peaches Geldof on 13 March 1989, and Little Pixie Geldof on 17 September 1990. Pixie is said to be named after a celebrity daughter character from the cartoon Celeb in the satirical magazine Private Eye, itself a lampoon of the unusual names the Geldofs gave to their first children.
Many people still erroneously think that Yates and the INXS singer Michael Hutchence first met during the infamous interview on the Big Breakfast bed in October 1994, but Yates had interviewed him as early as 1985 on Channel 4's The Tube rock magazine programme. During this appearance on "The Tube", Paula was asked to leave Michael alone by the Road Manager of INXS when Paula walked up to him and said, "I'm going to have that boy." "Paula was unmoved and began to show up at INXS gigs everywhere for the next few years...she even brought her kid, (Fifi Geldof)." Yates doggedly maintained an irregular contact during the interceding nine years and their affair had been underway long before the Big Breakfast interview. In 1995, Yates left Geldof.
Geldof and Yates divorced in May 1996. Two months later Yates's daughter with Hutchence, Heavenly Hiraani Tiger Lily Hutchence (known as Tiger) was born on 22 July 1996.
On 22 November 1997, Hutchence was found dead in a hotel room in Sydney. Paula Yates wrote in her police statement that Michael Hutchence was "frightened and couldn't stand a minute more without his baby" during their phone conversations that morning of his suicide; he had said, "I don't know how I'll live without Tiger". Yates also wrote that Bob Geldof had threatened them repeatedly with, "Don't forget, I am above the law." Yates became distraught, refusing to accept the coroner's verdict of suicide. She eventually sought psychiatric treatment. In June 1998, Bob Geldof won full custody of the couple's three daughters and Yates attempted suicide. Michael Hutchence's father,Kell Hutchence "launched proceedings in Australia seeking sole custody of after concerns over a new relationship Miss Yates began while being treated at a clinic for a nervous breakdown earlier this year. She met Kingsley O'Keke, 26, , during her stay but the pair broke up after a six-week romance. O'Keke later sold his story to a tabloid newspaper."
Yates's dispute with the Hutchence family over Michael's estate saw her struggling to bring up her daughter. While battling grief and problems with addiction, she was also in an extremely difficult financial situation. Yates resorted to selling her jewellery in order to pay bills, including the three amethyst rings Geldof gave her after the birth of each of their daughters. She downsized to living in a small mews house in the years prior to her death, but also purchased a second home in Hastings.
While fighting for custody of Tiger, it was reported in the media that Jess Yates had not been Yates's natural father. A paternity test proved that the quiz show host Hughie Green, who died six months before Hutchence, had in fact been her natural father.
In his memoir Red Carpets and Other Banana Skins (2006), actor Rupert Everett wrote that he had a six-year affair with Yates.
Death
On 17 September 2000 Yates was found dead at her home in London, the same day as her daughter Pixie's 10th birthday, at the age of 40, of an accidental heroin overdose. The coroner ruled that it was not a suicide, but a result of "foolish and incautious" behaviour.
Soon after her death, ex-husband Bob Geldof assumed a foster custody of Tiger Lily with the willing consent of Hutchence's parents, so that she could be raised with her three older half-sisters, Fifi, Peaches and Pixie. Her aunt, Tina Hutchence, the sister of INXS singer Michael Hutchence, was denied permission by the judge to apply for Tiger Lily to live with her in California.
In 2007, Geldof further applied to a British court for and was granted formal adoption of Tiger Lily and a change of her surname to Geldof, despite vocal opposition from Hutchence's mother and sister. Since January 2008 her legal full name has been Heavenly Hiraani Tiger Lily Hutchence Geldof.
http://img.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2007/11_01/bobandpaulaREX_468x700.jpg
http://resources3.news.com.au/images/2007/11/12/va1237276843707/Michael-Hutchence-and-Paula-Yates-Jeff-Darmanin-5746243.jpg
Thanks Phil...Another life that ended before it should have. :(
Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: Howard on 04/24/10 at 7:11 am
British Person of the Day: Paula Yates
Paula Elizabeth Yates (24 April 1960 – 17 September 2000) was a British television presenter and writer, best known for her work on two iconic television programmes, The Tube and The Big Breakfast.
Early life
Born in Colwyn Bay, North Wales, she was brought up in a show business family. Her mother was Elaine Smith, a former showgirl, actress and writer of erotic novels, who used the stage names Helene Thornton and Heller Toren. Until late in her life, Yates believed her father to be Jess Yates, who was known as "the Bishop" and presented the ITV religious programme Stars On Sunday. Yates and Smith were married from 1958 to 1975, though Yates was 16 years older than his wife and their marriage was unconventional. Jess Yates was fired from his job in 1974 because of scandalous newspaper stories about his private life.
In an unsettled childhood, Yates attended school at Penrhos College, Ysgol Aberconwy. The Yates family ran the Deganwy Castle Hotel for a time, before moving to a large house in Rowen, Conwy. After the break-up of her parents' marriage in 1975, Yates lived mostly with her mother, including periods in Malta and Mallorca where she was a pupil at Bellver International College, before returning to Britain.
Career
Yates became a fan of the Boomtown Rats and their lead singer, Bob Geldof, with whom she became involved and who fathered her first three daughters. She posed naked for Penthouse in 1978, just before she became a music journalist, writing a column called "Natural Blonde" in the Record Mirror. She first came to prominence in the 1980s, as co-presenter (with Jools Holland) of the Channel 4 pop music programme The Tube. She also appeared alongside friend Jennifer Saunders in 1987 for a spoof 'mockumentary' on Bananarama.
In 1982, she released a version of the Nancy Sinatra hit song "These Boots Are Made for Walkin'".
After the birth of her daughters, Yates wrote two books on motherhood.
Yates continued with her rock journalism, in addition to being presenter of cutting-edge music show The Tube. She became most notorious for her "on the bed" interviews on the show The Big Breakfast, produced by Geldof. On 27 October 1995 Yates appeared on the quiz programme Have I Got News For You and repeatedly clashed with Ian Hislop. Yates referred to Hislop as being "the sperm of the devil".
Personal life
Yates met Geldof in the early days of the Boomtown Rats. They became a couple in 1976 when she flew to Paris to surprise him while the band was playing there. Their first daughter, Fifi Trixibelle, was born on 31 March 1983. After 10 years together, they married on 31 August 1986 in Las Vegas, with Simon Le Bon of Duran Duran acting as Geldof's best man. The couple then had two more daughters, Peaches Geldof on 13 March 1989, and Little Pixie Geldof on 17 September 1990. Pixie is said to be named after a celebrity daughter character from the cartoon Celeb in the satirical magazine Private Eye, itself a lampoon of the unusual names the Geldofs gave to their first children.
Many people still erroneously think that Yates and the INXS singer Michael Hutchence first met during the infamous interview on the Big Breakfast bed in October 1994, but Yates had interviewed him as early as 1985 on Channel 4's The Tube rock magazine programme. During this appearance on "The Tube", Paula was asked to leave Michael alone by the Road Manager of INXS when Paula walked up to him and said, "I'm going to have that boy." "Paula was unmoved and began to show up at INXS gigs everywhere for the next few years...she even brought her kid, (Fifi Geldof)." Yates doggedly maintained an irregular contact during the interceding nine years and their affair had been underway long before the Big Breakfast interview. In 1995, Yates left Geldof.
Geldof and Yates divorced in May 1996. Two months later Yates's daughter with Hutchence, Heavenly Hiraani Tiger Lily Hutchence (known as Tiger) was born on 22 July 1996.
On 22 November 1997, Hutchence was found dead in a hotel room in Sydney. Paula Yates wrote in her police statement that Michael Hutchence was "frightened and couldn't stand a minute more without his baby" during their phone conversations that morning of his suicide; he had said, "I don't know how I'll live without Tiger". Yates also wrote that Bob Geldof had threatened them repeatedly with, "Don't forget, I am above the law." Yates became distraught, refusing to accept the coroner's verdict of suicide. She eventually sought psychiatric treatment. In June 1998, Bob Geldof won full custody of the couple's three daughters and Yates attempted suicide. Michael Hutchence's father,Kell Hutchence "launched proceedings in Australia seeking sole custody of after concerns over a new relationship Miss Yates began while being treated at a clinic for a nervous breakdown earlier this year. She met Kingsley O'Keke, 26, , during her stay but the pair broke up after a six-week romance. O'Keke later sold his story to a tabloid newspaper."
Yates's dispute with the Hutchence family over Michael's estate saw her struggling to bring up her daughter. While battling grief and problems with addiction, she was also in an extremely difficult financial situation. Yates resorted to selling her jewellery in order to pay bills, including the three amethyst rings Geldof gave her after the birth of each of their daughters. She downsized to living in a small mews house in the years prior to her death, but also purchased a second home in Hastings.
While fighting for custody of Tiger, it was reported in the media that Jess Yates had not been Yates's natural father. A paternity test proved that the quiz show host Hughie Green, who died six months before Hutchence, had in fact been her natural father.
In his memoir Red Carpets and Other Banana Skins (2006), actor Rupert Everett wrote that he had a six-year affair with Yates.
Death
On 17 September 2000 Yates was found dead at her home in London, the same day as her daughter Pixie's 10th birthday, at the age of 40, of an accidental heroin overdose. The coroner ruled that it was not a suicide, but a result of "foolish and incautious" behaviour.
Soon after her death, ex-husband Bob Geldof assumed a foster custody of Tiger Lily with the willing consent of Hutchence's parents, so that she could be raised with her three older half-sisters, Fifi, Peaches and Pixie. Her aunt, Tina Hutchence, the sister of INXS singer Michael Hutchence, was denied permission by the judge to apply for Tiger Lily to live with her in California.
In 2007, Geldof further applied to a British court for and was granted formal adoption of Tiger Lily and a change of her surname to Geldof, despite vocal opposition from Hutchence's mother and sister. Since January 2008 her legal full name has been Heavenly Hiraani Tiger Lily Hutchence Geldof.
http://img.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2007/11_01/bobandpaulaREX_468x700.jpg
http://resources3.news.com.au/images/2007/11/12/va1237276843707/Michael-Hutchence-and-Paula-Yates-Jeff-Darmanin-5746243.jpg
A life cut short. :)
Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: Philip Eno on 04/24/10 at 7:14 am
Thanks Phil...Another life that ended before it should have. :(
A short and tragic life.
Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: ninny on 04/24/10 at 7:19 am
The word of the day...Owl
The Owls are the order Strigiformes, comprising 200 extant bird of prey species. Most are solitary, and nocturnal, with some exceptions (e.g. the Northern Hawk Owl). Owls hunt mostly small mammals, insects, and other birds, though a few species specialize in hunting fish. They are found in all regions of the Earth except Antarctica, most of Greenland, and some remote islands. Though owls are typically solitary, the literary collective noun for a group of owls is a parliament.
Living owls are divided into two families: the typical owls, Strigidae; and the barn-owls, Tytonidae.
http://i0006.photobucket.com/albums/0006/findstuff22/Best%20Images/Animals/owl1.jpg
http://i840.photobucket.com/albums/zz330/lilandrap/Violet/owl.jpg
http://i87.photobucket.com/albums/k134/birdofprey25/Delta%20and%20OWL/Sarahthebarnowl.jpg
http://i697.photobucket.com/albums/vv335/snowypads/Owl%20and%20Monkey%20Haven/SnowyOwl1.jpg
http://i186.photobucket.com/albums/x115/jiminycricket46/OWLS/Owl-JennysCreationsBLINKINGOWLANI.gif
http://i836.photobucket.com/albums/zz288/smokeweedeveryday_2010/whiteowl.jpg
http://i697.photobucket.com/albums/vv336/marjoromijn/uil/owl.gif
http://i650.photobucket.com/albums/uu221/dunc_89/dsc-0089.jpg
http://i774.photobucket.com/albums/yy27/petrajlea/lelu1/ph376.jpg
http://i239.photobucket.com/albums/ff16/Peacewave07/t14042r0isd.jpg
Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: Howard on 04/24/10 at 7:20 am
http://www.heinzhistorycenter.org/uploads/products/x_the_owl.jpg
Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: ninny on 04/24/10 at 7:22 am
The person born on this day...Barbra Streisand
Barbra Streisand (pronounced /ˈstraɪsænd/ STRYE-sand; born Barbara Joan Streisand, April 24, 1942) is an American singer, actress, director and songwriter. She has won two Academy Awards, nine Grammy Awards, four Emmy Awards, a Special Tony Award, an American Film Institute award, and a Peabody Award.
She is one of the most commercially and critically successful female entertainers in modern entertainment history and the best-selling female recording artist of all time, with more than 71.5 million albums shipped in the United States and 140 million albums sold worldwide. She is the best selling female artist on the Recording Industry Association of America's (RIAA) Top Selling Artists list and the only female recording artist in the top ten. Her achievement is all the more remarkable, as she is the only artist who was not a part of the rock n roll genre. Along with Frank Sinatra, Cher, Jamie Foxx and Shirley Jones, she shares the distinction of being awarded an Oscar for a leading role and also recording a #1 pop single on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart.
According to the RIAA, Streisand holds the record for the most Top 10 albums of any female recording artist; a total of 31 to her credit since 1963. Streisand also has the widest span (46 years) between first and latest Top 10 albums of any female recording artist. With her 2009 album, Love Is the Answer, she became the only artist to achieve number 1 albums in five consecutive decades. Her RIAA tally shows she has released 51 Gold albums, 30 Platinum albums, and 13 Multi-Platinum albums in the United States. In 1980, she released her best-selling effort to date, the Barry Gibb-produced Guilty. The album contained the hits Woman In Love (which spent several weeks atop the pop charts in the Fall of 1980), Guilty, and What Kind of Fool.
After years of largely ignoring Broadway and traditional pop music in favor of more contemporary material, Streisand returned to her musical-theater roots with 1985's The Broadway Album, which was unexpectedly successful, holding the coveted #1 Billboard position for three straight weeks, and being certified quadruple Platinum. The album featured tunes by Rodgers & Hammerstein, George Gershwin, Jerome Kern, and Stephen Sondheim, who was persuaded to rework some of his songs especially for this recording. The Broadway Album was met with acclaim, including a nomination for Album of the Year and, ultimately, handed Streisand her eighth Grammy as Best Female Vocalist. After releasing the live album One Voice in 1986, Streisand was set to take another musical journey along the Great White Way in 1988. She recorded several cuts for the album under the direction of Rupert Holmes, including On My Own (from Les Misérables), a medley of How Are Things in Glocca Morra? and Heather on the Hill (from Finian's Rainbow and Brigadoon, respectively), All I Ask of You (from Phantom of the Opera), Warm All Over (from The Most Happy Fella) and an unusual solo version of Make Our Garden Grow (from Candide). Streisand was not happy with the direction of the project and it was ultimately scrapped. Only Warm All Over and a reworked, Lite FM-friendly version of All I Ask of You were ever released—the latter appearing on Streisand's 1988 effort, Till I Loved You.
At the beginning of the 1990s, Streisand started focusing on her directorial efforts and became almost inactive in the recording studio. In 1991, a four-disc box set, Just for the Record, was released. A compilation spanning Streisand's entire career to date, it featured over 70 tracks of live performances, greatest hits, rarities and previously unreleased material.
The following year, Streisand's concert fundraising events helped propel former President Bill Clinton into the spotlight and into office. Streisand later introduced Clinton at his inauguration in 1993. Streisand's music career, however, was largely on hold. A 1992 appearance at an APLA benefit as well as the aforementioned inaugural performance hinted that Streisand was becoming more receptive to the idea of live performances. A tour was suggested, though Streisand would not immediately commit to it, citing her well-known stage fright as well as security concerns. During this time, Streisand finally returned to the recording studio and released Back to Broadway in June 1993. The album was not as universally lauded as its predecessor, but it did debut at #1 on the pop charts (a rare feat for an artist of Streisand's age, especially given that it relegated Janet Jackson's Janet to the #2 spot). One of the album's highlights was a medley of I Have A Love / One Hand, One Heart a duet with the legendary Johnny Mathis, who Streisand said is one of her favorite singers.
In 1993, New York Times music critic Stephen Holden wrote that Streisand "enjoys a cultural status that only one other American entertainer, Frank Sinatra, has achieved in the last half century."
In September 1993, Streisand announced her first public concert appearances in 27 years. What began as a two-night New Year's event at the MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas eventually led to a multi-city tour in the summer of 1994. Tickets to the tour were sold out in under one hour. Streisand also appeared on the covers of major magazines in anticipation of what Time magazine named "The Music Event of the Century". The tour was one of the biggest all-media merchandise parlays in history. Ticket prices ranged from US$50 to US$1,500 – making Streisand the highest paid concert performer in history. Barbra Streisand: The Concert went on to be the top grossing concert of the year, earned five Emmy Awards and the Peabody Award, and the taped broadcast on HBO is, to date, the highest rated concert special in HBO's 30 year history.
Following the tour's conclusion, Streisand once again kept a low profile musically, instead focusing her efforts on her acting and directing duties as well as her burgeoning romance with actor James Brolin. In 1997, Streisand finally returned to the recording studio, releasing Higher Ground, a collection of songs of a loosely-inspirational nature which also featured a duet with Céline Dion. The album received generally favorable reviews and, remarkably, once again debuted at #1 on the pop charts.
Following her marriage to Brolin in 1998, Streisand recorded an album of love songs entitled A Love Like Ours the following year. Reviews were mixed, with many critics carping about the somewhat syrupy sentiments and overly-lush arrangements; however, it did produce a modest hit for Streisand in the country-tinged If You Ever Leave Me, a duet with Vince Gill.
On New Year's Eve 1999, Streisand returned to the concert stage, giving the highest grossing single concert in Las Vegas history to date. At the end of the millennium, she was the number one female singer in the U.S., with at least two #1 albums in each decade since she began performing. A 2-disc live album of the concert entitled Timeless: Live in Concert was released in 2000. Streisand performed versions of the "Timeless" concert in Sydney and Melbourne, Australia in early 2000.
In advance of four concerts (two each in Los Angeles and New York) in September 2000, Streisand announced she was retiring from future paying public concerts. Her performance of the song People was broadcast on the Internet via America Online.
Streisand's most recent albums have been Christmas Memories (2001), a somewhat somber collection of holiday songs (which felt entirely—albeit unintentionally—appropriate in the early post-9/11 days), and The Movie Album (2003), featuring famous movie themes and backed by a large symphony orchestra. Guilty Pleasures (called Guilty Too in the UK), a collaboration with Barry Gibb and a sequel to their previous Guilty, was released worldwide in 2005.
In February 2006, Streisand recorded the song Smile alongside Tony Bennett at Streisand's Malibu home. The song is included on Tony Bennett's 80th Birthday Album, Duets. In September 2006, the pair filmed a live performance of the song for a special directed by Rob Marshall entitled Tony Bennett: An American Classic. The special aired on NBC Television November 21, 2006, and was released on DVD the same day. Streisand's duet with Bennett opens the special.
In 2006, Streisand announced her intent to tour again, in an effort to raise money and awareness for multiple issues. After four days of rehearsal at the Sovereign Bank Arena in Trenton, New Jersey, the tour began on October 4 at the Wachovia Center in Philadelphia, continued with the featured stop in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida (this was the concert Streisand chose to film for a TV special), and concluded at Staples Center in Los Angeles on November 20, 2006. Special guests Il Divo were interwoven throughout the show. On stage closing night, Streisand hinted that six more concerts may follow on foreign soil. The show was known as Streisand: The Tour.
Streisand's 20-concert tour set record box-office numbers. At the age of 64, well past the prime of most performers, she grossed US$92,457,062 and set house gross records in 14 of the 16 arenas played on the tour. She set the third-place record for her October 9, 2006 show at Madison Square Garden, the first- and second-place records of which are held by her two shows in September 2000. She set the second-place record at the MGM Grand Garden Arena, with her December 31, 1999 show being the house record and the highest grossing concert of all time. This led many people to openly criticize Streisand for price gouging, as many tickets sold for upwards of US$1,000.
A collection of performances culled from different stops on this tour, Live in Concert 2006, debuted at #7 on the Billboard 200, making it Streisand's 29th Top 10 album. In the summer of 2007, Streisand gave concerts for the first time in continental Europe. The first concert took place in Zürich (June 18), then Vienna (June 22), Paris (June 26), Berlin (June 30), Stockholm (July 4, canceled), Manchester (July 10) and Celbridge, near Dublin (July 14), followed by three concerts in London (July 18, 22 and 25), the only European city where Streisand had performed before 2007. Tickets for the London dates cost between £100.00 and GB£1,500.00 and for the Ireland date between €118 and €500. The tour included a 58-piece orchestra.
In February 2008, Forbes Magazine listed Streisand as the #2 top-earning female musician, between June 2006 and June 2007, with earnings of about US$60 million. Although Streisand's range has changed with time and her voice has become deeper over the years, her vocal prowess has remained remarkably secure for a singer whose career has endured for nearly half a century.
On November 17, 2008, Streisand returned to the studio to begin recording what will be her sixty-third album and it was announced that Diana Krall was producing the album.
On April 25, 2009, CBS aired Streisand's latest TV special, Streisand: Live In Concert, highlighting the aforementioned featured stop from her 2006 North American tour, in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida.
Streisand is one of the recipients of the 2008 Kennedy Center Honors. On December 7, 2008, she visited the White House as part of the ceremonies.
On September 26, 2009, Streisand performed a one-night-only show at the Village Vanguard in New York City's Greenwich Village.
On September 29, 2009, Streisand and Columbia Records released her newest studio album titled Love is the Answer, produced by Diana Krall. On October 2, 2009, Streisand made her British television performance debut after her interview on Friday Night With Jonathan Ross, promoting the album. This album was a big success, debuting straight at #1 on the Billboard 200 and registering her biggest weekly-sales since 1997. This made Streisand the only artist in history to achieve #1 albums in five different decades.
On February 1, 2010, Streisand joined over 80 other artists in recording a new version of the 1985 charity single "We Are the World". Quincy Jones and Lionel Richie planned to release the new version to mark the 25th anniversary of its original recording. These plans changed, however, in view of the devastating earthquake that hit Haiti on January 12, 2010, and on February 12, the song, now called "We Are the World 25 for Haiti", made its debut as a charity single to support relief aid for the beleaguered island nation.
Film career
in Hello, Dolly! (1969)
Her first film was a reprise of her Broadway hit, Funny Girl (1968), an artistic and commercial success directed by Hollywood veteran William Wyler, for which she won the 1968 Academy Award for Best Actress, sharing it with Katharine Hepburn (The Lion in Winter), the first (and only) time there was a tie in this Oscar category. Her next two movies were also based on musicals, Jerry Herman's Hello, Dolly! directed by Gene Kelly (1969) and Alan Jay Lerner's and Burton Lane's On a Clear Day You Can See Forever directed by Vincente Minnelli (1970), while her fourth film was based on the Broadway play The Owl and the Pussycat (1970).
During the 1970s, Streisand starred in several screwball comedies, including What's Up, Doc? (1972) and The Main Event (1979), both co-starring Ryan O'Neal, and For Pete's Sake (1974) with Michael Sarrazin. One of her most famous roles during this period was in the drama The Way We Were (1973) with Robert Redford, for which she received an Academy Award nomination as Best Actress. She earned her second Academy Award for Best Original Song as composer (together with lyricist Paul Williams) for the song "Evergreen", from A Star Is Born in 1976; this was the first time a woman had received this award.
Along with Paul Newman and Sidney Poitier, Streisand formed First Artists Production Company in 1969 so the actors could secure properties and develop movie projects for themselves. Streisand's initial outing with First Artists was Up the Sandbox (1972).
From a period beginning in 1969 and ending in 1980, Streisand appeared in the annual motion picture exhibitors poll of Top 10 Box Office attractions a total of 10 times, often as the only woman on the list. After the commercially disappointing All Night Long in 1981, Streisand's film output decreased considerably. She has only acted in five films since.
Streisand produced a number of her own films, setting up Barwood Films in 1972. For Yentl (1983), she was producer, director, and star, an experience she repeated for The Prince of Tides (1991) and The Mirror Has Two Faces (1996). There was controversy when Yentl received five Academy Award nominations, but none for the major categories of Best Picture, Actress, or Director. Prince of Tides received even more Oscar nominations, including Best Picture, but the director was not nominated. Streisand is also the writer of Yentl, something she is not always given credit for. According to New York Times Editorial Page Editor Andrew Rosenthal in an interview (story begins at minute 16) with Allan Wolper, "the one thing that makes Barbra Streisand crazy is when nobody gives her the credit for having written Yentl."
In 2004, Streisand made a return to film acting, after an eight-year hiatus, in the comedy Meet the Fockers (a sequel to Meet the Parents), playing opposite Dustin Hoffman, Ben Stiller, Blythe Danner and Robert De Niro.
In 2005 Streisand's Barwood Films, Gary Smith Co. and Sonny Murray purchased the rights to Simon Mawer's book Mendel's Dwarf. As of December 2008, Streisand stated she is considering directing an adaptation of Larry Kramer's play The Normal Heart — a project Ms. Streisand has worked on since the mid-1990s Streisand has been seen shooting scenes for sequel to 2004's Meet the Fockers. Andrew Lloyd Webber stated that Streisand is one of several actresses interested in playing the role of Norma Desmond in the film adaptation of Webber's musical version of Sunset Boulevard (Meryl Streep and Glenn Close were also interested), although Paramount Pictures has delayed the film
In 2000, Barbra Streisand was awarded the National Medal of Arts.
Music awards
Streisand's works have been nominated for over 56 Grammy Awards; she won 10 of these, including two special awards. She has been inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame three times.
http://i550.photobucket.com/albums/ii430/barbra4everinmyheart/default-barbra-streisand.jpg
http://i899.photobucket.com/albums/ac195/SOCKMEISTER_2009/barbra_streisand_19621.jpg
Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: ninny on 04/24/10 at 7:22 am
http://www.heinzhistorycenter.org/uploads/products/x_the_owl.jpg
Cool owl :)
Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: Howard on 04/24/10 at 7:23 am
The person born on this day...Barbra Streisand
Barbra Streisand (pronounced /ˈstraɪsænd/ STRYE-sand; born Barbara Joan Streisand, April 24, 1942) is an American singer, actress, director and songwriter. She has won two Academy Awards, nine Grammy Awards, four Emmy Awards, a Special Tony Award, an American Film Institute award, and a Peabody Award.
She is one of the most commercially and critically successful female entertainers in modern entertainment history and the best-selling female recording artist of all time, with more than 71.5 million albums shipped in the United States and 140 million albums sold worldwide. She is the best selling female artist on the Recording Industry Association of America's (RIAA) Top Selling Artists list and the only female recording artist in the top ten. Her achievement is all the more remarkable, as she is the only artist who was not a part of the rock n roll genre. Along with Frank Sinatra, Cher, Jamie Foxx and Shirley Jones, she shares the distinction of being awarded an Oscar for a leading role and also recording a #1 pop single on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart.
According to the RIAA, Streisand holds the record for the most Top 10 albums of any female recording artist; a total of 31 to her credit since 1963. Streisand also has the widest span (46 years) between first and latest Top 10 albums of any female recording artist. With her 2009 album, Love Is the Answer, she became the only artist to achieve number 1 albums in five consecutive decades. Her RIAA tally shows she has released 51 Gold albums, 30 Platinum albums, and 13 Multi-Platinum albums in the United States. In 1980, she released her best-selling effort to date, the Barry Gibb-produced Guilty. The album contained the hits Woman In Love (which spent several weeks atop the pop charts in the Fall of 1980), Guilty, and What Kind of Fool.
After years of largely ignoring Broadway and traditional pop music in favor of more contemporary material, Streisand returned to her musical-theater roots with 1985's The Broadway Album, which was unexpectedly successful, holding the coveted #1 Billboard position for three straight weeks, and being certified quadruple Platinum. The album featured tunes by Rodgers & Hammerstein, George Gershwin, Jerome Kern, and Stephen Sondheim, who was persuaded to rework some of his songs especially for this recording. The Broadway Album was met with acclaim, including a nomination for Album of the Year and, ultimately, handed Streisand her eighth Grammy as Best Female Vocalist. After releasing the live album One Voice in 1986, Streisand was set to take another musical journey along the Great White Way in 1988. She recorded several cuts for the album under the direction of Rupert Holmes, including On My Own (from Les Misérables), a medley of How Are Things in Glocca Morra? and Heather on the Hill (from Finian's Rainbow and Brigadoon, respectively), All I Ask of You (from Phantom of the Opera), Warm All Over (from The Most Happy Fella) and an unusual solo version of Make Our Garden Grow (from Candide). Streisand was not happy with the direction of the project and it was ultimately scrapped. Only Warm All Over and a reworked, Lite FM-friendly version of All I Ask of You were ever released—the latter appearing on Streisand's 1988 effort, Till I Loved You.
At the beginning of the 1990s, Streisand started focusing on her directorial efforts and became almost inactive in the recording studio. In 1991, a four-disc box set, Just for the Record, was released. A compilation spanning Streisand's entire career to date, it featured over 70 tracks of live performances, greatest hits, rarities and previously unreleased material.
The following year, Streisand's concert fundraising events helped propel former President Bill Clinton into the spotlight and into office. Streisand later introduced Clinton at his inauguration in 1993. Streisand's music career, however, was largely on hold. A 1992 appearance at an APLA benefit as well as the aforementioned inaugural performance hinted that Streisand was becoming more receptive to the idea of live performances. A tour was suggested, though Streisand would not immediately commit to it, citing her well-known stage fright as well as security concerns. During this time, Streisand finally returned to the recording studio and released Back to Broadway in June 1993. The album was not as universally lauded as its predecessor, but it did debut at #1 on the pop charts (a rare feat for an artist of Streisand's age, especially given that it relegated Janet Jackson's Janet to the #2 spot). One of the album's highlights was a medley of I Have A Love / One Hand, One Heart a duet with the legendary Johnny Mathis, who Streisand said is one of her favorite singers.
In 1993, New York Times music critic Stephen Holden wrote that Streisand "enjoys a cultural status that only one other American entertainer, Frank Sinatra, has achieved in the last half century."
In September 1993, Streisand announced her first public concert appearances in 27 years. What began as a two-night New Year's event at the MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas eventually led to a multi-city tour in the summer of 1994. Tickets to the tour were sold out in under one hour. Streisand also appeared on the covers of major magazines in anticipation of what Time magazine named "The Music Event of the Century". The tour was one of the biggest all-media merchandise parlays in history. Ticket prices ranged from US$50 to US$1,500 – making Streisand the highest paid concert performer in history. Barbra Streisand: The Concert went on to be the top grossing concert of the year, earned five Emmy Awards and the Peabody Award, and the taped broadcast on HBO is, to date, the highest rated concert special in HBO's 30 year history.
Following the tour's conclusion, Streisand once again kept a low profile musically, instead focusing her efforts on her acting and directing duties as well as her burgeoning romance with actor James Brolin. In 1997, Streisand finally returned to the recording studio, releasing Higher Ground, a collection of songs of a loosely-inspirational nature which also featured a duet with Céline Dion. The album received generally favorable reviews and, remarkably, once again debuted at #1 on the pop charts.
Following her marriage to Brolin in 1998, Streisand recorded an album of love songs entitled A Love Like Ours the following year. Reviews were mixed, with many critics carping about the somewhat syrupy sentiments and overly-lush arrangements; however, it did produce a modest hit for Streisand in the country-tinged If You Ever Leave Me, a duet with Vince Gill.
On New Year's Eve 1999, Streisand returned to the concert stage, giving the highest grossing single concert in Las Vegas history to date. At the end of the millennium, she was the number one female singer in the U.S., with at least two #1 albums in each decade since she began performing. A 2-disc live album of the concert entitled Timeless: Live in Concert was released in 2000. Streisand performed versions of the "Timeless" concert in Sydney and Melbourne, Australia in early 2000.
In advance of four concerts (two each in Los Angeles and New York) in September 2000, Streisand announced she was retiring from future paying public concerts. Her performance of the song People was broadcast on the Internet via America Online.
Streisand's most recent albums have been Christmas Memories (2001), a somewhat somber collection of holiday songs (which felt entirely—albeit unintentionally—appropriate in the early post-9/11 days), and The Movie Album (2003), featuring famous movie themes and backed by a large symphony orchestra. Guilty Pleasures (called Guilty Too in the UK), a collaboration with Barry Gibb and a sequel to their previous Guilty, was released worldwide in 2005.
In February 2006, Streisand recorded the song Smile alongside Tony Bennett at Streisand's Malibu home. The song is included on Tony Bennett's 80th Birthday Album, Duets. In September 2006, the pair filmed a live performance of the song for a special directed by Rob Marshall entitled Tony Bennett: An American Classic. The special aired on NBC Television November 21, 2006, and was released on DVD the same day. Streisand's duet with Bennett opens the special.
In 2006, Streisand announced her intent to tour again, in an effort to raise money and awareness for multiple issues. After four days of rehearsal at the Sovereign Bank Arena in Trenton, New Jersey, the tour began on October 4 at the Wachovia Center in Philadelphia, continued with the featured stop in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida (this was the concert Streisand chose to film for a TV special), and concluded at Staples Center in Los Angeles on November 20, 2006. Special guests Il Divo were interwoven throughout the show. On stage closing night, Streisand hinted that six more concerts may follow on foreign soil. The show was known as Streisand: The Tour.
Streisand's 20-concert tour set record box-office numbers. At the age of 64, well past the prime of most performers, she grossed US$92,457,062 and set house gross records in 14 of the 16 arenas played on the tour. She set the third-place record for her October 9, 2006 show at Madison Square Garden, the first- and second-place records of which are held by her two shows in September 2000. She set the second-place record at the MGM Grand Garden Arena, with her December 31, 1999 show being the house record and the highest grossing concert of all time. This led many people to openly criticize Streisand for price gouging, as many tickets sold for upwards of US$1,000.
A collection of performances culled from different stops on this tour, Live in Concert 2006, debuted at #7 on the Billboard 200, making it Streisand's 29th Top 10 album. In the summer of 2007, Streisand gave concerts for the first time in continental Europe. The first concert took place in Zürich (June 18), then Vienna (June 22), Paris (June 26), Berlin (June 30), Stockholm (July 4, canceled), Manchester (July 10) and Celbridge, near Dublin (July 14), followed by three concerts in London (July 18, 22 and 25), the only European city where Streisand had performed before 2007. Tickets for the London dates cost between £100.00 and GB£1,500.00 and for the Ireland date between €118 and €500. The tour included a 58-piece orchestra.
In February 2008, Forbes Magazine listed Streisand as the #2 top-earning female musician, between June 2006 and June 2007, with earnings of about US$60 million. Although Streisand's range has changed with time and her voice has become deeper over the years, her vocal prowess has remained remarkably secure for a singer whose career has endured for nearly half a century.
On November 17, 2008, Streisand returned to the studio to begin recording what will be her sixty-third album and it was announced that Diana Krall was producing the album.
On April 25, 2009, CBS aired Streisand's latest TV special, Streisand: Live In Concert, highlighting the aforementioned featured stop from her 2006 North American tour, in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida.
Streisand is one of the recipients of the 2008 Kennedy Center Honors. On December 7, 2008, she visited the White House as part of the ceremonies.
On September 26, 2009, Streisand performed a one-night-only show at the Village Vanguard in New York City's Greenwich Village.
On September 29, 2009, Streisand and Columbia Records released her newest studio album titled Love is the Answer, produced by Diana Krall. On October 2, 2009, Streisand made her British television performance debut after her interview on Friday Night With Jonathan Ross, promoting the album. This album was a big success, debuting straight at #1 on the Billboard 200 and registering her biggest weekly-sales since 1997. This made Streisand the only artist in history to achieve #1 albums in five different decades.
On February 1, 2010, Streisand joined over 80 other artists in recording a new version of the 1985 charity single "We Are the World". Quincy Jones and Lionel Richie planned to release the new version to mark the 25th anniversary of its original recording. These plans changed, however, in view of the devastating earthquake that hit Haiti on January 12, 2010, and on February 12, the song, now called "We Are the World 25 for Haiti", made its debut as a charity single to support relief aid for the beleaguered island nation.
Film career
in Hello, Dolly! (1969)
Her first film was a reprise of her Broadway hit, Funny Girl (1968), an artistic and commercial success directed by Hollywood veteran William Wyler, for which she won the 1968 Academy Award for Best Actress, sharing it with Katharine Hepburn (The Lion in Winter), the first (and only) time there was a tie in this Oscar category. Her next two movies were also based on musicals, Jerry Herman's Hello, Dolly! directed by Gene Kelly (1969) and Alan Jay Lerner's and Burton Lane's On a Clear Day You Can See Forever directed by Vincente Minnelli (1970), while her fourth film was based on the Broadway play The Owl and the Pussycat (1970).
During the 1970s, Streisand starred in several screwball comedies, including What's Up, Doc? (1972) and The Main Event (1979), both co-starring Ryan O'Neal, and For Pete's Sake (1974) with Michael Sarrazin. One of her most famous roles during this period was in the drama The Way We Were (1973) with Robert Redford, for which she received an Academy Award nomination as Best Actress. She earned her second Academy Award for Best Original Song as composer (together with lyricist Paul Williams) for the song "Evergreen", from A Star Is Born in 1976; this was the first time a woman had received this award.
Along with Paul Newman and Sidney Poitier, Streisand formed First Artists Production Company in 1969 so the actors could secure properties and develop movie projects for themselves. Streisand's initial outing with First Artists was Up the Sandbox (1972).
From a period beginning in 1969 and ending in 1980, Streisand appeared in the annual motion picture exhibitors poll of Top 10 Box Office attractions a total of 10 times, often as the only woman on the list. After the commercially disappointing All Night Long in 1981, Streisand's film output decreased considerably. She has only acted in five films since.
Streisand produced a number of her own films, setting up Barwood Films in 1972. For Yentl (1983), she was producer, director, and star, an experience she repeated for The Prince of Tides (1991) and The Mirror Has Two Faces (1996). There was controversy when Yentl received five Academy Award nominations, but none for the major categories of Best Picture, Actress, or Director. Prince of Tides received even more Oscar nominations, including Best Picture, but the director was not nominated. Streisand is also the writer of Yentl, something she is not always given credit for. According to New York Times Editorial Page Editor Andrew Rosenthal in an interview (story begins at minute 16) with Allan Wolper, "the one thing that makes Barbra Streisand crazy is when nobody gives her the credit for having written Yentl."
In 2004, Streisand made a return to film acting, after an eight-year hiatus, in the comedy Meet the Fockers (a sequel to Meet the Parents), playing opposite Dustin Hoffman, Ben Stiller, Blythe Danner and Robert De Niro.
In 2005 Streisand's Barwood Films, Gary Smith Co. and Sonny Murray purchased the rights to Simon Mawer's book Mendel's Dwarf. As of December 2008, Streisand stated she is considering directing an adaptation of Larry Kramer's play The Normal Heart — a project Ms. Streisand has worked on since the mid-1990s Streisand has been seen shooting scenes for sequel to 2004's Meet the Fockers. Andrew Lloyd Webber stated that Streisand is one of several actresses interested in playing the role of Norma Desmond in the film adaptation of Webber's musical version of Sunset Boulevard (Meryl Streep and Glenn Close were also interested), although Paramount Pictures has delayed the film
In 2000, Barbra Streisand was awarded the National Medal of Arts.
Music awards
Streisand's works have been nominated for over 56 Grammy Awards; she won 10 of these, including two special awards. She has been inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame three times.
http://i550.photobucket.com/albums/ii430/barbra4everinmyheart/default-barbra-streisand.jpg
http://i899.photobucket.com/albums/ac195/SOCKMEISTER_2009/barbra_streisand_19621.jpg
a talented person.
Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: Philip Eno on 04/24/10 at 7:23 am
The word of the day...Owl
The Owls are the order Strigiformes, comprising 200 extant bird of prey species. Most are solitary, and nocturnal, with some exceptions (e.g. the Northern Hawk Owl). Owls hunt mostly small mammals, insects, and other birds, though a few species specialize in hunting fish. They are found in all regions of the Earth except Antarctica, most of Greenland, and some remote islands. Though owls are typically solitary, the literary collective noun for a group of owls is a parliament.
Living owls are divided into two families: the typical owls, Strigidae; and the barn-owls, Tytonidae.
http://i0006.photobucket.com/albums/0006/findstuff22/Best%20Images/Animals/owl1.jpg
http://i840.photobucket.com/albums/zz330/lilandrap/Violet/owl.jpg
http://i87.photobucket.com/albums/k134/birdofprey25/Delta%20and%20OWL/Sarahthebarnowl.jpg
http://i697.photobucket.com/albums/vv335/snowypads/Owl%20and%20Monkey%20Haven/SnowyOwl1.jpg
http://i186.photobucket.com/albums/x115/jiminycricket46/OWLS/Owl-JennysCreationsBLINKINGOWLANI.gif
http://i836.photobucket.com/albums/zz288/smokeweedeveryday_2010/whiteowl.jpg
http://i697.photobucket.com/albums/vv336/marjoromijn/uil/owl.gif
http://i650.photobucket.com/albums/uu221/dunc_89/dsc-0089.jpg
http://i774.photobucket.com/albums/yy27/petrajlea/lelu1/ph376.jpg
http://i239.photobucket.com/albums/ff16/Peacewave07/t14042r0isd.jpg
It's a hoot!
Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: Howard on 04/24/10 at 7:24 am
Cool owl :)
From Mr.Rogers.
Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: ninny on 04/24/10 at 7:26 am
The person who died on this day...Bud Abbott
William Alexander “Bud” Abbott (October 2, 1895 – April 24, 1974) was an American actor, producer and comedian. He is best remembered as the straight man of the comedy team of Abbott and Costello, with Lou Costello.
Abbott was born in Asbury Park, New Jersey into a show business family. His parents worked for the Barnum and Bailey Circus: his mother, Rae (née Fisher), was a bareback rider and his father, Harry, was an advance man. Abbott dropped out of school as a child and began working at Coney Island. When Bud was 16, his father, now an employee of the Columbia Burlesque Wheel, installed him in the box office of the Casino Theater in Brooklyn. Eventually, Abbott began putting together touring burlesque shows. In 1918, he married Betty Smith, a burlesque dancer and comedienne. Shortly after his marriage, Abbott and his new wife began producing a vaudeville "tab show" called Broadway Flashes. This show toured on the Gus Sun Vaudeville Circuit. Around 1924, Bud started performing as a straight man in an act with Betty. As his stature grew, Abbott began working with veteran comedians like Harry Steppe and Harry Evanson.
Lou Costello and Hollywood
Abbott crossed paths with Lou Costello in burlesque in the early 1930s. Abbott was producing and performing in Minsky's Burlesque shows, while Costello was a rising comic. They formally teamed up in 1936 and performed together in burlesque, vaudeville, minstrel shows, and cinemas.
In 1938, they received national exposure for the first time by performing on the Kate Smith Hour radio show, which led to the duo appearing in a Broadway musical, The Streets of Paris. In 1940, Universal signed Abbott and Costello for their first film, One Night in the Tropics. Although Abbott and Costello were only filling supporting roles, they stole the film with their classic routines, including an abbreviated version of "Who's On First?" A common misconception is that Abbott and Costello are the only two non-baseball players who have been inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. The comedic duo are not members of the Cooperstown society anymore than the sports writers and broadcasters who are acknowledged by separate awards. However, a plaque honoring and a gold record and transcript of their famous sketch has been included in the museum collection since 1956, making them one of the few non-baseball players or managers to have a memorial in the Baseball Hall of Fame.
During World War II, Abbott and Costello were among the most popular and highest-paid stars in the world. Between 1940 and 1956 they made 36 films, and earned a percentage of the profits on each. They were popular on radio throughout the 1940s, primarily on their own program which ran from 1942 until 1947 on NBC and from 1947 to 1949 on ABC. In the 1950s they brought their comedy to live television on The Colgate Comedy Hour, and launched their own half-hour series, The Abbott and Costello Show.
Norman and Betty Abbott, the children of Bud Abbott's sister Olive, started on their own careers with help from their uncle: Betty as the script girl on Breakfast at Tiffany's and Norm directed live TV. After Olive's husband abandoned his family (allegedly going for a pack of smokes and never coming home), Abbott supported them. Bud changed everyone's name back to Abbott and raised them as his own children. He also adopted two children with his wife Betty.
Abbott's great-grandniece and granddaughter of Norman Abbott, Kathleen Abbott aka Lisa Bay, was born to Chrissy Abbott in 1966, while Chrissy was attending Beverly Hills High School, and is the adopted sister of director Michael Bay.
Strain and split
Relations between the two partners had been strained for years. In their early burlesque days, their salaries were split 60%-40%, favoring Abbott, because the straight man was always viewed as the more valuable member of the team. That was changed to 50%-50% after they became burlesque stars.
However, other accounts state that the 60%-40% split was Costello's idea. "A Good Straight Man is hard to find" is attributed to Costello. Yet, the sixty-forty split had long irked Costello. Later, after Buck Privates made them movie stars, Costello insisted that the split be reversed in his favor, and it remained sixty-forty for the remainder of their careers. Costello's other demand, that the team be renamed "Costello and Abbott," was rejected by Universal Studios. The result was a "permanent chill" between the two partners, according to Lou's daughter Chris Costello, in her biography Lou's on First. The partners' relationship was also strained by Abbott's battle with alcohol, which began when he took to heavy enough drinking in order to combat the effects of epilepsy. (To make things worse, Costello's wife also had a problem with alcohol.)
The team's popularity waned in the 1950s, and they were further bedeviled by tax issues—the IRS demanded heavy back taxes, forcing the partners (both of whom had been serious gamblers) to sell most if not all of their assets (including Costello's rights to their television show). Abbott and Costello parted ways formally in July 1957. Lou Costello died on March 3, 1959.
Later years
Abbott attempted to begin performing again in 1960, with a new partner, Candy Candido, and received good reviews. But Abbott called it quits, remarking that "No one could ever live up to Lou." On TV, he performed in a dramatic episode of General Electric Theater titled "The Joke's On Me" in 1961. A few years later, Bud provided his own voice for the Hanna-Barbera animated series Abbott and Costello, with Stan Irwin providing the voice of Lou Costello.
Bud and Betty Abbott were married for 55 years. The couple adopted two children: Bud Jr. in 1942 and Vickie in 1949. Bud Jr. died on January 19, 1997 at the age of 57.
Bud Abbott has three stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame: the radio star is located on 6333 Hollywood Boulevard, the motion pictures star is located on 1611 Vine Street, and the TV star is located on 6740 Hollywood Boulevard.
Death
Abbott suffered from epilepsy throughout his life. In the early 1960s, he suffered the first in a series of strokes. In 1972, he broke his hip and shortly after that was diagnosed with prostate cancer. Abbott died of the disease at the age of 78 on April 24, 1974, at the Motion Picture & Television Country House and Hospital in Woodland Hills, California. He was cremated and his ashes were scattered in the Pacific Ocean. His wife Betty died in 1981.
When Groucho Marx was asked about Abbott shortly after his death, his response was that Abbott was "the greatest straight man ever."
Honors and awards
Abbott received the Lifetime Achievement Award for Acting(posthumously) from the Garden State Film Festival in 2006 and was accepted on his behalf by his daughter Vickie Abbott Wheeler.
Abbott is a 2009 inductee of the New Jersey Hall of Fame.
Filmography
Film
Year Film Role Notes
1940 One Night in the Tropics Abbott Film Debut
1941 Buck Privates Slicker Smith
In the Navy Smoky Adams
Hold That Ghost Chuck Murray
Keep 'Em Flying Blackie Benson
1942 Ride 'Em Cowboy Duke
Rio Rita Doc
Pardon My Sarong Algy Shaw
Who Done It? Chick Larkin
1943 It Ain't Hay Grover Mickridge
Hit The Ice Flash Fulton
1944 In Society Eddie Harrington
Lost in a Harem Peter Johnson
1945 Here Come The Co-Eds Slats McCarthy
The Naughty Nineties Dexter Broadhurst
Abbott and Costello in Hollywood Buzz Kurtis
1946 Little Giant John Morrison/Tom Chandler
The Time of Their Lives Cuthbert/Dr. Greenway
1947 Buck Privates Come Home Slicker Smith Sequel to Buck Privates
The Wistful Widow of Wagon Gap Duke Egan
1948 The Noose Hangs High Ted Higgins Also Producer (uncredited)
Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein Chick Young
Mexican Hayride Harry Lambert
10,000 Kids and a Cop Himself Documentary short
1949 Africa Screams Buzz Johnson
Abbott and Costello Meet the Killer, Boris Karloff Casey Edwards
1950 Abbott and Costello in the Foreign Legion Bud Jones
1951 Abbott and Costello Meet the Invisible Man Bud Alexander
Comin' Round The Mountain Al Stewart
1952 Jack and the Beanstalk Mr. Dinklepuss Also Producer
Lost in Alaska Tom Watson
Abbott and Costello Meet Captain Kidd Rocky Stonebridge Also Executive Producer
1953 Abbott and Costello Go to Mars Lester
Abbott and Costello Meet Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde Slim
1955 Abbott and Costello Meet the Keystone Kops Harry Pierce
Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy Peter Patterson
1956 Dance With Me Henry Bud Flick
1965 The World of Abbott and Costello - Compilation Film
Television
Year Title Role Notes
1952-1954 The Abbott and Costello Show Bud Abbott 52 Episodes
1961 General Electric Theater Ernie Kauffman Episode: "The Joke's On Me" (04/16/61)
1967-1968 The Abbott and Costello Cartoon Show Abbott (Voice) 156 Episodes
As himself
* ABC 2000: The Millennium (1999) (TV) (voice)
* The Century: America's Time (1999) (TV Mini Series)
* This Is Your Life (1956) (TV Series)
* Toast of the Town (1955) (TV Series)
* Screen Snapshots Series 33, No. 10: Hollywood Grows Up (1954)
* News of the Day (1952)
* The Colgate Comedy Hour (1951) (Host, 1951-1954)
* Screen Snapshots: Motion Picture Mothers, Inc. (1949)
* 10,000 Kids and a Cop (1948)
* Picture People No. 10: Hollywood at Home (1942)
* Meet the People (1941)
http://i449.photobucket.com/albums/qq213/robsonj3/BudAbbott.jpg
http://i1001.photobucket.com/albums/af136/ScaredSillyByPaulCastiglia/66689_202x152.jpg
Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: Philip Eno on 04/24/10 at 7:27 am
The word of the day...Owl
The Owls are the order Strigiformes, comprising 200 extant bird of prey species. Most are solitary, and nocturnal, with some exceptions (e.g. the Northern Hawk Owl). Owls hunt mostly small mammals, insects, and other birds, though a few species specialize in hunting fish. They are found in all regions of the Earth except Antarctica, most of Greenland, and some remote islands. Though owls are typically solitary, the literary collective noun for a group of owls is a parliament.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l6bNlbbyZKY
It involves owls.
Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: Philip Eno on 04/24/10 at 7:28 am
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sx37_33Xzmg
Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: ninny on 04/24/10 at 7:28 am
It's a hoot!
http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s49/angelina0783/woodsyowl.jpg
Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: ninny on 04/24/10 at 7:29 am
From Mr.Rogers.
Yes X the Owl :)
Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: Philip Eno on 04/24/10 at 7:35 am
The person who died on this day...Bud Abbott
William Alexander “Bud” Abbott (October 2, 1895 – April 24, 1974) was an American actor, producer and comedian. He is best remembered as the straight man of the comedy team of Abbott and Costello, with Lou Costello.
Abbott was born in Asbury Park, New Jersey into a show business family. His parents worked for the Barnum and Bailey Circus: his mother, Rae (née Fisher), was a bareback rider and his father, Harry, was an advance man. Abbott dropped out of school as a child and began working at Coney Island. When Bud was 16, his father, now an employee of the Columbia Burlesque Wheel, installed him in the box office of the Casino Theater in Brooklyn. Eventually, Abbott began putting together touring burlesque shows. In 1918, he married Betty Smith, a burlesque dancer and comedienne. Shortly after his marriage, Abbott and his new wife began producing a vaudeville "tab show" called Broadway Flashes. This show toured on the Gus Sun Vaudeville Circuit. Around 1924, Bud started performing as a straight man in an act with Betty. As his stature grew, Abbott began working with veteran comedians like Harry Steppe and Harry Evanson.
Lou Costello and Hollywood
Abbott crossed paths with Lou Costello in burlesque in the early 1930s. Abbott was producing and performing in Minsky's Burlesque shows, while Costello was a rising comic. They formally teamed up in 1936 and performed together in burlesque, vaudeville, minstrel shows, and cinemas.
In 1938, they received national exposure for the first time by performing on the Kate Smith Hour radio show, which led to the duo appearing in a Broadway musical, The Streets of Paris. In 1940, Universal signed Abbott and Costello for their first film, One Night in the Tropics. Although Abbott and Costello were only filling supporting roles, they stole the film with their classic routines, including an abbreviated version of "Who's On First?" A common misconception is that Abbott and Costello are the only two non-baseball players who have been inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. The comedic duo are not members of the Cooperstown society anymore than the sports writers and broadcasters who are acknowledged by separate awards. However, a plaque honoring and a gold record and transcript of their famous sketch has been included in the museum collection since 1956, making them one of the few non-baseball players or managers to have a memorial in the Baseball Hall of Fame.
During World War II, Abbott and Costello were among the most popular and highest-paid stars in the world. Between 1940 and 1956 they made 36 films, and earned a percentage of the profits on each. They were popular on radio throughout the 1940s, primarily on their own program which ran from 1942 until 1947 on NBC and from 1947 to 1949 on ABC. In the 1950s they brought their comedy to live television on The Colgate Comedy Hour, and launched their own half-hour series, The Abbott and Costello Show.
Norman and Betty Abbott, the children of Bud Abbott's sister Olive, started on their own careers with help from their uncle: Betty as the script girl on Breakfast at Tiffany's and Norm directed live TV. After Olive's husband abandoned his family (allegedly going for a pack of smokes and never coming home), Abbott supported them. Bud changed everyone's name back to Abbott and raised them as his own children. He also adopted two children with his wife Betty.
Abbott's great-grandniece and granddaughter of Norman Abbott, Kathleen Abbott aka Lisa Bay, was born to Chrissy Abbott in 1966, while Chrissy was attending Beverly Hills High School, and is the adopted sister of director Michael Bay.
Strain and split
Relations between the two partners had been strained for years. In their early burlesque days, their salaries were split 60%-40%, favoring Abbott, because the straight man was always viewed as the more valuable member of the team. That was changed to 50%-50% after they became burlesque stars.
However, other accounts state that the 60%-40% split was Costello's idea. "A Good Straight Man is hard to find" is attributed to Costello. Yet, the sixty-forty split had long irked Costello. Later, after Buck Privates made them movie stars, Costello insisted that the split be reversed in his favor, and it remained sixty-forty for the remainder of their careers. Costello's other demand, that the team be renamed "Costello and Abbott," was rejected by Universal Studios. The result was a "permanent chill" between the two partners, according to Lou's daughter Chris Costello, in her biography Lou's on First. The partners' relationship was also strained by Abbott's battle with alcohol, which began when he took to heavy enough drinking in order to combat the effects of epilepsy. (To make things worse, Costello's wife also had a problem with alcohol.)
The team's popularity waned in the 1950s, and they were further bedeviled by tax issues—the IRS demanded heavy back taxes, forcing the partners (both of whom had been serious gamblers) to sell most if not all of their assets (including Costello's rights to their television show). Abbott and Costello parted ways formally in July 1957. Lou Costello died on March 3, 1959.
Later years
Abbott attempted to begin performing again in 1960, with a new partner, Candy Candido, and received good reviews. But Abbott called it quits, remarking that "No one could ever live up to Lou." On TV, he performed in a dramatic episode of General Electric Theater titled "The Joke's On Me" in 1961. A few years later, Bud provided his own voice for the Hanna-Barbera animated series Abbott and Costello, with Stan Irwin providing the voice of Lou Costello.
Bud and Betty Abbott were married for 55 years. The couple adopted two children: Bud Jr. in 1942 and Vickie in 1949. Bud Jr. died on January 19, 1997 at the age of 57.
Bud Abbott has three stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame: the radio star is located on 6333 Hollywood Boulevard, the motion pictures star is located on 1611 Vine Street, and the TV star is located on 6740 Hollywood Boulevard.
Death
Abbott suffered from epilepsy throughout his life. In the early 1960s, he suffered the first in a series of strokes. In 1972, he broke his hip and shortly after that was diagnosed with prostate cancer. Abbott died of the disease at the age of 78 on April 24, 1974, at the Motion Picture & Television Country House and Hospital in Woodland Hills, California. He was cremated and his ashes were scattered in the Pacific Ocean. His wife Betty died in 1981.
When Groucho Marx was asked about Abbott shortly after his death, his response was that Abbott was "the greatest straight man ever."
Honors and awards
Abbott received the Lifetime Achievement Award for Acting(posthumously) from the Garden State Film Festival in 2006 and was accepted on his behalf by his daughter Vickie Abbott Wheeler.
Abbott is a 2009 inductee of the New Jersey Hall of Fame.
Filmography
Film
Year Film Role Notes
1940 One Night in the Tropics Abbott Film Debut
1941 Buck Privates Slicker Smith
In the Navy Smoky Adams
Hold That Ghost Chuck Murray
Keep 'Em Flying Blackie Benson
1942 Ride 'Em Cowboy Duke
Rio Rita Doc
Pardon My Sarong Algy Shaw
Who Done It? Chick Larkin
1943 It Ain't Hay Grover Mickridge
Hit The Ice Flash Fulton
1944 In Society Eddie Harrington
Lost in a Harem Peter Johnson
1945 Here Come The Co-Eds Slats McCarthy
The Naughty Nineties Dexter Broadhurst
Abbott and Costello in Hollywood Buzz Kurtis
1946 Little Giant John Morrison/Tom Chandler
The Time of Their Lives Cuthbert/Dr. Greenway
1947 Buck Privates Come Home Slicker Smith Sequel to Buck Privates
The Wistful Widow of Wagon Gap Duke Egan
1948 The Noose Hangs High Ted Higgins Also Producer (uncredited)
Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein Chick Young
Mexican Hayride Harry Lambert
10,000 Kids and a Cop Himself Documentary short
1949 Africa Screams Buzz Johnson
Abbott and Costello Meet the Killer, Boris Karloff Casey Edwards
1950 Abbott and Costello in the Foreign Legion Bud Jones
1951 Abbott and Costello Meet the Invisible Man Bud Alexander
Comin' Round The Mountain Al Stewart
1952 Jack and the Beanstalk Mr. Dinklepuss Also Producer
Lost in Alaska Tom Watson
Abbott and Costello Meet Captain Kidd Rocky Stonebridge Also Executive Producer
1953 Abbott and Costello Go to Mars Lester
Abbott and Costello Meet Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde Slim
1955 Abbott and Costello Meet the Keystone Kops Harry Pierce
Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy Peter Patterson
1956 Dance With Me Henry Bud Flick
1965 The World of Abbott and Costello - Compilation Film
Television
Year Title Role Notes
1952-1954 The Abbott and Costello Show Bud Abbott 52 Episodes
1961 General Electric Theater Ernie Kauffman Episode: "The Joke's On Me" (04/16/61)
1967-1968 The Abbott and Costello Cartoon Show Abbott (Voice) 156 Episodes
As himself
* ABC 2000: The Millennium (1999) (TV) (voice)
* The Century: America's Time (1999) (TV Mini Series)
* This Is Your Life (1956) (TV Series)
* Toast of the Town (1955) (TV Series)
* Screen Snapshots Series 33, No. 10: Hollywood Grows Up (1954)
* News of the Day (1952)
* The Colgate Comedy Hour (1951) (Host, 1951-1954)
* Screen Snapshots: Motion Picture Mothers, Inc. (1949)
* 10,000 Kids and a Cop (1948)
* Picture People No. 10: Hollywood at Home (1942)
* Meet the People (1941)
http://i449.photobucket.com/albums/qq213/robsonj3/BudAbbott.jpg
http://i1001.photobucket.com/albums/af136/ScaredSillyByPaulCastiglia/66689_202x152.jpg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wfmvkO5x6Ng
Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: Philip Eno on 04/24/10 at 7:35 am
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wfmvkO5x6Ng
The only thing I know about baseball.
Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: CatwomanofV on 04/24/10 at 12:24 pm
http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s49/angelina0783/woodsyowl.jpg
I was thinking the exact same thing.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wfmvkO5x6Ng
Classic.
Cat
Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: Frank on 04/24/10 at 4:53 pm
http://i149.photobucket.com/albums/s49/angelina0783/woodsyowl.jpg
Now the commercial theme is going through my head....
Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: nally on 04/24/10 at 7:02 pm
Classic.
Cat
Agreed. O0 Those guys did some classic bits.
Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: Howard on 04/24/10 at 7:07 pm
Who's On First?
Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: nally on 04/24/10 at 7:08 pm
Who's On First?
That's right.
What's the guy's name on second base?
I don't know. He's on third.
Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: Howard on 04/24/10 at 7:09 pm
That's right.
What's the guy's name on second base?
I don't know. He's on third.
Who's On Third?
Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: nally on 04/24/10 at 7:15 pm
Who's On Third?
No, Who is on First.
Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: Howard on 04/24/10 at 7:15 pm
No, Who is on First.
Who's First?
Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: nally on 04/24/10 at 7:22 pm
Who's First?
Yes, that's where he is.
In the later portion comedy routine, Bud responded to Lou's queries of "Who" with "Naturally", indicating that that was who to throw the ball to in order to record an out at first base. Lou took this to mean that Naturally was the first baseman's name. "No, you throw it to Who!" "Well whoever it is, better get it." "Don't worry about Who, he'll get it."
Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: ninny on 04/25/10 at 6:37 am
I was thinking the exact same thing.
Classic.
Cat
One of if not the greatest comedy routines of all time. :)
Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: ninny on 04/25/10 at 6:43 am
The word of the day...Scent
1. A distinctive, often agreeable odor. See synonyms at fragrance, smell.
2. A perfume: an expensive French scent.
3. An odor left by the passing of an animal.
4. The trail of a hunted animal or fugitive.
5. The sense of smell: a bear's keen scent.
6. A hint of something imminent; a suggestion: caught the scent of a reconciliation.
http://i796.photobucket.com/albums/yy249/bokibear/MY%20THESIS/IMG_3127.jpg
http://i1018.photobucket.com/albums/af309/grgperez4/Wonder%20Wafers%20Scents/CleanCar_JPG_Web.jpg
http://i666.photobucket.com/albums/vv26/NeshebaofEspiritE/Kyra%20Simone/WebVersion.jpg
http://i788.photobucket.com/albums/yy170/Isobael_Liu/Flora/SV300006copy.jpg
http://i600.photobucket.com/albums/tt81/serpico9/Scent_of_a_woman.jpg
http://i227.photobucket.com/albums/dd283/dvangel34/RLRomance1.jpg
http://i271.photobucket.com/albums/jj154/lukacsemil/DSC_0097.jpg
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y233/HRFANATICS/TEALIGHTS/SparklingSnow.jpg
Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: ninny on 04/25/10 at 6:46 am
The person born on this day...Al Pacino
Alfredo James "Al" Pacino (born April 25, 1940) is an American film and stage actor and director. He is best known for his roles as Michael Corleone in The Godfather trilogy, Sonny Wortzik in Dog Day Afternoon, Tony Montana in Scarface, Carlito Brigante in the 1993 film Carlito's Way, Frank Serpico in Serpico, Lieutenant Colonel Frank Slade in Scent of a Woman, Lt. Vincent Hanna in Heat, and Roy Cohn in Angels in America. He won the Academy Award for Best Actor in 1992 for his role in Scent of a Woman after receiving seven previous nominations It was the 1971 film The Panic in Needle Park, in which he played a heroin addict, that would bring Pacino to the attention of director Francis Ford Coppola, who cast him as Michael Corleone in the blockbuster 1972 Mafia film The Godfather. Although several established actors, including Robert Redford, Warren Beatty, and a little-known Robert De Niro also wanted to portray Michael Corleone, Coppola selected the relatively unknown Pacino, much to the dismay of studio executives. Pacino's performance earned him an Academy Award nomination, and offered a prime example of his early acting style, described by Halliwell's Film Guide as "intense" and "tightly clenched".
In 1973, Pacino starred in the popular Serpico, based on the true story of New York City policeman Frank Serpico who went undercover to expose the corruption of fellow officers. That same year he co-starred in Scarecrow, with Gene Hackman, and won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival. In 1974, Pacino reprised his role as Michael Corleone in the successful sequel The Godfather Part II, acclaimed as being comparable to the original. In 1975, he enjoyed further success with the release of Dog Day Afternoon, based on the true story of bank robber John Wojtowicz. It was directed by Sidney Lumet, who also directed him in Serpico a few years earlier, and for both films Pacino was nominated for Best Actor.
In 1977, Pacino starred as a race-car driver in Bobby Deerfield, directed by Sydney Pollack, and received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Motion Picture Actor – Drama for his portrayal of the title role, losing out to Richard Burton, who won for Equus.
With Lee Strasberg in The Godfather II
During the 1970s, Pacino had four Oscar nominations for Best Actor, for his performances in Serpico, The Godfather Part II, Dog Day Afternoon, and ...And Justice for All. He continued performing onstage, winning a second Tony Award for The Basic Training of Pavlo Hummel and performing the title role in Richard III for a record run on Broadway, despite poor notices from critics.
1980s
Pacino's career slumped in the early 1980s, and his appearances in the controversial Cruising and the comedy-drama Author! Author! were critically panned. However, 1983's Scarface, directed by Brian DePalma, proved to be a career highlight and a defining role. Upon its initial release, the film was critically panned but did well at the box office, grossing over US$45 million domestically. Pacino earned a Golden Globe nomination for his role as Cuban drug dealer/lord Tony Montana.
In 1985, Pacino worked on his most personal project, The Local Stigmatic, a 1969 Off Broadway play by the English writer Heathcote Williams. He starred in the play, remounting it with director David Wheeler and the Theater Company of Boston in a 50-minute film version. It was later released as part of the Pacino: An Actor's Vision box set in 2007.
His 1985 film Revolution was a commercial and critical failure, resulting in a four-year hiatus from films, during which Pacino returned to the stage. He mounted workshop productions of Crystal Clear, National Anthems and other plays; he appeared in Julius Caesar in 1988 in producer Joseph Papp's New York Shakespeare Festival. Pacino remarked on his hiatus from film: "I remember back when everything was happening, '74, '75, doing The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui on stage and reading that the reason I'd gone back to the stage was that my movie career was waning! That's been the kind of ethos, the way in which theater's perceived, unfortunately." Pacino returned to film in 1989's Sea of Love.
His greatest stage success of the decade was David Mamet's American Buffalo, for which Pacino was nominated for a Drama Desk Award.
1990s
Pacino received an Oscar nomination for playing Big Boy Caprice in the box office hit Dick Tracy (1990), followed by a return to one of his most famous characters, Michael Corleone, in The Godfather Part III (1990). In 1991, Pacino starred in Frankie and Johnny with Michelle Pfeiffer, who co-starred with Pacino in Scarface. He would finally win the Academy Award for Best Actor, for his portrayal of retired U.S. Army Lieutenant Colonel Frank Slade in Martin Brest's Scent of a Woman (1992). That year, he was also nominated for Best Supporting Actor for Glengarry Glen Ross, making Pacino the first male actor ever to receive two acting nominations for two different movies in the same year, and to win for the lead role (as did Jamie Foxx in 2004).
During the 1990s, Pacino had acclaimed performances in such crime dramas as Carlito's Way (1993), Donnie Brasco (1997), and the multi-Oscar nominated The Insider (1999). In 1995, Pacino starred in Michael Mann's Heat, in which he and fellow film icon Robert De Niro appeared on-screen together for the first time (though both Pacino and De Niro starred in The Godfather Part II, they did not share any scenes). In 1996, Pacino starred in his theatrical feature Looking for Richard, and was praised for his role as Satan in the supernatural thriller The Devil's Advocate in 1997. Pacino also starred in Oliver Stone's critically acclaimed Any Given Sunday in 1999.
Pacino has not received another nomination from the Academy since Scent of a Woman, but has won two Golden Globes during the last decade, the first being the Cecil B. DeMille Award in 2001 for lifetime achievement in motion pictures, and the second, for Best Performance by an Actor for his role as McCarthyite Roy Cohn in the highly praised HBO miniseries Angels in America in 2004. Pacino also won an Emmy Award for Best Lead Actor and a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor for his role.
Pacino's stage work during this period include revivals of Eugene O'Neill's Hughie and Oscar Wilde's Salome.
2000s
Pacino turned down an offer to reprise his role as Michael Corleone in The Godfather: The Game, ostensibly because his voice had changed dramatically since playing Michael in the first two Godfather films. As a result, Electronic Arts was not permitted to use Pacino's likeness or voice in the game, although his character does appear in it. He did allow his likeness to appear in the game adaptation of the remake of 1983's Scarface, titled Scarface: The World is Yours.
Rising director Christopher Nolan worked with Pacino for Insomnia, a remake of the Norwegian film of the same name. The film and Pacino's performance were critically lauded and the film did moderately well at the box office. Pacino next starred as lawyer Roy Cohn in the 2003 HBO miniseries of Tony Kushner's play Angels in America. Pacino still acts on stage and has dabbled in film directing. His film festival-screened Chinese Coffee has earned good notices. On the AFI's 100 Years... 100 Heroes and Villains, he is one of only two actors to appear on both lists: on the "heroes list" as Frank Serpico and on the "villains list" as Michael Corleone (the other being Arnold Schwarzenegger, for his roles as the Terminator). Pacino starred as Shylock in Michael Radford's 2004 film adaptation of The Merchant of Venice.
On October 20, 2006, the American Film Institute named Pacino the recipient of the 35th AFI Life Achievement Award. On November 22, 2006, the University Philosophical Society of Trinity College, Dublin awarded Pacino the Honorary Patronage of the Society.
He starred in Steven Soderbergh’s Ocean's Thirteen alongside George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, and Andy Garcia as the villain Willy Bank, a casino tycoon who is targeted out of revenge by Danny Ocean and his crew. The film received generally favorable reviews.
On June 19, 2007, a boxed set titled Pacino: An Actor's Vision was released, containing three rare Al Pacino films: The Local Stigmatic, Looking For Richard and Chinese Coffee, as well as a documentary, Babbleonia. Pacino produced prologues and epilogues for the discs containing the films.
88 Minutes was released on April 18, 2008 in the United States, having already been released in various other countries in 2007. The film was critically panned, although critics found the fault to be in the plot instead of Pacino's acting. In Righteous Kill, Pacino's next scheduled film, Pacino and Robert De Niro co-star as New York detectives searching for a serial killer. Rapper 50 Cent also stars in it. The film was released to theaters on September 12, 2008. In Rififi, a remake of the 1955 French original based on the novel by Auguste Le Breton, Pacino will play a career thief just out of prison who finds his wife has left him; in his anger, he starts planning a heist. Also Pacino is set to play surrealist Salvador Dalí in the film Dali & I: The Surreal Story. Pacino is playing Dr. Jack Kevorkian in an HBO Films biopic entitled You Don't Know Jack, which is scheduled to premiere in April 2010. In December 2009, Pacino bought the rights to the Philip Roth novel "The Humbling", about a worn out stage actor who finds new hope and erotic adventures with a younger woman. The film is in pre-production.
Personal life
While Pacino has never married, he has three children. The first, Julie Marie (b. 1989), is his daughter with acting coach Jan Tarrant. He also has twins, Anton James and Olivia Rose (b. January 25, 2001), with ex-girlfriend Beverly D'Angelo, whom he dated from 1996 until 2003. Pacino also had a relationship with Diane Keaton, his co-star in the Godfather Trilogy. The on-again, off-again relationship ended following the filming of The Godfather Part III.
Filmography
Year Film Role Notes
1969 Me, Natalie Tony Film debut
1971 The Panic in Needle Park Bobby
1972 The Godfather Michael Corleone Nominated — Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor
Nominated — BAFTA Award for Best Newcomer
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama
Salary: US$35,000
1973 Scarecrow Francis Lionel 'Lion' Delbuchi
Serpico Frank Serpico Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama
Nominated — Academy Award for Best Actor
Nominated — BAFTA Award for Best Actor
Salary: US$15,000
1974 The Godfather Part II Michael Corleone BAFTA Award for Best Actor
Nominated — Academy Award for Best Actor
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama
Salary: US$500,000 + 10% profit
1975 Dog Day Afternoon Sonny Wortzik BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role
Nominated — Academy Award for Best Actor
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama
1977 Bobby Deerfield Bobby Deerfield Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama
1979 …And Justice for All Arthur Kirkland Nominated — Academy Award for Best Actor
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama
1980 Cruising Steve Burns
1982 Author! Author! Ivan Travalian Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
1983 Scarface Tony Montana Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama
1985 Revolution Tom Dobb
1989 Sea of Love Frank Keller Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama
1990 The Local Stigmatic Graham Filmed in 1985
Dick Tracy Alphonse "Big Boy" Caprice Nominated — Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor
Nominated — BAFTA Award for Best Supporting Actor
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor - Motion Picture
Salary: US$4,500,000
The Godfather Part III Michael Corleone Nominated - Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama
Salary: US$5,000,000
1991 Frankie and Johnny Johnny
1992 Glengarry Glen Ross Ricky Roma Nominated — Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor - Motion Picture
Scent of a Woman Frank Slade Academy Award for Best Actor
Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Drama
1993 Carlito's Way Carlito 'Charlie' Brigante
1995 Two Bits Gitano Sabatoni
Heat Lt. Vincent Hanna
1996 Looking for Richard Director/Narrator/Richard III Directors Guild Award — Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Documentary
City Hall John Pappas
1997 Donnie Brasco Benjamin 'Lefty' Ruggiero
The Devil's Advocate John Milton
1999 The Insider Lowell Bergman
Any Given Sunday Tony D'Amato
2000 Chinese Coffee Harry Levine Also director; filmed in 1997
2002 Insomnia Will Dormer
S1m0ne Viktor Taransky Salary: US$11,000,000
People I Know Eli Wurman
2003 The Recruit Walter Burke
Gigli Starkman
Angels in America Roy Cohn Emmy Award for Best Lead Actor
Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Mini-Series or Motion Picture
Screen Actors Guild Award - Best Actor in A Mini-Series or Television Movie
2004 The Merchant of Venice Shylock
2005 Two for the Money Walter Abrams
2007 Ocean's Thirteen Willie Bank
2008 88 Minutes Dr. Jack Gramm
Righteous Kill Detective David "Rooster" Fisk
2009 Salomaybe? Himself / King Herod Also Director, Post-production
You Don't Know Jack Dr. Jack Kevorkian Film TV, Post-production
2010 Mary Mother of Christ Herod Pre-production
Awards and nominations
For more details on this topic, see List of awards and nominations received by Al Pacino.
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Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: Howard on 04/25/10 at 6:50 am
http://www.independent.co.uk/multimedia/archive/00359/drdeathpacino_359679s.jpg
Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: ninny on 04/25/10 at 6:50 am
The person who died on this day...Beatrice Arthur
Beatrice "Bea" Arthur (May 13, 1922 – April 25, 2009) was an American actress, comedienne and singer whose career spanned seven decades. Arthur achieved fame as the character Maude Findlay on the 1970s sitcoms All in the Family and Maude, and as Dorothy Zbornak on the 1980s sitcom The Golden Girls, winning Emmy Awards for both roles. A stage actress both before and after her television success, she won the Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical for her performance as Vera Charles in the original cast of Mame (1966). Arthur was born Bernice Frankel to Jewish parents Philip and Rebecca Frankel in New York City on May 13, 1922. In 1933 her family moved to Cambridge, Maryland, where her parents operated a women's clothing shop. She attended Linden Hall High School, an all girls school in Lititz, Pennsylvania, before enrolling in the now-defunct Blackstone College for Girls in Blackstone, Virginia, where she was active in drama productions.
Career
Theater
From 1947, Beatrice Arthur studied at the Dramatic Workshop of The New School in New York with German director Erwin Piscator. Arthur began her acting career as a member of an off Broadway theater group at the Cherry Lane Theatre in New York City in the late 1940s. On stage, her roles included Lucy Brown in the 1954 Off-Broadway premiere of Marc Blitzstein's English-language adaptation of Kurt Weill's Threepenny Opera, Yente the Matchmaker in the 1964 premiere of Fiddler on the Roof on Broadway, and a 1966 Tony Award-winning portrayal of Vera Charles to Angela Lansbury's Mame. She reprised the role in the 1974 film version opposite Lucille Ball. In 1981, she appeared in Woody Allen's The Floating Light Bulb. She made her debut at the Metropolitan Opera in 1994 portraying the Duchess of Krakenthorp, a speaking role, in Gaetano Donizetti's La fille du régiment.
Television
In 1971, Arthur was invited by Norman Lear to guest-star on his sitcom All in the Family, as Maude Findlay, the cousin of Edith Bunker. An outspoken liberal feminist, Maude was the antithesis to the bigoted, conservative Archie Bunker, who decried her as a "New Deal fanatic". Then nearly 50, Arthur's tart turn appealed to viewers and to executives at CBS, who, she would later recall, asked "'Who is that girl? Let's give her her own series.'"
That show, previewed in her second All in the Family appearance, would be simply titled Maude. The show, debuting in 1972, would find her living in the affluent community of Tuckahoe, Westchester County, New York, with her husband Walter (Bill Macy) and divorced daughter Carol (Adrienne Barbeau). Her performance in the role garnered Arthur several Emmy and Golden Globe nominations, including her Emmy win in 1977 for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series.
It would also earn a place for her in the history of the women's liberation movement. The groundbreaking series didn't shirk from addressing serious sociopolitical topics of the era that were fairly taboo for a sitcom, from the Vietnam War, the Nixon Administration and Maude's bid for a Congressional seat to divorce, menopause, drug use, alcoholism, nervous breakdown and spousal abuse. A prime example, "Maude's Dilemma", was a two-part episode in which Maude's character grapples with a late-life pregnancy, ultimately deciding to have an abortion. The episode aired two months before the U.S. Supreme Court legalized the procedure in the Roe v. Wade decision. Though abortion was legal in New York State, it was illegal in many regions of the country and so controversial that dozens of affiliates refused to broadcast the episode. A reported 65 million viewers watched the two episodes either in their first run that November or the following summer as a re-run. By 1978, however, Arthur decided to move on from the series.
That year, she costarred in The Star Wars Holiday Special, in which she had a song and dance routine in the Mos Eisley Cantina. She hosted The Beatrice Arthur Special on CBS on January 19, 1980, which paired the star in a musical comedy revue with Rock Hudson, Melba Moore and Wayland Flowers and Madame.
After appearing in the short-lived 1983 sitcom Amanda's (an adaptation of the British series Fawlty Towers), Arthur was cast in the sitcom The Golden Girls in 1985, in which she played Dorothy Zbornak, a divorced substitute teacher living in a Miami house owned by Blanche Devereaux (Rue McClanahan). Her other roommates included widow Rose Nylund (Betty White) and Dorothy's Sicilian mother, Sophia Petrillo (Estelle Getty). Getty was actually a year younger than Arthur in real life, and was heavily made up to look significantly older. The series became a hit, and remained a top-ten ratings fixture for six seasons. Her performance led to several Emmy nominations over the course of the series and an Emmy win in 1988. Arthur decided to leave the show after seven years, and in 1992 the show was moved from NBC to CBS and retooled as The Golden Palace in which the other three actresses reprised their roles. Arthur made a guest appearance in a two-part episode.
Film
Arthur also sporadically appeared in films, reprising her stage role as Vera Charles in the 1974 film adaption of Mame, opposite Lucille Ball. Additionally, Arthur portrayed overbearing mother Bea Vecchio in Lovers and Other Strangers (1970), and had a cameo as a Roman unemployment clerk in Mel Brooks' History of the World, Part 1 (1981).
Later career
After Arthur left The Golden Girls, she made several guest appearances on television shows and organized and toured in her one-woman show, alternately titled An Evening with Bea Arthur and And Then There's Bea. She made a guest appearance on the American cartoon Futurama, in the Emmy-nominated episode "Amazon Women in the Mood", as the voice of the Femputer who ruled the giant Amazonian women. She also appeared in an episode of Malcolm in the Middle as Mrs. White, Dewey's babysitter, in a first-season episode. She was nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series for her performance. She also appeared as Larry David's mother on Curb Your Enthusiasm.
In 2002, she returned to Broadway starring in Bea Arthur on Broadway: Just Between Friends, a collection of stories and songs (with musician Billy Goldenberg) based on her life and career. The show was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Special Theatrical Event. The previous year had been the category's first, and there had been only one nominee. That year, Arthur was up against solo performances by soprano Barbara Cook, comedian John Leguizamo, and Arthur's fellow student in Piscator's program at The New School, actress Elaine Stritch, who won for Elaine Stritch: At Liberty.
In addition to appearing in a number of programs looking back at her own work, Arthur performed in stage and television tributes for Jerry Herman, Bob Hope and Ellen DeGeneres. In 2005, she participated in the Comedy Central roast of Pamela Anderson, where she recited explicit passages from Anderson's book Starstruck.
Influences
In 1999, Arthur told an interviewer of the three influences in her career: "Sid Caesar taught me the outrageous; Lee Strasberg taught me what I call reality; and , Lotte Lenya, whom I adored, taught me economy."
Personal life and death
Arthur was married twice, first to Robert Alan Aurthur, a screenwriter, television, and film producer and director, whose surname she took and kept (though with a modified spelling), and second to director Gene Saks from 1950 to 1978 with whom she had two sons, Matthew (born in 1961), an actor, and Daniel (born in 1964), a set designer.
In 1972 she moved to the Greater Los Angeles Area and sublet her apartment on Central Park West in New York City and her country home in Bedford, New York.
Arthur was a committed animal rights activist and frequently supported People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals campaigns. Arthur joined PETA in 1987 after a Golden Girls anti-fur episode. Arthur wrote letters, made personal appearances and placed ads against the use of furs, foie gras, and farm animal cruelty by KFC suppliers. She appeared on Judge Judy as a witness for an animal rights activist, and, along with Pamela Anderson insisted on a donation to PETA in exchange for appearing on Comedy Central.
Arthur's longtime championing of civil rights for women, the elderly, and the Jewish & LGBT communities—in her two television roles and through her charity work and personal outspokenness—has led her to be cited as an LGBT icon.
Arthur died at her home in the Greater Los Angeles Area in the early morning hours of Saturday, April 25, 2009, shortly before her 87th birthday. She had been ill from cancer, and her body was cremated after her death.
On April 28, 2009, the Broadway community paid tribute to Arthur by dimming the marquees of New York City's Broadway theater district in her memory for one minute at 8:00 P.M.
Arthur's surviving co-stars from The Golden Girls, Rue McClanahan and Betty White, commented on her death via telephone on an April 27 episode of Larry King Live as well as other news outlets such as ABC. Longtime friends Adrienne Barbeau (with whom she had worked on Maude) and Angela Lansbury (with whom she had worked in Mame) released amicable statements: Barbeau said, "We've lost a unique, incredible talent. No one could deliver a line or hold a take like Bea and no one was more generous or giving to her fellow performers"; and Lansbury said, "She became and has remained my Bosom Buddy I am deeply saddened by her passing, but also relieved that she is released from the pain".
Arthur bequeathed $300,000 to The Ali Forney Center, a New York City organization that provides housing for homeless LGBT youths.
Awards
Arthur won the American Theatre Wing's Tony Award in 1966 as Best Featured Actress in a Musical for her performance that year as Vera Charles in the original Broadway production of Jerry Herman's musical Mame.
She later received the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences' Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series twice, once in 1977 for Maude and again in 1988 for The Golden Girls. She was inducted into the Academy's Hall of Fame in 2008.
On June 8, 2008, The Golden Girls was awarded the Pop Culture award at the Sixth Annual TV Land Awards. Arthur (in one of her final public appearances) accepted the award with co-stars Rue McClanahan and Betty White.
Television credits
* Kraft Television Theatre (1951–1958)
* Studio One (1951–1953)
* Max Liebman Presents: Kaleidoscope (1955)
* Caesar's Hour (regular performer 1954–1956)
* The Seven Lively Arts (1958)
* Omnibus (1958)
* Hallmark Hall of Fame (1958)
* The George Gobel Show (1959)
* The Perry Como Show (1961)
* All in the Family (1971 & 1972)
* Maude (1972–1978)
* The 45th Annual Academy Awards (1973)
* The Mike Douglas Show (1974 & 1980)
* The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1980, 1985, 1986, 1990)
* Dinah (1975 & 1976)
* Saturday Night Live (1976 & 1979)
* Cos (1976)
* Laugh-In (1977)
* CBS: On the Air (1978)
* The Star Wars Holiday Special (1978)
* The Mary Tyler Moore Hour (1979)
* The Beatrice Arthur Special (1980)
* Soap (1980)
* History of the World Part I (1981)
* Omnibus (1981)
* Nights of 100 Stars (1982)
* Broadway Plays Washington on Kennedy Center Tonight (1982)
* Amanda's (1983) (series; lasted 4 months)
* a.k.a. Pablo (1984)
* P.O.P. (1984)
* The Golden Girls (1985–1992)
* Circus of the Stars #10 (1985)
* NBC 60th Anniversary Celebration (1986)
* Walt Disney World's 15th Birthday Celebration (1986)
* Late Night with David Letterman (1986)
* The Kennedy Center Honors: A Celebration of the Performing Arts (1986)
* The 13th Annual People's Choice Awards (1987)
* This is Your Life" (1987)
* The 41st Annual Tony Awards (1987)
* Comic Relief '87 (1987)
* Family Comedy Hour (1987)
* Irving Berlin's 100th Birthday Celebration (1988)
* Circus of the Stars #13 (1988)
* My First Love (1988)
* Empty Nest (1989)
* Aspel & Company (1990)
* Night of 100 Stars III (1990)
* The 42nd Annual Primetime Emmy Awards (1990)
* Dame Edna's Hollywood (1991)
* The Howard Stern Show (1992)
* Guest Night (1992)
* 6th Annual Americam Comedy Awards (1992)
* The Golden Palace (1992)
* This Joint Is Jumpin' (1993)
* The 47th Annual Tony Awards (1993)
* Boulevard Bio (1993)
* Sean's Show (1993)
* Jerry Herman's Broadway at the Hollywood Bowl (1994)
* Bob Hope: Happy 91st Birthday, Bob (1994)
* 50 Years of Funny Females (1995)
* The 50th Annual Tony Awards (1996)
* Dave's World (cast member 1996 & 1997)
* The Rosie O'Donnell Show (1997)
* The RuPaul Show (1998)
* Ellen: A Hollywood Tribute, Part 1" (1998)
* The 53rd Annual Tony Awards (1999)
* Beggars and Choosers (1999)
* The Martin Short Show (1999)
* So Graham Norton (2000)
* Intimate Portrait: Rue McClanahan (2000)
* Malcolm in the Middle, as Dewey's babysitter on the Season 1 finale (2000)
* E! True Hollywood Story: All in the Family (2000)
* Intimate Portrait: Estelle Getty (2001)
* Futurama as "Femputer" in the episode "Amazon Women in the Mood" (2001)
* Today (2001)
* The View (2002)
* CBS News Sunday Morning (2002)
* The Rosie O'Donnell Show (2002)
* Good Morning America (2002)
* The Daily Show with Jon Stewart (2002)
* The Big O! True West Hollywood Story (2002)
* TV Most Censored Moments (2002)
* TV Tales: The Golden Girls (2002)
* Open Mike with Mike Bullard (2002)
* Because I Said So (2002)
* Inside TV Land: Taboo TV (2002)
* Intimate Portrait: Bea Arthur (2003)
* TV Land Awards: A Celebration of Classic TV (2003)
* Rove Live (2003)
* Through The Keyhole (2003)
* Broadway: The Golden Age by the Legends Who Were There (2003)
* The Golden Girls: Their Greatest Moments (2003)
* Today with Des and Mel (2003)
* Richard and Judy (2003)
* The Terry and Gaby Show (2003)
* The Second Annual TV Land Awards: A Celebration of Classic TV (2004)
* The Best of So Graham Norton (2004)
* Inside TV Land: Primetime Politics (2004)
* TV's Greatest Sidekicks (2004)
* Comedy Central Roast of Pamela Anderson (2005)
* TV Land Confidential (2005)
* Curb Your Enthusiasm as Larry David's deceased mother on the Season 5 finale (2005)
* Entertainment Tonight (2006)
* Biography: Bea Arthur (2006)
* The View (2007)
* TV Land Confidential (2007)
* Entertainment Tonight (2007)
* Back to the Grind (2007)
* Entertainment Weekly & TV Land Present: The 50 Greatest TV Icons (2007)
* Entertainment Tonight (2008)
* The 6th Annual TV Land Awards (2008)
* Entertainment Tonight (2008)
Theater performances
* Lysistrata (1947)
* The Dog Beneath the Skin (1947)
* Yerma (1947)
* No Exit (1948)
* The Taming of the Shrew (1948)
* Six Characters in Search of an Author (1948)
* The Owl and the Pussycat (1948)
* Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme (1949)
* Yes is for a Very Young Man (1949)
* The Creditors (1949)
* Heartbreak House (1949)
* Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1951)
* Personal Appearance (1951)
* Candle Light (1951)
* Love or Money (1951)
* The Voice of the Turtle (1951)
* The New Moon (1953)
* The Threepenny Opera (1954)
* What's the Rush? (1955)
* Shoestring Revue (1955)
* Plain and Fancy (1955)
* Seventh Heaven (1955)
* Mistress of the Inn (1956)
* Ziegfeld Follies (1956)
* Nature's Way (1957)
* Ulysses in Nighttown (1958)
* The Gay Divorcee at the Cherry Lane (1960)
* A Matter of Position (1962)
* Fiddler on the Roof (1964)
* Mame (1966)
* The Floating Lightbulb (1981)
* La Fille du Regiment (1994)
* Bermuda Avenue Triangle (1995–1996)
* Angela Lansbury - A Celebration (November 17, 1996) (benefit concert)
* After Play (1997–1998)
* Strike Up The Band (2000)
* An Evening with Bea Arthur in Westport, Connecticut (July 28–30, 2000)
* And Then There's Bea United States Tour (April 24, 2001 – January 13, 2002)
* Bea Arthur on Broadway: Just Between Friends in New York, New York (January 29, 2002 – April 14, 2002)
* An Evening with Bea Arthur in Santa Fe, New Mexico (September 24, 2002)
* And Then There's Bea in Melbourne, Australia (October 15–27, 2002)
* And Then There's Bea in Sydney, Australia (October 29 – November 10, 2002)
* Bea Arthur on Broadway: Just Between Friends in Toronto, Canada (November 20 – December 8, 2002)
* And Then There's Bea in Johannesburg, South Africa (August 12–24, 2003)
* And Then There's Bea in Cape Town, South Africa (August 26 – September 7, 2003)
* Bea Arthur at The Savoy in London, England (September 15 – October 18, 2003)
* An Evening with Bea Arthur in Los Angeles, California (January 31 – February 1, 2004)
* An Evening with Bea Arthur in Saugatuck, Michigan (May 22–23, 2004)
* A Celebration of Life in Washington, D.C. (May 26, 2004)
* Bea Arthur at the El Portal in North Hollywood, California (August 5–8, 2004)
* An Evening with Bea Arthur in Provincetown, Massachusetts (August 21, 2004)
* An Evening with Bea Arthur in Columbus, Georgia (October 30, 2004)
* An Evening with Bea Arthur in Nyack, New York (March 4–6, 2005)
* An Evening with Bea Arthur in Fort Wayne, Indiana (April 17, 2005)
* An Evening with Bea Arthur in Mount Pleasant, Michigan (April 19, 2005)
* An Evening with Bea Arthur in Atlantic City, New Jersey (June 3–4, 2005)
* An Evening with Bea Arthur in Holmdel, New Jersey (June 7, 2005)
* An Evening with Bea Arthur in Las Vegas, Nevada (August 27, 2005)
* An Evening with Bea Arthur in Hampton, Virginia (September 16–17, 2005)
* An Evening with Bea Arthur in Alexandria, Virginia (September 22, 2005)
* An Evening with Bea Arthur in Geneva, New York (September 24, 2005)
* Bea Arthur Back on Broadway (at 95th Street) in New York, New York (November 21, 2005)
* An Evening with Bea Arthur in San Francisco, California (January 7, 2006)
* An Evening with Bea Arthur in Salem, Oregon (January 21, 2006)
* Bea Arthur Back at the El Portal in North Hollywood, California (February 16–19, 2006)
* An Evening with Bea Arthur in Scottsdale, Arizona (February 24–25, 2006)
* An Evening with Bea Arthur in University Park, Illinois (March 19, 2006)
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Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: Howard on 04/25/10 at 6:52 am
http://anotherkcblog.files.wordpress.com/2008/03/bea-arthur-73.jpg
Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: nally on 04/25/10 at 11:34 am
Happy 70th birthday Al Pacino.
Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: Frank on 04/25/10 at 5:24 pm
http://anotherkcblog.files.wordpress.com/2008/03/bea-arthur-73.jpg
God will get you for that, Walter.
Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: Howard on 04/25/10 at 7:01 pm
God will get you for that, Walter.
Back in her younger days.
Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: CatwomanofV on 04/25/10 at 7:15 pm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ilV5K8tw_6o
Cat
Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: ninny on 04/26/10 at 5:19 am
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ilV5K8tw_6o
Cat
2 classy ladies :)
Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: ninny on 04/26/10 at 5:30 am
The word of the day...Seasons
A season is a division of the year, marked by changes in weather, ecology, and hours of daylight.
Seasons result from the yearly revolution of the Earth around the Sun and the tilt of the Earth's axis relative to the plane of revolution. In temperate and polar regions, the seasons are marked by changes in the intensity of sunlight that reaches the Earth's surface, variations of which may cause animals to go into hibernation or to migrate, and plants to be dormant.
During May, June and July, the northern hemisphere is exposed to more direct sunlight because the hemisphere faces the sun. The same is true of the southern hemisphere in November, December and January. It is the tilt of the Earth that causes the Sun to be higher in the sky during the summer months which increases the solar flux. However, due to seasonal lag, June, July and August are the hottest months in the northern hemisphere and December, January and February are the hottest months in the southern hemisphere.
In temperate and subpolar regions generally four calendar based seasons are recognized: spring (adj. vernal), summer (adj. estival), autumn (adj. autumnal), and winter (adj. hibernal). However, ecologists in Europe and Australia are increasingly using a six season model for temperate climate regions that includes pre-spring (adj. prevernal) and late summer (adj. seritonal) as distinct seasons along with the traditional four (See Ecological Seasons below).
In some tropical and subtropical regions it is more common to speak of the rainy (or wet, or monsoon) season versus the dry season, because the amount of precipitation may vary more dramatically than the average temperature. For example, in Nicaragua, the dry season is called Summer (Oct to May) and the rainy season is called Winter (Apr to Nov) even though it is located in the northern hemisphere.
In other tropical areas a three-way division into hot, rainy and cool season is used.
In some parts of the world, special "seasons" are loosely defined based upon important events such as a hurricane season, tornado season or a wildfire season.
Chinese seasons are traditionally based on 24 periods known as solar terms, and begin at the midpoint of solstices and equinoxes.
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Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: Howard on 04/26/10 at 5:34 am
Could it be Frankie Valli's birthday by any chance? ???
Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: ninny on 04/26/10 at 5:34 am
The person born on this day...Carol Burnett
Carol Creighton Burnett (born April 26, 1933) is an American actress, comedienne, singer, dancer and writer. Burnett started her career in New York. After becoming a hit on Broadway, she debuted on television. After successful appearances on The Garry Moore Show, Carol moved to Los Angeles and began an eleven-year run on the The Carol Burnett Show which was aired on CBS television from 1967 to 1978. With roots in vaudeville, The Carol Burnett Show was a variety show combining comedy sketches, song, and dance. The comedy sketches ranged from movie parodies to character pieces which featured the many talents of Burnett herself who created and played several well-known and distinctive characters. he hour-long Carol Burnett Show, which debuted in 1967, garnered 23 Emmy Awards and won or was nominated for multiple Emmy Awards every season it was on the air. Its ensemble cast included Tim Conway (who was a guest player until the 9th season), Harvey Korman, Lyle Waggoner, and the teenaged Vicki Lawrence (who was cast partly because she looked like a young Burnett). The network did not want her to do a variety show because they believed only men could be successful at variety but Burnett's contract required that they give her one season of whatever kind of show she wanted to make. She chose to carry on the tradition of past variety show successes and the rest is history.
Burnett became known for her acting and talent, and for ending each show by tugging her ear, which was a message to the grandmother who had raised her to let her know that she was doing well and that she loved her.
A true variety show in its simplest of forms, The Carol Burnett Show struck a chord with viewers through parodies of films ("Went With the Wind"), television ("As the Stomach Turns") and commercials. Burnett and team struck gold with the original skit "The Family", which eventually was spun off into its own television show called Mama's Family, starring Vicki Lawrence.
The show also became known for its closing theme song, with the following lyrics:
I'm so glad we had this time together
Just to have a laugh or sing a song
Seems we just get started and before you know it
Comes the time we have to say, 'So long.'
During the show's run, Burnett's grandmother died. On the Lifetime Channel's "Intimate Portrait" biography on Burnett, she tearfully recalled her grandmother's last moments: "She said to my husband Joe from her hospital bed 'Joe, you see that spider up there?' There was no spider but Joe said he did anyhow. She said 'Every few minutes a big spider jumps on that little spider and they go at it like RABBITS!!' And then she died. There's laughter in everything!"
The Carol Burnett Show ceased production in 1978, and is generally regarded as the last successful major network prime-time variety show, to date. It continues to have success in syndicated reruns. She was open to her fans, never refusing to give an autograph and had limited patience for "Those who've made it, then complain about loss of privacy."
Other roles
Burnett starred in a few films while her variety show was running, including Pete 'n' Tillie (1972). After the show ended, Burnett assumed a number of roles that departed from comedy. She appeared in several dramatic roles, most notably in the television movie Friendly Fire. She appeared as Beatrice O'Reilly in the film Life of The Party: The Story of Beatrice, a story about a woman fighting her alcoholism. Her other film work includes The Four Seasons, Annie, and Noises Off. She also returned to star in a different role as Queen Aggravain in the movie version of Once Upon a Mattress.
Burnett also made occasional returns to the stage: in 1974, she appeared at The Muny Theater in St. Louis, Missouri in I Do! I Do! with Rock Hudson and eleven years later, she took the supporting role of Carlotta Campion in the 1985 concert performance of Stephen Sondheim's Follies.
Burnett made frequent appearances as a panelist on the game show Password — an association she maintained until the early 1980s.
Burnett was also the first celebrity to appear on the children's series, Sesame Street, on that series' first episode on November 10, 1969.
In the 1980s and 1990s, she made several attempts at starting a new variety program. She also appeared briefly on The Carol Burnett Show's The Family sketches spinoff, Mama's Family, as her stormy character, Eunice Higgins. She also played the matriarch in the cult comedy miniseries Fresno, which parodied the night-time soap opera Falcon Crest, co-starring with Dabney Coleman, Charles Grodin, Teri Garr and Gregory Harrison.
Burnett returned to TV in the mid-1990s as a supporting character on the sitcom Mad About You when she played Theresa Stemple, the mother of main character Jamie Buchman (Helen Hunt).
Burnett has long been a fan of the soap opera All My Children. She realized a dream when Agnes Nixon created the role of Verla Grubbs for her. Burnett suddenly found herself playing the long-lost daughter of Langley Wallingford (Louis Edmonds), and raising hell for her stepmother Phoebe Tyler-Wallingford (Ruth Warrick). She hosted a 25th anniversary special about the show in 1995 and made a brief cameo as Verla Grubbs on the January 5, 2005 episode celebrating the 35th anniversary of the program. Due to scheduling conflicts, the scene was shot on the Los Angeles set of General Hospital instead of the New York City set where All My Children is taped.
In 2008, she had her second role as an animated character, in Horton Hears a Who!. Her first was in The Trumpet of the Swan.
In 2009, she made a guest appearance on the Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, for which she was nominated for the Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series.
Personal life
The first house Burnett lived in was the Beverly Hills house formerly owned by Harry James and Betty Grable. Growing up in rented rooms, an actual house was "a luxury", as "A Murphy bed was idea of spacious."
She married Don Saroyan on December 15, 1955; the couple divorced in 1962. On May 4, 1963, Burnett married TV producer Joe Hamilton, a divorced father of eight, with whom she had three daughters: actress and writer Carrie Hamilton, Jody Hamilton, and singer Erin Hamilton. The marriage ended in divorce in 1984, and Joe Hamilton later died of cancer. On November 24, 2001, she married Brian Miller (principal drummer in and contractor of the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra), who is twenty-three years her junior.
In January 2002, Carrie Hamilton died of lung and brain cancer at the age of 38. She had become addicted to drugs as a teenager, but overcame the addictions with the help of her husband. Burnett and Carrie wrote a play together called Hollywood Arms, which was adapted from Burnett's bestselling memoir, One More Time. The Broadway production featured Linda Lavin as Burnett's character's beloved grandmother.
Lawsuits
Main article: Carol Burnett v. National Enquirer, Inc.
Burnett drew attention in 1981, when she sued the National Enquirer for libel after the tabloid newspaper described her alleged public drunkenness, purportedly with Henry Kissinger. Carol was particularly sensitive to the accusations because of her parents' own alcoholism. The case was a landmark for libel cases involving celebrities, although the unprecedented $1.6 million verdict for Burnett was reduced to about $800,000 on appeal, and eventually settled out of court.
She donated a portion of that award to the University of Hawaii and University of California at Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism saying she hoped the suit would teach aspiring journalists the dangers of defaming individuals in articles. The money was used to fund Law and Ethics courses at the school. Burnett said at the time that she didn't care if she just won "car fare", and that the lawsuit was a matter of principle.
In March 2007, she sued 20th Century Fox for copyright infringement, trademark violation, statutory violation of right of privacy, and misappropriation of name and likeness over the use of an altered version of her signature closing song and the portrayal of her charwoman character in an episode of Family Guy. At the time, Seth MacFarlane, creator and producer of Family Guy, issued the statement that much of Burnett's own success was in the field of parodying others. On May 26, 2007, the lawsuit was dismissed by a Los Angeles federal judge.
Awards and recognition
Emmy Awards
* 1962 - Outstanding Performance in a Variety or Musical Program or Series, The Garry Moore Show
* 1963 - Outstanding Performance in a Variety or Musical Program or Series, Julie and Carol at Carnegie Hall and An Evening with Carol Burnett
* 1969, 1970, 1971 - Nominated for Outstanding Variety or Musical Series, The Carol Burnett Show
* 1972 - Outstanding Variety Series - Musical, The Carol Burnett Show, shared with Joe Hamilton (executive producer) and Arnie Rosen (producer)
* 1972 - Nominated for Outstanding Single Program - Variety or Musical - Variety and Popular Music, Jule and Carol at Lincoln Center
* 1973 - Nominated for Outstanding Variety Musical Series, The Carol Burnett Show, with Joe Hamilton (executive producer), and Bill Angelos, Buz Kohan, and Arnie Rosen (producers)
* 1974 - Outstanding Music-Variety Series, The Carol Burnett Show, with Joe Hamilton (executive producer) and Ed Simmons (producer)
* 1974 - Nominated for Best Lead Actress in a Drama, 6 Rms Riv Vu
* 1975 - Outstanding Comedy-Variety or Music Series, The Carol Burnett Show, with Joe Hamilton (executive producer) and Ed Simmons (producer)
* 1976, 1977, 1978 - Nominated for Outstanding Comedy-Variety or Music Series, The Carol Burnett Show, with Joe Hamilton (executive producer) and Ed Simmons (producer)
* 1977 - Nominated for Outstanding Special - Comedy-Variety or Music, Sills and Burnett at the Met, with Beverly Sills and Joe Hamilton (producer)
* 1979 - Nominated for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited Series or a Special, Friendly Fire
* 1983 - Nominated for Outstanding Individual Performance in a Variety or Music Program, Texaco Star Theater: Opening Night
* 1993 - Nominated for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series, The Larry Sanders Show
* 1995 - Nominated for Outstanding Individual Performance in a Variety or Music Program, Men, Movies & Carol
* 1997 - Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series, Mad About You
* 1998 - Nominated for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series, Mad About You
* 2002 - Nominated for Outstanding Variety, Music or Comedy Special, Carol Burnett: Show Stoppers, with John Hamilton and Rick Hawkins (executive producers), Jody Hamilton and Mary Jo Blue (producers)
* 2009 - Nominated for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
Golden Globe Awards
* 1968 - Best TV Star - Female, The Carol Burnett Show
* 1970, 1972, 1977, 1978 - Best TV Actress - Musical/Comedy, The Carol Burnett Show
* 1971, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1979 - Nominated for Best TV Actress - Musical/Comedy, The Carol Burnett Show
* 1973 - Nominated for Best Motion Picture Actress - Musical/Comedy, Pete 'n' Tillie
* 1979 - Nominated for Best Motion Picture Actress in a Supporting Role, A Wedding
* 1982 - Nominated for Best Motion Picture Actress - Comedy/Musical, The Four Seasons
* 1983 - Nominated for Best Actress in a Motion Picture - Comedy/Musical, Annie
* 1983 - Nominated for Best Performance by an Actress in a Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for TV, Life of the Party: The Story of Beatrice
* 1991 - Nominated for Best Performance by an Actress in a TV-Series - Comedy/Musical, Carol & Company
Other
* On August 25, 2009, Governor Schwarzenegger and Maria Shriver announced that Burnett would be one of 13 California Hall of Fame inductees in The California Museum's yearlong exhibit. The induction ceremony was on December 1, 2009 in Sacramento, California.
* She was named the Grand Marshal of the 109th Rose Parade and the 84th Rose Bowl Game on New Year's Day in 1998.
* She was the first honoree and presenter at second annual awards ceremony of the Back Stage West Garland Awards in 1999
* Burnett was a recipient of the 2003 Kennedy Center Honors at the age of 70.
* Former president George W. Bush awarded Burnett the Presidential Medal of Freedom on November 9, 2005.
* She received a Peabody Award in 1963.
* Burnett was presented a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame located at 6439 Hollywood Blvd., which is close to the Hollywood Pacific Theatre where she worked as an usher in 1957.
* A Facebook Page was created on April 7, 2010 to encourage NBC and Carol Burnett to let Carol host Saturday Night Live (SNL)
Work
Television
* The Paul Winchell and Jerry Mahoney Show (regular in 1955)
* Stanley (1956–1957)
* Omnibus (October 1956)
* The Garry Moore Show (regular from 1959–1962)
* Julie and Carol at Carnegie Hall (1962)
* The Twilight Zone (played Agnes Grep in episode Cavender is Coming- 1962)
* An Evening with Carol Burnett (1963)
* Calamity Jane (1963)
* Once Upon a Mattress (1964)
* The Entertainers (1964–1965)
* The Lucy Show (special guest star-4 episodes-1966)
* Carol + 2 (1967)
* Get Smart (1967) as "Ozark" Annie Jones in Season 3 episode "One Of Our Olives Is Missing"
* The Carol Burnett Show (1967–1978)
* The Carol Burnett Show in London (1970)
* Julie and Carol at Lincoln Center (1971)
* Once Upon a Mattress (1972)
* 6 Rms Riv Vu (1974)
* Out to Lunch (1974)
* Twigs (1975)
* Cher (1975)
* Sills and Burnett at the Met (1976)
* All My Children (cast member: 1976, 1983, 1995, and 2005)
* Dolly and Carol in Nashville (1978)
* The Grass Is Always Greener over the Septic Tank (1978)
* Friendly Fire (1979)
* Carol Burnett & Company (1979)
* The Tenth Month (1979)
* Eunice (1982) (teleplay based on the Family sketches separate from Mama's Family)
* Life of the Party: The Story of Beatrice' (1982)
* Between Friends (1983)
* Mama's Family (cast member from 1983 to 1985)
* Burnett Discovers Domingo (1984)
* Magnum P.I. (1984 and 1988 as Susan Johnson)
* The Laundromat (1985)
* Follies in Concert (1986)
* Fresno (1986) (miniseries)
* Plaza Suite (1987) (also executive producer)
* Carol, Carl, Whoopi and Robin (1987)
* Fame (1987) – episode Reggie and Rose (with Carrie Hamilton), broadcast April 27, 1987
* Hostage (1988)
* Julie & Carol: Together Again (1989)
* Carol & Company (1990) (canceled after one and a half seasons)
* The Carol Burnett Show (1991) (canceled after two months)
* The Carol Burnett Show: A Reunion (1993)
* Carol Burnett: The Special Years (1994)
* Seasons of the Heart (1994)
* Men, Movies & Carol (1994)
* Touched by an Angel (1997) – episode The Comeback (with Carrie Hamilton), broadcast November 23, 1997
* The Marriage Fool (1998)
* Putting It Together (2000)
* Carol Burnett: Show Stoppers (2001) (also executive producer)
* The Carol Burnett Show: Let's Bump Up the Lights (2004) (also executive producer)
* Once Upon a Mattress (2005) (also executive producer)
* Desperate Housewives (2006) (guest starring role as Eleanor Mason)
* American Masters Tribute to Carol Burnett (2007)
* Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (2009) (Emmy award-nominated guest appearance)
Filmography
* Who's Been Sleeping in My Bed? (1963)
* Rowan & Martin at the Movies (1968) (short subject)
* Star Spangled Salesman (1968) (short subject)
* Pete 'n' Tillie (1972)
* The Front Page (1974)
* A Wedding (1978)
* Health (1980)
* The Four Seasons (1981)
* Chu Chu and the Philly Flash (1981)
* Annie (1982)
* 6 Weeks (1982)
* Noises Off... (1992)
* Moon Over Broadway (1997) (documentary)
* Get Bruce (1999) (documentary)
* The Trumpet of the Swan (2001) (voice)
* Broadway: The Golden Age, by the Legends Who Were There (2003) (documentary)
* Horton Hears a Who! (2008) (voice)
* Post Grad (2009)
* Rapunzel (2010) (voice)
Stage
* Once Upon a Mattress (1959)
* Fade Out - Fade In (1964)
* Moon Over Buffalo (1995)
* Putting It Together (1999)
http://i325.photobucket.com/albums/k373/SaturnMauve/Celebs/CarolBurnett2.jpg
http://i178.photobucket.com/albums/w280/RZander/220px-Carol_burnett_show_2.jpg
Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: ninny on 04/26/10 at 5:35 am
Could it be Frankie Valli's birthday by any chance? ???
Good guess, but no.
Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: Howard on 04/26/10 at 5:36 am
The person born on this day...Carol Burnett
Carol Creighton Burnett (born April 26, 1933) is an American actress, comedienne, singer, dancer and writer. Burnett started her career in New York. After becoming a hit on Broadway, she debuted on television. After successful appearances on The Garry Moore Show, Carol moved to Los Angeles and began an eleven-year run on the The Carol Burnett Show which was aired on CBS television from 1967 to 1978. With roots in vaudeville, The Carol Burnett Show was a variety show combining comedy sketches, song, and dance. The comedy sketches ranged from movie parodies to character pieces which featured the many talents of Burnett herself who created and played several well-known and distinctive characters. he hour-long Carol Burnett Show, which debuted in 1967, garnered 23 Emmy Awards and won or was nominated for multiple Emmy Awards every season it was on the air. Its ensemble cast included Tim Conway (who was a guest player until the 9th season), Harvey Korman, Lyle Waggoner, and the teenaged Vicki Lawrence (who was cast partly because she looked like a young Burnett). The network did not want her to do a variety show because they believed only men could be successful at variety but Burnett's contract required that they give her one season of whatever kind of show she wanted to make. She chose to carry on the tradition of past variety show successes and the rest is history.
Burnett became known for her acting and talent, and for ending each show by tugging her ear, which was a message to the grandmother who had raised her to let her know that she was doing well and that she loved her.
A true variety show in its simplest of forms, The Carol Burnett Show struck a chord with viewers through parodies of films ("Went With the Wind"), television ("As the Stomach Turns") and commercials. Burnett and team struck gold with the original skit "The Family", which eventually was spun off into its own television show called Mama's Family, starring Vicki Lawrence.
The show also became known for its closing theme song, with the following lyrics:
I'm so glad we had this time together
Just to have a laugh or sing a song
Seems we just get started and before you know it
Comes the time we have to say, 'So long.'
During the show's run, Burnett's grandmother died. On the Lifetime Channel's "Intimate Portrait" biography on Burnett, she tearfully recalled her grandmother's last moments: "She said to my husband Joe from her hospital bed 'Joe, you see that spider up there?' There was no spider but Joe said he did anyhow. She said 'Every few minutes a big spider jumps on that little spider and they go at it like RABBITS!!' And then she died. There's laughter in everything!"
The Carol Burnett Show ceased production in 1978, and is generally regarded as the last successful major network prime-time variety show, to date. It continues to have success in syndicated reruns. She was open to her fans, never refusing to give an autograph and had limited patience for "Those who've made it, then complain about loss of privacy."
Other roles
Burnett starred in a few films while her variety show was running, including Pete 'n' Tillie (1972). After the show ended, Burnett assumed a number of roles that departed from comedy. She appeared in several dramatic roles, most notably in the television movie Friendly Fire. She appeared as Beatrice O'Reilly in the film Life of The Party: The Story of Beatrice, a story about a woman fighting her alcoholism. Her other film work includes The Four Seasons, Annie, and Noises Off. She also returned to star in a different role as Queen Aggravain in the movie version of Once Upon a Mattress.
Burnett also made occasional returns to the stage: in 1974, she appeared at The Muny Theater in St. Louis, Missouri in I Do! I Do! with Rock Hudson and eleven years later, she took the supporting role of Carlotta Campion in the 1985 concert performance of Stephen Sondheim's Follies.
Burnett made frequent appearances as a panelist on the game show Password — an association she maintained until the early 1980s.
Burnett was also the first celebrity to appear on the children's series, Sesame Street, on that series' first episode on November 10, 1969.
In the 1980s and 1990s, she made several attempts at starting a new variety program. She also appeared briefly on The Carol Burnett Show's The Family sketches spinoff, Mama's Family, as her stormy character, Eunice Higgins. She also played the matriarch in the cult comedy miniseries Fresno, which parodied the night-time soap opera Falcon Crest, co-starring with Dabney Coleman, Charles Grodin, Teri Garr and Gregory Harrison.
Burnett returned to TV in the mid-1990s as a supporting character on the sitcom Mad About You when she played Theresa Stemple, the mother of main character Jamie Buchman (Helen Hunt).
Burnett has long been a fan of the soap opera All My Children. She realized a dream when Agnes Nixon created the role of Verla Grubbs for her. Burnett suddenly found herself playing the long-lost daughter of Langley Wallingford (Louis Edmonds), and raising hell for her stepmother Phoebe Tyler-Wallingford (Ruth Warrick). She hosted a 25th anniversary special about the show in 1995 and made a brief cameo as Verla Grubbs on the January 5, 2005 episode celebrating the 35th anniversary of the program. Due to scheduling conflicts, the scene was shot on the Los Angeles set of General Hospital instead of the New York City set where All My Children is taped.
In 2008, she had her second role as an animated character, in Horton Hears a Who!. Her first was in The Trumpet of the Swan.
In 2009, she made a guest appearance on the Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, for which she was nominated for the Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series.
Personal life
The first house Burnett lived in was the Beverly Hills house formerly owned by Harry James and Betty Grable. Growing up in rented rooms, an actual house was "a luxury", as "A Murphy bed was idea of spacious."
She married Don Saroyan on December 15, 1955; the couple divorced in 1962. On May 4, 1963, Burnett married TV producer Joe Hamilton, a divorced father of eight, with whom she had three daughters: actress and writer Carrie Hamilton, Jody Hamilton, and singer Erin Hamilton. The marriage ended in divorce in 1984, and Joe Hamilton later died of cancer. On November 24, 2001, she married Brian Miller (principal drummer in and contractor of the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra), who is twenty-three years her junior.
In January 2002, Carrie Hamilton died of lung and brain cancer at the age of 38. She had become addicted to drugs as a teenager, but overcame the addictions with the help of her husband. Burnett and Carrie wrote a play together called Hollywood Arms, which was adapted from Burnett's bestselling memoir, One More Time. The Broadway production featured Linda Lavin as Burnett's character's beloved grandmother.
Lawsuits
Main article: Carol Burnett v. National Enquirer, Inc.
Burnett drew attention in 1981, when she sued the National Enquirer for libel after the tabloid newspaper described her alleged public drunkenness, purportedly with Henry Kissinger. Carol was particularly sensitive to the accusations because of her parents' own alcoholism. The case was a landmark for libel cases involving celebrities, although the unprecedented $1.6 million verdict for Burnett was reduced to about $800,000 on appeal, and eventually settled out of court.
She donated a portion of that award to the University of Hawaii and University of California at Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism saying she hoped the suit would teach aspiring journalists the dangers of defaming individuals in articles. The money was used to fund Law and Ethics courses at the school. Burnett said at the time that she didn't care if she just won "car fare", and that the lawsuit was a matter of principle.
In March 2007, she sued 20th Century Fox for copyright infringement, trademark violation, statutory violation of right of privacy, and misappropriation of name and likeness over the use of an altered version of her signature closing song and the portrayal of her charwoman character in an episode of Family Guy. At the time, Seth MacFarlane, creator and producer of Family Guy, issued the statement that much of Burnett's own success was in the field of parodying others. On May 26, 2007, the lawsuit was dismissed by a Los Angeles federal judge.
Awards and recognition
Emmy Awards
* 1962 - Outstanding Performance in a Variety or Musical Program or Series, The Garry Moore Show
* 1963 - Outstanding Performance in a Variety or Musical Program or Series, Julie and Carol at Carnegie Hall and An Evening with Carol Burnett
* 1969, 1970, 1971 - Nominated for Outstanding Variety or Musical Series, The Carol Burnett Show
* 1972 - Outstanding Variety Series - Musical, The Carol Burnett Show, shared with Joe Hamilton (executive producer) and Arnie Rosen (producer)
* 1972 - Nominated for Outstanding Single Program - Variety or Musical - Variety and Popular Music, Jule and Carol at Lincoln Center
* 1973 - Nominated for Outstanding Variety Musical Series, The Carol Burnett Show, with Joe Hamilton (executive producer), and Bill Angelos, Buz Kohan, and Arnie Rosen (producers)
* 1974 - Outstanding Music-Variety Series, The Carol Burnett Show, with Joe Hamilton (executive producer) and Ed Simmons (producer)
* 1974 - Nominated for Best Lead Actress in a Drama, 6 Rms Riv Vu
* 1975 - Outstanding Comedy-Variety or Music Series, The Carol Burnett Show, with Joe Hamilton (executive producer) and Ed Simmons (producer)
* 1976, 1977, 1978 - Nominated for Outstanding Comedy-Variety or Music Series, The Carol Burnett Show, with Joe Hamilton (executive producer) and Ed Simmons (producer)
* 1977 - Nominated for Outstanding Special - Comedy-Variety or Music, Sills and Burnett at the Met, with Beverly Sills and Joe Hamilton (producer)
* 1979 - Nominated for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited Series or a Special, Friendly Fire
* 1983 - Nominated for Outstanding Individual Performance in a Variety or Music Program, Texaco Star Theater: Opening Night
* 1993 - Nominated for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series, The Larry Sanders Show
* 1995 - Nominated for Outstanding Individual Performance in a Variety or Music Program, Men, Movies & Carol
* 1997 - Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series, Mad About You
* 1998 - Nominated for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series, Mad About You
* 2002 - Nominated for Outstanding Variety, Music or Comedy Special, Carol Burnett: Show Stoppers, with John Hamilton and Rick Hawkins (executive producers), Jody Hamilton and Mary Jo Blue (producers)
* 2009 - Nominated for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Drama Series, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
Golden Globe Awards
* 1968 - Best TV Star - Female, The Carol Burnett Show
* 1970, 1972, 1977, 1978 - Best TV Actress - Musical/Comedy, The Carol Burnett Show
* 1971, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1979 - Nominated for Best TV Actress - Musical/Comedy, The Carol Burnett Show
* 1973 - Nominated for Best Motion Picture Actress - Musical/Comedy, Pete 'n' Tillie
* 1979 - Nominated for Best Motion Picture Actress in a Supporting Role, A Wedding
* 1982 - Nominated for Best Motion Picture Actress - Comedy/Musical, The Four Seasons
* 1983 - Nominated for Best Actress in a Motion Picture - Comedy/Musical, Annie
* 1983 - Nominated for Best Performance by an Actress in a Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for TV, Life of the Party: The Story of Beatrice
* 1991 - Nominated for Best Performance by an Actress in a TV-Series - Comedy/Musical, Carol & Company
Other
* On August 25, 2009, Governor Schwarzenegger and Maria Shriver announced that Burnett would be one of 13 California Hall of Fame inductees in The California Museum's yearlong exhibit. The induction ceremony was on December 1, 2009 in Sacramento, California.
* She was named the Grand Marshal of the 109th Rose Parade and the 84th Rose Bowl Game on New Year's Day in 1998.
* She was the first honoree and presenter at second annual awards ceremony of the Back Stage West Garland Awards in 1999
* Burnett was a recipient of the 2003 Kennedy Center Honors at the age of 70.
* Former president George W. Bush awarded Burnett the Presidential Medal of Freedom on November 9, 2005.
* She received a Peabody Award in 1963.
* Burnett was presented a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame located at 6439 Hollywood Blvd., which is close to the Hollywood Pacific Theatre where she worked as an usher in 1957.
* A Facebook Page was created on April 7, 2010 to encourage NBC and Carol Burnett to let Carol host Saturday Night Live (SNL)
Work
Television
* The Paul Winchell and Jerry Mahoney Show (regular in 1955)
* Stanley (1956–1957)
* Omnibus (October 1956)
* The Garry Moore Show (regular from 1959–1962)
* Julie and Carol at Carnegie Hall (1962)
* The Twilight Zone (played Agnes Grep in episode Cavender is Coming- 1962)
* An Evening with Carol Burnett (1963)
* Calamity Jane (1963)
* Once Upon a Mattress (1964)
* The Entertainers (1964–1965)
* The Lucy Show (special guest star-4 episodes-1966)
* Carol + 2 (1967)
* Get Smart (1967) as "Ozark" Annie Jones in Season 3 episode "One Of Our Olives Is Missing"
* The Carol Burnett Show (1967–1978)
* The Carol Burnett Show in London (1970)
* Julie and Carol at Lincoln Center (1971)
* Once Upon a Mattress (1972)
* 6 Rms Riv Vu (1974)
* Out to Lunch (1974)
* Twigs (1975)
* Cher (1975)
* Sills and Burnett at the Met (1976)
* All My Children (cast member: 1976, 1983, 1995, and 2005)
* Dolly and Carol in Nashville (1978)
* The Grass Is Always Greener over the Septic Tank (1978)
* Friendly Fire (1979)
* Carol Burnett & Company (1979)
* The Tenth Month (1979)
* Eunice (1982) (teleplay based on the Family sketches separate from Mama's Family)
* Life of the Party: The Story of Beatrice' (1982)
* Between Friends (1983)
* Mama's Family (cast member from 1983 to 1985)
* Burnett Discovers Domingo (1984)
* Magnum P.I. (1984 and 1988 as Susan Johnson)
* The Laundromat (1985)
* Follies in Concert (1986)
* Fresno (1986) (miniseries)
* Plaza Suite (1987) (also executive producer)
* Carol, Carl, Whoopi and Robin (1987)
* Fame (1987) – episode Reggie and Rose (with Carrie Hamilton), broadcast April 27, 1987
* Hostage (1988)
* Julie & Carol: Together Again (1989)
* Carol & Company (1990) (canceled after one and a half seasons)
* The Carol Burnett Show (1991) (canceled after two months)
* The Carol Burnett Show: A Reunion (1993)
* Carol Burnett: The Special Years (1994)
* Seasons of the Heart (1994)
* Men, Movies & Carol (1994)
* Touched by an Angel (1997) – episode The Comeback (with Carrie Hamilton), broadcast November 23, 1997
* The Marriage Fool (1998)
* Putting It Together (2000)
* Carol Burnett: Show Stoppers (2001) (also executive producer)
* The Carol Burnett Show: Let's Bump Up the Lights (2004) (also executive producer)
* Once Upon a Mattress (2005) (also executive producer)
* Desperate Housewives (2006) (guest starring role as Eleanor Mason)
* American Masters Tribute to Carol Burnett (2007)
* Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (2009) (Emmy award-nominated guest appearance)
Filmography
* Who's Been Sleeping in My Bed? (1963)
* Rowan & Martin at the Movies (1968) (short subject)
* Star Spangled Salesman (1968) (short subject)
* Pete 'n' Tillie (1972)
* The Front Page (1974)
* A Wedding (1978)
* Health (1980)
* The Four Seasons (1981)
* Chu Chu and the Philly Flash (1981)
* Annie (1982)
* 6 Weeks (1982)
* Noises Off... (1992)
* Moon Over Broadway (1997) (documentary)
* Get Bruce (1999) (documentary)
* The Trumpet of the Swan (2001) (voice)
* Broadway: The Golden Age, by the Legends Who Were There (2003) (documentary)
* Horton Hears a Who! (2008) (voice)
* Post Grad (2009)
* Rapunzel (2010) (voice)
Stage
* Once Upon a Mattress (1959)
* Fade Out - Fade In (1964)
* Moon Over Buffalo (1995)
* Putting It Together (1999)
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always enjoyed The Carol Burnett Show. :)
Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: ninny on 04/26/10 at 5:44 am
The person who died on this day...Irene Ryan
Irene Ryan (October 17, 1902 – April 26, 1973) was an American actress, one of the few entertainers who found success in vaudeville, radio, film, television and Broadway.
She is most widely known for her portrayal of "Granny" on the long-running TV series The Beverly Hillbillies (1962–1971), for which she was nominated for Emmy Awards for "Outstanding Continued Performance by an Actress in a Series (Lead)" in 1963 and 1964.
Some reports claim that Irene Ryan, who was born Irene Noblette, was born in San Francisco, California. She was born to an American father and an Irish immigrant mother.
Before her role as "Granny" on The Beverly Hillbillies, Ryan was an established vaudeville, radio, and movie actress, though not as well known prior to her television stint. Ryan and her first husband, writer-comedian Tim Ryan, were popular in vaudeville. Their type of double act, known in show business as a "Dumb Dora" routine and epitomized by George Burns and Gracie Allen, had the dizzy woman saying silly things and frustrating the straight-man "boyfriend" or husband." The couple, billed as "Tim and Irene," had their own series of short subjects in the 1930s for Educational Pictures, and later worked in feature films for Monogram Pictures.
After splitting with Tim Ryan, Irene Ryan toured with comedian Bob Hope and made regular appearances on his radio show. She continued to work in motion pictures of the late 1940s and early 1950s, generally playing fussy or nervous women. Ryan made her first television sitcom appearance on Where's Raymond?, starring musical-comedy actor Ray Bolger, in 1954.
The Beverly Hillbillies (1962–1971)
In 1962, Ryan was cast as Daisy "Granny" Moses, the matriarch of the Clampett clan, in the CBS-TV comedy series The Beverly Hillbillies. The sitcom ran on the CBS network from 1962 to 1971, and after the show ended Ryan established the Irene Ryan Acting Competition, providing annual scholarships for promising student actors. According to Filmways Publicist Ted Switzer, series creator and producer Paul Henning had decided to cast Bea Benaderet as Granny; however, when Ryan read for the role, “with her hair tied back in a bun and feisty as all get out, she just blew everyone away.” Al Simon (executive producer) and Henning immediately said: “That’s Granny.” Later when Benaderet saw Ryan’s tryout, she agreed. Benaderet was then cast as cousin Pearl.
Pippin (1972)
In 1972 Ryan helped to create and also starred in the role of Berthe in the Bob Fosse-directed Broadway musical Pippin, in which she sang the number "No Time At All"., which mentions, "a man who calls me Granny". In 1973, Ryan was posthumously nominated for Broadway's 1973 Tony Award as Best Supporting or Featured Actress (Musical) for her performance in the musical. After Ryan's passing, the role of Berthe was assumed by veteran actress Dorothy Stickney for the remainder of Pippin's Broadway run.
Marriage
Tim and Irene Ryan were married in 1922 and divorced in 1942. Irene married her second husband, Harold E. Knox, in 1946; they divorced in 1961.
Ryan was a distant cousin of the actress Mary Castle, who appeared with Jim Davis in the syndicated western series Stories of the Century.
Death
In April 1973, Ryan suffered a stroke during a performance of the musical Pippin on Broadway. Earlier in the year, her friend and fellow Beverly Hillbillies cast member, Nancy Kulp, had tried to persuade her not to go to New York for the musical. She had been diagnosed with a brain tumor some time previously, but reportedly was never made aware of it. Several days after she fell ill, Irene Ryan died on April 26, 1973. She was 70. Pallbearers at Ryan's California funeral included Hillbillies co-stars Buddy Ebsen and Max Baer, Jr., along with Beverly Hillbillies creator Paul Henning. The funeral was also attended by Donna Douglas, Harriet E. McGibbon, Louie Nye, and others associated with the series. Her body was interred in a mausoleum crypt at the Woodlawn Memorial Cemetery in Santa Monica, California, beside her sister, Anna Thompson.
Legacy and charitable causes
Having no living relatives, Ryan left more than $1,000,000 estate to fund the Irene Ryan Foundation, which donates scholarships to young theater arts students involved with the Kennedy Center's American College Theater Festival.
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Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: ninny on 04/26/10 at 5:45 am
always enjoyed The Carol Burnett Show. :)
Me too.
Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: CatwomanofV on 04/26/10 at 10:52 am
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q7B7LZkJtFo
Cat
Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: Frank on 04/26/10 at 11:31 am
What I remember most about Carol was her tugging at her ear at the end of the show.
Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: ninny on 04/26/10 at 12:38 pm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q7B7LZkJtFo
Cat
I never saw that before.it was different
Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: Howard on 04/26/10 at 3:00 pm
What I remember most about Carol was her tugging at her ear at the end of the show.
Yeah,what was that about? ???
Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: CatwomanofV on 04/26/10 at 4:03 pm
Yeah,what was that about? ???
The story was when she first started her show, she wanted to tell her grandmother (who basically raised her) that she loved her but she wasn't allowed to. She came up with the tugging of her left ear as a way to tell her grandmother that she loved her. Then it became the same message but only to her kids (and then her grandkids).
Cat
Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: ninny on 04/27/10 at 5:57 am
The word of the day...Day
A day (symbol d) is a unit of time equivalent to approximately 24 hours. It is not an SI unit but it is accepted for use with SI. The SI unit of time is the second.
The word 'day' can also refer to the (roughly) half of the day that is not night, also known as 'daytime'. Both refer to a length of time. Within these meanings, several definitions can be distinguished. 'Day' may also refer to a day of the week or to a calendar date, as in answer to the question "On which day?".
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Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: ninny on 04/27/10 at 6:00 am
The person who was born on this day...Peter Ham
Peter William Ham (27 April 1947 – 24 April 1975) was a Welsh singer, songwriter and guitarist, best known as the leader of the group Badfinger. Ham was born in Swansea, South Wales. He formed a local rock group called The Panthers around 1961. This group would undergo several name and lineup changes before it became The Iveys in 1965. The band was relocated to London by The Mojos manager, Bill Collins, in 1966, and they continued to perform for three years throughout the United Kingdom. As it was, Ham eventually became the prominent songwriter for the band, as a Revox was made available by Collins to encourage him. Ray Davies of The Kinks took an initial interest in the group, although tracks produced by Davies did not surface commercially until decades later. In 1968, The Iveys came to the attention of Mal Evans (The Beatles personal assistant) and were eventually signed to the Beatles' Apple label after approval from all four Beatles, who were reportedly impressed by the band's songwriting abilities.
In Badfinger
The Iveys changed their name to Badfinger with the single release of "Come And Get It," a composition written by Paul McCartney, and it became a worldwide Top Ten hit. Ham had initially protested using a non-original to promote the band, as he had gained confidence in the group's compositions, but he was quickly convinced of the springboard effect of having a likely hit single. His own creative perseverance paid off eventually, as his "No Matter What" composition became another Top Ten worldwide hit after its release in late 1970 . He followed up writing two more worldwide hits with "Day After Day" and "Baby Blue." His greatest songwriting success came with his co-written composition "Without You" - a worldwide #1 when covered by Harry Nilsson and released in 1972. The song has since become a ballad standard and is covered by hundreds of singers from many genres worldwide. An Ivor Novello award for Song Of The Year was issued in 1973 along with Grammy nominations. In 1972, Ham's group Badfinger was picked up by Warner Bros. Records, as the Apple label was crumbling and it seemed the band was primed for major recognition.
Death
During the Warner Bros. Records era from 1973-75, Badfinger became embroiled in many internal, financial and managerial problems and their music languished. By 1975, with no income and his business manager non-communicative, Ham became despondent and he hanged himself in the garage of his Surrey home. His blood alcohol was .27%. He was 27 years old. He left behind a pregnant girlfriend (his daughter was born one month after his death). Ham's suicide note was accusatory toward Badfinger's business manager, Stan Polley, stating: "P.S. Stan Polley is a soulless bastard. I will take him with me." Many of Polley's artist-clients also accused him of corruption over the years. More than a decade after Ham's death, Polley pleaded Nolo contendere to unrelated embezzlement and money laundering charges, but no collection of restitution was ever made. News of Ham's death was not widely disseminated at the time, as no public comment was made by The Beatles, Apple Corps Ltd or Warner Bros. Records.
Legacy
Ham is often credited as being one of the earliest purveyors of the power pop genre, but his most widespread effect in popular music is the ballad "Without You," written with Badfinger bandmate Tom Evans (who also later committed suicide). Two collections of Ham's home demo recordings have been posthumously released: 1997's 7 Park Avenue and 1999's Golders Green.
Discography
(with Badfinger, except where noted)
* Maybe Tomorrow (1969 with "The Iveys")
* Magic Christian Music (1970)
* No Dice (1970)
* Straight Up (1971)
* Ass (1973)
* Badfinger (1974)
* Wish You Were Here (1974)
* 7 Park Avenue (1997 as "Pete Ham")
* Golders Green (1999 as "Pete Ham")
* Head First (2000)
Ham also appeared as a guest artist on
* The Concert for Bangladesh (the concert, the album, and the film)
* All Things Must Pass by George Harrison (album)
* "It Don't Come Easy" by Ringo Starr (single)
Compositions of note
* "No Matter What" (Billboard charting #8, by Badfinger)
* "Without You" (Billboard charting #1 by Harry Nilsson, #3 by Mariah Carey, #28 by Clay Aiken).
* "Day After Day " (Billboard charting #4, Cash Box charting #1, both by Badfinger)
* "Baby Blue" (Billboard charting #14 by Badfinger)
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Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: ninny on 04/27/10 at 6:03 am
The person who died on this day...Al Hirt
Al Hirt (November 7, 1922 – April 27, 1999) was an American trumpeter and bandleader. He is best remembered for his million selling recordings of "Java", and the accompanying album, Honey in the Horn (1963). His nicknames included 'Jumbo' and 'The Round Mound of Sound'.
Biography
Alois Maxwell Hirt was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, the son of a police officer. At the age of six, he was given his first trumpet, which had been purchased at a local pawnshop. He would play in the Junior Police Band with the children of Alcide Nunez, and by the age of 16, Hirt was playing professionally, often with his friend Pete Fountain. During this time, he was hired to play at the local horse racing track, beginning a six-decade connection to the sport.
In 1940, Hirt went to Cincinnati, Ohio to study at the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music with Dr. Frank Simon (a former soloist with the John Philip Sousa Orchestra). After a stint as a bugler in the United States Army during World War II, Hirt performed with various Swing big bands, including those of Tommy Dorsey, Jimmy Dorsey, Benny Goodman, and Ina Ray Hutton.
In 1950, Hirt became first trumpet and soloist with Horace Heidt's Orchestra.
Hirt then returned to New Orleans, working with various Dixieland groups and leading his own bands. Despite Hirt's statement years later "I'm not a jazz trumpeter and never was a jazz trumpeter", he made a few recordings where he demonstrated ability to play in that style during the 1950s, with bandleader Monk Hazel and a few other recordings on the local Southland Records label.
Hirt's virtuoso dexterity and fine tone on his instrument soon attracted the attention of national labels. Hirt posted twenty two albums on the Billboard charts in the 1950s and 1960s. The albums Honey In The Horn and Cotton Candy were both in the Top 10 best sellers for 1964, the same year Hirt scored a hit single with his cover of Allen Toussaint's tune "Java" (Billboard #4), and later won a Grammy Award for the same recording. Both Honey in the Horn and "Java" sold over one million copies, and were awarded gold discs.
Hirt's Top 40 charted hit "Sugar Lips" in 1964 would be later used as the theme song for the NBC daytime game show Eye Guess, hosted by Bill Cullen and originally airing during the mid-to-late 1960s.
"Green Hornet Theme"
Play sound
Sample from Green Hornet Theme from album "The Horn Meets The Hornet" RCA 1966
Problems listening to this file? See media help.
Hirt was chosen to record the frenetic theme for the 1960s TV show "The Green Hornet", by famed arranger and composer Billy May. Thematically reminiscent of Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov's Flight of the Bumblebee, it showcased Hirt's technical prowess. The recording again gained public attention in 2003 when it was used in the film Kill Bill.
From the mid 1950s to early 1960s, Hirt and his band played nightly at Dan's Pier 600 at the corner of St. Louis and Bourbon Street. The club was owned by his business manager, Dan Levy, Sr. In 1962 Hirt opened his own club on Bourbon Street in the French Quarter, which he ran until 1983. He also became a minority owner in the NFL expansion New Orleans Saints in 1967.
In 1962, in an effort to showcase him in a different musical setting, Hirt was teamed with arranger and composer Billy May and producer Steve Sholes to record an album titled Horn A Plenty that was a departure from the Dixieland material that he was generally associated with. Covering an eclectic variety of popular, standard and show tunes, it featured a big-band supplemented by timpani, french horns and harp.
"Memories Of You"
Play sound
Sample from Memories Of You from "Horn A Plenty" RCA 1962
Problems listening to this file? See media help.
On February 8, 1970, while performing in a Mardi Gras parade in New Orleans, Hirt was injured while riding on a float. It is popularly believed that he was struck in the mouth by a thrown piece of concrete or brick. Factual documentation of the details of the incident is sparse, consisting primarily of claims made by Hirt after the incident. Whatever the actual cause of his injuries, Hirt underwent surgery and had to wait a while and then practice slowly to make a return to the club scene. This incident was parodied in a Saturday Night Live skit from their second season Mardi Gras special, the "Let's Hit Al Hirt in the Mouth with a Brick Contest".
In 1987, Hirt played a solo rendition of "Ave Maria" for Pope John Paul II's visit to New Orleans.
In 1999, Hirt died, aged 76, in New Orleans of liver failure, after spending the previous year in a wheelchair due to edema in his leg. Despite the bout with edema, Hirt continued to play in local clubs including Chris Owens Club. Hirt was laid to rest in Metairie Cemetery in New Orleans.
Hirt had eight children, ten grandchildren, and six great-grandchildren. In 1990, he married Beverly Estabrook Essel, a friend of 40 years.
He is referred to in Lieutenant Hauk's broadcast in the film, Good Morning Vietnam.
Discography
* 30 Greatest Trumpet Hits of All Time
* A Living Legend
* Al (He's The King) Hirt and His Band
* Al Hirt
* Al Hirt at the Mardi Gras
* Al Hirt Blows His Own Horn
* Al Hirt Plays Bert Kaempfert
* Beauty and the Beard (with Ann-Margret)
* Cotton Candy
* Have a Merry Little Al Hirt
* Here in my Heart
* Honey in the Horn
* Horn A Plenty
* In Love With You
* Jumbo's Gumbo
* Live at Carnegie Hall
* Le Roi De La Trompette
* Louisiana Man
* Music to Watch Girls By
* Our Man in New Orleans
* 'Pops' Goes The Trumpet
* Soul in the Horn
* Struttin' Down Royal Street
* Sugar Lips
* Super Jazz
* Swingin' Dixie! At Dan's Pier 600
* That Honey Horn Sound
* The Best of Al Hirt
* The Best of Al Hirt Volume 2
* The Best of Dixieland Jazz
* The Greatest Horn in The World
* The Happy Trumpet
* The High-flying Trumpet of Al Hirt
* The Horn Meets The Hornet
* They're Playing Our Song
* This is Al Hirt
* Trumpet and Strings
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Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: CatwomanofV on 04/27/10 at 10:01 am
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PMigXnXMhQ4
Cat
Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: ninny on 04/27/10 at 10:53 am
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PMigXnXMhQ4
Cat
Love this song :)
Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: Howard on 04/27/10 at 3:15 pm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sYi7uEvEEmk
Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: Howard on 04/27/10 at 3:17 pm
Love this song :)
Enjoyable song. :)
Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: ninny on 04/27/10 at 4:55 pm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sYi7uEvEEmk
Nice Howie :)
Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: ninny on 04/29/10 at 5:40 am
The word of the day...Porsche
Porsche Automobil Holding SE, usually shortened to Porsche SE (), a Societas Europaea or European Public Company, is a German automotive manufacturer of luxury high performance automobiles, which is majority-owned by the Piëch and Porsche families. Porsche SE is headquartered in Zuffenhausen, a city district of Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg.
Porsche SE has two main subsidiaries – Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG (which stands for Doktor Ingenieur honoris causa Ferdinand Porsche Aktiengesellschaft), often shortened to Porsche AG, and Volkswagen AG. Porsche AG is the subsidiary of Porsche SE which is responsible for the actual production and manufacture of the Porsche automobile line, and Volkswagen AG is the parent company of the Volkswagen Group, which includes (but is not limited to) the automotive marques Audi, Bentley Motors, Bugatti Automobiles and Lamborghini.
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Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: ninny on 04/29/10 at 5:48 am
The person born on this day...Jerry Seinfeld
Jerome Allen "Jerry" Seinfeld (born April 29, 1954) is an American stand-up comedian, actor and writer, best known for playing a semi-fictional version of himself in the situation comedy Seinfeld (1989–1998), which he co-created and co-wrote with Larry David, and, in the show's final two seasons, co-executive-produced.
In his first major foray back into the media since the finale of Seinfeld, he co-wrote and co-produced the film Bee Movie, also taking on the lead role of Barry B. Benson. In February 2010, Seinfeld premiered a reality TV series called The Marriage Ref on NBC. Seinfeld and the entire cast of Seinfeld appeared on the seventh season of Larry David's HBO original series Curb Your Enthusiasm.
Seinfeld was born in Brooklyn, New York. His father, Kalman, was of Galician Jewish background and owned a sign-making company; his mother, Betty, is of Syrian Jewish descent.
Seinfeld grew up in Massapequa, New York. In September 1959, his mother enrolled him at Birch Lane Elementary School, from which he continued to Massapequa High School. At the age of 16, he spent a short period of time volunteering in Kibbutz Sa'ar in Israel. He went to SUNY Oswego, and after his sophomore year he transferred to Queens College, City University of New York, graduating with a degree in communications and theater. He developed an interest in stand-up comedy after brief stints in college productions. In 1976, right after graduation from Queens College, he tried out at an open-mic night at New York City's Catch a Rising Star, which led to an appearance in a Rodney Dangerfield HBO special.
In 1979, Seinfeld had a very small recurring role on the Benson sitcom as "Frankie", a mail delivery boy who had comedy routines that no one wanted to hear, but he was abruptly fired from the show due to creative differences. Seinfeld has said that he was not actually told he had been fired until he turned up for the read-through session for an episode and found that there was no script for him.
In May 1981, Seinfeld made a highly successful appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, impressing Carson and the audience and leading to regular appearances on that show and others, including Late Night with David Letterman.
Seinfeld
Main article: Seinfeld
Seinfeld created The Seinfeld Chronicles with Larry David in 1989 for NBC. The show was later renamed Seinfeld to avoid confusion with the short-lived teen sitcom The Marshall Chronicles and, by its fourth season, had become the most popular and successful sitcom on American television. The final episode aired in 1998; but the show has been a popular syndicated re-run. The show also starred Saturday Night Live veteran Julia Louis-Dreyfus, as well as experienced actors Michael Richards and Jason Alexander. On the show, Seinfeld played a caricature of himself. He has said that his show was influenced by the 1950s sitcom The Abbott and Costello Show. Citing Jean Shepherd as an influence in his commentary for "The Gymnast" episode on "Seinfeld, Season 6," he said, "He really formed my entire comedic sensibility--I learned how to do comedy from Jean Shepherd." Seinfeld also holds the distinction of being the only actor to appear in every episode of the show. From 2004–2007, the former Seinfeld cast and crew recorded audio commentaries for episodes of the DVD releases of the show. Seinfeld himself provided commentary for numerous episodes.
Post-Seinfeld
1998–2006
After his sitcom ended, Seinfeld returned to stand-up comedy instead of pursuing a film career as most other popular comedians have done. In 1998, Seinfeld went on tour and recorded a comedy special entitled I'm Telling You for the Last Time. The process of developing and performing new material at clubs around the world was chronicled in a 2002 documentary, Comedian, which focused also on fellow comic Orny Adams, directed by Christian Charles. He has written several books, mostly archives of past routines.
In the late 1990s, Apple Computer came up with an advertising slogan called "Think different" and produced a 60-second commercial to promote the slogan which showed people who were able to "think differently", like Albert Einstein, Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King and many others. This commercial was later cut short to thirty seconds and ended up paying tribute to Jerry Seinfeld. This commercial aired only once, during the series finale of Seinfeld.
In 2004, Seinfeld also appeared in two commercial webisodes promoting American Express, entitled The Adventures of Seinfeld & Superman, in which he appeared together with an animated rendering of Superman, who was referenced in numerous episodes of Seinfeld as Seinfeld's hero, voiced by Patrick Warburton, who had portrayed David Puddy on Seinfeld. The webisodes were aired in 2004 and directed by Barry Levinson. Seinfeld and "Superman" were also interviewed by Matt Lauer in a specially-recorded interview for the Today show.
On November 18, 2004, Seinfeld appeared at the National Museum of American History to donate the "Puffy Shirt" he wore in the famous Seinfeld episode of the same name. He also gave a speech when presenting the "Puffy Shirt", claiming humorously that "This is the most embarrassing moment of my life."
Seinfeld had a special appearance on May 13, 2006 Saturday Night Live episode as Julia Louis-Dreyfus' assassin. Louis-Dreyfus was the host of that episode and in her opening monologue she mentioned the "Seinfeld Curse". While talking about how ridiculous the "curse" was, a stage light suddenly fell next to her. The camera moved to a catwalk above the stage that Seinfeld was standing on, holding a large pair of bolt cutters. He angrily muttered, "Dammit!", angry that it didn't hit her. Louis-Dreyfus then continued to say that she is indeed not cursed.
2007
On February 25, 2007, Seinfeld appeared at the 79th Academy Awards as the presenter for "Best Documentary". Before announcing the nominations he did a bit of a stand-up comedy routine about the unspoken agreement between movie theater owners and movie patrons. One of the winners of the award was Larry David's now ex-wife, Laurie.
On October 4, 2007, Seinfeld made a brief return to NBC, guest-starring in the episode "SeinfeldVision" of 30 Rock as himself.
2008
On February 24, 2008, Seinfeld appeared as the voice of his Bee Movie animated character Barry, at the 80th Academy Awards as the presenter for "Best Animated Short". Before announcing the nominees, he showed a montage of film clips featuring bees, claiming that they were some of his early work (as Barry).
Amidst his spring 2008 tour Seinfeld made a stop in his hometown of New York City for a one-night-only performance on June 2, 2008 at the Hammerstein Ballroom to benefit Stand Up for a Cure, a charity aiding lung cancer research at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center.
In August 2008, the Associated Press reported that Jerry Seinfeld would be the pitchman for Windows Vista, as part of a $300 million advertising campaign by Microsoft. The adverts, which were intended to create buzz for Windows in support of the subsequent "I'm a PC" adverts, began airing in mid-September 2008 and were cut from television after just 3 installments, Microsoft opting instead to continue with the "I'm a PC" advertisements, and instead continued running the Seinfeld adverts on the Microsoft website as a series of longer advertisements.
2009
In March 2009, it was announced that Seinfeld and the entire cast of Seinfeld would be appearing for a reunion in Larry David's HBO series Curb Your Enthusiasm, which took place later in the year.
Seinfeld appeared on an episode of the Starz original series Head Case. Like many of his previous guest appearances on sitcoms he played himself.
In Australia, Seinfeld appears on a series of advertisements for Greater Building Society, a building society based in New South Wales and south eastern Queensland. His appearance in these adverts were highly publicized and considered a coup for the society, being only the third time Seinfeld had appeared in a television commercial. The adverts were filmed in Cedarhurst, Long Island, with the street designed to emulate Beaumont Street in Hamilton, where the Greater's head offices are located. Seinfeld also wrote the scripts for the fifteen advertisements that were filmed. The adverts largely aired in the Northern New South Wales television market, where the society has most of its branches.
Seinfeld was the first guest of Jay Leno's new talk show, The Jay Leno Show, which premiered on September 14.
2010
Seinfeld was featured on Saturday Night Live's Weekend Update sketch to do the "Really!?!" segment with Seth Meyers. Seinfeld is also executive producing and occasionally starring as a panelist in The Marriage Ref.
Books
Seinfeld is also a bestselling author, most notably for his book Seinlanguage. Released in 1993, the book went on to become a number one New York Times bestseller. The book, written as his television show was first rising in popularity, is primarily an adaptation of the comedian's standup material. The title comes from an article in Entertainment Weekly listing the numerous catch-phrases for which the show was responsible.
In 2003, he wrote a children's book titled Halloween. The book was illustrated by James Bennett. There are also several books about both the sitcom and Seinfeld himself, though many of them are not written by Seinfeld.
Seinfeld wrote the forewords to Ted L. Nancy's Letters from a Nut series of books and Ed Broth's Stories from a Moron. Both authors were rumored to be pseudonyms for Seinfeld or a friend of his. Neither Nancy nor Broth have been seen publicly, although Seinfeld is heavily involved in pitching their books for television.
In promoting Broth's book, Seinfeld hosted a toast in the author's honor. Broth did not attend.
Seinfeld also wrote the foreword to the Peanut Butter & Co. Cookbook, from his favorite sandwich shop in New York City.
Lawsuit
On January 7, 2008, Missy Chase Lapine sued Jerry and Jessica Seinfeld for defamation, plagiarism, or copyright and trademark infringement in the Manhattan, U.S. District Court. In separate court papers, lawyers for Jessica Seinfeld accused Lapine of falsely claiming she invented the idea of hiding fruits and vegetables in children's meals when "countless prior works utilized this very same unprotectable idea," including a 1971 book. They called the lawsuit "opportunistic." On September 10, 2009, the federal judge on this case threw out the plagiarism claims. Lapine's attorney has indicated that she plans to appeal the dismissal. The defamation charges against Jerry Seinfeld have not yet been adjudicated.
Personal life
Seinfeld dated Carol Leifer, a fellow comedian and the inspiration for the character of Elaine from his eponymous sitcom Seinfeld. When he was in his late thirties, Seinfeld began a romantic relationship with then-seventeen year old high school student Shoshanna Lonstein. A while later, after meeting Jessica Sklar at the Reebok Sports Club, he began dating her. Sklar, a public relations executive for Tommy Hilfiger, had just returned from a three-week honeymoon in Italy with Eric Nederlander, a theatrical producer and scion of a theater-owning family. Sklar divorced Nederlander and married Seinfeld on December 25, 1999. Comedian George Wallace was the best man at the wedding. After the nuptials, Jerry and Jessica Seinfeld bought Billy Joel's Amagansett, Long Island house for $32 million in March 2000.
Seinfeld and his wife have three children, one daughter and two sons. Daughter Sascha was born on November 7, 2000 in New York City, son Julian Kal on March 1, 2003 in New York City, and Shepherd Kellen was born on August 22, 2005 at New York's Cornell Medical Center. His son Julian's middle name is Kal, which is the first name of Seinfeld's father. Kal is also the first name of Seinfeld's hero Kal-El (Superman). Seinfeld's best friend is fellow comedian Larry Miller.
In 2000, Jessica Seinfeld launched Baby Buggy, a charity that provides clothing and gear for underprivileged women and children. She is the author of the best-seller Deceptively Delicious: Simple Secrets to Get Your Kids Eating Good Food, released by HarperCollins in October 2007.
Seinfeld is recorded as having made several political contributions, including George W. Bush's presidential campaign in 2000 and subsequently to four Democratic primary candidates in 2000 and 2004.
Seinfeld periodically calls Steve Somers' show on WFAN-AM, a sports talk radio station, as "Jerry from Queens."
On March 29, 2008, Seinfeld was driving in East Hampton, New York when the brakes on his 1967 Fiat 500 failed. After trying to stop the car using the emergency brake, which also failed, he swerved to keep the car from entering an intersection with a highway and ended up rolling the car onto its side, stopping yards from the highway. The wreck was attributed to mechanical failure. Seinfeld did not require medical attention and returned to his East Hampton home.
At some point in the 1970s, Seinfeld was introduced to Scientology by his high school auto mechanics teacher and took a couple of courses. In spite of not having continued since then, he claims that Scientology had taught him important things about communication.
Personal wealth
According to Forbes magazine, Jerry Seinfeld's annual earning from Seinfeld, in 1998, was $267 million, making him the highest-earning celebrity that year. Seinfeld still generates more revenue than most current shows, through syndication and DVD sales. He reportedly turned down $5 million per episode, for 22 episodes, to continue the show beyond its final season. He earned $100 million from syndication deals and stand-up appearances in 2005 and $60 million in 2006. He also earned $10 million for appearing with Bill Gates in Microsoft's 2008 ads for Windows. Between June 2008 and June 2009, Seinfeld earned $85 million, making him the highest-paid comedian during that twelve-month period.
Car collection
Seinfeld, an automobile enthusiast and avid collector, is rumored to own one of the largest Porsche collections in the world. He rented a hangar at the Santa Monica Airport, in Santa Monica, California, for an extended period of time during the 1990s, for storage of some of the vehicles in the collection. After his return to New York City he was involved in an extended dispute with several neighbors over the proposed building of a $1.4 million multi-story garage to contain the cars.
A current tally puts Seinfeld at 46 Porsches. Reporter Paul Bannister reports that his collection includes Porsche 911s from various years, 10 Porsche Boxsters each painted a different color and the famous 1955 Porsche 550 Spyder, the same model and pearl-grey color that actor James Dean was driving when he crashed and died. The Discovery Channel television show "Chasing Classic Cars" claims that Seinfeld owns the first and last original Porsche 911s produced. The centerpiece is a $700,000 Porsche 959, one of only 337 ever built. To his initial despair, he was not allowed to drive it as US emission and crash tests were never performed because Porsche refused to donate four Porsche 959s for destruction tests, rendering the car "not street-legal". He imported the car "for exhibition purposes", which stipulates the car may never be driven on American roads. The car was made US street legal in 1999 under the "Show or Display" federal law. In several episodes of Seinfeld, Seinfeld drives a Saab 900 (NG) convertible, but a Porsche-themed painting, depicting a Porsche 904 GTS race car competing in the 1964 Targa Florio race in Italy, is visible on a wall in his apartment, as well as a Porsche racing poster featuring a 550 Spyder depicting the 1958 Targa Florio. In another episode, he is seen hiding behind a red Porsche 911RS parked on the street. In addition, an issue of Excellence, a Porsche-centered publication, is featured prominently on an outdoor magazine rack in one episode and on at least one occasion he is seen reading an issue of Road and Track magazine from circa 1990 with a cover article on the Porsche 964. He also wrote an article for the February 2004 issue of Automobile, reviewing the Porsche Carrera GT. For the story he was awarded Road Pest - Silver at the 2004 International Automotive Media Awards.
Credits
Film
Year Film Role Notes
1984 The Ratings Game Network Rep
1999 Pros & Cons Prison Man #2
2002 Comedian Himself
2004 A Uniform Used to Mean Something Himself
Hindsight Is 20/20 Himself
2007 Bee Movie Barry B. Benson Voice, Producer
Nominated — Producers Guild of America Award for Motion Picture Producer of the Year Award - Animated
Television
Year Title Role Notes
1980 Benson Frankie
1989 - 1998 Seinfeld Jerry Seinfeld American Comedy Award for Funniest Male Performer in a TV Series (1992, 1993)
Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series (1993)
Golden Globe Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series (1995, 1997, 1998)
Nominated — American Comedy Award for Funniest Male Performer in a TV Series (1996, 1999)
Nominated — Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series (1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996)
Nominated — Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series (1992, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998)
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series (1996)
1997 NewsRadio Himself
2000 Dilbert Comp-U-Comp
2004 Curb Your Enthusiasm Himself (cameo)
2007 30 Rock Himself ("SeinfeldVision")
2009 Curb Your Enthusiasm Himself
2010 The Marriage Ref Executive Producer
Writing credits for Seinfeld
The list below only includes episodes mainly written by Seinfeld, as he and Larry David rewrote the drafts for each episode.
Season 1
* The Seinfeld Chronicles (with Larry David)
* Male Unbonding (with Larry David)
* The Stake Out (with Larry David)
* The Stock Tip (with Larry David)
Season 2
* The Ex-Girlfriend (with Larry David)
* The Pony Remark (with Larry David)
o Nominated — Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing in a Comedy Series (1991 - Episode "The Pony Remark")
* The Busboy (with Larry David)
* The Jacket (with Larry David)
* The Chinese Restaurant (with Larry David)
* The Phone Message (with Larry David)
Season 3
* The Stranded (with Larry David and Matt Goldman)
Season 4
* The Shoes (with Larry David)
Season 5
* The Sniffing Accountant (with Larry David)
* The Raincoats (with Larry David, Tom Gammill, and Max Pross)
* The Opposite (with Larry David and Andy Cowan)
Season 6
* The Kiss Hello (with Larry David)
Season 7
* The Cadillac (with Larry David)
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Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: ninny on 04/29/10 at 5:57 am
The person who died on this day...Mick Ronson
Michael "Mick" Ronson (26 May 1946 – 29 April 1993) was an English guitarist, composer, multi-instrumentalist, arranger and producer. He is most well known for his work with David Bowie from 1970 to 1973, Bowie's glam rock period, including being part of The Spiders from Mars band.
He also had a solo career, the most notable example of which was his Slaughter On 10th Avenue album, that reached No. 9 on the UK album charts. Ronson also guested on various different bands' releases after his time with Bowie. He was named the 64th greatest guitarist of all time by Rolling Stone. Michael Ronson was born in Beverley Road, Hull, East Yorkshire, in 1946, then moved to Greatfield, Hull. As a child he played piano, recorder, violin, and harmonium. He initially wanted to be a cellist, but moved to guitar when he got hooked on Duane Eddy and The Yardbirds. He joined his first band, The Mariners, in November 1963 at the age of 17. His stage debut with The Mariners was in support of the Keith Herd Band at Elloughton Village Hall, a gig for which the band travelled 35 miles and got paid 10 shillings (50p). While Ronson was working with The Mariners, another local Hull group - The Crestas - recruited him on the advice of The Mariners' bassist John Griffiths. With Ronson on board the Crestas gained a solid reputation, making regular appearances at local halls: Mondays at the Halfway House in Hull, Thursdays at the Ferryboat Hotel, Fridays at the Regal Ballroom in Beverley, and Sundays at the Duke of Cumberland in North Ferriby.
In 1965, Ronson left The Crestas to try his luck in London. He took a part time job as a mechanic, and before long, he teamed up with a band called The Voice, replacing Miller Anderson. Soon afterward, Crestas' drummer Dave Bradfield made the trip down to London when the Voice's drummer left. After playing just a few dates with the group, Ronson and Bradfield returned from a weekend in Hull to find their gear piled at their flat and a note explaining that the rest of the group had gone to the Bahamas. Ronson stayed in London and teamed up briefly with a soul band called The Wanted, before eventually returning to Hull.
In 1966, Ronson joined Hull's top local band, The Rats, joining singer Benny Marshall, bassist Jeff Appleby, and drummer Jim Simpson (who was subsequently replaced by Clive Taylor and then John Cambridge). The group played the local circuit, and also made a few unsuccessful trips to London and Paris.
In 1967 The Rats recorded the one-off psychedelic track, "The Rise And Fall Of Bernie Gripplestone" at Fairview Studios in Hull, and can be heard on the 2008 release Front Room Masters - Fairview Studios 1966-1973 (Front Room Masters). 1968 saw the band change their name briefly to Treacle and book another recording session at Fairview Studios in 1969, before reverting to their original name. Around this time, Ronson was recommended by Rick Kemp to play guitar on Michael Chapman's Fully Qualified Survivor LP.
When John Cambridge left The Rats to join his former Hullabaloos bandmate Mick Wayne in Junior's Eyes, he was replaced by Mick "Woody" Woodmansey. In November 1969, the band recorded a final session at Fairview, taping "Telephone Blues" and "Early In Spring".
In March 1970, during the recording sessions for Elton John's album Tumbleweed Connection, Ronson played guitar on the track 'Madman Across the Water'. This song however was not included in the original release. The recording featuring Ronson only saw the light of day on the 1992 compilation album Rare Masters and the 1995 reissue of the "Tumbleweed Connection" album.
Bowie era
Early in 1970, John Cambridge came back to Hull in search of Ronson, intent upon recruiting him for a new David Bowie backing band called The Hype. He found Ronson marking out a rugby pitch, one of his duties as a Parks Department gardener for Hull City Council. Having failed in his earlier attempts in London, Ronson was reluctant, but eventually agreed to accompany Cambridge to a meeting with David Bowie. Two days later, on 5 February, Ronson made his debut with Bowie on John Peel's national BBC Radio 1 Sunday Show.
The Hype played their first gig at The Roundhouse on 22 February with a line-up that included Bowie, Ronson, Cambridge, and producer/bassist Tony Visconti. The group dressed up in superhero costumes, with Bowie as Rainbowman, Visconti as Hypeman, Ronson as Gangsterman, and Cambridge as Cowboyman. This performance was filmed and recorded and is currently in the vaults owned by MainMan. Also on the bill that day were Bachdenkel, Groundhog and Caravan. The following day they performed at the Streatham Arms in London under the pseudonym of 'Harry The Butcher'. They also performed on 28 February at the Basildon Arts Lab experimental music club at the Basildon Arts Centre in Essex. Billed as 'David Bowie's New Electric Band' so new they haven't got a name yet! Also on the bill were High Tide, Overson and Iron Butterfly. Strawbs were due to perform but were replaced by David Bowie's New Electric Band. John Cambridge departed on 30 March, again replaced by Woody Woodmansey. In April 1970, Ronson, Woodmansey, and Tony Visconti commenced recording Bowie's The Man Who Sold The World album, with Ronson's Jeff Beck-influenced guitar work to the fore.
During the sessions for The Man Who Sold The World, the trio of Ronson, Visconti, and Woodmansey - still under The Hype moniker - signed to Vertigo Records. The group recruited Benny Marshall from The Rats as vocalist, and entered the studio to record an album. By the time a single appeared, The Hype had been re-christened Ronno. "The Fourth Hour of My Sleep" was released on Vertigo to an indifferent reception in January 1971. The song was written by Tucker Zimmerman, a friend of Visconti's, and not Bob Dylan as many sources have suggested. The B-side was a Ronson/Marshall composition called "Powers of Darkness". The Ronno album was never completed.
David Bowie's backing ensemble, which by now included Trevor Bolder who had replaced Tony Visconti on bass guitar duties and keyboardist Rick Wakeman, were used in the recording of Hunky Dory. The departure of Visconti also meant that Ronson, with Bowie, took over the arrangements, whilst Ken Scott co-produced with Bowie. Very different from the heavy rock of the preceding album, Ronson's orchestral arrangements showcased a far more melodic batch of Bowie compositions. Hunky Dory was perhaps their most collaborative album, which the sleeve notes acknowledge.
It was this band, minus Rick Wakeman, that became known as The Spiders From Mars from the title of the next Bowie album. Again, Ronson was a key part of The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars album, providing string arrangements and various instrumentation, as well as handling the lead guitar duties. This album returned to the rock oriented music of the earlier album, with Ronson's guitar heroics providing the perfect frame for Bowie's doomed rock star role. Ronson and Bowie achieved some notoriety over the concerts promoting this album, when Bowie would simulate fellatio on Ronson's guitar as he played.
Ronson co-produced Lou Reed's album Transformer with Bowie, playing lead guitar on the album and piano on the song "Perfect Day". Again with Bowie, he recut the track "The Man Who Sold The World" for Lulu, released as a single in the UK, and played on a few tracks on the Dana Gillespie album Weren't Born a Man.
Ronson appeared on the 1972 country-rock album Bustin' Out by Pure Prairie League, where he did the string ensemble arrangements and contributed guitar and vocals on several tracks.
His guitar work was next heard on Bowie's Aladdin Sane and 1973's covers album Pin Ups. Many people had begun to believe that Ronson's contribution to Bowie's output was becoming indispensable, so it was quite a surprise that he was absent from the Diamond Dogs album (although he played on the "1980 Floor Show", featuring songs which appeared on the record).
Later work
After leaving Bowie's entourage after the "Farewell Concert" in 1973, Ronson released three solo albums. His solo debut Slaughter On 10th Avenue, featured a brave version of Elvis Presley's song, "Love Me Tender", as well as Ronson's most famous solo track - "Only After Dark". In addition, his sister, Margaret Ronson, provided the backing vocals for the set. Between this and the 1975 follow-up, Ronson had a short-lived stint with Mott the Hoople. He then became a long-time collaborator with former Mott the Hoople leader Ian Hunter, commencing with the album Ian Hunter and featuring the UK singles chart hit "Once Bitten, Twice Shy", including a spell touring as the Hunter Ronson Band. In 1980, the live album Welcome to the Club was released, including a couple of Ronson showcases, which curiously also had a few new studio tracks - one being a Hunter/Ronson song.
In 1982, Ronson worked with John Mellencamp on his American Fool album, and in particularly the song "Jack & Diane"
"I owe Mick Ronson the hit song, Jack & Diane. Mick was very instrumental in helping me arrange that song, as I'd thrown it on the junk heap. Ronson came down and played on three or four tracks and worked on the American Fool record for four or five weeks. All of a sudden, for 'Jack & Diane', Mick said 'Johnny, you should put baby rattles on there.' I thought, 'What the fudge does put baby rattles on the record mean? So he put the percussion on there and then he sang the part 'let it rock, let it roll' as a choir-ish-type thing, which had never occurred to me. And that is the part everybody remembers on the song. It was Ronson's idea." (John Mellencamp, Classic Rock Magazine, January 2008, p.61)
"Jack and Diane," was a No. 1 hit for four weeks and sent 'American Fool' to the top of the charts.
In 1990, Ronson again collaborated with Hunter on the album, Yui Orta, this time getting joint credit - the album was detailed as being by "Hunter/Ronson". In 1993, he again appeared on a David Bowie album; Black Tie White Noise playing on the track "I Feel Free", originally recorded by Cream. Ronson and Bowie had already covered this track live some 20 years earlier whilst touring as Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars.
His second and third solo albums were Play Don't Worry in 1975, and Heaven And Hull in 1994. The latter set was only partly completed at the time of Ronson's death and was released posthumously. Artists involved with the album represented a wide range of musical styles and included several artists produced by Ronson: John Mellencamp, Joe Elliott, Ian Hunter, David Bowie, Chrissie Hynde, and Martin Chambers.
Besides Bowie and Hunter, Ronson went on to work as a musician, writer and record producer with many other acts including Slaughter & The Dogs (who took their name from the Ronson album Slaughter on 10th Avenue), Morrissey, The Wildhearts, The Rich Kids (featuring post-Sex Pistols Glen Matlock and post-Slik/pre-Ultravox Midge Ure), Elton John, Johnny Cougar, T-Bone Burnett, Dalbello, Benny Mardones, Iron City Houserockers and the Italian band Moda, which featured Andrea Chimenti on vocals. He did not restrict his influence behind the recording desk to just established acts. His production work appears on albums by more obscure artists, such as The Payolas, Phil Rambow and Los Illegals. Ronson produced the The Visible Targets, a Seattle group, on their 1983 5-track EP "Autistic Savant." He had a lifetime passion for helping unheralded artists get a chance to shine, and he assisted many local bands along the way.
Ronson was also a member of Bob Dylan's "Rolling Thunder Revue" live band, and can be seen both on and off-stage in the film of the tour. He also made a connection with ex-Byrd Roger McGuinn during this time, which led to him producing and contributing guitar and arrangements to McGuinn's 1976 solo album Cardiff Rose.
In 1982, he participated on lead guitar in a short lived band with Hilly Michaels on drums and Les Fradkin on Bass Guitar. One of their recordings from this group ("Spare Change") appears on the 2006 CD: Les Fradkin- Goin' Back.
In 1987, Ronson made an appearance on a record by Geffen band, The Toll. Ronson plays signature riffs on the band's song, "Stand In Winter", from the album The Price of Progression, produced by Steve Thompson and Michael Barbiero.
In 1992 he produced Morrissey's Your Arsenal album, helping to redirect Morrissey's career after the album Kill Uncle.
His last, high profile, live performance was his appearance at The Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert in 1992. He played on "All The Young Dudes" with David Bowie and Ian Hunter, and "Heroes" with Bowie.
Ronson's last ever recorded session was as a guest on the 1993 Wildhearts album Earth Vs The Wildhearts, where he played the guitar solo on the song "My Baby Is A Headfudge".
Ronson was a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, but had grown disenchanted with the faith before his death.
Ronson died of liver cancer on 29 April 1993 at the age of 46. In his memory, the Mick Ronson Memorial Stage was constructed in Queens Gardens in his hometown of Hull. There is also a street named after him on Bilton Grange Estate, not far from where he lived.
Equipment
Throughout his career with Bowie, Ronson used a 1968 Gibson Les Paul Custom "Black Beauty". While working on the Chapman album he noticed the singer's natural finish acoustic, which had been paint-stripped to improve treble response. Ronson directed a roadie to do the same for his Les Paul. Essential effects include a Vox Tonebender fuzz, a Vox or Crybaby wah, and a Coloursound fuzz/wah/swell pedal. In the post-Bowie era, Ronson tended towards a blue, rosewood-board Fender Telecaster and also used Mesa/Boogie combos.
Discography
Solo
* Slaughter On 10th Avenue (1974 - UK No. 9)
* Play Don't Worry (1975 - UK No. 29)
* Heaven and Hull (1994)
* Just Like This (recorded in 1976, released in 1999)
* Showtime (live in 1976 and 1989, released in 1999)
* Indian Summer (recorded in 1981-2, released in 2001)
With David Bowie
* The Man Who Sold the World (1970)
* Hunky Dory (1971)
* The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars (1972)
* Aladdin Sane (1973)
* Pin Ups (1973)
* Ziggy Stardust - The Motion Picture (1983)
* Black Tie White Noise (1993)
* Bowie at the Beeb (2000)
* Live Santa Monica '72 (2008)
With Bob Dylan
* Hard Rain (1976)
* The Bootleg Series Vol. 5: Bob Dylan Live 1975, The Rolling Thunder Revue (2002)
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Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: Howard on 04/29/10 at 6:39 am
The person born on this day...Jerry Seinfeld
Jerome Allen "Jerry" Seinfeld (born April 29, 1954) is an American stand-up comedian, actor and writer, best known for playing a semi-fictional version of himself in the situation comedy Seinfeld (1989–1998), which he co-created and co-wrote with Larry David, and, in the show's final two seasons, co-executive-produced.
In his first major foray back into the media since the finale of Seinfeld, he co-wrote and co-produced the film Bee Movie, also taking on the lead role of Barry B. Benson. In February 2010, Seinfeld premiered a reality TV series called The Marriage Ref on NBC. Seinfeld and the entire cast of Seinfeld appeared on the seventh season of Larry David's HBO original series Curb Your Enthusiasm.
Seinfeld was born in Brooklyn, New York. His father, Kalman, was of Galician Jewish background and owned a sign-making company; his mother, Betty, is of Syrian Jewish descent.
Seinfeld grew up in Massapequa, New York. In September 1959, his mother enrolled him at Birch Lane Elementary School, from which he continued to Massapequa High School. At the age of 16, he spent a short period of time volunteering in Kibbutz Sa'ar in Israel. He went to SUNY Oswego, and after his sophomore year he transferred to Queens College, City University of New York, graduating with a degree in communications and theater. He developed an interest in stand-up comedy after brief stints in college productions. In 1976, right after graduation from Queens College, he tried out at an open-mic night at New York City's Catch a Rising Star, which led to an appearance in a Rodney Dangerfield HBO special.
In 1979, Seinfeld had a very small recurring role on the Benson sitcom as "Frankie", a mail delivery boy who had comedy routines that no one wanted to hear, but he was abruptly fired from the show due to creative differences. Seinfeld has said that he was not actually told he had been fired until he turned up for the read-through session for an episode and found that there was no script for him.
In May 1981, Seinfeld made a highly successful appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, impressing Carson and the audience and leading to regular appearances on that show and others, including Late Night with David Letterman.
Seinfeld
Main article: Seinfeld
Seinfeld created The Seinfeld Chronicles with Larry David in 1989 for NBC. The show was later renamed Seinfeld to avoid confusion with the short-lived teen sitcom The Marshall Chronicles and, by its fourth season, had become the most popular and successful sitcom on American television. The final episode aired in 1998; but the show has been a popular syndicated re-run. The show also starred Saturday Night Live veteran Julia Louis-Dreyfus, as well as experienced actors Michael Richards and Jason Alexander. On the show, Seinfeld played a caricature of himself. He has said that his show was influenced by the 1950s sitcom The Abbott and Costello Show. Citing Jean Shepherd as an influence in his commentary for "The Gymnast" episode on "Seinfeld, Season 6," he said, "He really formed my entire comedic sensibility--I learned how to do comedy from Jean Shepherd." Seinfeld also holds the distinction of being the only actor to appear in every episode of the show. From 2004–2007, the former Seinfeld cast and crew recorded audio commentaries for episodes of the DVD releases of the show. Seinfeld himself provided commentary for numerous episodes.
Post-Seinfeld
1998–2006
After his sitcom ended, Seinfeld returned to stand-up comedy instead of pursuing a film career as most other popular comedians have done. In 1998, Seinfeld went on tour and recorded a comedy special entitled I'm Telling You for the Last Time. The process of developing and performing new material at clubs around the world was chronicled in a 2002 documentary, Comedian, which focused also on fellow comic Orny Adams, directed by Christian Charles. He has written several books, mostly archives of past routines.
In the late 1990s, Apple Computer came up with an advertising slogan called "Think different" and produced a 60-second commercial to promote the slogan which showed people who were able to "think differently", like Albert Einstein, Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King and many others. This commercial was later cut short to thirty seconds and ended up paying tribute to Jerry Seinfeld. This commercial aired only once, during the series finale of Seinfeld.
In 2004, Seinfeld also appeared in two commercial webisodes promoting American Express, entitled The Adventures of Seinfeld & Superman, in which he appeared together with an animated rendering of Superman, who was referenced in numerous episodes of Seinfeld as Seinfeld's hero, voiced by Patrick Warburton, who had portrayed David Puddy on Seinfeld. The webisodes were aired in 2004 and directed by Barry Levinson. Seinfeld and "Superman" were also interviewed by Matt Lauer in a specially-recorded interview for the Today show.
On November 18, 2004, Seinfeld appeared at the National Museum of American History to donate the "Puffy Shirt" he wore in the famous Seinfeld episode of the same name. He also gave a speech when presenting the "Puffy Shirt", claiming humorously that "This is the most embarrassing moment of my life."
Seinfeld had a special appearance on May 13, 2006 Saturday Night Live episode as Julia Louis-Dreyfus' assassin. Louis-Dreyfus was the host of that episode and in her opening monologue she mentioned the "Seinfeld Curse". While talking about how ridiculous the "curse" was, a stage light suddenly fell next to her. The camera moved to a catwalk above the stage that Seinfeld was standing on, holding a large pair of bolt cutters. He angrily muttered, "Dammit!", angry that it didn't hit her. Louis-Dreyfus then continued to say that she is indeed not cursed.
2007
On February 25, 2007, Seinfeld appeared at the 79th Academy Awards as the presenter for "Best Documentary". Before announcing the nominations he did a bit of a stand-up comedy routine about the unspoken agreement between movie theater owners and movie patrons. One of the winners of the award was Larry David's now ex-wife, Laurie.
On October 4, 2007, Seinfeld made a brief return to NBC, guest-starring in the episode "SeinfeldVision" of 30 Rock as himself.
2008
On February 24, 2008, Seinfeld appeared as the voice of his Bee Movie animated character Barry, at the 80th Academy Awards as the presenter for "Best Animated Short". Before announcing the nominees, he showed a montage of film clips featuring bees, claiming that they were some of his early work (as Barry).
Amidst his spring 2008 tour Seinfeld made a stop in his hometown of New York City for a one-night-only performance on June 2, 2008 at the Hammerstein Ballroom to benefit Stand Up for a Cure, a charity aiding lung cancer research at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center.
In August 2008, the Associated Press reported that Jerry Seinfeld would be the pitchman for Windows Vista, as part of a $300 million advertising campaign by Microsoft. The adverts, which were intended to create buzz for Windows in support of the subsequent "I'm a PC" adverts, began airing in mid-September 2008 and were cut from television after just 3 installments, Microsoft opting instead to continue with the "I'm a PC" advertisements, and instead continued running the Seinfeld adverts on the Microsoft website as a series of longer advertisements.
2009
In March 2009, it was announced that Seinfeld and the entire cast of Seinfeld would be appearing for a reunion in Larry David's HBO series Curb Your Enthusiasm, which took place later in the year.
Seinfeld appeared on an episode of the Starz original series Head Case. Like many of his previous guest appearances on sitcoms he played himself.
In Australia, Seinfeld appears on a series of advertisements for Greater Building Society, a building society based in New South Wales and south eastern Queensland. His appearance in these adverts were highly publicized and considered a coup for the society, being only the third time Seinfeld had appeared in a television commercial. The adverts were filmed in Cedarhurst, Long Island, with the street designed to emulate Beaumont Street in Hamilton, where the Greater's head offices are located. Seinfeld also wrote the scripts for the fifteen advertisements that were filmed. The adverts largely aired in the Northern New South Wales television market, where the society has most of its branches.
Seinfeld was the first guest of Jay Leno's new talk show, The Jay Leno Show, which premiered on September 14.
2010
Seinfeld was featured on Saturday Night Live's Weekend Update sketch to do the "Really!?!" segment with Seth Meyers. Seinfeld is also executive producing and occasionally starring as a panelist in The Marriage Ref.
Books
Seinfeld is also a bestselling author, most notably for his book Seinlanguage. Released in 1993, the book went on to become a number one New York Times bestseller. The book, written as his television show was first rising in popularity, is primarily an adaptation of the comedian's standup material. The title comes from an article in Entertainment Weekly listing the numerous catch-phrases for which the show was responsible.
In 2003, he wrote a children's book titled Halloween. The book was illustrated by James Bennett. There are also several books about both the sitcom and Seinfeld himself, though many of them are not written by Seinfeld.
Seinfeld wrote the forewords to Ted L. Nancy's Letters from a Nut series of books and Ed Broth's Stories from a Moron. Both authors were rumored to be pseudonyms for Seinfeld or a friend of his. Neither Nancy nor Broth have been seen publicly, although Seinfeld is heavily involved in pitching their books for television.
In promoting Broth's book, Seinfeld hosted a toast in the author's honor. Broth did not attend.
Seinfeld also wrote the foreword to the Peanut Butter & Co. Cookbook, from his favorite sandwich shop in New York City.
Lawsuit
On January 7, 2008, Missy Chase Lapine sued Jerry and Jessica Seinfeld for defamation, plagiarism, or copyright and trademark infringement in the Manhattan, U.S. District Court. In separate court papers, lawyers for Jessica Seinfeld accused Lapine of falsely claiming she invented the idea of hiding fruits and vegetables in children's meals when "countless prior works utilized this very same unprotectable idea," including a 1971 book. They called the lawsuit "opportunistic." On September 10, 2009, the federal judge on this case threw out the plagiarism claims. Lapine's attorney has indicated that she plans to appeal the dismissal. The defamation charges against Jerry Seinfeld have not yet been adjudicated.
Personal life
Seinfeld dated Carol Leifer, a fellow comedian and the inspiration for the character of Elaine from his eponymous sitcom Seinfeld. When he was in his late thirties, Seinfeld began a romantic relationship with then-seventeen year old high school student Shoshanna Lonstein. A while later, after meeting Jessica Sklar at the Reebok Sports Club, he began dating her. Sklar, a public relations executive for Tommy Hilfiger, had just returned from a three-week honeymoon in Italy with Eric Nederlander, a theatrical producer and scion of a theater-owning family. Sklar divorced Nederlander and married Seinfeld on December 25, 1999. Comedian George Wallace was the best man at the wedding. After the nuptials, Jerry and Jessica Seinfeld bought Billy Joel's Amagansett, Long Island house for $32 million in March 2000.
Seinfeld and his wife have three children, one daughter and two sons. Daughter Sascha was born on November 7, 2000 in New York City, son Julian Kal on March 1, 2003 in New York City, and Shepherd Kellen was born on August 22, 2005 at New York's Cornell Medical Center. His son Julian's middle name is Kal, which is the first name of Seinfeld's father. Kal is also the first name of Seinfeld's hero Kal-El (Superman). Seinfeld's best friend is fellow comedian Larry Miller.
In 2000, Jessica Seinfeld launched Baby Buggy, a charity that provides clothing and gear for underprivileged women and children. She is the author of the best-seller Deceptively Delicious: Simple Secrets to Get Your Kids Eating Good Food, released by HarperCollins in October 2007.
Seinfeld is recorded as having made several political contributions, including George W. Bush's presidential campaign in 2000 and subsequently to four Democratic primary candidates in 2000 and 2004.
Seinfeld periodically calls Steve Somers' show on WFAN-AM, a sports talk radio station, as "Jerry from Queens."
On March 29, 2008, Seinfeld was driving in East Hampton, New York when the brakes on his 1967 Fiat 500 failed. After trying to stop the car using the emergency brake, which also failed, he swerved to keep the car from entering an intersection with a highway and ended up rolling the car onto its side, stopping yards from the highway. The wreck was attributed to mechanical failure. Seinfeld did not require medical attention and returned to his East Hampton home.
At some point in the 1970s, Seinfeld was introduced to Scientology by his high school auto mechanics teacher and took a couple of courses. In spite of not having continued since then, he claims that Scientology had taught him important things about communication.
Personal wealth
According to Forbes magazine, Jerry Seinfeld's annual earning from Seinfeld, in 1998, was $267 million, making him the highest-earning celebrity that year. Seinfeld still generates more revenue than most current shows, through syndication and DVD sales. He reportedly turned down $5 million per episode, for 22 episodes, to continue the show beyond its final season. He earned $100 million from syndication deals and stand-up appearances in 2005 and $60 million in 2006. He also earned $10 million for appearing with Bill Gates in Microsoft's 2008 ads for Windows. Between June 2008 and June 2009, Seinfeld earned $85 million, making him the highest-paid comedian during that twelve-month period.
Car collection
Seinfeld, an automobile enthusiast and avid collector, is rumored to own one of the largest Porsche collections in the world. He rented a hangar at the Santa Monica Airport, in Santa Monica, California, for an extended period of time during the 1990s, for storage of some of the vehicles in the collection. After his return to New York City he was involved in an extended dispute with several neighbors over the proposed building of a $1.4 million multi-story garage to contain the cars.
A current tally puts Seinfeld at 46 Porsches. Reporter Paul Bannister reports that his collection includes Porsche 911s from various years, 10 Porsche Boxsters each painted a different color and the famous 1955 Porsche 550 Spyder, the same model and pearl-grey color that actor James Dean was driving when he crashed and died. The Discovery Channel television show "Chasing Classic Cars" claims that Seinfeld owns the first and last original Porsche 911s produced. The centerpiece is a $700,000 Porsche 959, one of only 337 ever built. To his initial despair, he was not allowed to drive it as US emission and crash tests were never performed because Porsche refused to donate four Porsche 959s for destruction tests, rendering the car "not street-legal". He imported the car "for exhibition purposes", which stipulates the car may never be driven on American roads. The car was made US street legal in 1999 under the "Show or Display" federal law. In several episodes of Seinfeld, Seinfeld drives a Saab 900 (NG) convertible, but a Porsche-themed painting, depicting a Porsche 904 GTS race car competing in the 1964 Targa Florio race in Italy, is visible on a wall in his apartment, as well as a Porsche racing poster featuring a 550 Spyder depicting the 1958 Targa Florio. In another episode, he is seen hiding behind a red Porsche 911RS parked on the street. In addition, an issue of Excellence, a Porsche-centered publication, is featured prominently on an outdoor magazine rack in one episode and on at least one occasion he is seen reading an issue of Road and Track magazine from circa 1990 with a cover article on the Porsche 964. He also wrote an article for the February 2004 issue of Automobile, reviewing the Porsche Carrera GT. For the story he was awarded Road Pest - Silver at the 2004 International Automotive Media Awards.
Credits
Film
Year Film Role Notes
1984 The Ratings Game Network Rep
1999 Pros & Cons Prison Man #2
2002 Comedian Himself
2004 A Uniform Used to Mean Something Himself
Hindsight Is 20/20 Himself
2007 Bee Movie Barry B. Benson Voice, Producer
Nominated — Producers Guild of America Award for Motion Picture Producer of the Year Award - Animated
Television
Year Title Role Notes
1980 Benson Frankie
1989 - 1998 Seinfeld Jerry Seinfeld American Comedy Award for Funniest Male Performer in a TV Series (1992, 1993)
Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series (1993)
Golden Globe Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series (1995, 1997, 1998)
Nominated — American Comedy Award for Funniest Male Performer in a TV Series (1996, 1999)
Nominated — Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series (1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996)
Nominated — Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series (1992, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998)
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series (1996)
1997 NewsRadio Himself
2000 Dilbert Comp-U-Comp
2004 Curb Your Enthusiasm Himself (cameo)
2007 30 Rock Himself ("SeinfeldVision")
2009 Curb Your Enthusiasm Himself
2010 The Marriage Ref Executive Producer
Writing credits for Seinfeld
The list below only includes episodes mainly written by Seinfeld, as he and Larry David rewrote the drafts for each episode.
Season 1
* The Seinfeld Chronicles (with Larry David)
* Male Unbonding (with Larry David)
* The Stake Out (with Larry David)
* The Stock Tip (with Larry David)
Season 2
* The Ex-Girlfriend (with Larry David)
* The Pony Remark (with Larry David)
o Nominated — Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing in a Comedy Series (1991 - Episode "The Pony Remark")
* The Busboy (with Larry David)
* The Jacket (with Larry David)
* The Chinese Restaurant (with Larry David)
* The Phone Message (with Larry David)
Season 3
* The Stranded (with Larry David and Matt Goldman)
Season 4
* The Shoes (with Larry David)
Season 5
* The Sniffing Accountant (with Larry David)
* The Raincoats (with Larry David, Tom Gammill, and Max Pross)
* The Opposite (with Larry David and Andy Cowan)
Season 6
* The Kiss Hello (with Larry David)
Season 7
* The Cadillac (with Larry David)
http://i723.photobucket.com/albums/ww239/1halfelfpaladin/jerry-seinfeld.jpg
http://i187.photobucket.com/albums/x64/bloodstainedangel5/jerry_seinfeld.jpg
I never miss Seinfeld at 1130pm every weekday night even though it's repeats.
Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: Howard on 04/29/10 at 6:42 am
http://imgcover-2.vodconcepts.com/image/star/138/Porsche_Lynn-1383.0.jpg
Porsche Lynn.(ex porn actress)
Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: ninny on 04/29/10 at 8:54 am
http://imgcover-2.vodconcepts.com/image/star/138/Porsche_Lynn-1383.0.jpg
Porsche Lynn.(ex porn actress)
I'll pass ;D
Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: CatwomanofV on 04/29/10 at 10:50 am
The person born on this day...Jerry Seinfeld
Jerome Allen "Jerry" Seinfeld (born April 29, 1954) is an American stand-up comedian, actor and writer, best known for playing a semi-fictional version of himself in the situation comedy Seinfeld (1989–1998), which he co-created and co-wrote with Larry David, and, in the show's final two seasons, co-executive-produced.
In his first major foray back into the media since the finale of Seinfeld, he co-wrote and co-produced the film Bee Movie, also taking on the lead role of Barry B. Benson. In February 2010, Seinfeld premiered a reality TV series called The Marriage Ref on NBC. Seinfeld and the entire cast of Seinfeld appeared on the seventh season of Larry David's HBO original series Curb Your Enthusiasm.
Seinfeld was born in Brooklyn, New York. His father, Kalman, was of Galician Jewish background and owned a sign-making company; his mother, Betty, is of Syrian Jewish descent.
Seinfeld grew up in Massapequa, New York. In September 1959, his mother enrolled him at Birch Lane Elementary School, from which he continued to Massapequa High School. At the age of 16, he spent a short period of time volunteering in Kibbutz Sa'ar in Israel. He went to SUNY Oswego, and after his sophomore year he transferred to Queens College, City University of New York, graduating with a degree in communications and theater. He developed an interest in stand-up comedy after brief stints in college productions. In 1976, right after graduation from Queens College, he tried out at an open-mic night at New York City's Catch a Rising Star, which led to an appearance in a Rodney Dangerfield HBO special.
In 1979, Seinfeld had a very small recurring role on the Benson sitcom as "Frankie", a mail delivery boy who had comedy routines that no one wanted to hear, but he was abruptly fired from the show due to creative differences. Seinfeld has said that he was not actually told he had been fired until he turned up for the read-through session for an episode and found that there was no script for him.
In May 1981, Seinfeld made a highly successful appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, impressing Carson and the audience and leading to regular appearances on that show and others, including Late Night with David Letterman.
Seinfeld
Main article: Seinfeld
Seinfeld created The Seinfeld Chronicles with Larry David in 1989 for NBC. The show was later renamed Seinfeld to avoid confusion with the short-lived teen sitcom The Marshall Chronicles and, by its fourth season, had become the most popular and successful sitcom on American television. The final episode aired in 1998; but the show has been a popular syndicated re-run. The show also starred Saturday Night Live veteran Julia Louis-Dreyfus, as well as experienced actors Michael Richards and Jason Alexander. On the show, Seinfeld played a caricature of himself. He has said that his show was influenced by the 1950s sitcom The Abbott and Costello Show. Citing Jean Shepherd as an influence in his commentary for "The Gymnast" episode on "Seinfeld, Season 6," he said, "He really formed my entire comedic sensibility--I learned how to do comedy from Jean Shepherd." Seinfeld also holds the distinction of being the only actor to appear in every episode of the show. From 2004–2007, the former Seinfeld cast and crew recorded audio commentaries for episodes of the DVD releases of the show. Seinfeld himself provided commentary for numerous episodes.
Post-Seinfeld
1998–2006
After his sitcom ended, Seinfeld returned to stand-up comedy instead of pursuing a film career as most other popular comedians have done. In 1998, Seinfeld went on tour and recorded a comedy special entitled I'm Telling You for the Last Time. The process of developing and performing new material at clubs around the world was chronicled in a 2002 documentary, Comedian, which focused also on fellow comic Orny Adams, directed by Christian Charles. He has written several books, mostly archives of past routines.
In the late 1990s, Apple Computer came up with an advertising slogan called "Think different" and produced a 60-second commercial to promote the slogan which showed people who were able to "think differently", like Albert Einstein, Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King and many others. This commercial was later cut short to thirty seconds and ended up paying tribute to Jerry Seinfeld. This commercial aired only once, during the series finale of Seinfeld.
In 2004, Seinfeld also appeared in two commercial webisodes promoting American Express, entitled The Adventures of Seinfeld & Superman, in which he appeared together with an animated rendering of Superman, who was referenced in numerous episodes of Seinfeld as Seinfeld's hero, voiced by Patrick Warburton, who had portrayed David Puddy on Seinfeld. The webisodes were aired in 2004 and directed by Barry Levinson. Seinfeld and "Superman" were also interviewed by Matt Lauer in a specially-recorded interview for the Today show.
On November 18, 2004, Seinfeld appeared at the National Museum of American History to donate the "Puffy Shirt" he wore in the famous Seinfeld episode of the same name. He also gave a speech when presenting the "Puffy Shirt", claiming humorously that "This is the most embarrassing moment of my life."
Seinfeld had a special appearance on May 13, 2006 Saturday Night Live episode as Julia Louis-Dreyfus' assassin. Louis-Dreyfus was the host of that episode and in her opening monologue she mentioned the "Seinfeld Curse". While talking about how ridiculous the "curse" was, a stage light suddenly fell next to her. The camera moved to a catwalk above the stage that Seinfeld was standing on, holding a large pair of bolt cutters. He angrily muttered, "Dammit!", angry that it didn't hit her. Louis-Dreyfus then continued to say that she is indeed not cursed.
2007
On February 25, 2007, Seinfeld appeared at the 79th Academy Awards as the presenter for "Best Documentary". Before announcing the nominations he did a bit of a stand-up comedy routine about the unspoken agreement between movie theater owners and movie patrons. One of the winners of the award was Larry David's now ex-wife, Laurie.
On October 4, 2007, Seinfeld made a brief return to NBC, guest-starring in the episode "SeinfeldVision" of 30 Rock as himself.
2008
On February 24, 2008, Seinfeld appeared as the voice of his Bee Movie animated character Barry, at the 80th Academy Awards as the presenter for "Best Animated Short". Before announcing the nominees, he showed a montage of film clips featuring bees, claiming that they were some of his early work (as Barry).
Amidst his spring 2008 tour Seinfeld made a stop in his hometown of New York City for a one-night-only performance on June 2, 2008 at the Hammerstein Ballroom to benefit Stand Up for a Cure, a charity aiding lung cancer research at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center.
In August 2008, the Associated Press reported that Jerry Seinfeld would be the pitchman for Windows Vista, as part of a $300 million advertising campaign by Microsoft. The adverts, which were intended to create buzz for Windows in support of the subsequent "I'm a PC" adverts, began airing in mid-September 2008 and were cut from television after just 3 installments, Microsoft opting instead to continue with the "I'm a PC" advertisements, and instead continued running the Seinfeld adverts on the Microsoft website as a series of longer advertisements.
2009
In March 2009, it was announced that Seinfeld and the entire cast of Seinfeld would be appearing for a reunion in Larry David's HBO series Curb Your Enthusiasm, which took place later in the year.
Seinfeld appeared on an episode of the Starz original series Head Case. Like many of his previous guest appearances on sitcoms he played himself.
In Australia, Seinfeld appears on a series of advertisements for Greater Building Society, a building society based in New South Wales and south eastern Queensland. His appearance in these adverts were highly publicized and considered a coup for the society, being only the third time Seinfeld had appeared in a television commercial. The adverts were filmed in Cedarhurst, Long Island, with the street designed to emulate Beaumont Street in Hamilton, where the Greater's head offices are located. Seinfeld also wrote the scripts for the fifteen advertisements that were filmed. The adverts largely aired in the Northern New South Wales television market, where the society has most of its branches.
Seinfeld was the first guest of Jay Leno's new talk show, The Jay Leno Show, which premiered on September 14.
2010
Seinfeld was featured on Saturday Night Live's Weekend Update sketch to do the "Really!?!" segment with Seth Meyers. Seinfeld is also executive producing and occasionally starring as a panelist in The Marriage Ref.
Books
Seinfeld is also a bestselling author, most notably for his book Seinlanguage. Released in 1993, the book went on to become a number one New York Times bestseller. The book, written as his television show was first rising in popularity, is primarily an adaptation of the comedian's standup material. The title comes from an article in Entertainment Weekly listing the numerous catch-phrases for which the show was responsible.
In 2003, he wrote a children's book titled Halloween. The book was illustrated by James Bennett. There are also several books about both the sitcom and Seinfeld himself, though many of them are not written by Seinfeld.
Seinfeld wrote the forewords to Ted L. Nancy's Letters from a Nut series of books and Ed Broth's Stories from a Moron. Both authors were rumored to be pseudonyms for Seinfeld or a friend of his. Neither Nancy nor Broth have been seen publicly, although Seinfeld is heavily involved in pitching their books for television.
In promoting Broth's book, Seinfeld hosted a toast in the author's honor. Broth did not attend.
Seinfeld also wrote the foreword to the Peanut Butter & Co. Cookbook, from his favorite sandwich shop in New York City.
Lawsuit
On January 7, 2008, Missy Chase Lapine sued Jerry and Jessica Seinfeld for defamation, plagiarism, or copyright and trademark infringement in the Manhattan, U.S. District Court. In separate court papers, lawyers for Jessica Seinfeld accused Lapine of falsely claiming she invented the idea of hiding fruits and vegetables in children's meals when "countless prior works utilized this very same unprotectable idea," including a 1971 book. They called the lawsuit "opportunistic." On September 10, 2009, the federal judge on this case threw out the plagiarism claims. Lapine's attorney has indicated that she plans to appeal the dismissal. The defamation charges against Jerry Seinfeld have not yet been adjudicated.
Personal life
Seinfeld dated Carol Leifer, a fellow comedian and the inspiration for the character of Elaine from his eponymous sitcom Seinfeld. When he was in his late thirties, Seinfeld began a romantic relationship with then-seventeen year old high school student Shoshanna Lonstein. A while later, after meeting Jessica Sklar at the Reebok Sports Club, he began dating her. Sklar, a public relations executive for Tommy Hilfiger, had just returned from a three-week honeymoon in Italy with Eric Nederlander, a theatrical producer and scion of a theater-owning family. Sklar divorced Nederlander and married Seinfeld on December 25, 1999. Comedian George Wallace was the best man at the wedding. After the nuptials, Jerry and Jessica Seinfeld bought Billy Joel's Amagansett, Long Island house for $32 million in March 2000.
Seinfeld and his wife have three children, one daughter and two sons. Daughter Sascha was born on November 7, 2000 in New York City, son Julian Kal on March 1, 2003 in New York City, and Shepherd Kellen was born on August 22, 2005 at New York's Cornell Medical Center. His son Julian's middle name is Kal, which is the first name of Seinfeld's father. Kal is also the first name of Seinfeld's hero Kal-El (Superman). Seinfeld's best friend is fellow comedian Larry Miller.
In 2000, Jessica Seinfeld launched Baby Buggy, a charity that provides clothing and gear for underprivileged women and children. She is the author of the best-seller Deceptively Delicious: Simple Secrets to Get Your Kids Eating Good Food, released by HarperCollins in October 2007.
Seinfeld is recorded as having made several political contributions, including George W. Bush's presidential campaign in 2000 and subsequently to four Democratic primary candidates in 2000 and 2004.
Seinfeld periodically calls Steve Somers' show on WFAN-AM, a sports talk radio station, as "Jerry from Queens."
On March 29, 2008, Seinfeld was driving in East Hampton, New York when the brakes on his 1967 Fiat 500 failed. After trying to stop the car using the emergency brake, which also failed, he swerved to keep the car from entering an intersection with a highway and ended up rolling the car onto its side, stopping yards from the highway. The wreck was attributed to mechanical failure. Seinfeld did not require medical attention and returned to his East Hampton home.
At some point in the 1970s, Seinfeld was introduced to Scientology by his high school auto mechanics teacher and took a couple of courses. In spite of not having continued since then, he claims that Scientology had taught him important things about communication.
Personal wealth
According to Forbes magazine, Jerry Seinfeld's annual earning from Seinfeld, in 1998, was $267 million, making him the highest-earning celebrity that year. Seinfeld still generates more revenue than most current shows, through syndication and DVD sales. He reportedly turned down $5 million per episode, for 22 episodes, to continue the show beyond its final season. He earned $100 million from syndication deals and stand-up appearances in 2005 and $60 million in 2006. He also earned $10 million for appearing with Bill Gates in Microsoft's 2008 ads for Windows. Between June 2008 and June 2009, Seinfeld earned $85 million, making him the highest-paid comedian during that twelve-month period.
Car collection
Seinfeld, an automobile enthusiast and avid collector, is rumored to own one of the largest Porsche collections in the world. He rented a hangar at the Santa Monica Airport, in Santa Monica, California, for an extended period of time during the 1990s, for storage of some of the vehicles in the collection. After his return to New York City he was involved in an extended dispute with several neighbors over the proposed building of a $1.4 million multi-story garage to contain the cars.
A current tally puts Seinfeld at 46 Porsches. Reporter Paul Bannister reports that his collection includes Porsche 911s from various years, 10 Porsche Boxsters each painted a different color and the famous 1955 Porsche 550 Spyder, the same model and pearl-grey color that actor James Dean was driving when he crashed and died. The Discovery Channel television show "Chasing Classic Cars" claims that Seinfeld owns the first and last original Porsche 911s produced. The centerpiece is a $700,000 Porsche 959, one of only 337 ever built. To his initial despair, he was not allowed to drive it as US emission and crash tests were never performed because Porsche refused to donate four Porsche 959s for destruction tests, rendering the car "not street-legal". He imported the car "for exhibition purposes", which stipulates the car may never be driven on American roads. The car was made US street legal in 1999 under the "Show or Display" federal law. In several episodes of Seinfeld, Seinfeld drives a Saab 900 (NG) convertible, but a Porsche-themed painting, depicting a Porsche 904 GTS race car competing in the 1964 Targa Florio race in Italy, is visible on a wall in his apartment, as well as a Porsche racing poster featuring a 550 Spyder depicting the 1958 Targa Florio. In another episode, he is seen hiding behind a red Porsche 911RS parked on the street. In addition, an issue of Excellence, a Porsche-centered publication, is featured prominently on an outdoor magazine rack in one episode and on at least one occasion he is seen reading an issue of Road and Track magazine from circa 1990 with a cover article on the Porsche 964. He also wrote an article for the February 2004 issue of Automobile, reviewing the Porsche Carrera GT. For the story he was awarded Road Pest - Silver at the 2004 International Automotive Media Awards.
Credits
Film
Year Film Role Notes
1984 The Ratings Game Network Rep
1999 Pros & Cons Prison Man #2
2002 Comedian Himself
2004 A Uniform Used to Mean Something Himself
Hindsight Is 20/20 Himself
2007 Bee Movie Barry B. Benson Voice, Producer
Nominated — Producers Guild of America Award for Motion Picture Producer of the Year Award - Animated
Television
Year Title Role Notes
1980 Benson Frankie
1989 - 1998 Seinfeld Jerry Seinfeld American Comedy Award for Funniest Male Performer in a TV Series (1992, 1993)
Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series (1993)
Golden Globe Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series (1995, 1997, 1998)
Nominated — American Comedy Award for Funniest Male Performer in a TV Series (1996, 1999)
Nominated — Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series (1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996)
Nominated — Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series (1992, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998)
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series (1996)
1997 NewsRadio Himself
2000 Dilbert Comp-U-Comp
2004 Curb Your Enthusiasm Himself (cameo)
2007 30 Rock Himself ("SeinfeldVision")
2009 Curb Your Enthusiasm Himself
2010 The Marriage Ref Executive Producer
Writing credits for Seinfeld
The list below only includes episodes mainly written by Seinfeld, as he and Larry David rewrote the drafts for each episode.
Season 1
* The Seinfeld Chronicles (with Larry David)
* Male Unbonding (with Larry David)
* The Stake Out (with Larry David)
* The Stock Tip (with Larry David)
Season 2
* The Ex-Girlfriend (with Larry David)
* The Pony Remark (with Larry David)
o Nominated — Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing in a Comedy Series (1991 - Episode "The Pony Remark")
* The Busboy (with Larry David)
* The Jacket (with Larry David)
* The Chinese Restaurant (with Larry David)
* The Phone Message (with Larry David)
Season 3
* The Stranded (with Larry David and Matt Goldman)
Season 4
* The Shoes (with Larry David)
Season 5
* The Sniffing Accountant (with Larry David)
* The Raincoats (with Larry David, Tom Gammill, and Max Pross)
* The Opposite (with Larry David and Andy Cowan)
Season 6
* The Kiss Hello (with Larry David)
Season 7
* The Cadillac (with Larry David)
http://i723.photobucket.com/albums/ww239/1halfelfpaladin/jerry-seinfeld.jpg
http://i187.photobucket.com/albums/x64/bloodstainedangel5/jerry_seinfeld.jpg
Am I the only one who did not like his show?
Cat
Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: ninny on 04/29/10 at 1:28 pm
Am I the only one who did not like his show?
Cat
No.Thank God there is someone else. Tim gets mad because I'll leave the room if he watches it.
Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: Howard on 04/29/10 at 6:53 pm
Am I the only one who did not like his show?
Cat
I thought it was an ok show,Cosmo Kramer was a pisser.
Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: Frank on 04/29/10 at 10:28 pm
No.Thank God there is someone else. Tim gets mad because I'll leave the room if he watches it.
It's one of the few shows of the 90s that I liked.
Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: ninny on 04/30/10 at 4:24 am
The word of the day...Outlaw(s)
An outlaw or bandit is a person living the lifestyle of outlawry; the word literally means "outside the law".
In the common law of England, a "Writ of Outlawry" made the pronouncement Caput gerat lupinum ("Let his be a wolf's head," literally "May he bear a wolfish head") with respect to its subject, using "head" to refer to the entire person (cf. "per capita") and equating that person with a wolf in the eyes of the law: Not only was the subject deprived of all legal rights because the law no longer deemed him human, but others were permitted to kill him on sight as if he was a wolf or other wild animal. Outlawry was thus one of the harshest penalties in the legal system, since the outlaw could not use the law to protect himself, whether from mob or vigilante justice for his alleged crime or from unrelated victimization such as robbery or murder.
Though the judgment of outlawry is now obsolete (even though it inspired the pro forma Outlawries Bill which is still to this day introduced in the British House of Commons during the State Opening of Parliament), romanticised outlaws became stock characters in several fictional settings. This was particularly so in the United States, where outlaws were popular subjects of newspaper coverage and stories in the 19th century, and 20th century fiction and Western movies. Thus, "outlaw" is still commonly used to mean those violating the law or, by extension, those living that lifestyle, whether actual criminals evading the law or those merely opposed to "law-and-order" notions of conformity and authority (such as the "outlaw country" music movement in the 1970s).
The term "bandit" is now largely considered to be part of the English slang lexicon.
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Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: ninny on 04/30/10 at 4:28 am
The person born on this day...Willie Nelson
Willie Hugh Nelson (born April 30, 1933) is an American country singer-songwriter, author, poet, actor and activist. He reached his greatest fame during the outlaw country movement of the 1970s, and remains iconic, especially in American popular culture.
Now in his 70s, Willie Nelson continues to tour and has performed in concerts and fundraisers with other major musicians, including Bob Dylan, Neil Young, and Dave Matthews. He also continues to record albums prolifically in new genres that embrace reggae, blues, jazz, folk, and popular music. Nelson was born and raised in Abbott, Texas, the son of Myrle Marie (née Greenhaw) and Ira Doyle Nelson, a mechanic and pool hall owner. His grandparents William Alfred Nelson and Nancy Elizabeth Smothers gave him mail-order music lessons starting at age six. He wrote his first song when he was seven and was playing in a local band at age nine. Willie played the guitar, while his sister Bobbie played the piano. He met Bud Fletcher, a fiddler, and two siblings joined his band, Bohemian Fiddlers, while Nelson was in high school. While he was in high school he took part in the Future Farmers of America organization.
Beginning in high school Nelson worked as a disc jockey (DJ) for local radio stations. He had short DJ stints with KHBR in Hillsboro, Texas, and later with KBOP in Pleasanton, Texas, while singing locally in honky tonk bars.
Nelson graduated from Abbott High School in 1951. He joined the Air Force the same year but was discharged after nine months due to back problems. He then studied agriculture at Baylor University for one year in 1954.
In 1956, Nelson moved to Vancouver, Washington, to begin a musical career, recording "Lumberjack," which was written by Leon Payne. The single sold fairly well, but did not establish a career. Nelson continued to work as a radio announcer in Vancouver and sing in clubs. He sold a song called "Family Bible" for $50; the song was a hit for Claude Gray in 1960, has been covered widely and is often considered a gospel music classic.
Popular songwriter
Nelson moved to Nashville in 1960, but was unable to land a record label contract. He did, however, receive a publishing contract at Pamper Music. After Ray Price recorded Nelson's "Night Life" (reputedly the most covered country song of all time), Nelson joined Price's touring band as a bass player. While playing with Ray Price and the Cherokee Cowboys, many of Nelson's songs became hits for some of country and pop music's biggest stars of the time. These songs include "Funny How Time Slips Away" (Billy Walker), "Hello Walls" (Faron Young), "Pretty Paper" (Roy Orbison) and most famously, "Crazy" (Patsy Cline). Willie later did an album with Ray Price in 1980 called San Antonio Rose. Nelson signed with Liberty Records in 1961 and released several singles, including "Willingly" (sung with his soon-to-be second wife, Shirley Collie) and "Touch Me".
He was unable to impress Nashville producers with his singing voice, and Nelson's singing career in Nashville did not take off. Demo recordings from his years as a songwriter for Pamper Music were later discovered and released as Crazy: The Demo Sessions (2003).
Nelson signed with Atlantic Records and released Shotgun Willie (1973), which won excellent reviews but did not sell well. Phases and Stages (1974), a concept album inspired by his divorce, included the hit single "Bloody Mary Morning." Nelson then moved to Columbia Records, where he was given complete creative control over his work. The result was the critically acclaimed, massively popular concept album, Red Headed Stranger (1975). Although Columbia was reluctant to release an album with primarily a guitar and piano for accompaniment, Nelson insisted (with the assistance of Waylon Jennings) and the album was a huge hit, partially because it included a popular cover of "Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain" (written by Fred Rose in 1945). "Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain" became Nelson's first number one hit as a singer.
Along with Nelson, Waylon Jennings was also achieving success in country music in the early 1970s, and the pair were soon combined into a genre called outlaw country ("outlaw" because it did not conform to Nashville standards). Nelson's outlaw image was cemented with the release of the album Wanted! The Outlaws (1976, with Waylon Jennings, Jessi Colter and Tompall Glaser), country music's first platinum album. Nelson continued to top the charts with hit songs during the late 1970s, including "Good Hearted Woman" (a duet with Jennings), "Remember Me", "If You've Got the Money I've Got the Time", "Uncloudy Day", "I Love You a Thousand Ways", and "Something to Brag About" (a duet with Mary Kay Place).
In 1978, Nelson released two more platinum albums, Waylon and Willie (a collaboration with Jennings that included "Mammas Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys," which was written and originally recorded as a hit single by Ed Bruce a couple of years earlier), and Stardust, an unusual album of popular standards. It was produced by Booker T. Jones. Though most observers predicted that Stardust would ruin his career, it ended up being one of his most successful recordings. Willie also had a notable success with the LP titled Half Nelson, including such great artists as Ray Charles.
Acting career
Nelson began acting, appearing in The Electric Horseman (1979), Honeysuckle Rose (1980), Thief (1981), and Barbarosa (1982). Also in 1982 he played "Red Loon" in Coming Out of the Ice with John Savage. In 1984 he starred in the movie Songwriter with Kris Kristofferson guest starring. He then had the lead role in the film version of his concept album Red Headed Stranger (1986), Wag the Dog (1997), Gone Fishin' (1997) as Billy 'Catch' Pooler, the 1986 TV movie Stagecoach (with Johnny Cash), The Dukes of Hazzard (2005) and Surfer, Dude (2008).
He has continued acting since his early successes, but usually in smaller roles and cameos, some of which involve his status as a cannabis activist and icon. One of his more popular recent cameos was a performance in Half Baked as an elderly "Historian Smoker" who, while smoking marijuana, would reminisce about how things used to be in his younger years. Nelson also appeared as himself in the 2006 movie Beerfest, looking for teammates to join him in a mythical world-championship cannabis-smoking contest held in Amsterdam. That same week Willie Nelson recorded, "Weed with Willie" with Toby Keith.
He has made guest appearances on Miami Vice (1986's "El Viejo" episode), Delta, Nash Bridges, The Simpsons, Monk, Adventures in Wonderland, Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman, King of the Hill, Bones, The Colbert Report and Space Ghost Coast to Coast.
He played country singer-songwriter Johnny Dean in the 1997 film Wag the Dog. He played Uncle Jesse in The Dukes of Hazzard, the 2005 cinematic treatment of the television series, and was the only member of the big screen cast to reprise the role in the TV/DVD movie prequel The Dukes of Hazzard: The Beginning (2007). He also briefly appeared in Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me.
In 2008, Willie appeared in the movie Swing Vote where he played himself, an idol of the character played by Kevin Costner.
Hits, excesses, and Farm Aid
The Eighties saw a series of hit singles: "Midnight Rider" (1980; a cover of the Allman Brothers song, which Nelson recorded for The Electric Horseman soundtrack), "On the Road Again" (1982) from the movie Honeysuckle Rose and "To All the Girls I've Loved Before" (a duet with Julio Iglesias). There were also more popular albums, including Pancho & Lefty (1982, with Merle Haggard), WWII (1982, with Waylon Jennings) and Take it to the Limit (1983, with Waylon Jennings).
In the mid-1980s, Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Kris Kristofferson, and Johnny Cash formed a group called The Highwaymen. They unexpectedly achieved massive success, including platinum record sales and worldwide touring. Meanwhile, he became more and more involved in charity work, such as singing on the We are the World single in 1984 and establishing the Farm Aid concerts in 1985.
In 1990, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) handed Nelson a bill for $16.7 million in back taxes and seized most of his assets to help pay the charges. He released The IRS Tapes: Who'll Buy My Memories? as a double album, with all profits going straight to the IRS. Many of his assets were auctioned and purchased by friends, who gave his possessions back to him or rented them at a nominal fee. He sued accounting firm Price Waterhouse, contending that they put him into tax shelters that were later disallowed. The lawsuit was settled for an undisclosed amount. His debts were paid by 1993.
In 1996, Willie Nelson was featured on the Beach Boys' now out-of-print album Stars and Stripes Vol. 1 singing a cover of their 1964 song "The Warmth of the Sun" with the Beach Boys themselves providing the harmonies and backing vocals.
In 2004, Nelson and his wife Annie became partners with Bob and Kelly King in the building of two Pacific Bio-diesel plants, one in Salem, Oregon, and the other at Carl's Corner, Texas (the Texas plant was founded by Carl Cornelius, a longtime Nelson friend and the namesake for Carl's Corner). In 2005, Nelson and several other business partners formed Willie Nelson Biodiesel ("Bio-Willie"), a company that is marketing bio-diesel bio-fuel to truck stops. The fuel is made from vegetable oil (mainly soybean oil), and can be burned without modification in diesel engines.
Nelson is a co-chair of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) advisory board. He has worked with NORML for years for marijuana legalization and has produced commercials for NORML that have appeared on Pot TV programs. He has also recorded a number of radio commercials for the organization. In 2005, Nelson and his family hosted the first annual "Willie Nelson & NORML Benefit Golf Tournament," which appeared on the cover of High Times magazine.
On January 9, 2005, Nelson headlined an all-star concert at Austin Music Hall to benefit the victims of the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake. Tsunami Relief Austin to Asia raised an estimated $120,000 for UNICEF and two other organizations.
Nelson was a supporter of Kinky Friedman's campaign in the 2006 Texas gubernatorial election. In 2005, he recorded a radio advertisement asking for support to put Friedman on the ballot as an independent candidate. Friedman promised Willie a job in Austin as the head of a new Texas Energy Commission due to Nelson's support of bio-fuels. (Friedman was on the ballot but came in fourth with 12.43 percent, losing to Republican Rick Perry).
Nelson supported Dennis Kucinich's campaign in the 2004 Democratic presidential primaries. He raised money, appeared at events, composed a song ("Whatever Happened to Peace on Earth?"), and contributing a quote for the front cover of Kucinich's book for the campaign.
In January 2008, Nelson filed suit against the Texas Democratic Party. Nelson alleges that the party violated the First and Fourteenth Amendments of the United States Constitution when it refused to allow co-plaintiff Dennis Kucinich to appear on the primary ballot because he had scratched out part of the loyalty oath on his application.
Nelson is an honorary trustee of the Dayton International Peace Museum.
Nelson is an advocate for horses and their treatment. He has been campaigning for passage of the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act (H.R. 503/S. 311) with the Animal Welfare Institute. He is on the Board of Directors and has adopted a number of horses from Habitat for Horses.
In March 2007, Ben & Jerry's released a new flavor, "Willie Nelson’s Country Peach Cobbler Ice Cream". Nelson's proceeds will be donated to Farm Aid. The flavor has been re-released and is now available, after Ben & Jerry's voluntary recall of 250,000 pints of the new flavor on March 19, 2007, as wheat was incorrectly excluded from the list of ingredients.
Willie Nelson founded the Willie Nelson Peace Research Institute in April 2007. Nelson and his daughter Amy Nelson wrote a song called "A Peaceful Solution", which they released into the public domain, and encouraged artists to render their own version of the song, which he would feature on the Institute's web site.
Nelson questions the official story of what happened on September 11. On February 4, 2008, Nelson appeared on Alex Jones's radio show and talked about the attacks on the United States on September 11, 2001, stating his belief that the Twin Towers and WTC7 were imploded: "I saw one fall and it was just so symmetrical, I said wait a minute I just saw that last week at the casino in Las Vegas and you see these implosions all the time and the next one fell and I said hell there's another one - and they're trying to tell me that an airplane did it and I can't go along with that."
Nelson released the song "Cowboys Are Frequently, Secretly Fond of Each Other," a song promoting the awareness and acceptance of homosexuality, in reference to gay cowboys, as a digital single through the iTunes Music Store on Valentine's Day 2006, shortly after the release of the film Brokeback Mountain. The song was encouraged by Nelson's tour manager and close friend David Anderson, who said "This song obviously has special meaning to me in more ways than one. I want people to know more than anything—gay, straight, whatever—just how cool Willie is and … his way of thinking, his tolerance, everything about him." Regarding the song, Nelson quoted "The song's been in the closet for 20 years. The timing's right for it to come out. I'm just opening the door."
Filmography
Year Movie
1979 The Electric Horseman
1980 Honeysuckle Rose
1981 Thief
1982 Barbarosa
1984 Songwriter
1986 Red Headed Stranger
1986 Stagecoach
1988 Once Upon a Texas Train
1988 Where the Hell's That Gold?!!?
1996 Starlight
1997 Gone Fishin'
1997 Wag the Dog
1998 Half Baked
1999 Outlaw Justice
1999 Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me
2002 The Country Bears
2002 The Long Kill
2003 The Austin Disaster, 1911
2005 The Dukes of Hazzard
2006 Beerfest
2006 Broken Bridges
2006 Monk (TV series)
2007 The Dukes of Hazzard: The Beginning
2007 Blonde Ambition
2007 Fighting with Anger
2008 Swing Vote
2008 Surfer Dude
2008 Shoot Out of Luck
2008 The Boom Boom Room
2008 Beer For My Horses
2008 A Colbert Christmas: The Greatest Gift of All
Books
Willie: Autobiography 1988 Bud Shrake ISBN 0-8154-1080-8
The Facts of Life and Other Dirty Jokes 2002 ISBN 0-375-50731-0
The Tao of Willie 2006 Turk Pipkin ISBN 1-59240-197-X
Willie Nelson: An Epic Life 2008 Joe Nick Patoski ISBN 0-316-01778-7
Awards
Year Organization Award
1975 Grammy Best Male Country Vocal Performance
1976 CMA Awards Vocal Duo of the Year
1976 CMA Awards Single of the Year
1976 CMA Awards Album of the Year
1977 American Music Awards Favorite Single
1978 Grammy Best Male Country Vocal Performance
1978 Grammy Best Country Performance by Duo/Group W/Vocals
1979 CMA Awards Entertainer of the Year
1979 ACM Entertainer of the Year
1980 Grammy Best Country Song
1982 Grammy Best Male Country Vocal Performance
1982 CMA Awards Single of the Year
1982 CMA Awards Album of the Year
1982 American Music Awards Favorite Male Artist
1982 ACM Single of the Year
1982 ACM Album of the Year
1983 CMA Awards Vocal Duo of the Year
1983 American Music Awards Favorite Album
1984 American Music Awards Favorite Male Artist
1984 ACM Single of the Year
1985 ACM Single of the Year
1986 American Music Awards Favorite Single
1986 American Music Awards Favorite Male Artist
1987 American Music Awards Favorite Male Artist
1990 Grammy Legend Awards
1995 TNN/Music City News Minnie Pearl Award
1995 TNN/Music City News Living Legend
1999 Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award
2002 Grammy Best Country Collaboration With Vocals
2002 CMT Flameworthy Video Music Awards Video Collaboration of the Year
2002 CMA Awards Vocal Event of the Year
2003 CMT's 40 Greatest Men of Country Music #4 ranking
2003 Grammy Best Country Collaboration With Vocals
2004 CMT Flameworthy Video Music Awards Video Collaboration of the Year
2008 Grammy Best Country Collaboration With Vocals
Archives
An important collection of Willie Nelson materials (1975-1994) is preserved at the Wittliff collections of Southwestern Writers, Texas State University, San Marcos, TX. The collection contains song lyrics, screenplays, letters, concert programs, tour itineraries, posters, articles, clippings, personal effects, promotional items, souvenirs, and documents. There are examples of Nelson's talent as a songwriter, material reflecting his success as a concert artist, and memorabilia. The collection contains documentation on how the funds collected through Farm Aid were used; Nelson's trouble with the IRS is also documented. Most of the material was collected by Bill Wittliff, a friend of Willie Nelson's who wrote or co-wrote three of the films in which Willie Nelson starred: Honeysuckle Rose (film) (1980), Barbarosa (film) (1982), and Red Headed Stranger (1986).
See also
Austin portal
* Academy of Country Music
* Austin Dam (until 1911 failure, and afterward until 1942 failure) (in Pennsylvania in the US)
* Best selling music artists
* Country Music Association
* Evergreen, Colorado
* Inductees of the Country Music Hall of Fame
* List of best-selling music artists
* List of country musicians
* Music of Austin
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Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: ninny on 04/30/10 at 4:33 am
The person who died on this day...Muddy Waters
McKinley Morganfield (April 4, 1913 – April 30, 1983), known as Muddy Waters, was an American blues musician, generally considered "the Father of Chicago blues". Blues musicians Big Bill Morganfield and Larry "Mud Morganfield" Williams are his sons. A major inspiration for the British blues explosion in the 1960s, Muddy was ranked #17 in Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time. Although in his later years Muddy usually said that he was born in Rolling Fork, Mississippi in 1915, he was actually born at Jug's Corner in neighboring Issaquena County, Mississippi. Recent research has uncovered documentation showing that in the 1930s and 1940s he had reported his birth year as 1913 on both his marriage license and musicians' union card. A 1955 interview in the Chicago Defender is the earliest claim of 1915 as his year of birth, which he continued to use in interviews from that point onward. On the other hand, the 1920 census lists him as five years old as of March 6, 1920, suggesting that his birth year may have been 1914. The Social Security Death Index, relying on his Social Security card application, lists him as being born April 5, 1915.
His grandmother Della Grant raised him after his mother died shortly after his birth. His fondness for playing in mud earned him the nickname "Muddy" at an early age. He later changed it to "Muddy Water" and finally "Muddy Waters". He started out on harmonica but by age seventeen he was playing the guitar at parties emulating two blues artists who were extremely popular in the south, Son House and Robert Johnson. "His thick heavy voice, the dark coloration of his tone and his firm, almost solid, personality were all clearly derived from House," wrote music critic Peter Guralnick in Feel Like Going Home, "but the embellishments which he added, the imaginative slide technique and more agile rhythms, were closer to Johnson."
On November 20, 1932 Muddy married Mabel Berry; Robert Nighthawk played guitar at the wedding, and the party reportedly got so wild the floor fell in. Mabel left Muddy three years later when Muddy's first child was born - the child's mother was Leola Spain, sixteen years old, "married to a man named Steve" and "going with a guy named Tucker". Leola was the only one of his girlfriends with whom Muddy would stay in touch throughout his life; they never married. By the time he finally cut out for Chicago in 1943, there was another Mrs. Morganfield left behind, a girl called Sallie Ann.
Early career
In 1940, Muddy moved to Chicago for the first time. He played with Silas Green a year later, and then returned to Mississippi. In the early part of the decade he ran a juke joint, complete with gambling, moonshine and a jukebox; he also performed music there himself. In the summer of 1941 Alan Lomax went to Stovall, Mississippi, on behalf of the Library of Congress to record various country blues musicians. "He brought his stuff down and recorded me right in my house," Muddy recalled in Rolling Stone, "and when he played back the first song I sounded just like anybody's records. Man, you don't know how I felt that Saturday afternoon when I heard that voice and it was my own voice. Later on he sent me two copies of the pressing and a check for twenty bucks, and I carried that record up to the corner and put it on the jukebox. Just played it and played it and said, `I can do it, I can do it.'" Lomax came back again in July 1942 to record Muddy again. Both sessions were eventually released as Down On Stovall's Plantation on the Testament label.
In 1943, Muddy headed back to Chicago with the hope of becoming a full-time professional musician. He lived with a relative for a short period while driving a truck and working in a factory by day and performing at night. Big Bill Broonzy, one of the leading bluesmen in Chicago at the time, helped Muddy break into the very competitive market by allowing him to open for his shows in the rowdy clubs. In 1945, his uncle Joe Grant gave him his first electric guitar which enabled him to be heard above the noisy crowds.
In 1946, he recorded some tunes for Mayo Williams at Columbia but they weren't released at the time. Later that year he began recording for Aristocrat, a newly-formed label run by two brothers, Leonard and Phil Chess. In 1947, he played guitar with Sunnyland Slim on piano on the cuts "Gypsy Woman" and "Little Anna Mae." These were also shelved, but in 1948 "I Can't Be Satisfied" and "I Feel Like Going Home" became big hits and his popularity in clubs began to take off. Soon after, Aristocrat changed their label name to Chess Records and Muddy's signature tune "Rollin' Stone" also became a smash hit.
Success
Initially, the Chess brothers would not allow Muddy to use his own musicians in the recording studio; instead he was provided with a backing bass by Ernest "Big" Crawford, or by musicians assembled specifically for the recording session, including "Baby Face" Leroy Foster and Johnny Jones. Gradually Chess relented, and by September 1953 he was recording with one of the most acclaimed blues groups in history: Little Walter Jacobs on harmonica; Jimmy Rogers on guitar; Elga Edmonds (a.k.a. Elgin Evans) on drums; Otis Spann on piano. The band recorded a series of blues classics during the early 1950s, some with the help of bassist/songwriter Willie Dixon, including "Hoochie Coochie Man" (Number 8 on the R&B charts), "I Just Want to Make Love to You" (Number 4), and "I'm Ready". These three were "the most macho songs in his repertoire," wrote Robert Palmer in Rolling Stone. "Muddy would never have composed anything so unsubtle. But they gave him a succession of showstoppers and an image, which were important for a bluesman trying to break out of the grind of local gigs into national prominence."
Muddy, along with his former harmonica player Little Walter Jacobs and recent southern transplant Howlin' Wolf, reigned over the early 1950s Chicago blues scene, his band becoming a proving ground for some of the city's best blues talent. While Little Walter continued a collaborative relationship long after he left Muddy's band in 1952, appearing on most of Muddy's classic recordings throughout the 1950s, Muddy developed a long-running, generally good-natured rivalry with Wolf. The success of Muddy's ensemble paved the way for others in his group to break away and enjoy their own solo careers. In 1952 Little Walter left when his single "Juke" became a hit, and in 1955 Rogers quit to work exclusively with his own band, which had been a sideline until that time. Although he continued working with Muddy's band, Otis Spann enjoyed a solo career and many releases under his own name beginning in the mid-1950s.
England and low profile
Muddy headed to England in 1958 and shocked audiences (whose only previous exposure to blues had come via the acoustic folk/blues sounds of acts such as Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee and Big Bill Broonzy) with his loud, amplified electric guitar and thunderous beat. His performance at the 1960 Newport Jazz Festival, recorded and released as his first live album, At Newport 1960, helped turn on a whole new generation to Waters' sound. He expressed dismay when he realized that members of his own race were turning their backs on the genre while a white audience had shown increasing respect for the blues.
However, for the better part of twenty years (since his last big hit in 1956, "I'm Ready") Muddy was put on the back shelf by the Chess label and recorded albums with various "popular" themes: Brass And The Blues, Electric Mud, etc. In 1967, he joined forces with Bo Diddley, Little Walter and Howlin' Wolf to record the Super Blues and The Super Super Blues Band pair of albums of Chess blues standards. In 1972 he went back to England to record The London Muddy Waters Sessions with Rory Gallagher, Steve Winwood, Rick Grech and Mitch Mitchell — but their playing was not up to his standards. "These boys are top musicians, they can play with me, put the book before 'em and play it, you know," he told Guralnick. "But that ain't what I need to sell my people, it ain't the Muddy Waters sound. An' if you change my sound, then you gonna change the whole man."
Muddy's sound was basically Delta blues electrified, but his use of microtones, in both his vocals and slide playing, made it extremely difficult to duplicate and follow correctly. "When I plays onstage with my band, I have to get in there with my guitar and try to bring the sound down to me," he said in Rolling Stone. "But no sooner than I quit playing, it goes back to another, different sound. My blues look so simple, so easy to do, but it's not. They say my blues is the hardest blues in the world to play."
Comeback
Waters in Ontario, Canada, 1971
Courtesy: Jean-Luc Ourlin
Muddy's long-time wife Geneva died of cancer on March 15, 1973. A devastated Muddy was taken to a doctor and told to quit smoking, which he did. Gaining custody of some of his "outside kids", he moved them into his home, eventually buying a new house in suburban, mostly white Westmont, IL. Another teenage daughter turned up while on tour in New Orleans; Big Bill Morganfield was introduced to his Dad after a gig in Florida. Florida was also where Muddy met his future wife, the 19-year-old Marva Jean Brooks whom he nicknamed "Sunshine".
On November 25, 1976, Muddy Waters performed at The Band's farewell concert at Winterland in San Francisco. The concert was released as both a record and a film, The Last Waltz, featuring a performance of "Mannish Boy" with Paul Butterfield on harmonica.
In 1977 Johnny Winter convinced his label, Blue Sky, to sign Muddy, the beginning of a fruitful partnership. His "comeback" LP, Hard Again, was recorded in just two days and was a return to the original Chicago sound he had created 25 years earlier, thanks to Winter's production. Former sideman James Cotton contributed harmonica on the Grammy Award-winning album and a brief but well-received tour followed.
The Muddy Waters Blues Band at the time included guitarists Bob Margolin and Luther Johnson, pianist Pinetop Perkins, harmonica player Jerry Portnoy, bassist Calvin "Fuzz" Jones and drummer Willie "Big Eyes" Smith. On "Hard Again", Winter played guitar in addition to producing; Muddy asked James Cotton to play harp on the session, and Cotton brought his own bassist Charles Calmese. According to Margolin's liner notes, Muddy did not play guitar during these sessions. The album covers a broad spectrum of styles, from the opening of "Mannish Boy", with shouts and hollers throughout, to the old-style Delta blues of "I Can't Be Satisfied", with a National Steel solo by Winter, to Cotton's screeching intro to "The Blues Had a Baby", to the moaning closer "Little Girl". Its live feel harks back to the Chess Records days, and it evokes a feeling of intimacy and cooperative musicianship. The expanded reissue includes one bonus track, a remake of the 1950s single "Walking Through the Park". The other outtakes from the album sessions appear on King Bee. Margolin's notes state that the reissued album was remastered but that remixing was not considered to be necessary. Hard Again was the first studio collaboration between Waters and Winter, who produced his final four albums, the others being I'm Ready, King Bee, and Muddy "Mississippi" Waters - Live, for Blue Sky, a Columbia Records subsidiary.
In 1978 Winter recruited two of Muddy's cohorts from the early '50s, Big Walter Horton and Jimmy Rogers, and brought in the rest of his touring band at the time (harmonica player Jerry Portnoy, guitarist Luther "Guitar Junior" Johnson, and bassist Calvin Jones) to record Waters' I'm Ready LP, which came close to the critical and commercial success of Hard Again.
The comeback continued in 1979 with the lauded LP Muddy "Mississippi" Waters Live. "Muddy was loose for this one," wrote Jas Obrecht in Guitar Player, "and the result is the next best thing to being ringside at one of his foot-thumping, head-nodding, downhome blues shows." On the album, Muddy is accompanied by his touring band, augmented by Johnny Winter on guitar. The set list contains most of his biggest hits, and the album has an energetic feel. King Bee the following year concluded Waters' reign at Blue Sky, and these last four LPs turned out to be his biggest-selling albums ever. King Bee was the last album Muddy Waters recorded. Coming last in a trio of studio outings produced by Johnny Winter, it is also a mixed bag. During the sessions for King Bee, Waters, his manager, and his band were involved in a dispute over money. According to the liner notes by Bob Margolin, the conflict arose from Waters' health being on the wane and consequently playing fewer engagements. The bandmembers wanted more money for each of the fewer gigs they did play in order to make ends meet. Ultimately a split occurred and the entire band quit. Because of the tensions in the studio preceding the split, Winter felt the sessions had not produced enough solid material to yield an entire album. He subsequently filled out King Bee with outtakes from earlier Blue Sky sessions and the cover photograph was by David Michael Kennedy. For the listener, King Bee is a leaner and meaner record. Less of the good-time exuberance present on the previous two outings is present here. The title track, "Mean Old Frisco", "Sad Sad Day", and "I Feel Like Going Home", are all blues with ensemble work. The Sony Legacy issue features completely remastered sound and Margolin's notes, and also hosts two bonus tracks from the King Bee sessions that Winter didn't see fit to release the first time.
In 1981, Waters was invited to perform at ChicagoFest, the city's top outdoor music festival. He was joined onstage by Johnny Winter — who had successfully produced Waters’ most recent albums — and played classics like “Mannish Boy,” “Trouble No More” and “Mojo Working” to a new generation of fans. This historic performance was made available on DVD in 2009 by Shout! Factory.
In 1982, declining health dramatically curtailed Muddy's performance schedule. Muddy Waters' last public performance took place when he sat in with Eric Clapton's band at a Clapton concert in Florida in autumn of 1982.
Influence
His influence is tremendous, over a variety of music genres: blues, rhythm and blues, rock 'n' roll, folk, jazz, and country. He also helped Chuck Berry get his first record contract.
His 1958 tour of England marked possibly the first time amplified, modern urban blues was heard there, although on his first tour he was the only one amplified. His backing was provided by Englishman Chris Barber's trad jazz group. (One critic retreated to the toilets to write his review because he found the band so loud).
The Rolling Stones named themselves after his 1950 song "Rollin' Stone", (also known as "Catfish Blues", which Jimi Hendrix covered as well). Hendrix recalled "the first guitar player I was aware of was Muddy Waters. I first heard him as a little boy and it scared me to death". Cream covered "Rollin' and Tumblin'" on their 1966 debut album Fresh Cream, as Eric Clapton was a big fan of Muddy Waters when he was growing up, and his music influenced Clapton's music career. The song was also covered by Canned Heat at the legendary Monterey Pop Festival and later adapted by Bob Dylan on the album Modern Times. One of Led Zeppelin's biggest hits, "Whole Lotta Love", is lyrically based upon the Muddy Waters hit "You Need Love", written by Willie Dixon. Dixon wrote some of Muddy Waters' most famous songs, including "I Just Want to Make Love to You" (a big radio hit for Etta James, as well as the 1970s rock band Foghat), "Hoochie Coochie Man," which The Allman Brothers Band famously covered, and "I'm Ready", which was covered by Humble Pie. In 1993, Paul Rodgers released the album Muddy Water Blues: A Tribute to Muddy Waters, on which he covered a number of Muddy Waters songs, including "Louisiana Blues", "Rollin' Stone", "Hoochie Coochie Man" and "I'm Ready" (among others) in collaboration with a number of famous guitarists such as Brian May and Jeff Beck.
Angus Young of the rock group AC/DC has cited Muddy Waters as one of his influences. The song title "You Shook Me All Night Long" came from lyrics of the Muddy Waters song "You Shook Me", written by Willie Dixon and J. B. Lenoir. Earl Hooker first recorded it as an instrumental which was then overdubbed with vocals by Muddy Waters in 1962.
Muddy Waters' songs have been featured in long-time fan Martin Scorsese's movies, including The Color of Money, Casino and Goodfellas. Muddy Waters' 1970s recording of his mid-'50s hit "Mannish Boy" (a.k.a. "I'm A Man") was used in Goodfellas and the hit film Risky Business.
Screenwriter David Simon has written an unproduced teleplay about Muddy Waters' life.
The 2006 Family Guy episode "Saving Private Brian" includes a parody of Muddy Waters trying to pass a kidney stone; his screams of pain form a call and response with the Chicago blues band in his bathroom.
In 2008, Jeffrey Wright portrayed Muddy in the biopic Cadillac Records, a film about the rise and fall of Chess Records and the lives of its recording artists. A second 2008 film about Leonard Chess and Chess Records, Who Do You Love, also covers Muddy's time at Chess Records.
In 2009, in the movie, The Boat that Rocked (pirate radio in the UK) the cryptic message that late night DJ Bob gives to Carl to give to Carl's mother is "Muddy Waters Rocks."
Death
On April 30, 1983 Muddy Waters died in his sleep, at his home in Westmont, Illinois. At his funeral at Restvale Cemetery in Alsip, Illinois, throngs of blues musicians and fans showed up to pay tribute to one of the true originals of the art form. "Muddy was a master of just the right notes," John P. Hammond, told Guitar World magazine. "It was profound guitar playing, deep and simple... more country blues transposed to the electric guitar, the kind of playing that enhanced the lyrics, gave profundity to the words themselves." Two years after his death, Chicago honored him by designating the one-block section between 900 and 1000 E. 43rd Street near his former home on the south side "Honorary Muddy Waters Drive" More recently, the Chicago suburb of Westmont, where Waters lived the last decade of his life, named a section of Cass Avenue near his home "Honorary Muddy Waters Way". Following Waters' death, B.B. King told Guitar World, "It's going to be years and years before most people realize how greatly he contributed to American music". Attesting to the historic place of Muddy Waters in the development of the blues in Mississippi, a Mississippi Blues Trail marker has been placed in Clarksdale, Mississippi by the Mississippi Blues Commission designating the site of Muddy Waters' cabin to commemorate his importance.
Awards and recognitions
Grammy Awards
Muddy Waters Grammy Award History
Year Category Title Genre Label Result
1971 Best Ethnic or Traditional Folk Recording They Call Me Muddy Waters folk MCA/Chess winner
1972 Best Ethnic or Traditional Folk Recording The London Muddy Waters Session folk MCA/Chess winner
1975 Best Ethnic or Traditional Folk Recording The Muddy Waters Woodstock Album folk MCA/Chess winner
1977 Best Ethnic or Traditional Folk Recording Hard Again folk Blue Sky winner
1978 Best Ethnic or Traditional Folk Recording I'm Ready folk Blue Sky winner
1979 Best Ethnic or Traditional Folk Recording Muddy "Mississippi" Waters Live folk Blue Sky winner
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame listed four songs of Muddy Waters of the 500 Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll.
Year Recorded Title
1950 Rollin' Stone
1954 Hoochie Coochie Man
1955 Mannish Boy
1957 Got My Mojo Working
The Blues Foundation Awards
Muddy Waters: Blues Music Awards
Year Category Title Result
1994 Reissue Album of the Year The Complete Plantation Recordings Winner
1995 Reissue Album of the Year One More Mile Winner
2000 Traditional Blues Album of the Year The Lost Tapes of Muddy Waters Winner
2002 Historical Blues Album of the Year Fathers and Sons Winner
2006 Historical Album of the Year Hoochie Coochie Man: Complete Chess Recordings, Volume 2, 1952-1958 Winner
Inductions
Year Inducted Title
1980 Blues Foundation Hall of Fame
1987 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
1992 Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award
U.S. Postage Stamp
Year Stamp USA Note
1994 29 cents Commemorative stamp U.S. Postal Service Photo
uddy Waters released approximately sixty singles (120 "sides") during his career, sixteen of which made the charts. These were issued on Chess Records, except for his 1941 recordings for the Library of Congress and his 1947 – early 1950 singles, which were issued on Aristocrat Records. The chart information is the peak position the single reached on the Billboard R&B chart.
Year Title Chart no.
1941 "Country Blues" —
"I Be's Troubled" —
1948 "(I Feel Like) Going Home" 11
"I Can't Be Satisfied" —
1950 "Rollin' and Tumblin'" —
"Rollin' Stone" —
"Walkin' Blues" —
"Louisiana Blues" 10
1951 "Long Distance Call" 8
"Honey Bee" 10
"Still a Fool" 9
1952 "She Moves Me" 10
"Standing Around Crying" —
1953 "Turn the Lamp Down Low (Baby Please Don't Go)" —
"Blow Wind Blow" —
"Mad Love (I Want You to Love Me)" 6
1954 "I'm Your Hoochie Coochie Man" 3
"Just Make Love to Me (I Just Want to Make Love to You)" 4
"I'm Ready" 4
1955 "I Want to Be Loved" —
"Manish Boy" aka "Mannish Boy" 5
"Sugar Sweet" 11
1956 "Trouble No More" 7
"Forty Days and Forty Nights" 7
"Don't Go No Farther" 9
"Just to Be with You" —
"Rock Me" —
"Got My Mojo Working" —
1957 "I Live the Life I Love (I Love the Life I Live)" —
1958 "She's Nineteen Years Old" —
"Close to You" 9
1959 "I Feel So Good" —
1962 "You Shook Me" —
"You Need Love" —
1964 "The Same Thing" —
"You Can't Lose What You Ain't Never Had" —
Muddy Waters also recorded several singles as a sideman with Jimmy Rogers, Little Walter, Junior Wells, Sonny Boy Williamson II, Otis Spann, and others.
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Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: Howard on 04/30/10 at 7:05 am
http://www.badassoftheweek.com/wales.jpg
Outlaw Josie Wales
Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: ninny on 04/30/10 at 9:28 am
http://www.badassoftheweek.com/wales.jpg
Outlaw Josie Wales
good one :)
Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: Howard on 04/30/10 at 2:19 pm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=izclfaHqdxs
Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: ninny on 05/01/10 at 6:17 am
The word of the day...Morning
The word morning originally referred to the sunrise. Morning precedes midday, afternoon, and night in the sequence of a day.
Morning is the part of the day usually reckoned from dawn to noon. The name (which comes from the Middle English word morwening) was formed from the analogy of evening using the word "morn" (in Middle English morwen), and originally meant the coming of the sunrise as evening meant the beginning of the close of the day. The Middle English morwen dropped over time and became morwe, then eventually morrow, which properly means "morning", but was soon used to refer to the following day (i.e., "tomorrow"), as in other Germanic languages—English is unique in restricting the word to the newer usage.
Morning may also be used in a strictly personal sense, to refer to the period immediately following waking up, irrespective of the current time of day. In this sense, morning encompasses the (mostly menial) prerequisites for full productivity and life in public (i.e. cleaning, a morning meal—often breakfast, dressing, etc). The boundaries of such morning periods are by necessity idiosyncratic, but they are typically considered to have ended on reaching a state of full readiness for the day's productive activity. This modern permutation of morning is due largely to the worldwide spread of electricity, and the concomitant independence from natural light sources
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Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: ninny on 05/01/10 at 6:22 am
The person born on this day...Judy Collins
Judith Marjorie "Judy" Collins (born May 1, 1939; Seattle, Washington) is an American singer and songwriter, known for her eclectic tastes in the material she records (which has included folk, show tunes, pop, rock and roll and standards); and for her social activism.
As a child, Collins studied classical piano with Antonia Brico, making her public debut at age 13, performing Mozart's Concerto for Two Pianos. Dr. Brico took a dim view, both then and later, of Collins' developing interest in folk music, which led her to the difficult decision to discontinue her piano lessons. Years later, when Collins had become internationally known through her music, she invited Dr. Brico to one of her concerts in Denver. When they met after the performance, Brico took both of Judy's hands in hers, looked wistfully at her fingers and said, "Little Judy -- you really could have gone places." Still later, Collins discovered, ironically, that Brico herself had made a living when she was younger playing jazz and ragtime piano (Singing Lessons, pp. 71-72). She also had the fortune of meeting many musicians through her father, a remarkable man who, despite being blind, was a Seattle radio disc jockey.
However, it was the music of Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger, and the traditional songs of the folk revival of the early 1960s, that piqued Collins' interest and awoke in her a love of lyrics. Three years after her debut as a piano prodigy, she was playing guitar. Her music became popular at the University of Connecticut where her husband taught. She performed at parties and for the campus radio station along with David Grisman and Tom Azarian. She eventually made her way to Greenwich Village, New York City, where she busked and played in clubs until she signed with Elektra Records, a record label with which she was associated for 35 years. In 1961, Collins released her first album, A Maid of Constant Sorrow, at the age of 22.
At first, she sang traditional folk songs or songs written by others — in particular the protest poets of the time, such as Tom Paxton, Phil Ochs, and Bob Dylan. She recorded her own versions of important songs from the period, such as Dylan's "Mr. Tambourine Man" and Pete Seeger's "Turn, Turn, Turn." Collins was also instrumental in bringing little-known musicians to a wider public. For example, Collins recorded songs by Canadian poet Leonard Cohen, who became a close friend over the years. She also recorded songs by singer-songwriters such as Joni Mitchell, Randy Newman, Robin Williamson and Richard Fariña long before they gained national acclaim.
While Collins' first few albums comprised straightforward guitar-based folk songs, with 1966's In My Life, she began branching out and including work from such diverse sources as the Beatles, Cohen, Jacques Brel, and Kurt Weill. Mark Abramson produced and Joshua Rifkin arranged the album, adding lush orchestration to many of the numbers. The album was regarded as a major departure for a folk artist and set the course for Collins' subsequent work over the next decade.
With her 1967 album Wildflowers, also produced by Mark Abramson and arranged by Rifkin, Collins began to record her own compositions, the first of which was entitled "Since You've Asked". The album also provided Collins with a major hit, and a Grammy award, in Mitchell's "Both Sides, Now," which reached #8 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Collins' 1968 album, Who Knows Where the Time Goes, was produced by David Anderle and featured back-up guitar by Stephen Stills (of Crosby, Stills & Nash), with whom she was romantically involved at the time. (She was the inspiration for Stills's CSN classic "Suite: Judy Blue Eyes"). Time Goes had a mellow country sound, and included Ian Tyson's "Someday Soon" and the title track written by the UK singer-songwriter Sandy Denny. The album also featured Collins' composition "My Father" and one of the first covers of Leonard Cohen's "Bird on the Wire."
By the 1970s, Collins had a solid reputation as an art song singer and folksinger and had begun to stand out for her own compositions. She was also known for her broad range of material: her songs from this period include the traditional Christian hymn "Amazing Grace," the Stephen Sondheim Broadway ballad "Send in the Clowns" (both of which were top 20 hits as singles), a recording of Joan Baez's "A Song for David," and her own compositions, such as "Born to the Breed."
In the 1970s, Collins guest starred on The Muppet Show, where she sang "I Know An Old Lady who Swallowed a Fly". Collins also appeared several times on Sesame Street, where she performed "Fishermen's Song" with a chorus of Anything Muppet fishermen, sang a trio with Biff and Sully using the word "yes," and even starred in a modern musical fairy tale skit called "The Sad Princess".
She sang the theme song of the Rankin-Bass TV movie The Wind in the Willows.
Judy Collins at the Miami Book Fair International of 1987
In more recent years Collins has taken to writing, producing a memoir, Trust Your Heart, in 1987, and a novel, Shameless. A more recent memoir, Sanity and Grace, tells of her son Clark's death in January 1992. Though her record sales are not what they once were, she still records and tours in the U.S., Europe, Australia, and New Zealand. She performed at US President Bill Clinton's first inauguration in 1993, singing "Amazing Grace" and "Chelsea Morning." (The Clintons have stated that they named their daughter, Chelsea, after Collins' recording of the song.) In 2006, she sang "This Little Light of Mine" in a commercial for Eliot Spitzer.
In 2008, she oversaw an album featuring artists ranging from Dolly Parton and Joan Baez to Rufus Wainwright and Chrissie Hynde covering her compositions; she also released a collection of Beatles covers, and she received an honorary doctorate from Pratt Institute on May 18 of that year.
Collins joined the 9th annual Independent Music Awards judging panel to assist independent musicians' careers. She was also a judge for the 7th Independent Music Awards.
Activism
Like many other folk singers of her generation, Collins was drawn to social activism. Her political idealism also led her to compose a ballad entitled "Che" in honor of the 1960s revolutionary icon Che Guevara.
Collins sympathized with the Yippie movement, and was friendly with its leaders, Abbie Hoffman and Jerry Rubin. On March 17, 1968, she attended Hoffman's press conference at the Americana Hotel in New York to announce the party's formation. In 1969, she testified in Washington, DC in support of the Chicago Seven; during her testimony, she began singing "Where Have All the Flowers Gone?", and was admonished by prosecutor Tom Foran and judge Julius Hoffman.
She is currently a representative for UNICEF and campaigns on behalf of the abolition of landmines. In 1992, Collins' son, Clark Taylor, committed suicide at age 33, after a long bout with depression and substance abuse; since his death, she has also become a strong advocate of suicide prevention.
Personal life
Collins has been married twice. Her first marriage in 1958 to Peter Taylor produced her only child, Clark C. Taylor. The marriage ended in divorce in 1965.
In 1962, shortly after her debut at Carnegie Hall, Collins was diagnosed with tuberculosis and spent six months recuperating in a sanitorium.
Collins later admitted suffering from bulimia after she had quit smoking in the 1970s. "I went straight from the cigarettes into an eating disorder," she told People Magazine in 1992. "I started throwing up. I didn't know anything about bulimia, certainly not that it is an addiction or that it would get worse. My feelings about myself, even though I had been able to give up smoking and lose 20 lbs., were of increasing despair." She also talks at length, in Singing Lessons (pp. 172-190, 238-240) about her years of addiction to alcohol, the damage it did to her personal and musical life, and how it contributed to her feelings of depression. She says that, although she tried other drugs in the 1960s, alcohol was always her primary drug of choice, just as it had been for her father. She entered a rehabilitation program in Pennsylvania in 1978, and she has maintained her sobriety ever since, even through such traumatic events as the suicide of her only son, Clark, after his final relapse (previous section).
In April 1996, she married a designer and fellow activist Louis Nelson. They live together in New York City.
Awards and recognition
* Grammy Award, Best Folk Performance or Folk Recording, "Both Sides Now", 1968
* Stephen Sondheim won a Grammy Award for Song of the Year, "Send in the Clowns", in 1975, it was believed, largely on the strength of Collins' performance of the song on her album Judith
* Nominated with Jill Godmillow for an Academy Award for the documentary "Antonia: A Portrait of the Woman" (1975), about her classical piano instructor, conductor Antonia Brico.
* Honorary Doctor of Fine Arts Degree from Pratt Institute, May 2009
Discography
Further information: Judy Collins discography
Charted singles
Year Song US Hot 100 US A.C. Album
1967 "Hard Lovin' Loser" 97 - In My Life
1968 "Both Sides Now" 8 3 Wildflowers
1969 "Someday Soon" 55 37 Who Knows Where The Times Goes
1969 "Chelsea Morning" 78 25 (single only)
1969 "Turn! Turn! Turn!/To Everything There Is A Season" 69 28 Recollections
1970 "Amazing Grace" 15 5 Whales & Nightingales
1971 "Open The Door (Song For Judith)" 90 23 Living
1973 "Cook With Honey" 32 10 True Stories And Other Dreams
1973 "Secret Gardens" 122 - True Stories And Other Dreams
1975 "Send In The Clowns" 36 8 Judith
1977 "Send In The Clowns" (re-release) 19 15 Judith
1979 "Hard Times For Lovers" 66 16 Hard Times For Lovers
1984 "Home Again" (duet with T.G. Sheppard) - 42 Home Again
1990 "Fires Of Eden" - 31 Fires Of Eden
Filmography
* Baby's Bedtime (1992)
* Baby's Morningtime (1992)
* Junior (1994), playing the operator of a spa for pregnant women opposite Arnold Schwarzenegger
* Christmas at the Biltmore Estate (1998)
* A Town Has Turned to Dust (1998), telefilm based on a Rod Serling science-fiction story
* The Best of Judy Collins (1999)
* Intimate Portrait: Judy Collins (2000)
* Judy Collins Live at Wolf Trap (2003)
* Wildflower Festival (2003) (DVD with guest artists Eric Andersen, Arlo Guthrie, and Tom Rush)
Bibliography
* Trust Your Heart (1987)
* Amazing Grace (1991)
* Shameless (1995)
* Singing Lessons (1998)
* Sanity and Grace: A Journey of Suicide, Survival and Strength (2003)
* The Seven T's : Finding Hope and Healing in the Wake of Tragedy (2007)
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Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: ninny on 05/01/10 at 6:26 am
The person who died on this day...Miss Elizabeth
Elizabeth Ann Hulette (November 19, 1960 – May 1, 2003), best known as Miss Elizabeth, was a U.S. professional wrestling manager. She gained international fame during the late 1980s and early 1990s in the World Wrestling Federation, and the mid-1990s in World Championship Wrestling in her role as the manager to "Macho Man" Randy Savage. She died as a result of a drug and alcohol overdose in 2003 at the age of 42 in the home she shared with Lex Luger. While working at International Championship Wrestling shows, Hulette met Randall Poffo, a wrestling performer with the stage name "Macho Man" Randy Savage. They eventually married.
World Wrestling Federation
1985-1987
In 1985, the WWF was doing an angle where all the managers in the promotion were bidding for Randy Savage's services. During a match on July 30, 1985, several managers were at ringside in hopes that he would name one of them as his new manager. After the match, Savage thanked the managers for their consideration and then asked that his new manager come to ringside. An unnamed woman then came down to the ring, and announcer Bruno Sammartino remarked, "She must be some sort of movie star." It was later revealed that her name was Miss Elizabeth. Elizabeth's WWF debut aired on the August 24, 1985, edition of WWF Prime Time Wrestling, and from that point on, she was the manager of Randy Savage.
Miss Elizabeth's first major angle was during Savage's feud with George "The Animal" Steele in 1986. In the angle, Steele fell in love with Miss Elizabeth, angering Savage and leading to a series of matches. Their feud was one of the WWF's most popular of the 1980s; it carried on for more than a year, thanks to the feral Steele's continued innocent crush on Elizabeth. She also figured prominently in Savage's 1986 feuds with Hulk Hogan and Ricky "the Dragon" Steamboat.
After injuring Steamboat's larynx, Savage lost his Intercontinental Title to Steamboat at WrestleMania III on March 29, 1987. The Savage-Steamboat match concluded with Steamboat defeating Savage. Steamboat later lost the title to The Honky Tonk Man. Honky's insistence that he was the greatest Intercontinental champion of all time instigated a challenge from Savage, the former champion. In their match, which aired on the October 3, 1987, edition of NBC's Saturday Night's Main Event, Honky shoved Elizabeth to the mat before assaulting Savage with a guitar. Elizabeth ran backstage and persuaded Hulk Hogan to rescue Savage to form The Mega Powers, running off Honky and his allies, Bret "The Hitman" Hart and Jim "The Anvil" Neidhart.
1988-1989
The year 1988 was a pivotal one for Randy Savage and Miss Elizabeth. Hulk Hogan, who had been the champion and the foundation upon which the WWF's popularity was built, lost the WWF World championship belt in a match against André the Giant. André the Giant then forfeited the belt to the "Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase due to an arrangement that they had prior to the match. President Jack Tunney declared that the belt cannot be forfeited to another individual. A tournament was held at WrestleMania IV to declare a new champion, which Randy Savage won, pinning Dibiase (with Hogan's help) in the finals.
At the first ever SummerSlam, The Mega Powers teamed up against André the Giant and Ted DiBiase, The Mega Bucks with Jesse Ventura as the referee. Most of the pre-match build-up centered around Elizabeth, who by this time was at the peak of her popularity. The tease for the match was that if things got bad, Elizabeth, billed as the secret weapon of The Mega Powers, was going to wear a bikini under her fancy clothes. Towards the end of match, André and Dibiase were in control, so Elizabeth got up on the apron and ripped her skirt off to reveal a red bikini bottom, which distracted both André and DiBiase. The Mega Powers quickly took advantage of the situation and won the match after Ventura made a reluctant three-count (Savage rode Ventura's arm down to the mat to finalize the count).
Miss Elizabeth became the catalyst for the breakup of the Savage–Hogan relationship. During a 1989 tag team match that pitted the Mega Powers against The Twin Towers (Akeem "The African Dream" and The Big Bossman), Savage was thrown onto Miss Elizabeth, knocking her unconscious on the outside of the ring. Seeing this, Hogan scooped her up and, as the match continued, carried her to the backstage area for medical attention. Upon his return to the ring, Hogan was greeted with anger from Savage for having abandoned him in the midst of a match. Savage slapped his partner and left the ring area. Hogan continued the match, winning singlehandedly. Hogan exited the ring and reached the backstage area, where Savage attacked him, turning Savage heel. Following his WrestleMania V loss to Hogan, Savage replaced Miss Elizabeth in favor of Sensational Sherri.
For the remainder of 1989, Elizabeth's appearances were very sporadic. Elizabeth appeared at SummerSlam '89 and managed Hulk Hogan and Brutus Beefcake as they headlined the show against Randy Savage and Zeus with Sensational Sherri. Elizabeth also appeared at a few matches managing Hulk Hogan in matches against Randy Savage. Elizabeth also briefly co-hosted WWF Wrestling Spotlight with Vince McMahon.
1990-1992
Savage remained a heel for many more months, eventually dubbing himself "The Macho King" after defeating "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan for the WWF's "king" title in the September of 1989. After Savage and Sherri began a heated feud with "The American Dream" Dusty Rhodes and Sapphire near the end of 1989, Miss Elizabeth joined forces with Rhodes and Sapphire at WrestleMania VI, where the two couples were engaged in the WWF's first mixed tag-team match. When Sherri attempted to help Savage double-team Rhodes, Miss Elizabeth grabbed Sherri by the hair. While the two women faced off, Sapphire took advantage of the situation, kneeling down behind Sherri just as Miss Elizabeth pushed her. Sherri lost her balance and gave Sapphire enough advantage to pin Sherri for the win.
Miss Elizabeth disappeared from WWF television until WrestleMania VII, when Savage lost a retirement match to The Ultimate Warrior. Upon his loss, Sherri began beating and kicking the defeated man until Elizabeth, who was sitting at ringside, entered the ring and defended Savage. Elizabeth grabbed Sherri by the hair and threw her out of the ring, reuniting Savage and Elizabeth. Macho Man punctuated the reunion by holding down the ropes for Elizabeth after years of her doing it for him.
The couple then held a heavily promoted on-air wedding billed as "The Match Made in Heaven" at SummerSlam 1991 in New York's Madison Square Garden (the couple were officially married on December 30, 1984). At the wedding reception, Elizabeth opened a gift package containing a live snake, which frightened her; newly-turned-heel Jake "The Snake" Roberts and The Undertaker crashed the reception and attacked Savage. This started a feud between Roberts and Savage, where Elizabeth quickly figured prominently. The first high-profile Savage-Roberts match was at the Tuesday in Texas pay-per-view, where, after Savage gained a pinfall victory, Roberts beat down Savage, then forced Elizabeth to beg him to stop the beating. Apparently dissatisfied with her begging, Roberts grabbed her by the hair and slapped her across her face. On the February 8, 1992 edition of Saturday Night's Main Event, Roberts, with a steel chair in tow, was waiting in the backstage area for Elizabeth and Savage to come through the curtain after a match. Roberts was about to strike Elizabeth with the chair, but Undertaker stopped him. This started Undertaker's feud with his former ally.
In her final WWF angle, WWF Champion Ric Flair bragged that he dated Elizabeth before Savage met her. Flair's tagline was, "She was mine before she was yours." He showed photos of himself with Elizabeth in casual situations, which were later printed in an issue of WWF Magazine. Flair, with Mr. Perfect as his "executive consultant", said that they were going to show a nude photo of Elizabeth on the screen at WrestleMania VIII, although this did not occur. Nonetheless, Flair's claims set up his WrestleMania VIII match with Savage. During the match, Elizabeth made her way to ringside, against the wishes of WWF officials. After Savage pinned Flair to win the WWF Championship, an angry Flair cornered Elizabeth and began to kiss her; Elizabeth slapped Flair away, and Savage began beating Flair until ring officials broke the two up. Elizabeth's final WWF appearance took place on April 19, 1992 during an overseas tour of England; in that match, Savage pinned Shawn Michaels after Elizabeth, who had earlier been sent backstage, returned to prevent Sherri's interference on Michaels' behalf. Despite her departure, the Elizabeth-Flair storyline continued through most of the spring — the most notable highlight was Flair and Mr. Perfect playing a voice mail from a woman identifying herself as Elizabeth, saying she was "waiting at home" and that she "loved" him — until the Savage-Michaels match from England was aired on WWF Prime Time Wrestling in June; the publication of the actual Savage-Elizabeth photos in WWF Magazine came at about that same time.
Shortly after Elizabeth's final appearance, she and Savage divorced. After the decree was finalized late that summer, Savage issued a statement that was printed in WWF Magazine revealing that he and Elizabeth were no longer together, and thanking the fans for their support through the years. The publication of Savage's statement marked, at the time, a rare acknowledgement of the wrestlers' private lives for both the WWF and its flagship publication. Savage continued with the WWF for two more years, and except for the statement in WWF Magazine, his divorce from Elizabeth was neither referred to nor figured into any of Savage's future feuds.
World Championship Wrestling
1996-1998
In January 1996, Miss Elizabeth returned to wrestling as a valet for Savage. She later turned against Savage and became Ric Flair's valet in the Four Horsemen. She later turned against the Four Horsemen and joined the New World Order (nWo) alongside Savage and Hogan. In June 1998, she parted ways with Savage once again by joining Hogan's side of the nWo, nWo Hollywood. Then, she accompanied Eric Bischoff on his way to the ring for the next few months.
Elizabeth briefly married Cary Lubetsky, a South Florida attorney, on December 6th, 1997. The wedding was held at the Cuban Hebrew Temple in Miami Beach. The marriage was short-lived, as the couple soon separated and were officially divorced on April 19th, 1999.
1999
On the January 4 episode of Nitro, Elizabeth was seen talking to police detectives. According to the storyline, she claimed that Bill Goldberg was stalking her and that he even accosted her by the water cooler. She then filed charges against Goldberg. Goldberg was arrested later that night for aggravated stalking and taken into custody by police. However, later that night, Elizabeth admitted that she was lying. As it turned out, Elizabeth was a pawn for the nWo so that Goldberg would be unable to have his scheduled title match with Kevin Nash later that night. Due to Goldberg's apparent absence, the returning Hulk Hogan took Goldberg's title shot in the match that became known as "The Fingerpoke of Doom". Soon after, Elizabeth accompanied Lex Luger, and sometimes Kevin Nash, to ringside. However, Luger injured his biceps at a February 1999 house show and they soon took time off the road.
2000
In February, Elizabeth managed the short-lived partnership between Luger and Ric Flair. The three of them were known as Team Package. The trio's main goal was to take down Hulk Hogan, whom Luger had been publicly challenging to a match during the previous few weeks. Hogan made his return to WCW during the February 2 edition of WCW Thunder, and while his back was turned during an interview segment, Elizabeth came into the ring, baseball bat raised. However, Hogan quickly turned around and easily out-muscled the bat from her possession. As a receipt for her dastardly act, and in a throwback to his attacks on Sensational Sherri in the World Wrestling Federation, Hogan picked up Liz and held her up high in the air and delivered his patented atomic drop. However, Elizabeth no-sold the maneuver and quickly rolled out of the ring. Later that week, Hogan called into Bubba the Love Sponge's radio show to discuss his program with Luger, not to mention Elizabeth no-selling his atomic drop maneuver on the previous edition of Thunder. Hogan claimed that Elizabeth refused to take a bigger bump because she wasn't wearing any panties underneath her skirt. Shortly thereafter, Team Package went their separate ways as they fought various members of The New Blood. Elizabeth engaged in short-lived feuds with Vince Russo and Kimberly Page. On May 8, 2000, Elizabeth wrestled in her first official match against Daffney. She then competed in matches against Rhonda Singh and Madusa.
WCW released Elizabeth from her contract on August 17, 2000.
Later life
Despite being let go by WCW, Elizabeth and Luger stayed together as a couple. Friends of Elizabeth said the two were planning on getting married sometime in 2003. After her departure from wrestling, Hulette began working the front desk at Main Event Fitness in Marietta, Georgia, a gym that Luger had owned for years after he and Steve Borden opened it during their wrestling heyday.
Elizabeth was advertised to make her first wrestling appearance since her departure from WCW during the World Wrestling All-Stars tour of Europe in November 2002 and December 2002 alongside Luger. She accompanied Luger on the tour overseas, but didn't appear on a single show. Elizabeth never made another wrestling appearance after her release from WCW. Luger ended up winning and losing the WWA World Heavyweight Championship in matches with Sting during the tour.
On April 19, 2003, Elizabeth was involved in a domestic dispute with Luger, who allegedly struck her in the garage of their townhouse in Marietta, Georgia. Cobb County police found Elizabeth with two bruised eyes, a bump on her head, and a cut lip. Luger was charged with a misdemeanor count of battery and released on $2,500 bond. Two days later on April 21, Luger was arrested for driving under the influence after rear-ending another car while driving his Porsche. According to the report on the arrest, Luger had slurred speech and bloodshot eyes and could not locate his driver's license. Luger had a 9-mm handgun in the car. Elizabeth was a passenger in the vehicle, and was sent home in a taxicab. Luger was also driving with a suspended license for not appearing in court on March 5, 2003, for a hearing on a previous offense (driving with expired tags and having no proof of insurance).
Death
On May 1, 2003, in Marietta, Georgia, Luger called 9-1-1 from his home and reported that Elizabeth was not breathing. She did not respond to mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, and paramedics rushed her to a hospital, where she was pronounced dead. The cause of death was later determined to be "acute toxicity". Luger's phone call was later aired on an episode of WWE Confidential. Luger was arrested later that day after a search of the residence revealed a number of illicit controlled substances, including anabolic steroids, OxyContin, synthetic growth hormone, testosterone, temazepam and alprazolam. He was charged with 14 drug possession counts, 13 of them felonies. Luger pled guilty to the charges on February 3, 2005. He was fined $1,000 and sentenced to 5 years probation.
In wrestling
* Wrestlers managed
o Randy Savage
o Hulk Hogan
o Ric Flair
o Eric Bischoff
o Lex Luger
o Sting
o Dusty Rhodes
o Brutus "The Barber" Beefcake
* Faction Affiliations
o The Mega Powers
o Four Horsemen
o nWo
o Millionaire's Club
o Magnificent Seven
Championships and accomplishments
* World Wrestling Federation
o Slammy Award for Woman of the Year (1987)
http://i479.photobucket.com/albums/rr160/fishbulb-suplex/Wrestlers/Miss%20Elizabeth/Miss_Elizabeth_-_Elizabeth_Hulet-2.jpg
http://i185.photobucket.com/albums/x259/thetorturerack/MissElizabeth.jpg
Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: CatwomanofV on 05/01/10 at 10:55 am
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1TWd3skb-Rw
Cat
Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: ninny on 05/01/10 at 2:47 pm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1TWd3skb-Rw
Cat
Another great song :)
Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: Howard on 05/01/10 at 2:51 pm
The person who died on this day...Miss Elizabeth
Elizabeth Ann Hulette (November 19, 1960 – May 1, 2003), best known as Miss Elizabeth, was a U.S. professional wrestling manager. She gained international fame during the late 1980s and early 1990s in the World Wrestling Federation, and the mid-1990s in World Championship Wrestling in her role as the manager to "Macho Man" Randy Savage. She died as a result of a drug and alcohol overdose in 2003 at the age of 42 in the home she shared with Lex Luger. While working at International Championship Wrestling shows, Hulette met Randall Poffo, a wrestling performer with the stage name "Macho Man" Randy Savage. They eventually married.
World Wrestling Federation
1985-1987
In 1985, the WWF was doing an angle where all the managers in the promotion were bidding for Randy Savage's services. During a match on July 30, 1985, several managers were at ringside in hopes that he would name one of them as his new manager. After the match, Savage thanked the managers for their consideration and then asked that his new manager come to ringside. An unnamed woman then came down to the ring, and announcer Bruno Sammartino remarked, "She must be some sort of movie star." It was later revealed that her name was Miss Elizabeth. Elizabeth's WWF debut aired on the August 24, 1985, edition of WWF Prime Time Wrestling, and from that point on, she was the manager of Randy Savage.
Miss Elizabeth's first major angle was during Savage's feud with George "The Animal" Steele in 1986. In the angle, Steele fell in love with Miss Elizabeth, angering Savage and leading to a series of matches. Their feud was one of the WWF's most popular of the 1980s; it carried on for more than a year, thanks to the feral Steele's continued innocent crush on Elizabeth. She also figured prominently in Savage's 1986 feuds with Hulk Hogan and Ricky "the Dragon" Steamboat.
After injuring Steamboat's larynx, Savage lost his Intercontinental Title to Steamboat at WrestleMania III on March 29, 1987. The Savage-Steamboat match concluded with Steamboat defeating Savage. Steamboat later lost the title to The Honky Tonk Man. Honky's insistence that he was the greatest Intercontinental champion of all time instigated a challenge from Savage, the former champion. In their match, which aired on the October 3, 1987, edition of NBC's Saturday Night's Main Event, Honky shoved Elizabeth to the mat before assaulting Savage with a guitar. Elizabeth ran backstage and persuaded Hulk Hogan to rescue Savage to form The Mega Powers, running off Honky and his allies, Bret "The Hitman" Hart and Jim "The Anvil" Neidhart.
1988-1989
The year 1988 was a pivotal one for Randy Savage and Miss Elizabeth. Hulk Hogan, who had been the champion and the foundation upon which the WWF's popularity was built, lost the WWF World championship belt in a match against André the Giant. André the Giant then forfeited the belt to the "Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase due to an arrangement that they had prior to the match. President Jack Tunney declared that the belt cannot be forfeited to another individual. A tournament was held at WrestleMania IV to declare a new champion, which Randy Savage won, pinning Dibiase (with Hogan's help) in the finals.
At the first ever SummerSlam, The Mega Powers teamed up against André the Giant and Ted DiBiase, The Mega Bucks with Jesse Ventura as the referee. Most of the pre-match build-up centered around Elizabeth, who by this time was at the peak of her popularity. The tease for the match was that if things got bad, Elizabeth, billed as the secret weapon of The Mega Powers, was going to wear a bikini under her fancy clothes. Towards the end of match, André and Dibiase were in control, so Elizabeth got up on the apron and ripped her skirt off to reveal a red bikini bottom, which distracted both André and DiBiase. The Mega Powers quickly took advantage of the situation and won the match after Ventura made a reluctant three-count (Savage rode Ventura's arm down to the mat to finalize the count).
Miss Elizabeth became the catalyst for the breakup of the Savage–Hogan relationship. During a 1989 tag team match that pitted the Mega Powers against The Twin Towers (Akeem "The African Dream" and The Big Bossman), Savage was thrown onto Miss Elizabeth, knocking her unconscious on the outside of the ring. Seeing this, Hogan scooped her up and, as the match continued, carried her to the backstage area for medical attention. Upon his return to the ring, Hogan was greeted with anger from Savage for having abandoned him in the midst of a match. Savage slapped his partner and left the ring area. Hogan continued the match, winning singlehandedly. Hogan exited the ring and reached the backstage area, where Savage attacked him, turning Savage heel. Following his WrestleMania V loss to Hogan, Savage replaced Miss Elizabeth in favor of Sensational Sherri.
For the remainder of 1989, Elizabeth's appearances were very sporadic. Elizabeth appeared at SummerSlam '89 and managed Hulk Hogan and Brutus Beefcake as they headlined the show against Randy Savage and Zeus with Sensational Sherri. Elizabeth also appeared at a few matches managing Hulk Hogan in matches against Randy Savage. Elizabeth also briefly co-hosted WWF Wrestling Spotlight with Vince McMahon.
1990-1992
Savage remained a heel for many more months, eventually dubbing himself "The Macho King" after defeating "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan for the WWF's "king" title in the September of 1989. After Savage and Sherri began a heated feud with "The American Dream" Dusty Rhodes and Sapphire near the end of 1989, Miss Elizabeth joined forces with Rhodes and Sapphire at WrestleMania VI, where the two couples were engaged in the WWF's first mixed tag-team match. When Sherri attempted to help Savage double-team Rhodes, Miss Elizabeth grabbed Sherri by the hair. While the two women faced off, Sapphire took advantage of the situation, kneeling down behind Sherri just as Miss Elizabeth pushed her. Sherri lost her balance and gave Sapphire enough advantage to pin Sherri for the win.
Miss Elizabeth disappeared from WWF television until WrestleMania VII, when Savage lost a retirement match to The Ultimate Warrior. Upon his loss, Sherri began beating and kicking the defeated man until Elizabeth, who was sitting at ringside, entered the ring and defended Savage. Elizabeth grabbed Sherri by the hair and threw her out of the ring, reuniting Savage and Elizabeth. Macho Man punctuated the reunion by holding down the ropes for Elizabeth after years of her doing it for him.
The couple then held a heavily promoted on-air wedding billed as "The Match Made in Heaven" at SummerSlam 1991 in New York's Madison Square Garden (the couple were officially married on December 30, 1984). At the wedding reception, Elizabeth opened a gift package containing a live snake, which frightened her; newly-turned-heel Jake "The Snake" Roberts and The Undertaker crashed the reception and attacked Savage. This started a feud between Roberts and Savage, where Elizabeth quickly figured prominently. The first high-profile Savage-Roberts match was at the Tuesday in Texas pay-per-view, where, after Savage gained a pinfall victory, Roberts beat down Savage, then forced Elizabeth to beg him to stop the beating. Apparently dissatisfied with her begging, Roberts grabbed her by the hair and slapped her across her face. On the February 8, 1992 edition of Saturday Night's Main Event, Roberts, with a steel chair in tow, was waiting in the backstage area for Elizabeth and Savage to come through the curtain after a match. Roberts was about to strike Elizabeth with the chair, but Undertaker stopped him. This started Undertaker's feud with his former ally.
In her final WWF angle, WWF Champion Ric Flair bragged that he dated Elizabeth before Savage met her. Flair's tagline was, "She was mine before she was yours." He showed photos of himself with Elizabeth in casual situations, which were later printed in an issue of WWF Magazine. Flair, with Mr. Perfect as his "executive consultant", said that they were going to show a nude photo of Elizabeth on the screen at WrestleMania VIII, although this did not occur. Nonetheless, Flair's claims set up his WrestleMania VIII match with Savage. During the match, Elizabeth made her way to ringside, against the wishes of WWF officials. After Savage pinned Flair to win the WWF Championship, an angry Flair cornered Elizabeth and began to kiss her; Elizabeth slapped Flair away, and Savage began beating Flair until ring officials broke the two up. Elizabeth's final WWF appearance took place on April 19, 1992 during an overseas tour of England; in that match, Savage pinned Shawn Michaels after Elizabeth, who had earlier been sent backstage, returned to prevent Sherri's interference on Michaels' behalf. Despite her departure, the Elizabeth-Flair storyline continued through most of the spring — the most notable highlight was Flair and Mr. Perfect playing a voice mail from a woman identifying herself as Elizabeth, saying she was "waiting at home" and that she "loved" him — until the Savage-Michaels match from England was aired on WWF Prime Time Wrestling in June; the publication of the actual Savage-Elizabeth photos in WWF Magazine came at about that same time.
Shortly after Elizabeth's final appearance, she and Savage divorced. After the decree was finalized late that summer, Savage issued a statement that was printed in WWF Magazine revealing that he and Elizabeth were no longer together, and thanking the fans for their support through the years. The publication of Savage's statement marked, at the time, a rare acknowledgement of the wrestlers' private lives for both the WWF and its flagship publication. Savage continued with the WWF for two more years, and except for the statement in WWF Magazine, his divorce from Elizabeth was neither referred to nor figured into any of Savage's future feuds.
World Championship Wrestling
1996-1998
In January 1996, Miss Elizabeth returned to wrestling as a valet for Savage. She later turned against Savage and became Ric Flair's valet in the Four Horsemen. She later turned against the Four Horsemen and joined the New World Order (nWo) alongside Savage and Hogan. In June 1998, she parted ways with Savage once again by joining Hogan's side of the nWo, nWo Hollywood. Then, she accompanied Eric Bischoff on his way to the ring for the next few months.
Elizabeth briefly married Cary Lubetsky, a South Florida attorney, on December 6th, 1997. The wedding was held at the Cuban Hebrew Temple in Miami Beach. The marriage was short-lived, as the couple soon separated and were officially divorced on April 19th, 1999.
1999
On the January 4 episode of Nitro, Elizabeth was seen talking to police detectives. According to the storyline, she claimed that Bill Goldberg was stalking her and that he even accosted her by the water cooler. She then filed charges against Goldberg. Goldberg was arrested later that night for aggravated stalking and taken into custody by police. However, later that night, Elizabeth admitted that she was lying. As it turned out, Elizabeth was a pawn for the nWo so that Goldberg would be unable to have his scheduled title match with Kevin Nash later that night. Due to Goldberg's apparent absence, the returning Hulk Hogan took Goldberg's title shot in the match that became known as "The Fingerpoke of Doom". Soon after, Elizabeth accompanied Lex Luger, and sometimes Kevin Nash, to ringside. However, Luger injured his biceps at a February 1999 house show and they soon took time off the road.
2000
In February, Elizabeth managed the short-lived partnership between Luger and Ric Flair. The three of them were known as Team Package. The trio's main goal was to take down Hulk Hogan, whom Luger had been publicly challenging to a match during the previous few weeks. Hogan made his return to WCW during the February 2 edition of WCW Thunder, and while his back was turned during an interview segment, Elizabeth came into the ring, baseball bat raised. However, Hogan quickly turned around and easily out-muscled the bat from her possession. As a receipt for her dastardly act, and in a throwback to his attacks on Sensational Sherri in the World Wrestling Federation, Hogan picked up Liz and held her up high in the air and delivered his patented atomic drop. However, Elizabeth no-sold the maneuver and quickly rolled out of the ring. Later that week, Hogan called into Bubba the Love Sponge's radio show to discuss his program with Luger, not to mention Elizabeth no-selling his atomic drop maneuver on the previous edition of Thunder. Hogan claimed that Elizabeth refused to take a bigger bump because she wasn't wearing any panties underneath her skirt. Shortly thereafter, Team Package went their separate ways as they fought various members of The New Blood. Elizabeth engaged in short-lived feuds with Vince Russo and Kimberly Page. On May 8, 2000, Elizabeth wrestled in her first official match against Daffney. She then competed in matches against Rhonda Singh and Madusa.
WCW released Elizabeth from her contract on August 17, 2000.
Later life
Despite being let go by WCW, Elizabeth and Luger stayed together as a couple. Friends of Elizabeth said the two were planning on getting married sometime in 2003. After her departure from wrestling, Hulette began working the front desk at Main Event Fitness in Marietta, Georgia, a gym that Luger had owned for years after he and Steve Borden opened it during their wrestling heyday.
Elizabeth was advertised to make her first wrestling appearance since her departure from WCW during the World Wrestling All-Stars tour of Europe in November 2002 and December 2002 alongside Luger. She accompanied Luger on the tour overseas, but didn't appear on a single show. Elizabeth never made another wrestling appearance after her release from WCW. Luger ended up winning and losing the WWA World Heavyweight Championship in matches with Sting during the tour.
On April 19, 2003, Elizabeth was involved in a domestic dispute with Luger, who allegedly struck her in the garage of their townhouse in Marietta, Georgia. Cobb County police found Elizabeth with two bruised eyes, a bump on her head, and a cut lip. Luger was charged with a misdemeanor count of battery and released on $2,500 bond. Two days later on April 21, Luger was arrested for driving under the influence after rear-ending another car while driving his Porsche. According to the report on the arrest, Luger had slurred speech and bloodshot eyes and could not locate his driver's license. Luger had a 9-mm handgun in the car. Elizabeth was a passenger in the vehicle, and was sent home in a taxicab. Luger was also driving with a suspended license for not appearing in court on March 5, 2003, for a hearing on a previous offense (driving with expired tags and having no proof of insurance).
Death
On May 1, 2003, in Marietta, Georgia, Luger called 9-1-1 from his home and reported that Elizabeth was not breathing. She did not respond to mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, and paramedics rushed her to a hospital, where she was pronounced dead. The cause of death was later determined to be "acute toxicity". Luger's phone call was later aired on an episode of WWE Confidential. Luger was arrested later that day after a search of the residence revealed a number of illicit controlled substances, including anabolic steroids, OxyContin, synthetic growth hormone, testosterone, temazepam and alprazolam. He was charged with 14 drug possession counts, 13 of them felonies. Luger pled guilty to the charges on February 3, 2005. He was fined $1,000 and sentenced to 5 years probation.
In wrestling
* Wrestlers managed
o Randy Savage
o Hulk Hogan
o Ric Flair
o Eric Bischoff
o Lex Luger
o Sting
o Dusty Rhodes
o Brutus "The Barber" Beefcake
* Faction Affiliations
o The Mega Powers
o Four Horsemen
o nWo
o Millionaire's Club
o Magnificent Seven
Championships and accomplishments
* World Wrestling Federation
o Slammy Award for Woman of the Year (1987)
http://i479.photobucket.com/albums/rr160/fishbulb-suplex/Wrestlers/Miss%20Elizabeth/Miss_Elizabeth_-_Elizabeth_Hulet-2.jpg
http://i185.photobucket.com/albums/x259/thetorturerack/MissElizabeth.jpg
She was such a great manager,Why did Lex Luger have to drug her? :(
Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: Howard on 05/01/10 at 2:52 pm
The word of the day...Morning
The word morning originally referred to the sunrise. Morning precedes midday, afternoon, and night in the sequence of a day.
Morning is the part of the day usually reckoned from dawn to noon. The name (which comes from the Middle English word morwening) was formed from the analogy of evening using the word "morn" (in Middle English morwen), and originally meant the coming of the sunrise as evening meant the beginning of the close of the day. The Middle English morwen dropped over time and became morwe, then eventually morrow, which properly means "morning", but was soon used to refer to the following day (i.e., "tomorrow"), as in other Germanic languages—English is unique in restricting the word to the newer usage.
Morning may also be used in a strictly personal sense, to refer to the period immediately following waking up, irrespective of the current time of day. In this sense, morning encompasses the (mostly menial) prerequisites for full productivity and life in public (i.e. cleaning, a morning meal—often breakfast, dressing, etc). The boundaries of such morning periods are by necessity idiosyncratic, but they are typically considered to have ended on reaching a state of full readiness for the day's productive activity. This modern permutation of morning is due largely to the worldwide spread of electricity, and the concomitant independence from natural light sources
http://i588.photobucket.com/albums/ss323/Euler5853/Good%20Morning/ButterflyYellowTulips-morning.gif
http://i572.photobucket.com/albums/ss169/mamavonalia/morning/90451499.gif
http://i775.photobucket.com/albums/yy39/caseyd418/morning.jpg
http://i234.photobucket.com/albums/ee91/Gypsy48/Morning/ssjpg.gif
http://i572.photobucket.com/albums/ss169/mamavonalia/morning/sunshine-1.gif
http://i788.photobucket.com/albums/yy164/giterdone3_33/003.jpg
http://i199.photobucket.com/albums/aa103/calif-ua/others/230420101431.jpg
I love my morning breakfast. :)
Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: Frank on 05/01/10 at 3:58 pm
She was such a great manager,Why did Lex Luger have to drug her? :(
I remember her with Macho Man. That time period, wrestling was great!
Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: ninny on 05/01/10 at 8:32 pm
I remember her with Macho Man. That time period, wrestling was great!
You can say that again :)
Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: ninny on 05/02/10 at 5:26 am
The word of the day...Galaxy
This article is about the astronomical structure. For other uses, see Galaxy (disambiguation).
NGC 4414, a typical spiral galaxy in the constellation Coma Berenices, is about 17,000 parsecs in diameter and approximately 20 million parsecs distant.
A galaxy is a massive, gravitationally bound system that consists of stars and stellar remnants, an interstellar medium of gas and dust, and an important but poorly understood component tentatively dubbed dark matter. The name is from the Greek root galaxias , meaning "milky," a reference to the Milky Way galaxy. Typical galaxies range from dwarfs with as few as ten million (107) stars up to giants with one trillion (1012) stars, all orbiting the galaxy's center of mass. Galaxies may contain many multiple star systems, star clusters, and various interstellar clouds. The Sun is one of the stars in the Milky Way galaxy; the Solar System includes the Earth and all the other objects that orbit the Sun.
http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/ff293/marcitosss/Wallpp%20PC/galaxy.jpg
http://i403.photobucket.com/albums/pp113/truongan_bucket/Andromedagalaxy.jpg
http://i904.photobucket.com/albums/ac243/TARRUMAN/CicFlyer.jpg
http://i161.photobucket.com/albums/t215/ptcs-photies/galaxy20counters.jpg
http://i633.photobucket.com/albums/uu51/lowpricerock/Granite%20Colors/GalaxyBlack.jpg
http://i861.photobucket.com/albums/ab174/kencoolet/My%20Personal%20Portfolios/josh2.jpg
http://i706.photobucket.com/albums/ww69/YoungShizzAlbum/My%20Photos/wcwwzw1ysgmdcgkguwof.gif
Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: danootaandme on 05/02/10 at 5:34 am
I love sitting on a park bench with a cup of coffee in the city in the early morning on a day like today. :)
Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: ninny on 05/02/10 at 5:50 am
The person born on this day...David Beckham
David Robert Joseph Beckham, OBE (born 2 May 1975) is an English footballer who currently plays in midfield for Milan in Serie A, on loan from Major League Soccer club Los Angeles Galaxy. He is also an established member of the England national team.
Twice runner-up for FIFA World Player of the Year and in 2004 the world's highest-paid footballer, Beckham was the first British footballer to play 100 Champions League matches. He was Google's most searched of all sports topics in both 2003 and 2004. With such global recognition he has become an elite advertising brand and a top fashion icon. Beckham was captain of England from 15 November 2000 until the 2006 FIFA World Cup finals, during which he played 58 times. Since then he has continued to represent his country and earned his much-publicised hundredth cap for England against France on 26 March 2008. He is currently England's most-capped outfield player with 115 appearances.
Beckham's career began when he signed a professional contract with Manchester United, making his first-team debut in 1992 aged 17. During his time there, United won the Premier League title six times, the FA Cup twice, and the UEFA Champions League in 1999. He left Manchester United to sign for Real Madrid in 2003, where he remained for four seasons, clinching the La Liga championship in his final season with the club.
In January 2007, it was announced that Beckham would leave Real Madrid and sign a five-year contract with Major League Soccer club Los Angeles Galaxy. Beckham's contract with Los Angeles Galaxy became effective on 1 July 2007 and gave him the highest player salary in MLS history. His playing contract with Galaxy in 2007, 2008 and 2009 was worth $6.5m per year. He debuted for the team on 21 July 2007 in a friendly versus Chelsea at The Home Depot Center, and on 15 August, he had his first start with the team, scoring his first goal in the 2007 SuperLiga semi-final. His first league start then came on 18 August in front of a record crowd at Giants Stadium.
Beckham is married to former Spice Girl Victoria Beckham (née Adams). The couple have three sons and currently reside in Beverly Hills, California.
Beckham was part of a group of young players at the club who guided the club to win the FA Youth Cup in May 1992, with Beckham scoring in the second leg of the final against Crystal Palace. He made his first appearance for United's first-team that year, as a substitute in a League Cup match against Brighton & Hove Albion, and signed his first professional contract shortly afterwards. United reached the final of the Youth Cup again the following year, with Beckham playing in their defeat by Leeds United, and he won another medal in 1994 when the club's reserve team won their league, although he didn't play in any first team games that season.
On 7 December 1994, Beckham made his UEFA Champions League debut, scoring a goal in a 4–0 victory at home to Galatasaray in the final game of the group stage. However, this victory was of little use as they finished third out of four in their group behind FC Barcelona on goal difference.
He then went to Preston North End on loan for part of the 1994–95 season to get some first team experience. He impressed, scoring two goals in five appearances, notably scoring directly from a corner kick. Beckham returned to Manchester and finally made his Premier League debut for Manchester United on 2 April 1995, in a goal-less draw against Leeds United.
United manager Sir Alex Ferguson had a great deal of confidence in the club's young players. Beckham was part of a group of young talents Ferguson brought in to United in the 1990s ("Fergie's Fledglings"), which included Nicky Butt and Gary and Phil Neville. When experienced players Paul Ince, Mark Hughes, and Andrei Kanchelskis left the club after the end of the 1994–95 season, his decision to let youth team players replace them instead of buying star players from other clubs (United had been linked with moves for players including Darren Anderton, Marc Overmars, and Roberto Baggio, but no major signings were made that summer), drew a great deal of criticism. The criticism increased when United started the season with a 3–1 defeat at Aston Villa, with Beckham scoring United's only goal of the game; however, United won their next five matches and the young players performed well.
Beckham swiftly established himself as United's right-sided midfielder (rather than a right-winger in the style of his predecessor Andrei Kanchelskis) and helped them to win the Premier League title and FA Cup double that season, scoring the winner in the semi-final against Chelsea and also provided the corner that Eric Cantona scored from in the FA Cup Final. Beckham's first title medal had, for a while, looked like it wouldn't be coming that season, as United were still 10 points adrift of leaders Newcastle United at the turn of the new year, but Beckham and his team-mates had overhauled the Tynesiders at the top of the league by mid March and they remained top until the end of the season.
Despite playing regularly (and to a consistently high standard) for Manchester United, Beckham did not break into the England squad before Euro 96.
At the beginning of the 1996–97 season David Beckham was given the number 10 shirt that had most recently been worn by Mark Hughes. On 17 August 1996 (the first day of the Premier League season), Beckham became something of a household name when he scored a spectacular goal in a match against Wimbledon. With United leading 2–0, Beckham noticed that Wimbledon's goalkeeper Neil Sullivan was standing a long way out of his goal, and hit a shot from the halfway line that floated over the goalkeeper and into the net. When Beckham scored his famous goal, he did so in shoes custom-made for Charlie Miller ("Charlie" embroidered on boots), which had been given to Beckham by mistake. During the 1996–97 season, he became an automatic first-choice player at United helping them to retain the Premier League championship, and being voted PFA Young Player of the Year by his peers.
On 18 May 1997, Eric Cantona retired as a player and left the coveted number 7 shirt free, and with Teddy Sheringham arriving from Tottenham Hotspur as Cantona's successor, Beckham left his number 10 shirt for Sheringham and picked up the number 7 jersey. Some fans had felt the number 7 shirt should be retired after Cantona had himself retired, but the shirt number remains in use to this day (most recently by another England star Michael Owen).
United started the 1997–98 season well but erratic performances in the second half of the season saw United finish second behind Arsenal.
In the 1998–99 season, he was part of the United team that won The Treble of the Premier League, FA Cup and Champions League, a unique feat in English football. There had been speculation that the criticism that he had received after being sent off in the World Cup would lead to him leaving England, but he decided to stay at Manchester United.
To ensure they would win the Premier League title, United needed to win their final league match of the season, at home to Tottenham Hotspur (with reports suggesting that the opposition would allow themselves to be easily beaten to prevent their deadly local rivals Arsenal from retaining the title), but Tottenham took an early lead in the match. Beckham scored the equaliser and United went on to win the match and the league.
Beckham played centre-midfield in United's FA Cup final win over Newcastle United and for the 1999 UEFA Champions League Final against Bayern Munich, since United's first string centre-midfielders were suspended for the match. United were losing the match 1–0 at the end of normal time, but won the trophy by scoring two goals in injury time. Both of the goals came from corners taken by Beckham. Those crucial assists, coupled with great performances over the rest of the season, led to him finishing runner up to Rivaldo for 1999's European Footballer of the Year and FIFA World Player of the Year awards.
Beckham in a match against Bristol Rovers
Despite Beckham's achievements in the 1998–99 season, he was still unpopular among some opposition fans and journalists, and he was criticised after being sent off for a deliberate foul in Manchester United's World Club Championship match against Necaxa. It was suggested in the press that his wife was a bad influence on him, and that it might be in United's interests to sell him, but his manager publicly backed him and he stayed at the club. During the 1999–2000 season, there was a talk of a transfer to Juventus in Italy, but this never happened.
By the early 2000s, the relationship between Ferguson and Beckham had begun to deteriorate, possibly as a result of Beckham's fame and commitments away from football. In 2000, Beckham was given permission to miss training to look after his son Brooklyn, who had gastroenteritis, but Ferguson was furious when Victoria Beckham was photographed at a London Fashion Week event on the same night, claiming that Beckham would have been able to train if Victoria had looked after Brooklyn that day. He responded by fining Beckham the maximum amount that was permitted (two weeks' wages – then £50,000) and dropping him for a crucial match against United's rivals Leeds United. He later criticised Beckham for this in his autobiography, claiming he had not been "fair to his teammates" Beckham had a good season for his club, though, and helped United to win the Premier League by a record margin.
"He was never a problem until he got married. He used to go into work with the academy coaches at night time, he was a fantastic young lad. Getting married into that entertainment scene was a difficult thing – from that moment, his life was never going to be the same. He is such a big celebrity, football is only a small part."' – Alex Ferguson speaking about Beckham's marriage in 2007.
Beckham helped United retain the Premier League title in 1999–2000 by an 18-point margin – after being pushed by Arsenal and Leeds United for much of the season, United won their final 11 league games of the season, with Beckham scoring five goals during this fantastic run of form. He managed six league goals that season, and scored eight goals in all competitions.
He was a key player in United's third successive league title in 2000–01 – only the fourth time that any club had achieved three league titles in a row. He scored nine goals that season, all in the Premier League.
On 10 April 2002, Beckham was injured during a Champions League match against Deportivo La Coruña, breaking the second metatarsal bone in his left foot. There was speculation in the British media that the injury might have been caused deliberately, as the player who had injured Beckham was Argentine Aldo Duscher, and England and Argentina were due to meet in that year's World Cup. The injury prevented Beckham from playing for United for the rest of the season and they missed out on the Premier League title to Arsenal (also being knocked out of the European Cup by Bayer Leverkusen on away goals in the semi-finals), but he signed a three-year contract in May, following months of negotiations with the club, mostly concerning extra payments for his image rights. The income from his new contract, and his many endorsement deals, made him the highest-paid player in the world at the time.
2001–02 was arguably Beckham's best season as a United player, though. He scored 11 goals in 28 league games, and a total of 16 goals in 42 games in all competitions, the best tally of his career.
Following an injury early in the 2002–03 season, Beckham was unable to regain his place on the Manchester United team, with Ole Gunnar Solskjær having replaced him on the right side of midfield. His relationship with his manager deteriorated further on 15 February 2003 when, in the changing room following an FA Cup defeat to Arsenal, a furious Alex Ferguson threw or kicked a boot that struck Beckham over the eye, causing a cut that required stitches. The incident led to a great deal of transfer speculation involving Beckham, with bookmakers offering odds on whether he or Ferguson would be first to leave the club. Although the team had started the season badly, their results improved greatly from December onwards and they won the league, with Beckham managing a total of 11 goals in 52 games in all competitions.
He was still a first-choice player for England, however, and he was awarded an OBE for services to football on 13 June 2003.
Beckham had made 265 Premier league appearances for United and scored 61 goals. He also made 81 Champions league appearances, scoring 15 goals. Beckham won six Premier League titles, two FA Cups, one European Cup, one Intercontinental Cup, and one FA Youth Cup in the space of 12 years. By this stage, he was their joint second longest serving player behind Ryan Giggs (having joined them at the same time as Nicky Butt, Gary Neville and Paul Scholes).
It was confirmed on 11 January 2007 that David Beckham would be leaving Real Madrid to join Major League Soccer's Los Angeles Galaxy. The following day, Beckham's official press conference was held in conjunction with the 2007 MLS SuperDraft.
I'm coming there not to be a superstar. I'm coming there to be part of the team, to work hard and to hopefully win things. With me, it's about football. I'm coming there to make a difference. I'm coming there to play football ... I'm not saying me coming over to the States is going to make soccer the biggest sport in America. That would be difficult to achieve. Baseball, basketball, American football, they've been around. But I wouldn't be doing this if I didn't think I could make a difference.
Beckham on going to America
From ESPN
Beckham (centre) scores his first goal for LA Galaxy
Beckham's contract with Los Angeles Galaxy took effect on 11 July, and on 13 July, was officially unveiled as a Galaxy player at The Home Depot Center. Beckham chose to wear number 23. It was announced that Galaxy jersey sales had already reached a record figure of over 250,000 prior to this formal introduction.
On 21 July, Beckham made his Galaxy debut after coming on in the 78th minute in a 1–0 loss to Chelsea during the World Series of Soccer. Two weeks later, Beckham made his league debut as a substitute on 9 August versus DC United. Beckham returned to the pitch the following week, again facing DC United, in the SuperLiga semi-final on 15 August. During this game he had many firsts with the Galaxy; his first start, first yellow card and first game as team captain. He also scored his first goal for the team, from a free kick, and also made his first assist, for Landon Donovan in the second half. These goals gave the team a 2–0 victory, and a place in the North American SuperLiga final versus Pachuca on 29 August.
During the SuperLiga final against Pachuca, Beckham injured his right knee, with an MRI scan revealing that he had sprained his medial collateral ligament and would be out for six weeks. He returned to play in the final home match of the season. The Galaxy were eliminated from playoff contention on 21 October, in the final MLS match of the season, a 1–0 loss to the Chicago Fire. Beckham played as a substitute in the match, bringing his season totals to eight matches played (5 league); one goal scored (0 league); and three assists (2 league).
David Beckham was the Los Angeles Galaxy captain
Beckham trained with Arsenal from 4 January 2008 for three weeks, until he returned to the Galaxy for pre-season training. Beckham scored his first league goal with the Galaxy on 3 April against the San Jose Earthquakes in the 9th minute. On 24 May 2008, the Galaxy defeated the Kansas City Wizards 3–1, giving the Galaxy their first winning record in two years and moving the club into first place in the Western Conference. In the match Beckham scored an empty-net goal from 70 yards out. The goal marked the second time in Beckham's career that he had scored from his own half, the other being a 1996 goal from the halfway line against Wimbledon at Selhurst Park. Overall, however, the Galaxy had a disappointing year, failing to qualify for the end-of-season play-offs.
After his return from Milan, many LA fans showed dislike and anger towards him as he missed the first half of the season and several held up signs saying "Go home fraud", and "Part time player". However, the Galaxy had a much more successful season than in previous years, rising from third to first in the Western Conference during Beckham's time with them. He remained a key part of the squad which saw Galaxy win the 2009 Western Conference final after a 2–0 overtime victory over the Houston Dynamo. In the final on 22 November 2009, the Galaxy lost to Real Salt Lake by 5–4 in a penalty shoot-out after a 1–1 draw. Beckham also scored in the shootout.
International goals
As of 28 October 2009
Goal Date Venue Opponent Score Result Competition Reports
1. 26 June 1998 Stade Félix Bollaert, Lens Colombia 2–0 2–0 1998 World Cup
2. 24 March 2001 Anfield, Liverpool Finland 2–1 2–1 World Cup 2002 qualification
3. 25 May 2001 Pride Park, Derby Mexico 3–0 4–0 Friendly match
4. 6 June 2001 Olympic Stadium, Athens Greece 2–0 2–0 World Cup 2002 qualification
5. 6 October 2001 Old Trafford, Manchester Greece 2–2 2–2 World Cup 2002 qualification
6. 10 November 2001 Old Trafford, Manchester Sweden 1–0 1–1 Friendly match
7. 7 June 2002 Sapporo Dome, Sapporo Argentina 1–0 1–0 2002 World Cup
8. 12 October 2002 theelné pole, Bratislava Slovakia 1–1 2–1 Euro 2004 qualification
9. 16 October 2002 St Mary's Stadium, Southampton Macedonia 1–1 2–2 Euro 2004 qualification
10. 29 March 2003 Rheinpark Stadion, Vaduz Liechtenstein 2–0 2–0 Euro 2004 qualification
11. 2 April 2003 Stadium of Light, Sunderland Turkey 2–0 2–0 Euro 2004 qualification
12. 20 August 2003 Portman Road, Ipswich Croatia 1–0 3–1 Friendly match
13. 6 September 2003 Gradski, Skopje Macedonia 2–1 2–1 Euro 2004 qualification
14. 18 August 2004 St James' Park, Newcastle Ukraine 1–0 3–0 Friendly match
15. 9 October 2004 Old Trafford, Manchester Wales 2– 0 2–0 World Cup 2006 qualification
16. 30 March 2005 St James' Park, Newcastle Azerbaijan 2– 0 2–0 World Cup 2006 qualification
17. 25 June 2006 Gottlieb-Daimler-Stadion, Stuttgart Ecuador 1–0 1–0 World Cup 2006
Discipline
Former manager Alex Ferguson said that he "practised with a discipline to achieve an accuracy that other players wouldn't care about." He maintained his training routine at Real Madrid and even when his relationship with management was strained in early 2007, Real Madrid president Ramón Calderón and manager Fabio Capello praised Beckham for maintaining his professionalism and commitment to the club.
Beckham was the first England player ever to collect two red cards and the first England captain to be sent off. Beckham's most notorious red card was during the 1998 FIFA World Cup after Argentina's Diego Simeone had fouled him, Beckham lashed out with his leg and the Argentine fell.
He amassed 41 yellow cards and four red cards for Real Madrid.
Honours
Club
Manchester United
* Premier League: 1995–96, 1996–97, 1998–99, 1999–00, 2000–01, 2002–03
* FA Cup: 1996, 1999
* UEFA Champions League: 1998–99
* Intercontinental Cup: 1999
* Community Shield: 1993, 1994, 1996, 1997
* FA Youth Cup: 1992
Real Madrid
* La Liga: 2006–07
* Supercopa de España: 2003
Los Angeles Galaxy
* Western Conference: 2009
Individual
* PFA Young Player of the Year: 1996/97
* Sir Matt Busby Player of the Year: 1996/97
* UEFA Club Player of the Year: 1999
* FIFA World Player of the Year: 1999 Runner-up
* Premier League 10 Seasons Awards (1992/3 – 2001/2)
o Overall Team of the Decade
o Goal of the Decade (17 August 1996)
* BBC Sports Personality of the Year: 2001
* FIFA World Player of the Year: 2001 Runner-up
* FIFA 100
* ESPY Award – Best Male Soccer Player: 2004
* ESPY Award – Best MLS Player: 2008
* English Football Hall of Fame: 2008
Orders and special awards
* Officer in the Order of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II: 2003
* United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) Goodwill Ambassador (2005–present)
* "Britain's Greatest Ambassador" – 100 Greatest Britons awards
* The Celebrity 100, number 15 – Forbes, 2007
* Number 1 on the list of the 40 most influential men under the age of 40 in the UK – Arena, 2007
* Time 100: 2008
Statistics
Club Season League Cup League Cup Continental Other Total
Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Manchester United 1992–93 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0
1993–94 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Preston North End (loan) 1994–95 5 2 0 0 0 0 – 0 0 5 2
Manchester United 1994–95 4 0 2 0 3 0 1 1 0 0 10 1
1995–96 33 7 3 1 2 0 2 0 0 0 40 8
1996–97 36 8 2 1 0 0 10 2 1 1 49 12
1997–98 37 9 4 2 0 0 8 0 1 0 50 11
1998–99 34 6 7 1 1 0 12 2 1 0 55 9
1999–2000 31 6 – 0 0 12 2 5 0 48 8
2000–01 31 9 2 0 0 0 12 0 1 0 46 9
2001–02 28 11 1 0 0 0 13 5 1 0 43 16
2002–03 31 6 3 1 5 1 13 3 0 0 52 11
Total 265 62 24 6 12 1 83 15 10 1 399 87
Real Madrid 2003–04 32 3 4 2 – 7 1 0 0 43 6
2004–05 30 4 0 0 – 8 0 0 0 38 4
2005–06 31 3 3 1 – 7 1 0 0 41 5
2006–07 23 3 2 1 – 6 0 0 0 31 4
Total 116 13 9 4 – 28 2 0 0 153 19
Los Angeles Galaxy 2007 5 0 0 0 – – 2 1 7 1
2008 25 5 0 0 – – 0 0 25 5
Milan (loan) 2008–09 18 2 0 0 – 0 0 2 0 20 2
Los Angeles Galaxy 2009 11 2 0 0 – – 4 0 15 2
Total 41 7 0 0 – – 6 1 47 8
Milan (loan) 2009–10 11 0 0 0 – 2 0 0 0 13 0
Total 29 2 0 0 – 2 0 2 0 33 2
Career total 456 86 33 10 12 1 113 17 15 2 632 116
David Beckham Academy
In 2005, Beckham founded the David Beckham Academy football school, operating from two sites: in London and in Los Angeles, California. Further sites are planned at Cabo São Roque in Natal, Brazil, and in Asia.
It was announced in late 2009 that Beckham's Academy in London was "likely to close by the end of the year", with a mobile academy, travelling around the UK, taking its place.
http://i820.photobucket.com/albums/zz128/nenyta1/Foto-David-Beckham-Modelo-camiseta-.jpg
http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e260/girslilmonkey/soccer/beckham.jpg
Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: ninny on 05/02/10 at 5:51 am
I love sitting on a park bench with a cup of coffee in the city in the early morning on a day like today. :)
Sounds like a nice way to start the day :)
Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: ninny on 05/02/10 at 5:55 am
The person who died on this day...J. Edgar Hoover
John Edgar Hoover (January 1, 1895 – May 2, 1972) was the first Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) of the United States. Appointed director of the Bureau of Investigation—predecessor to the FBI—in 1924, he was instrumental in founding the FBI in 1935, where he remained director until his death in 1972. Hoover is credited with building the FBI into a large and efficient crime-fighting agency, and with instituting a number of modern innovations to police technology, such as a centralized fingerprint file and forensic laboratories.
Late in life, and after his death, Hoover became an increasingly controversial figure. His critics have accused him of exceeding the jurisdiction of the FBI. He used the FBI to harass political dissenters and activists, to amass secret files on political leaders, and to collect evidence using illegal methods. It is because of Hoover's long and controversial reign that FBI directors are now limited to 10-year terms
Hoover was born on New Year's Day 1895 in Washington, DC, to Anna Marie Scheitlin, who was descended from a line of Swiss mercenaries, and Dickerson Naylor Hoover, Sr., of English and German ancestry, and grew up in the Eastern Market. Annie's uncle had been the Swiss honorary consul general to the US. Hoover worked at the Library of Congress during college and also became a member of Kappa Alpha Order (Alpha Nu 1914). In 1917, Hoover obtained a law degree from The George Washington University. While a law student, Hoover became interested in the career of Anthony Comstock, the New York City US Postal Inspector, who waged prolonged campaigns against fraud and vice (including pornography and information on birth control) a generation earlier.
FBI career
During World War I, Hoover found work with the Justice Department. He was soon promoted to head of the Enemy Aliens Registration Section. In 1919, he became head of the new General Intelligence Division of the Justice Department (see the Palmer Raids). From there, in 1921, he joined the Bureau of Investigation as deputy head, and in 1924, the Attorney General made him the acting director. On May 10, 1924, Hoover was appointed by President Calvin Coolidge to be the sixth director of the Bureau of Investigation, following President Warren Harding's death and in response to allegations that the prior director, William J. Burns, was involved in the Teapot Dome scandal. When Hoover took over the Bureau of Investigation, it had approximately 650 employees, including 441 Special Agents.
Hoover was noted as sometimes being capricious in his leadership; he frequently fired FBI agents, singling out those whom he thought "looked stupid like truck drivers" or he considered to be "pinheads". He also relocated agents who had displeased him to career-ending assignments and locations. Melvin Purvis was a prime example; he was one of the most effective agents in capturing and breaking up 1930s gangs and received substantial public recognition, but a jealous Hoover maneuvered him out of the FBI.
Gangster wars
In the early 1930s, an epidemic of bank robberies in the Midwest was orchestrated by colorful criminal gangs who took advantage of superior firepower and fast getaway cars to bedevil local law enforcement agencies. To the chagrin and embarrassment of authorities, such robbers were often viewed as somewhat noble in their assaults upon the banking industry, which at the time was evicting many farmers and families from their homesteads. That empathy reached the point that many of these desperadoes, particularly John Dillinger (who became famous for leaping over bank cages and his repeated escapes from jails and police traps), were de facto folk heroes whose exploits frequently made headlines. State officials began to implore Washington to aid them in containing this lawlessness. The fact that the robbers frequently took stolen cars across state lines (a federal offense) gave Hoover and his men the authority to pursue them. Things did not go as planned however, and there were some embarrassing foul-ups on the part of the FBI, particularly clashes with the Dillinger gang. A raid on a summer lodge named "Little Bohemia" in Manitowish Waters, Wisconsin, left an agent and a hapless civilian bystander dead, along with others wounded. All the gangsters escaped. Hoover realized that his job was now on the line, and he pulled out all stops to capture the culprits. Hoover was particularly fixated on eliminating Dillinger, whose misdeeds he considered to be insults aimed directly at him and "his" bureau. In late July 1934, Purvis, the Director of Operations in the Chicago office, received a tip on Dillinger's whereabouts. The tip paid off when Dillinger was located and killed outside the Biograph Theater.
In the same period, there were numerous Mafia shootings as a result of Prohibition, while Hoover continued to deny the very existence of organized crime. Frank Costello helped encourage this view by feeding Hoover, "an inveterate horseplayer" known to send Special Agents to place $100 bets for him, tips on sure winners through their mutual friend, gossip columnist Walter Winchell. Hoover went on to say the Bureau had "much more important functions" than arresting bookmakers and gamblers.
Due to several highly-publicized captures or shootings of outlaws and bank robbers including Dillinger, Alvin Karpis, and Machine Gun Kelly, the Bureau's powers were broadened and it was re-named the Federal Bureau of Investigation in 1935. In 1939, the FBI became pre-eminent in the field of domestic intelligence. Hoover made changes, such as expanding and combining fingerprint files in the Identification Division to compile the largest collection of fingerprints ever. Hoover also helped to greatly expand the FBI's recruitment and create the FBI Laboratory, a division established in 1932 to examine evidence found by the FBI.
Investigation of subversion and radicals
Hoover was concerned about subversion, and under his leadership, the FBI spied upon tens of thousands of suspected subversives and radicals. Hoover tended to exaggerate the dangers of these "subversives", and many times overstepped his bounds in his pursuit of eliminating that perceived threat.
The FBI had some successes against actual subversives and spies. However, in the Quirin affair during World War II, when German U-boats set two small groups of Nazi agents ashore in Florida and Long Island to cause acts of sabotage within the country, the members of these teams were apprehended only after one of the would-be saboteurs contacted the FBI, confessed everything, and then betrayed the other seven men. Nevertheless, President Harry Truman wrote in his memoirs: "The country had reason to be proud of and have confidence in our security agencies. They had kept us almost totally free of sabotage and espionage during World War II".1
Another example of Hoover's concern over subversion was his handling of the Venona Project. The FBI inherited a pre-World War II joint project with the British to eavesdrop on Soviet spies in the UK and the United States. It was not initially realized that espionage was being committed, but due to multiple wartime Soviet use of one-time pad ciphers, which are normally unbreakable, redundancies were created, enabling some intercepts to be decoded, which established the espionage. Hoover kept the intercepts—America's greatest counterintelligence secret—in a locked safe in his office, choosing not to inform President Truman, Attorney General J. Howard McGrath, or two Secretaries of State—Dean Acheson and General George Marshall—while they held office. He informed the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) of the Venona Project in 1952.
According to documents declassified in 2007, Hoover maintained a list of 12,000 Americans suspected of disloyalty with the intention of detaining them and to do so by suspending the writ of habeas corpus. Hoover submitted his plan to Truman at the outbreak of the Korean War, but there is no evidence that Truman accepted the plan.
COINTELPRO years
Main article: COINTELPRO
In 1956, Hoover was becoming increasingly frustrated by Supreme Court decisions that limited the Justice Department's ability to prosecute people for their political opinions, most notably, Communists. At this time he formalized a covert "dirty tricks" program under the name COINTELPRO.
This program remained in place until it was revealed to the public in 1971, and was the cause of some of the harshest criticism of Hoover and the FBI. COINTELPRO was first used to disrupt the Communist Party, and later organizations such as the Black Panther Party, Martin Luther King, Jr.'s SCLC, the Ku Klux Klan, the American Nazi Party and others. Its methods included infiltration, burglaries, illegal wiretaps, planting forged documents and spreading false rumors about key members of target organizations. Some authors have charged that COINTELPRO methods also included inciting violence and arranging murders. In 1975, the activities of COINTELPRO were investigated by the "United States Senate Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities" called the Church Committee after its chairman, Senator Frank Church (D-Idaho) and these activities were declared illegal and contrary to the Constitution. Hoover amassed significant power by collecting files containing large amounts of compromising and potentially embarrassing information on many powerful people, especially politicians. According to Laurence Silberman, appointed Deputy Attorney General in early 1974, FBI Director Clarence M. Kelley thought such files either did not exist or had been destroyed. After The Washington Post broke a story in January 1975, Kelley searched and found them in his outer office. The House Judiciary Committee then demanded that Silberman testify about them. An extensive investigation of Hoover's files by David Garrow showed that Hoover and next-in-command William Sullivan, as well as the FBI itself as an agency, were responsible.
In 1956, several years before he targeted King, Hoover had a public showdown with T.R.M. Howard, a civil rights leader from Mound Bayou, Mississippi. During a national speaking tour, Howard had criticized the FBI's failure to thoroughly investigate the racially motivated murders of George W. Lee, Lamar Smith, and Emmett Till. Hoover not only wrote an open letter to the press singling out these statements as "irresponsible" but secretly enlisted the help of NAACP attorney Thurgood Marshall in a campaign to discredit Howard.
Response to Mafia and civil rights groups
In the 1950s, evidence of Hoover's unwillingness to focus FBI resources on the Mafia became grist for the media and his many detractors, after famed reporter Jack Anderson exposed the immense scope of the Mafia's organized crime network, a threat Hoover had long downplayed. Hoover's retaliation and continual harassment of Anderson lasted into the 1970s. His moves against people who maintained contacts with subversive elements, some of whom were members of the civil rights movement, also led to accusations of trying to undermine their reputations. The treatment of Martin Luther King, Jr. and actress Jean Seberg are two cited examples.
Hoover personally directed the FBI investigation into the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. The House Select Committee on Assassinations issued a report in 1979 critical of the performance by the FBI, the Warren Commission as well as other agencies. The report also criticized what it characterized as the FBI's reluctance to thoroughly investigate the possibility of a conspiracy to assassinate the president.
Late career and death
Presidents Harry Truman, John F. Kennedy, and Lyndon B. Johnson each considered dismissing Hoover as FBI Director, but all of them ultimately concluded that the political cost of doing so would be too great.
Hoover maintained strong support in Congress until his death in 1972 from the effects of high blood pressure. Operational command of the Bureau passed to Associate Director Clyde Tolson. Soon thereafter, President Richard Nixon appointed L. Patrick Gray, a Justice Department official with no FBI experience, as Acting Director, with W. Mark Felt remaining as Associate Director. Being passed over to head the FBI is said to have contributed to Felt's decision to become the informant later referred to as "Deep Throat".
Legacy
Hoover was a consultant to Warner Brothers on a 1959 theatrical film about the FBI, The FBI Story, and in 1965 on Warner Brothers' long-running spin-off television series, The F.B.I. Hoover personally made sure that Warner Brothers would portray the FBI more favorably than other crime dramas of the times.
In 1979, the House Select Committee on Assassinations (HSCA) under Senator Richard Schweiker, which had re-opened the investigation into the assassination of President Kennedy, reported that Hoover's FBI "failed to investigate adequately the possibility of a conspiracy to assassinate the President". The HSCA further reported that Hoover's FBI "was deficient in its sharing of information with other agencies and departments".
The FBI Headquarters in Washington, DC is named after Hoover. Because of the controversial nature of Hoover's legacy, there have been periodic proposals to rename it. In 2001, Senator Harry Reid sponsored an amendment to strip Hoover's name from the building. "J. Edgar Hoover's name on the FBI building is a stain on the building", Reid said. However, the Senate never adopted the amendment.
Personal life
Sexuality
Clyde Tolson (left) and Hoover relaxing on the beach in Los Angeles, 1939
Since the 1940s, unsubstantiated rumors have circulated that Hoover was a homosexual. It has been suggested that Clyde Tolson, an associate director of the FBI who was Hoover's heir, may also have been his lover.
Some authors have dismissed the rumors about Hoover's sexuality and his relationship with Tolson in particular as unlikely, while others have described them as probable or even "confirmed", and still others have reported the rumors without stating an opinion. Hoover described Tolson as his alter ego: the men not only worked closely together during the day, but also took meals, went to night clubs and vacationed together. This closeness between the two men is often cited as evidence that they were lovers, though some FBI employees who knew them, such as Mark Felt, say that the relationship was merely "brotherly".
Tolson inherited Hoover's estate and moved into his home, having accepted the American flag that draped Hoover's casket. Tolson is buried a few yards away from Hoover in the Congressional Cemetery. Attorney Roy Cohn, an associate of Hoover during the 1950s investigations of Communists and himself a closeted homosexual, opined that Hoover was too frightened of his own sexuality to have anything approaching a normal sexual or romantic relationship.
In his 1993 biography Official and Confidential: The Secret Life of J Edgar Hoover, journalist Anthony Summers quoted a witness, "society divorcee" Susan Rosenstiel, (who later served time at Rikers Island for perjuring herself in a 1971 case) who claimed to have seen Hoover engaging in cross-dressing in the 1950s; she claimed that on two occasions she witnessed Hoover wearing a fluffy black dress with flounces and lace, stockings, high heels and a black curly wig, at homosexual orgies.
In 1958 the bisexual millionaire distiller and philanthropist Lewis Solon Rosenstiel asked Susan , his fourth wife, if—having been previously married to another bisexual man for nine years—she had ever seen "a homosexual orgy". Although she had once surprised her sixty-eight-year-old husband in bed with his attorney, Roy Cohn, Susan told Summers that she had never before been invited to view sex between men. With her consent, the couple went one day, soon after this odd question, to Manhattan's Plaza Hotel. Cohn, a former aide to Senator Joseph McCarthy and a Republican power broker, met them at the door. As she and her husband entered the suite, "Susan said, she recognized a third man: J. Edgar Hoover", director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), whom she had met previously at her New York City Upper East Side townhouse. Hoover, Lewis had explained, gave him access to influential politicians; he returned these favors, in part, by paying the director's gambling debts.
Summers also said that the Mafia had blackmail material on Hoover, and that as a consequence, Hoover had been reluctant to aggressively pursue organized crime. Although never corroborated, the allegation of cross-dressing has been widely repeated, and "J. Edna Hoover" has become the subject of humor on television, in movies and elsewhere. In the words of author Thomas Doherty, "For American popular culture, the image of the zaftig FBI director as a Christine Jorgensen wanna-be was too delicious not to savor." Most biographers consider the story of Mafia blackmail to be unlikely in light of the FBI's investigations of the Mafia. Along these lines Truman Capote, who helped spread the rumors, once remarked that he was more interested in making Hoover angry than determining whether the rumors were true.
Hoover hunted down and threatened anyone who made insinuations about his sexuality. He also spread destructive, unsubstantiated rumors that Adlai Stevenson was gay to damage the liberal governor's 1952 Presidential Campaign. His extensive secret files contained surveillance material on Eleanor Roosevelt's alleged lesbian lovers, speculated to be acquired for the purpose of blackmail.
The opening of Soviet archives revealed evidence that there was a Soviet campaign to discredit the United States which used allegations of homosexuality to discredit Hoover. Hoover's biographer Richard Hack, however, reported that Hoover was romantically linked to actress Dorothy Lamour in the late 1930s and early 1940s, and that after Hoover's death, Lamour did not deny rumors that she had had an affair with Hoover in the years between her two marriages. Hack additionally reports that during the 1940s and 1950s, Hoover so often attended social events with Lela Rogers, the divorced mother of dancer and actress Ginger Rogers, that many of their mutual friends assumed the pair would eventually marry.
A Freedom of Information Act request filed by the Washington Post revealed that longtime Hollywood lobbyist Jack Valenti, a special assistant and confidant to President Lyndon Johnson, was investigated by Hoover's FBI in 1964. The investigation, which was carried out despite Valenti's two-year marriage to Johnson's personal secretary, focused on rumors that he was having a gay relationship with a commercial photographer friend.
Masonic connections
Hoover was a "devoted" Freemason and was coronated a 33rd Degree Scottish Rite Freemason in the Southern Scottish Rite Jurisdiction. He was raised a Master Mason on November 9, 1920, in Federal Lodge No. 1, Washington, DC, just two months before his 26th birthday. During his 52 years with the Craft, he received innumerable medals, awards and decorations. Eventually In 1955, he was coroneted a Thirty-third Degree Inspector General Honorary and awarded the Scottish Rite's highest recognition, the Grand Cross of Honour in 1965 by the Southern Masonic Jurisdiction. Today a J. Edgar Hoover room exists within the House of the Temple. The room contains many of Hoover's personal papers and records.
Honors
* In 1938, Hoover received an honorary doctorate from Oklahoma Baptist University during the commencement exercises in which he was the speaker.
* In 1950, King George VI of the United Kingdom awarded Hoover an honorary knighthood in the Order of the British Empire. This entitled him to the postnominal letters KBE, but not to the use of the title "Sir" (because he was a US citizen).
* In 1955, Hoover received the National Security Medal from President Eisenhower.
* In 1966, he received the Distinguished Service Award from President Lyndon B. Johnson for his service as director of the FBI.
* The FBI headquarters in Washington, DC, is named the J. Edgar Hoover Building after him.
* On Hoover's death, Congress voted its permission for his body to lie in state in the Capitol Rotunda, an honor that, at the time, had been accorded to twenty-one other Americans.
* Congress also voted that a memorial book be published to honor Hoover's memory. J. Edgar Hoover: Memorial Tributes in the Congress of the United States and Various Articles and Editorials Relating to His Life and Work was published in 1974.
Portrayals
J. Edgar Hoover has been portrayed many times in the media. Some notable portrayals include:
* In the 1971 Woody Allen movie Bananas, J. Edgar Hoover was portrayed by a large-framed African-American actress, Dorothi Fox.
* Broderick Crawford and James Wainwright portrayed Hoover in the Larry Cohen film The Private Files of J. Edgar Hoover (1977).
* Hoover was portrayed by actor Dolph Sweet in the TV Miniseries King (1978).
* Hoover was portrayed by actor Ernest Borgnine in the TV-movie Blood Feud (1983).
* Hoover was portrayed by actor Vincent Gardenia in the TV-movie Kennedy (1983).
* Hoover was portrayed by actor Treat Williams in the TV-movie J. Edgar Hoover (1987).
* Hoover was portrayed by actor Kevin Dunn in the movie Chaplin (1992).
* Hoover was portrayed by actor Pat Hingle in the TV-movie Citizen Cohn (1992).
* Hoover was portrayed by actor Richard Dysart, both in the TV-movie Marilyn & Bobby: Her Final Affair (1993) and in Mario Van Peebles' 1995 film Panther.
* Hoover was portrayed by actor Bob Hoskins in the Oliver Stone drama Nixon (1995).
* Hoover was portrayed by Canadian actor David Fredericks in two episodes of The X-Files, as well as on its sister show Millennium.
* Hoover was originally portrayed by Eric Jordan Young in the musical Dillinger, Public Enemey Number One.
* Hoover was portrayed by actor Billy Crudup in the Michael Mann film Public Enemies (2009).
* In an Animaniacs short parodying World War II propaganda, Yakko, Wakko, and Dot are collecting silk stockings for the effort and Hoover comes to eagerly collect them personally.
* In the video game Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth, Hoover leads the raid on the Innsmouth gold refinery.
* Hoover serves as a major antagonist in James Ellroy's Underworld USA Trilogy.
http://i439.photobucket.com/albums/qq116/mikemike302/hoover-1.jpg
http://i248.photobucket.com/albums/gg198/ProfessorofTruth/475px-Hoover-JEdgar-LOC.jpg
Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: Howard on 05/02/10 at 7:06 am
I remember her with Macho Man. That time period, wrestling was great!
Wrestling isn't as great as it was back in the 1980's.
Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: Howard on 05/02/10 at 7:11 am
http://s0.ilike.com/play#War:Galaxy:22850:s297484.8790615.962.0.2.46%2Cstd_fbc0accbb01541ebbf75c63f4bb45b4d
Galaxy-War
Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: CatwomanofV on 05/02/10 at 12:03 pm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fSonoNcQLmo
Cat
Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: Howard on 05/02/10 at 7:08 pm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fSonoNcQLmo
Cat
Oh Wow,The Incredible Shrinking Woman,thanks for finding that Cat. :)
Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: ninny on 05/03/10 at 12:20 pm
The word of the day..Bunch
a : a number of things of the same kind <a bunch of grapes> b : group 2a <a bunch of friends> c : a considerable amount : lot <a bunch of money
http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j311/Tinywales/GrappenhallHeys/bunch_of_pansies.jpg
http://i889.photobucket.com/albums/ac94/jonasbrothersFAN_forever/My%20ADVENTURES/DSC01070.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v626/DiverJohn/Plants/JavaFernMedium.jpg
http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t76/ABT1974/outer%20banks%20bike%20week%202010/100_3585.jpg
http://i985.photobucket.com/albums/ae339/My-world-of-dreams/abunchofvioletonapicture.jpg
http://i15.photobucket.com/albums/a396/Scyllaca/Church%20Baby%20Shower/ButtStuff.jpg
http://i546.photobucket.com/albums/hh435/ms_chrystyne/allmixtureofyourfriendpixwithus.jpg
http://i606.photobucket.com/albums/tt150/cool007_2009/GrapesVines.jpg
Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: ninny on 05/03/10 at 12:22 pm
The person born on this day..Ann B. Davis
Ann Bradford Davis (born May 5, 1926) is an American television actress.
Davis achieved prominence for her role in The Bob Cummings Show for which she twice won the Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series. She later played the part of Alice, the housekeeper in The Brady Bunch series.
Davis's first success was as Charmaine "Schultzy" Schultz in the sitcom The Bob Cummings Show on NBC. She auditioned for the role because her friend's boyfriend was a casting director and recommended her for the part. She won the Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series twice out of four nominations for this role. On February 9, 1960, Davis received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
In the 1965–1966 television season, she appeared as Miss Wilson, a physical education teacher at a private girls' academy in San Francisco, in John Forsythe's NBC sitcom The John Forsythe Show. For a period in the 1960s and 1970s, Davis was known for her appearances in television commercials for the Ford Motor Company, particularly for the mid-sized Ford Fairlane models. Davis was featured in commercials for Minute Rice until the mid-1980s.
From 1969 to 1974, Davis played housekeeper Alice Nelson in The Brady Bunch television series. Since then, she has returned to take part in various Brady Bunch TV movies, including The Brady Girls Get Married (1981) and A Very Brady Christmas (1988). She also reprised her role as Alice Nelson two short-lived Brady Bunch spin-off television series: The Brady Brides (1981) and The Bradys (1990), both of which lasted only six episodes. She also made a cameo appearance as a truck driver named "Schultzy", a reference to her days on The Bob Cummings Show, in The Brady Bunch Movie in 1995.
In the early 1990s, Davis focused on theater. She performed in a production of Arsenic and Old Lace, and a world tour production of Crazy For You.
Davis never completely retired from acting; in her later years she appeared in several disposable mop commercials featuring famous television domestics, and has appeared in a number of Brady Bunch reunion projects, most recently TV Land's The Brady Bunch 35th Anniversary Reunion Special: Still Brady After All These Years. On April 22, 2007, The Brady Bunch was awarded the TV Land Pop Culture Award on the 5th annual TV Land Awards. Davis and other cast members accepted the award, and she received a standing ovation.
Personal life
Davis was born in Schenectady, New York, the daughter of Marguerite (née Stott) and Cassius Miles Davis. She has an identical twin, Harriet, and an older brother Evans.
When Davis was three, she and her family moved to Erie, Pennsylvania. She graduated from Strong Vincent High School, and is a graduate of the University of Michigan. She originally enrolled in the University of Michigan as a pre-med major, however, she changed her mind and went into drama after seeing her older brother's performance of Oklahoma! Davis graduated from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor in 1948 with a degree in drama and speech.
In 1976, she sold her home in Los Angeles to move to Denver, Colorado, where she joined an Episcopal community led by Bishop William C. Frey. The community later relocated to Ambridge, Pennsylvania. She currently lives near Leon Springs, Texas in a religious community
http://i459.photobucket.com/albums/qq315/mydogcolbyjack/Ann_B__Davis.gif
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y20/w_cowart/ann_davis.jpg
Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: ninny on 05/03/10 at 12:29 pm
The person who died on this day...Suzy Parker
Suzy Parker (October 28, 1932–May 3, 2003) was an American model and actress active from 1947 into the early 1960s. Her modeling career reached its zenith during the 1950s when she appeared on the cover of dozens of magazines, advertisements, and in movie and television roles. She appeared in several Revlon advertisements, but she also appeared in advertisements for many other cosmetic companies as well, as no model had an exclusive make-up contract until Lauren Hutton (for Revlon and Revlon's Ultima) and Karen Graham (Estée Lauder) signed them in the early 1970s. She was the first model to earn $100,000 per year and the only fashion model to have a Beatles song named after her, even if an unreleased one
Suzy Parker was born Cecilia Ann Renee Parker in San Antonio, Texas, to George (May 27, 1895 – June 7, 1958) and Elizabeth Parker (December 31, 1897 – November 1965). Her parents married around 1916. They had three daughters in a row: Dorian Leigh (Dorian Elizabeth Parker) born on April 23, 1917; Florian Avaline (Cissy/Cissie), born May 5, 1918, and Georgiabell Laura, born July 29, 1919. In 1931, 12 years after her last child was born, Elizabeth thought she was going through menopause. Instead, she was five months pregnant when she learned she was expecting another baby. Elizabeth's fourth daughter, was named after three friends. Dorian, however, told her mom to name her Cecilia Renee Ann Parker so she would have obscence initials. Her parents caught on to Dorian's games.. Her father didn't like the name and called her Susie. A French Vogue photographer changed the spelling to Suzy.
Suzy's family later moved to Highland Park, New Jersey, and to Florida. It was her 15-years-older sister, Dorian, who introduced her to agent Eileen Ford when she was just 15 years old.
Career
Three of the Parker sisters were very tall, standing between 5'10" and 6'1". Dorian was the sole exception, standing 5'5". In 1944, Dorian was writing advertising copy when a co-worker encouraged Dorian to go to the Conover Modeling Agency to try modeling. (The agency of Harry Sayles Conover was active 1939–1959.)
One of Dorian's first advertisements was for Revlon. Charles Revson (who later wanted to marry her) hired her for "Poison Apple," one of Revlon's first all-color, nationwide ads.
Dorian was one of the top models in the world, arguably referred to as the "world's first supermodel" (along with Lisa Fonssagrives). When Suzy was about age 15, Dorian telephoned The Ford Modeling Agency and told Eileen Ford and Jerry Ford that she would sign on with them if they also took her younger sister, sight unseen. Anxious to represent Dorian, they agreed. Expecting to meet a similarly petite, extremely thin, flawless, pale-faced, electric blue-eyed, raven-haired younger version of Dorian, they were shocked to meet Suzy for the first time at a restaurant. At the meeting, the Fords said, "Oh, my God!" Suzy was already 5'10", big-boned, and had carrot red hair, pale-green eyes, and freckles. Suzy later became more famous than Dorian.
Suzy's photo appeared in Life magazine at age 15. That same year, one of her first magazine advertisements was for DeRosa Jewelry. Although she still lived with her parents in Florida, she stayed in New York City with Dorian when she had modeling assignments there. Dorian introduced Suzy to her fashion-photographer friends, Irving Penn, Horst P. Horst, John Rawlings, and a young Richard Avedon. Suzy became Avedon's muse. At age 61, she said, "The only joy I ever got out of modeling was working with Dick Avedon."
Parker became the so-called signature face of the Coco Chanel brand. Chanel herself became a close confidante, giving Parker advice on men and money as well as creating numerous Chanel outfits for her.
She was the first model to earn $200 per hour and $100,000 per year. Vogue declared her one of the faces of the confident, post-war American woman.
However, by 1955, she owed income taxes on her modeling income from previous years, amounting to more than $60,000 in back taxes and rapidly accumulating penalties, an enormous amount at the time. Fortunately, Jerry Ford paid her tax bill and found her assignments. She worked also non-stop for Vogue, Revlon, Hertz, Westinghouse, Max Factor, Bliss, DuPont, Simplicity, Smirnoff, and Ronson shavers, to name a few. She also was on the covers of about 70 magazines around the world, including Vogue, Elle, Life, Look, Redbook, Paris Match and McCall's.
Avedon suggested Suzy for the movie Funny Face (1957). Fred Astaire's role was based on Avedon, whose photos appeared in the movie. Audrey Hepburn's role was inspired by Suzy, just as Hepburn's role in Breakfast at Tiffany's was supposedly based on Dorian's promiscuous lifestyle. Suzy appeared in the movie for only about two minutes.
Her other credits included Kiss Them for Me opposite Cary Grant (1957), The Best of Everything (1959), Ten North Frederick starring Gary Cooper (1959), Circle of Deception (1960) during which she met future husband Bradford Dillman, Flight from Ashiya (1964), Chamber of Horrors (1966) and dramatic roles in TV shows such as Burke's Law and The Twilight Zone plus appearances as herself on a number of quiz shows like I've Got a Secret.
After marrying her third husband, Dillman, in 1963, and suffering further injuries in another car accident in 1964, she mostly retired from modeling and acting to live a quiet life in Montecito, California, with her family.
Personal life
Parker was married three times. In about 1950, Suzy and her high-school sweetheart, Ronald (last name unknown), drove to Georgia to secretly marry. Some references however state that her first husband's name was Charles. Suzy said that she married him in a bikini with a raincoat on top, adding, "He was very good-looking, and it was just a sheer disaster." The young couple drove back to Florida where she was still living with her parents who were upset because of her age and because Ronald was part Cherokee. They moved to Pennsylvania and rented a house near where Dorian was living with her husband and children. Suzy was already modeling in the United States and Europe while Ronald was attending the University of Pennsylvania as a freshman.
Suzy met journalist Pierre de la Salle (Pitou) at a Jacques Fath party outside of Paris. She and Dorian were modeling together and separately on this trip with photographer Richard Avedon. She came back to the United States and asked Ronald for a divorce. Ronald would only agree to a quick divorce if Suzy gave him a large monetary settlement and paid for plastic surgery on his nose and his acting lessons. Suzy agreed, and they obtained a quick divorce in Mexico, which became final in 1953. Purportedly when Ronald could not get acting jobs, he committed suicide. Suzy and Pierre continued to date for years despite Pierre's numerous infidelities. She also was paying for his high cost-of-living expenses. They married about 1957 or 1958, but the couple kept it a secret.
In 1958, Suzy was a passenger in a car her father was driving when they were hit by an oncoming train. Supposedly neither heard nor saw the train until it slammed into the car. Her father died of his injuries at the hospital. Suzy checked into the hospital with broken bones and embedded glass (with her face untouched) under the name Mrs. Pierre de la Salle. The press jumped on this, and Pierre continued to deny that they were married. Soon thereafter, a photo spread of the couple appeared in the August 19, 1958, Look magazine cover story about Suzy. Suzy began psychotherapy to cope with her rocky marriage and the death of her beloved father.
After recovering from her injuries, Suzy became pregnant and Pierre left. She said, "He didn't want to be a father. I already hired a nanny... he was gone, history." She gave birth to their daughter Georgia Belle Florian Coco Chanel de la Salle in December 1959, whose godmother was close-friend Chanel. A March 14, 1977, People magazine article featured Suzy trying to launch her then 17-year-old daughter Georgia as a model. However, Georgia modeled only a few times during and after college. By 2006, Georgia's father Pierre de la Salle was in his 70s and living with then-wife Berenice, whom he married in 1977, in Mammoth Lakes, California.
In 1960, Suzy met actor Bradford Dillman on the set of their movie, Circle of Deception. She was still married to de la Salle but no longer living with him. Bradford was ending his first marriage and dating Juliette Greco at the time. Suzy obtained a divorce and married Bradford in 1963 on board a boat at sea. She changed her name to Suzy Parker Dillman following the marriage.
Suzy mostly retired from modeling and acting by 1964. After she married Dillman, she also became a stepmother to his two children, Jeffrey and Pamela and wanted to stay home to be a mother and cook. Like her sister Dorian Leigh, who was a Cordon-bleu level chief, Suzy was also an excellent cook.
Suzy had three more children with Bradford: Dinah (b. 1965), Charlie (b. 1967), and Christopher (b. 1969). The family lived in the Bel-Air district of Los Angeles until Dinah was bitten by a rattlesnake in the yard and almost died.. They then moved to Montecito in the Santa Barbara area, where Suzy remained until her death in 2003.
Last years
A self-described tomboy in her teens, she broke several bones as a result. Parker also broke bones in a serious car accident in 1958 that killed her father. In 1964 she was nervously rehearsing for her famous appearance in the well-known Twilight Zone episode "Number 12 Looks Just Like You" when she was in another car accident. Suzy had long suffered from allergies and, in the 1990s, developed ulcers. During surgery for an ulcer, her vital signs disappeared on the operating table, but she was resuscitated. She never fully recovered and developed more ulcers and diabetes. She had multiple hip surgeries, and then her kidneys began to fail. She spent the last five years of her life in and out of the hospital.
Death
Suzy decided to end dialysis treatments. She returned home to die surrounded by family at her orchard in Montecito where she died at aged 70 on May 3, 2003. She was survived by two of her three sisters: Dorian Leigh (who died in 2008 at the age 91 and reportedly did not attend her sister's funeral due to a long estrangement) and Florian ("Cissie", "Cissy"), as of 2009, the sole surviving Parker sister. Her husband, Bradford Dillman, her four children, and two stepchildren also survived her.
Filmography
* Funny Face (1957)
* Kiss Them for Me (1957)
* Ten North Frederick (1958)
* The Best of Everything (1959)
* A Circle of Deception (1960)
* The Interns (1962)
* Flight from Ashiya (1964)
* Chamber of Horrors (1966)
Television
* Producers' Showcase (2 episodes, 1957)
* Playhouse 90 (1 episode, 1957)
* Burke's Law (2 episodes, 1963)
* The Twilight Zone "Number 12 Looks Just Like You," (1 episode, 1964)
* Dr. Kildare (1 episode, 1964)
* The Rogues (1 episode, 1964)
* Vacation Playhouse (1 episode, 1965)
* Tarzan (1 episode, 1966)
* Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre (1 episode, 1967)
* It Takes a Thief (1 episode, 1968)
* Night Gallery (1 episode, 1970)
http://i232.photobucket.com/albums/ee298/shelbershelbs/Parker01.jpg
http://i335.photobucket.com/albums/m468/thecatist/vogue%20covers/april1954suzyparker.png
Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: Howard on 05/03/10 at 12:59 pm
The person born on this day..Ann B. Davis
Ann Bradford Davis (born May 5, 1926) is an American television actress.
Davis achieved prominence for her role in The Bob Cummings Show for which she twice won the Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series. She later played the part of Alice, the housekeeper in The Brady Bunch series.
Davis's first success was as Charmaine "Schultzy" Schultz in the sitcom The Bob Cummings Show on NBC. She auditioned for the role because her friend's boyfriend was a casting director and recommended her for the part. She won the Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series twice out of four nominations for this role. On February 9, 1960, Davis received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
In the 1965–1966 television season, she appeared as Miss Wilson, a physical education teacher at a private girls' academy in San Francisco, in John Forsythe's NBC sitcom The John Forsythe Show. For a period in the 1960s and 1970s, Davis was known for her appearances in television commercials for the Ford Motor Company, particularly for the mid-sized Ford Fairlane models. Davis was featured in commercials for Minute Rice until the mid-1980s.
From 1969 to 1974, Davis played housekeeper Alice Nelson in The Brady Bunch television series. Since then, she has returned to take part in various Brady Bunch TV movies, including The Brady Girls Get Married (1981) and A Very Brady Christmas (1988). She also reprised her role as Alice Nelson two short-lived Brady Bunch spin-off television series: The Brady Brides (1981) and The Bradys (1990), both of which lasted only six episodes. She also made a cameo appearance as a truck driver named "Schultzy", a reference to her days on The Bob Cummings Show, in The Brady Bunch Movie in 1995.
In the early 1990s, Davis focused on theater. She performed in a production of Arsenic and Old Lace, and a world tour production of Crazy For You.
Davis never completely retired from acting; in her later years she appeared in several disposable mop commercials featuring famous television domestics, and has appeared in a number of Brady Bunch reunion projects, most recently TV Land's The Brady Bunch 35th Anniversary Reunion Special: Still Brady After All These Years. On April 22, 2007, The Brady Bunch was awarded the TV Land Pop Culture Award on the 5th annual TV Land Awards. Davis and other cast members accepted the award, and she received a standing ovation.
Personal life
Davis was born in Schenectady, New York, the daughter of Marguerite (née Stott) and Cassius Miles Davis. She has an identical twin, Harriet, and an older brother Evans.
When Davis was three, she and her family moved to Erie, Pennsylvania. She graduated from Strong Vincent High School, and is a graduate of the University of Michigan. She originally enrolled in the University of Michigan as a pre-med major, however, she changed her mind and went into drama after seeing her older brother's performance of Oklahoma! Davis graduated from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor in 1948 with a degree in drama and speech.
In 1976, she sold her home in Los Angeles to move to Denver, Colorado, where she joined an Episcopal community led by Bishop William C. Frey. The community later relocated to Ambridge, Pennsylvania. She currently lives near Leon Springs, Texas in a religious community
http://i459.photobucket.com/albums/qq315/mydogcolbyjack/Ann_B__Davis.gif
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y20/w_cowart/ann_davis.jpg
happy birthday Alice. :)
Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: ninny on 05/04/10 at 6:18 am
The word of the day...Pipeline
# A conduit of pipe, especially one used for the conveyance of water, gas, or petroleum products.
# A direct channel by which information is privately transmitted.
# A system through which something is conducted, especially as a means of supply:
http://i938.photobucket.com/albums/ad224/eliz0853/alaska%202010/100_1368.jpg
http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g164/michellec923/pipeline__aaron_chang_.jpg
http://i475.photobucket.com/albums/rr115/sKyDiVeR11/Pipeline.jpg
http://i246.photobucket.com/albums/gg95/DeathWarrent/Pipeline.jpg
http://i188.photobucket.com/albums/z6/trockalot/Alaska/74a4.jpg
http://i81.photobucket.com/albums/j211/mymy71491/pipeline.jpg
Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: ninny on 05/04/10 at 6:34 am
The person who died on this day...Dom DeLuise
Dominick "Dom" DeLuise (August 1, 1933 – May 4, 2009) was an American actor, comedian, film director, television producer, chef, and author. He was the husband of actress Carol Arthur from 1965 until his death, and the father of actor, writer, director Peter DeLuise, actor David DeLuise, and actor Michael DeLuise DeLuise was born in Brooklyn, New York, to Italian American parents Vincenza "Jennie" (née DeStefano), a homemaker, and John DeLuise, a civil servant (garbage collector). He was the second born and had an older brother named Nicholas "Nick" DeLuise. DeLuise graduated from Manhattan's High School of Performing Arts. He later attended Tufts University in Medford, Massachusetts.
Career
DeLuise generally appeared in comedic parts, although an early appearance (in the movie Fail-Safe as a nervous enlisted airman) showed a possible broader range. His first acting credit was as a regular performer in the television show The Entertainers in 1964. He gained early notice for his supporting turn in the Doris Day film The Glass Bottom Boat (1966). In his New York Times review, Vincent Canby panned the film but singled out the actor, stating, "he best of the lot, however, is a newcomer, Dom DeLuise, as a portly, bird-brained spy."
In the 1970s and 1980s, he often co-starred with Burt Reynolds. Together they appeared in the films The Cannonball Run and Cannonball Run II, Smokey and the Bandit II, The End, All Dogs Go to Heaven and The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas. DeLuise was the host of the television show Candid Camera from 1991 to 1992.
DeLuise also lent his voice for animated films and was a particular staple of Don Bluth's features, playing major roles in The Secret of NIMH, An American Tail, A Troll in Central Park and All Dogs Go to Heaven along with their respective sequels and spinoff series. He also lent his voice to Fagin in the Walt Disney film Oliver & Company and made guest appearances on several animated TV series.
The handprints of Dom DeLuise in Atlantic City, NJ.
TV producer Greg Garrison hired DeLuise to appear as a specialty act on The Dean Martin Show. DeLuise ran through his "Dominick the Great" routine, a riotous example of a magic act gone wrong, with host Martin as a bemused volunteer from the audience. Dom's catch phrase, with an Italian accent, was "No Applause Necessary, Save-a to the End." The show went so well that DeLuise was soon a regular on Martin's program, participating in both songs and sketches. Garrison also featured DeLuise in his own hour-long comedy specials for ABC. (Martin was often just off-camera when these were taped, and his distinctive laugh can be heard loud and clear.)
DeLuise was probably best known as a regular in Mel Brooks's films. He appeared in The Twelve Chairs, Blazing Saddles, Silent Movie, History of the World, Part I, Spaceballs, and Robin Hood: Men in Tights. Brooks's late wife, actress Anne Bancroft, directed Dom in Fatso (1980). He also had a cameo in Johnny Dangerously as the Pope and in Jim Henson's The Muppet Movie as a wayward Hollywood talent agent who comes across Kermit the Frog singing "The Rainbow Connection" in the film's opening scene.
DeLuise exhibited his comedic talents while playing the speaking part of the jailer Frosch in the comedic operetta Die Fledermaus at the Metropolitan Opera, playing the role in four separate revivals of the work at the Met between December 1989 and January 1996. In the production, while the singing was in German, the spoken parts were in English. A lifelong opera fan, he also portrayed the role of L'Opinion Publique in drag for the Los Angeles Opera's production of Offenbach's Orpheus in the Underworld.
An avid cook and author of several books on cooking, in recent years he appeared as a regular contributor to a syndicated home improvement radio show, On The House with The Carey Brothers, giving listeners tips on culinary topics. He was also a friend and self-proclaimed "look-alike" of famous Cajun chef Paul Prudhomme. He also wrote seven children's books.
Death
Search Wikinews Wikinews has related news: American comedic actor Dom DeLuise dies at age 75
DeLuise died at age 75 on May 4, 2009, at Saint John's Health Center in Santa Monica, California. He was hospitalized at the time, suffering from kidney failure and respiratory problems due to complications from diabetes and high blood pressure. He died from kidney failure and respiratory complications from cancer. He was cremated and his ashes were buried with his parents in New York City. His family was by his side at the time of his death.
Filmography
* Diary of a Bachelor (1964)
* Fail-Safe (1964)
* The Glass Bottom Boat (1966)
* The Busy Body (1967)
* What's So Bad About Feeling Good? (1968)
* The Twelve Chairs (1970)
* Norwood (1970)
* Who Is Harry Kellerman and Why Is He Saying Those Terrible Things About Me? (1971)
* Every Little Crook and Nanny (1972)
* Blazing Saddles (1974)
* The Adventure of Sherlock Holmes' Smarter Brother (1975)
* Silent Movie (1976)
* The World's Greatest Lover (1977)
* Sextette (1978)
* The End (1978)
* The Cheap Detective (1978)
* The Muppet Movie (1979) (cameo)
* Hot Stuff (1979) (also director)
* The Last Married Couple in America (1980)
* Fatso (1980)
* Wholly Moses (1980)
* Smokey and the Bandit II (1980)
* History of the World, Part I (1981)
* The Cannonball Run (1981)
* Peter-No-Tail (1981) (voice in English dubbed version)
* The Secret of NIMH (1982) (voice)
* The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas (1982)
* Cannonball Run II (1984)
* Johnny Dangerously (1984)
* Haunted Honeymoon (1986)
* An American Tail (1986) (voice)
* A Taxi Driver in New York (1987)
* Spaceballs (1987) (voice only)
* Going Bananas (1988)
* Oliver & Company (1988) (voice)
* The Princess and the Dwarf (1989)
* All Dogs Go to Heaven (1989) (voice)
* Loose Cannons (1990)
* Driving Me Crazy (1991) (aka "Trabbi Goes to Hollywood")
* An American Tail: Fievel Goes West (1991) (voice)
* Munchie (1992) (voice only)
* The Magic Voyage (1992) (voice)
* Almost Pregnant (1992)
* The Skateboard Kid (1993) (voice only)
* Happily Ever After (1993) (voice)
* Robin Hood: Men in Tights (1993)
* Don't Drink the Water (1994)
* The Silence of the Hams (1994)
* A Troll in Central Park (1994) (voice)
* All Dogs Go to Heaven 2 (1996) (voice)
* Red Line (1996)
* Boys Will Be Boys (1997)
* The Good Bad Guys (1997)
* Between the Sheets (1998) (Cameo)
* The Godson (1998)
* An American Tail: The Treasure of Manhattan Island (1998) (voice)
* Baby Geniuses (1999)
* An American Tail: The Mystery of the Night Monster (1999) (voice)
* Lion of Oz (2000) (voice)
* The Brainiacs.com (2000)
* It's All About You (2001)
* My X-Girlfriend's Wedding Reception (2001)
* Remembering Mario (2003) (voice only)
* Girl Play (2004)
* Breaking the Fifth (2004)
* Bongee Bear and the Kingdom of Rhythm (2006) (voice)
Television
* The Entertainers (1964–1965)
* The Dean Martin Summer Show (regular performer in 1966)
* The Dom DeLuise Show (1968) (summer replacement for Jackie Gleason)
* The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour (regular performer from 1971–1972)
* The Roman Holidays (1972) (cancelled after four months)
* The Dean Martin Show (regular performer from 1972–1973)
* Lotsa Luck (1973–1974)
* Only with Married Men (1974)
* The Muppet Show (1977)
* Happy (1983) (also executive producer)
* Amazing Stories, episode: Guilt Trip (1985)
* The Dom DeLuise Show (1987–1988)
* 21 Jump Street (1989)
* B.L. Stryker, episode: Die Laughing (1989)
* Timmy's Gift: A Precious Moments Christmas (1991) (voice)
* Fievel's American Tails (1991–1992) (voice)
* Candid Camera (host from 1991–1992)
* The Ren & Stimpy Show (cast member from 1993–1995) (voice)
* Married... With Children (1993) (voice)
* Burke's Law (1994–1995)
* seaQuest DSV (1994)
* The Magic School Bus (TV series) (1994 - Episode Get Ready, Set, Dough) (voice)
* Alef Bet Blast-Off Lights of Freedom "Pharaoh" (1995)
* Tin Soldier (1995)
* Shari's Passover Surprise (1996)
* Beverly Hills 90210, episode: I Only Have Eyes for You (1997)
* 3rd Rock from the Sun (1997)
* Dexter's Laboratory (1997 - episode: Koosalagoopagoop, voice of "Koosie")
* Cow and Chicken
* Hercules: The Animated Series
* Rugrats (Guest Star)
* Sabrina, the Teenage Witch (1998)
* All Dogs Go to Heaven: The Series (1996–1999) (voice)
* Charlie Horse Music Pizza (1998–1999)
* Stargate SG-1 episode "Urgo" (2000)
* Emeril (2001)
* Always Greener (2001)
* Robot Chicken (2005) (guest voice)
* Spaceballs: The Animated Series (2008) (voice)
Video Games
* Toonstruck (1996) (voice)
http://i904.photobucket.com/albums/ac249/joeljacobie/dom_deluise1.jpg
http://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h118/AnPmc/DomDeluis-796316.jpg
Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: 2kidsami on 05/04/10 at 7:25 am
The person who died on this day...Dom DeLuise
Dominick "Dom" DeLuise (August 1, 1933 – May 4, 2009) was an American actor, comedian, film director, television producer, chef, and author. He was the husband of actress Carol Arthur from 1965 until his death, and the father of actor, writer, director Peter DeLuise, actor David DeLuise, and actor Michael DeLuise DeLuise was born in Brooklyn, New York, to Italian American parents Vincenza "Jennie" (née DeStefano), a homemaker, and John DeLuise, a civil servant (garbage collector). He was the second born and had an older brother named Nicholas "Nick" DeLuise. DeLuise graduated from Manhattan's High School of Performing Arts. He later attended Tufts University in Medford, Massachusetts.
Career
DeLuise generally appeared in comedic parts, although an early appearance (in the movie Fail-Safe as a nervous enlisted airman) showed a possible broader range. His first acting credit was as a regular performer in the television show The Entertainers in 1964. He gained early notice for his supporting turn in the Doris Day film The Glass Bottom Boat (1966). In his New York Times review, Vincent Canby panned the film but singled out the actor, stating, "he best of the lot, however, is a newcomer, Dom DeLuise, as a portly, bird-brained spy."
In the 1970s and 1980s, he often co-starred with Burt Reynolds. Together they appeared in the films The Cannonball Run and Cannonball Run II, Smokey and the Bandit II, The End, All Dogs Go to Heaven and The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas. DeLuise was the host of the television show Candid Camera from 1991 to 1992.
DeLuise also lent his voice for animated films and was a particular staple of Don Bluth's features, playing major roles in The Secret of NIMH, An American Tail, A Troll in Central Park and All Dogs Go to Heaven along with their respective sequels and spinoff series. He also lent his voice to Fagin in the Walt Disney film Oliver & Company and made guest appearances on several animated TV series.
The handprints of Dom DeLuise in Atlantic City, NJ.
TV producer Greg Garrison hired DeLuise to appear as a specialty act on The Dean Martin Show. DeLuise ran through his "Dominick the Great" routine, a riotous example of a magic act gone wrong, with host Martin as a bemused volunteer from the audience. Dom's catch phrase, with an Italian accent, was "No Applause Necessary, Save-a to the End." The show went so well that DeLuise was soon a regular on Martin's program, participating in both songs and sketches. Garrison also featured DeLuise in his own hour-long comedy specials for ABC. (Martin was often just off-camera when these were taped, and his distinctive laugh can be heard loud and clear.)
DeLuise was probably best known as a regular in Mel Brooks's films. He appeared in The Twelve Chairs, Blazing Saddles, Silent Movie, History of the World, Part I, Spaceballs, and Robin Hood: Men in Tights. Brooks's late wife, actress Anne Bancroft, directed Dom in Fatso (1980). He also had a cameo in Johnny Dangerously as the Pope and in Jim Henson's The Muppet Movie as a wayward Hollywood talent agent who comes across Kermit the Frog singing "The Rainbow Connection" in the film's opening scene.
DeLuise exhibited his comedic talents while playing the speaking part of the jailer Frosch in the comedic operetta Die Fledermaus at the Metropolitan Opera, playing the role in four separate revivals of the work at the Met between December 1989 and January 1996. In the production, while the singing was in German, the spoken parts were in English. A lifelong opera fan, he also portrayed the role of L'Opinion Publique in drag for the Los Angeles Opera's production of Offenbach's Orpheus in the Underworld.
An avid cook and author of several books on cooking, in recent years he appeared as a regular contributor to a syndicated home improvement radio show, On The House with The Carey Brothers, giving listeners tips on culinary topics. He was also a friend and self-proclaimed "look-alike" of famous Cajun chef Paul Prudhomme. He also wrote seven children's books.
Death
Search Wikinews Wikinews has related news: American comedic actor Dom DeLuise dies at age 75
DeLuise died at age 75 on May 4, 2009, at Saint John's Health Center in Santa Monica, California. He was hospitalized at the time, suffering from kidney failure and respiratory problems due to complications from diabetes and high blood pressure. He died from kidney failure and respiratory complications from cancer. He was cremated and his ashes were buried with his parents in New York City. His family was by his side at the time of his death.
Filmography
* Diary of a Bachelor (1964)
* Fail-Safe (1964)
* The Glass Bottom Boat (1966)
* The Busy Body (1967)
* What's So Bad About Feeling Good? (1968)
* The Twelve Chairs (1970)
* Norwood (1970)
* Who Is Harry Kellerman and Why Is He Saying Those Terrible Things About Me? (1971)
* Every Little Crook and Nanny (1972)
* Blazing Saddles (1974)
* The Adventure of Sherlock Holmes' Smarter Brother (1975)
* Silent Movie (1976)
* The World's Greatest Lover (1977)
* Sextette (1978)
* The End (1978)
* The Cheap Detective (1978)
* The Muppet Movie (1979) (cameo)
* Hot Stuff (1979) (also director)
* The Last Married Couple in America (1980)
* Fatso (1980)
* Wholly Moses (1980)
* Smokey and the Bandit II (1980)
* History of the World, Part I (1981)
* The Cannonball Run (1981)
* Peter-No-Tail (1981) (voice in English dubbed version)
* The Secret of NIMH (1982) (voice)
* The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas (1982)
* Cannonball Run II (1984)
* Johnny Dangerously (1984)
* Haunted Honeymoon (1986)
* An American Tail (1986) (voice)
* A Taxi Driver in New York (1987)
* Spaceballs (1987) (voice only)
* Going Bananas (1988)
* Oliver & Company (1988) (voice)
* The Princess and the Dwarf (1989)
* All Dogs Go to Heaven (1989) (voice)
* Loose Cannons (1990)
* Driving Me Crazy (1991) (aka "Trabbi Goes to Hollywood")
* An American Tail: Fievel Goes West (1991) (voice)
* Munchie (1992) (voice only)
* The Magic Voyage (1992) (voice)
* Almost Pregnant (1992)
* The Skateboard Kid (1993) (voice only)
* Happily Ever After (1993) (voice)
* Robin Hood: Men in Tights (1993)
* Don't Drink the Water (1994)
* The Silence of the Hams (1994)
* A Troll in Central Park (1994) (voice)
* All Dogs Go to Heaven 2 (1996) (voice)
* Red Line (1996)
* Boys Will Be Boys (1997)
* The Good Bad Guys (1997)
* Between the Sheets (1998) (Cameo)
* The Godson (1998)
* An American Tail: The Treasure of Manhattan Island (1998) (voice)
* Baby Geniuses (1999)
* An American Tail: The Mystery of the Night Monster (1999) (voice)
* Lion of Oz (2000) (voice)
* The Brainiacs.com (2000)
* It's All About You (2001)
* My X-Girlfriend's Wedding Reception (2001)
* Remembering Mario (2003) (voice only)
* Girl Play (2004)
* Breaking the Fifth (2004)
* Bongee Bear and the Kingdom of Rhythm (2006) (voice)
Television
* The Entertainers (1964–1965)
* The Dean Martin Summer Show (regular performer in 1966)
* The Dom DeLuise Show (1968) (summer replacement for Jackie Gleason)
* The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour (regular performer from 1971–1972)
* The Roman Holidays (1972) (cancelled after four months)
* The Dean Martin Show (regular performer from 1972–1973)
* Lotsa Luck (1973–1974)
* Only with Married Men (1974)
* The Muppet Show (1977)
* Happy (1983) (also executive producer)
* Amazing Stories, episode: Guilt Trip (1985)
* The Dom DeLuise Show (1987–1988)
* 21 Jump Street (1989)
* B.L. Stryker, episode: Die Laughing (1989)
* Timmy's Gift: A Precious Moments Christmas (1991) (voice)
* Fievel's American Tails (1991–1992) (voice)
* Candid Camera (host from 1991–1992)
* The Ren & Stimpy Show (cast member from 1993–1995) (voice)
* Married... With Children (1993) (voice)
* Burke's Law (1994–1995)
* seaQuest DSV (1994)
* The Magic School Bus (TV series) (1994 - Episode Get Ready, Set, Dough) (voice)
* Alef Bet Blast-Off Lights of Freedom "Pharaoh" (1995)
* Tin Soldier (1995)
* Shari's Passover Surprise (1996)
* Beverly Hills 90210, episode: I Only Have Eyes for You (1997)
* 3rd Rock from the Sun (1997)
* Dexter's Laboratory (1997 - episode: Koosalagoopagoop, voice of "Koosie")
* Cow and Chicken
* Hercules: The Animated Series
* Rugrats (Guest Star)
* Sabrina, the Teenage Witch (1998)
* All Dogs Go to Heaven: The Series (1996–1999) (voice)
* Charlie Horse Music Pizza (1998–1999)
* Stargate SG-1 episode "Urgo" (2000)
* Emeril (2001)
* Always Greener (2001)
* Robot Chicken (2005) (guest voice)
* Spaceballs: The Animated Series (2008) (voice)
Video Games
* Toonstruck (1996) (voice)
http://i904.photobucket.com/albums/ac249/joeljacobie/dom_deluise1.jpg
http://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h118/AnPmc/DomDeluis-796316.jpg
I loved Dom! He was sooo exuberant - I can still remember him from the glad bag (???? maybe it was ziploc - or some other kitchen product) commercials. I think Billy Mayes patterened himself off of Dom. He was awesome in every movie - but he always acted like himself.
Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: ninny on 05/04/10 at 9:02 am
I loved Dom! He was sooo exuberant - I can still remember him from the glad bag (???? maybe it was ziploc - or some other kitchen product) commercials. I think Billy Mayes patterened himself off of Dom. He was awesome in every movie - but he always acted like himself.
Agreed Dom was a rare talent :)
Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: Frank on 05/04/10 at 12:12 pm
Agreed Dom was a rare talent :)
Yes, he was hilarious. I really liked the show 'Lotsa Luck". Wonder if anyone else remembers that TV show other than I?
Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: Howard on 05/04/10 at 2:57 pm
Man I miss Dom,He was such a funny and a pisser of a comedian. :(
Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: ninny on 05/04/10 at 6:16 pm
Yes, he was hilarious. I really liked the show 'Lotsa Luck". Wonder if anyone else remembers that TV show other than I?
Sadly no I don't recall it.
Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: CatwomanofV on 05/04/10 at 6:28 pm
A waitress at a restaurant that one of my best friends & I used to go to A LOT told us that Dom used to go there frequently. Unfortunately, he never came in when we were there. Also, an ex-boyfriend of mine told me that he talked to him on the phone once (he worked for ADT).
Cat
Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: ninny on 05/05/10 at 5:21 am
The word of the day...LumberjackA lumberjack is a worker in the logging industry who performs the initial harvesting and transport of trees for ultimate processing into forest products. The term usually refers to a bygone era (before 1945) when hand tools were used in harvesting trees principally from virgin forest. Because of its historical ties, the term lumberjack has become ingrained in popular culture through folklore, media, and spectator sports. The work was difficult, dangerous, intermittent, low-paying, and primitive in living conditions, but the men built a traditional culture that celebrated strength, masculinity, confrontation with danger, and resistance to modernization.
http://i808.photobucket.com/albums/zz7/qstoys/DSC_9086.jpg
http://i204.photobucket.com/albums/bb250/cornerstone86/lumberjack.jpg
http://i430.photobucket.com/albums/qq23/focker08/lumberjack.jpg
http://i306.photobucket.com/albums/nn278/MrsBiadas06/lumberjack.jpg
http://i160.photobucket.com/albums/t174/driskellagain/lumberjack.jpg
http://i394.photobucket.com/albums/pp27/queenofpith/lumberjack.jpg
http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k50/hezzyw/Lumberjack.jpg
Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: ninny on 05/05/10 at 5:25 am
The person born on this day...Michael Palin
Michael Edward Palin, CBE FRGS (born 5 May 1943) is an English comedian, actor, writer and television presenter best known for being one of the members of the comedy group Monty Python and for his travel documentaries.
Palin wrote most of his comedic material with Terry Jones. Before Monty Python, they had worked on other shows such as The Ken Dodd Show, The Frost Report and Do Not Adjust Your Set. Palin appeared in some of the most famous Python sketches, including "Argument Clinic", "Dead Parrot", "The Lumberjack Song", "The Spanish Inquisition" and "Spam".
Palin continued to work with Jones after Python, co-writing Ripping Yarns. He has also appeared in several films directed by fellow Python Terry Gilliam and made notable appearances in other films such as A Fish Called Wanda, for which he won the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role. In a 2005 poll to find The Comedian's Comedian, he was voted the 30th favourite by fellow comedians and comedy insiders.
After Python, he began a new career as a travel writer and travel documentarian. His journeys have taken him across the world, including the North and South Poles, the Sahara desert, the Himalayas and, most recently, Eastern Europe. In 2000 Palin was honoured as a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) for his services to television. Palin was born in Broomhill, Sheffield, South Yorkshire, the second child and only son of Mary Rachel Lockhart (née Ovey) and Edward Moreton Palin. His father was an engineer working for a steel firm. He started his education at Birkdale Preparatory School, Sheffield, and later Shrewsbury School. His sister Angela was nine years older than he. Despite the age gap the two had a close relationship until her suicide in 1986.
When he was five years old, Palin had his first acting experience at Birkdale playing Martha Cratchit in a school performance of A Christmas Carol. At the age of 10, Palin, still interested in acting, made a comedy monologue and read a Shakespeare play to his mother while playing all the parts. After his school days in 1962 he went on to read modern history at Brasenose College, Oxford. With fellow student Robert Hewison he performed and wrote, for the first time, comedy material at a university Christmas party. Terry Jones, also a student in Oxford, saw that performance and began writing together with Hewison and Palin. In the same year Palin joined the Brightside and Carbrook Co-Operative Society Players and first gained fame when he won an acting award at a Co-Op drama festival. He also performed in the Oxford Revue with Jones.
In 1966 he married Helen Gibbins, whom he first met in 1959 on holiday in Southwold in Suffolk, where he has returned in recent years to live. This meeting was later fictionalised in Palin's play East of Ipswich. The couple have three children and a grandchild. While still a baby, his son William briefly appeared in Monty Python and the Holy Grail as "Sir Not-appearing-in-this-film".
After finishing university in 1965 Palin became a presenter on a comedy pop show called Now! for the television contractor Television Wales and the West. At the same time Palin was contacted by Jones, who had left university a year earlier, for assistance in writing a theatrical documentary about sex through the ages. Although this project was eventually abandoned, it brought Palin and Jones together as a writing duo and led them to write comedy for various BBC programmes, such as The Ken Dodd Show, The Billy Cotton Bandshow, and The Illustrated Weekly Hudd. They collaborated in writing lyrics for an album by Barry Booth called Diversions. They were also in the team of writers working for The Frost Report, whose other members included Frank Muir, Barry Cryer, Marty Feldman, Ronnie Barker, Ronnie Corbett, Dick Vosburgh, and future Monty Python members Graham Chapman, John Cleese and Eric Idle. Although the members of Monty Python had already encountered each other over the years, The Frost Report was the first time all the British members of Monty Python (its sixth member, Terry Gilliam, was at that time an American citizen) worked together. During the run of The Frost Report the Palin/Jones team contributed material to two shows starring John Bird: The Late Show and A series of Bird's. For A series of Bird's the Palin/Jones team had their first experience of writing narrative instead of the short sketches they were accustomed to conceiving.
Following The Frost Report the Palin/Jones team worked both as actors and writers on the show Twice a Fortnight with Graeme Garden, Bill Oddie and Jonathan Lynn, and the successful children's comedy show Do Not Adjust Your Set with Idle and David Jason. The show also featured musical numbers by the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band, including future Monty Python musical collaborator Neil Innes. The animations for Do Not Adjust Your Set were made by Terry Gilliam, who joined the cast on Cleese's recommendation and began working with the Palin/Jones team for the first time. Eager to work with Palin sans Jones, Cleese later asked him to perform in How to Irritate People together with Chapman and Tim Brooke-Taylor. The Palin/Jones team were reunited for The Complete and Utter History of Britain.
During this period Cleese contacted Palin about doing the show that would ultimately become Monty Python's Flying Circus. On the strength of their work on The Frost Report and other programmes, Cleese and Chapman had been offered a show by the BBC, but Cleese was reluctant to do a two-man show for various reasons, among them Chapman's reputedly difficult personality. At the same time the success of Do Not Adjust Your Set had led Palin, Jones, Idle, and Gilliam to be offered their own series and, while it was still in production, Palin agreed to Cleese's proposal and brought along Idle, Jones, and Gilliam. Thus the formation of the Monty Python troupe has been referred to as a result of Cleese's desire to work with Palin and the chance circumstances that brought the other four members into the fold.
Monty Python
Main article: Monty Python
Palin performs The Lumberjack Song, with Connie Booth as his "best girl."
In Monty Python, Palin played various roles, which ranged from manic enthusiasm (such as the lumberjack of the Lumberjack Song, or host of the game show "Blackmail") to unflappable calmness (such as the Dead Parrot vendor, Cheese Shop proprietor, or Postal Clerk). As a straight man he was often a foil to the rising ire of characters portrayed by John Cleese. He also played timid, socially inept characters such as Arthur Putey, the man who sits idly by as a marriage counsellor (Eric Idle) makes love to his wife (Carol Cleveland), and a chartered accountant who wants to become a lion tamer.
Palin frequently co-wrote sketches with Terry Jones, including "The Lumberjack Song" and "Spam". Some sketches Palin wrote by himself (or began by himself), such as the "Spanish Inquisition sketch", which included the catchphrase "Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition!"
Other performances
After the Monty Python television series ended in 1974, the Palin/Jones team worked on Ripping Yarns, an intermittent television comedy series broadcast over three years from 1976. They had earlier colloborated on the play "Secrets" from the BBC series Black and Blue in 1973. Palin also appeared in All You Need Is Cash (1978) as Eric Manchester (based on Derek Taylor), the press agent for The Rutles.
In 1980, Palin wrote Time Bandits with Terry Gilliam. He also acted in the film.
In 1982, Palin wrote and starred in The Missionary, co-starring Maggie Smith. In it, he plays the Reverend Charles Fortescue, who is recalled from Africa to aid prostitutes.
He appeared in Terry Gilliam's films Time Bandits, Jabberwocky, and Brazil. His biggest international role in a movie outside of Python was as stuttering would-be assassin Ken Pile in A Fish Called Wanda, for which he won the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role. The film was such a success that Cleese reunited the main cast almost a decade later to make Fierce Creatures.
After filming for Fierce Creatures finished, Palin went on a travel journey for a BBC documentary and, returning a year later, found that the end of Fierce Creatures had failed at test screenings and had to be reshot.
Apart from Fierce Creatures, Palin's last film role was a small part in The Wind in the Willows, a film directed by and starring Terry Jones. Palin also appeared with John Cleese in his documentary, The Human Face. Palin was in the cast of You've Got Mail, the Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan romantic comedy as a subplot novelist, but his role was eventually cut entirely for reasons that remain opaque.
He also assisted Campaign for Better Transport (UK) and others with campaigns on sustainable transport, particularly those relating to urban areas, and has been president of the campaign since 1986.
Palin has also appeared in serious drama. In 1991 Palin worked as producer and actor in the film American Friends based upon a real event in the life of his great grandfather, a fellow at St John's College, Oxford. In that same year he also played the part of a headmaster in Alan Bleasdale's Channel 4 drama series G.B.H..
Palin also had a small cameo role in Australian soap opera Home and Away. He played an English surfer with a fear of sharks, who interrupts a heart-to-heart between two main characters to ask whether there were any sharks in the sea. This was filmed while he was in Australia for the Full Circle series, with a segment about the filming of the role featuring in the series.
Television documentaries
Travel
Palin's first travel documentary was part of the 1980 BBC Television series Great Railway Journeys of the World, in which, humorously reminiscing about his childhood hobby of train spotting, he travelled throughout the UK by train, from London to the Kyle of Lochalsh, via Manchester, York, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Edinburgh and Inverness. At the Kyle of Lochalsh, Palin bought the station's long metal platform sign and is seen lugging it back to London with him.
In 1994, Palin travelled through Ireland for the same series, entitled "Derry to Kerry". In a quest for family roots, he attempted to trace his great grandmother — Brita Gallagher — who set sail from Ireland 150 years ago during the Great Famine (1845-1849), bound for a new life in Burlington, New Jersey. The series is a trip along the Palin family line.
Starting in 1989, Palin appeared as presenter in a series of travel programmes made for the BBC. It was after the veteran TV globetrotter Alan Whicker and journalist Miles Kington turned down presenting the first of these, Around the World in 80 Days, that gave Palin the opportunity to present his first and subsequent travel shows. These programmes have been broadcast around the world in syndication, and were also sold on VHS tape and later on DVD:
* Michael Palin: Around the World in 80 Days (Travel 1988; Programme release 1989): travelling as closely as possible the path described in the famous Jules Verne story without using aircraft.
* Pole to Pole (Travel 1991; Programme release 1992): travelling from the North Pole to the South Pole, following as closely as possible the 30 degree line of longitude, over as much land as possible, i.e., through Europe and Africa.
* Full Circle with Michael Palin (Travel 1996/97; Programme release 1997): in which he circumnavigated the lands around the Pacific Ocean counter-clockwise; a journey of 80,000 kilometres starting on Little Diomede Island in the Bering Strait and taking him through Asia, Oceania and the Americas.
* Michael Palin's Hemingway Adventure (1999): retracing the footsteps of Ernest Hemingway through the United States, Europe, Africa, and the Caribbean.
* Sahara with Michael Palin (Travel 2001/02; Programme release 2002): in which he trekked around and through the world's largest desert.
* Himalaya with Michael Palin (Travel 2003/04; Programme release 2004): in which he travels through the Himalaya region.
* Michael Palin's New Europe (Travel 2006/07; Programme release 2007): in which he travels through Central and Eastern Europe.
Following each trip, Palin wrote a book about his travels, providing information and insights not included in the TV programme. Each book is illustrated with photographs by Basil Pao, the stills photographer who was on the team. (Exception: the first book, Around the World in 80 Days, contains some pictures by Pao but most are by other photographers.)
All seven of these books were also made available as audio books, and all of them are read by Palin himself. Around the World in 80 Days and Hemingway Adventure are unabridged, while the other four books were made in both abridged and unabridged versions, although the unabridged versions can be very difficult to find.
For four of the trips a photography book was made by Pao, each with an introduction written by Palin. These are large coffee-table style books with pictures printed on glossy paper. The majority of the pictures are of various people encountered on the trip, as informal portraits or showing them engaged in some interesting activity. Some of the landscape photos are displayed as two-page spreads.
Palin's travel programmes are responsible for a phenomenon termed the "Palin effect": areas of the world that he has visited suddenly become popular tourist attractions — for example, the significant increase in the number of tourists interested in Peru after Palin visited Machu Picchu. In a 2006 survey of "15 of the world's top travel writers" by The Observer, Palin named Peru's Pongo de Mainique (canyon below the Machu Picchu) his "favourite place in the world".
Art and history
In recent years, Palin has written and presented occasional documentary programmes on artists that interest him. The first, on Scottish painter Anne Redpath, was Palin on Redpath in 1997. In The Bright Side of Life (2000), Palin continued on a Scottish theme, looking at the work of the Scottish Colourists. Two further programmes followed on European painters; Michael Palin and the Ladies Who Loved Matisse (2004) and Michael Palin and the Mystery of Hammershøi (2005), about the Danish artist Vilhelm Hammershøi. The DVD Michael Palin on Art contains all these documentaries except for the Matisse programme.
In November 2008, Palin presented a First World War documentary about Armistice Day, 11 November 1918, when thousands of soldiers lost their lives in battle after the war had officially ended. Palin filmed on the battlefields of northern France and Belgium for the programme, called The Last Day of World War One, produced for the BBC's Timewatch series.
Recognition
Class 153, no. 153335 'Michael Palin' at Cambridge.
Each member of Monty Python has an asteroid named after him. Palin's is Asteroid 9621 Michaelpalin.
In honour of his achievements as a traveller, especially rail travel, Palin has two British trains named after him. In 2002, Virgin Trains' new £5m high speed Super Voyager train number 221130 was named "Michael Palin" - it carries his name externally and a plaque is located adjacent to the onboard shop with information on Palin and his many journeys. Also, National Express East Anglia have named a British Rail Class 153 (unit number 153335) after him. In 2008, he received the James Joyce Award of the Literary and Historical Society in Dublin.
Palin was instrumental in setting up the Michael Palin Centre for Stammering Children in 1993.
In recognition of his services to the promotion of geography, Palin was awarded the Livingstone Medal of the Royal Scottish Geographical Society in March 2009, along with a Fellowship to the Society.
In June 2009 Palin was elected for a three-year term as President of the Royal Geographical Society.
Bibliography
Travel books
* Around the World in 80 Days (1989) ISBN 0-563-20826-0
* Pole to Pole (1992) ISBN 0-563-37065-3
* Full Circle (1997) ISBN 0-563-37121-8
* Michael Palin's Hemingway Adventure (1999) ISBN 0-297-82528-3
* Sahara (2002) ISBN 0-297-84303-6
* Himalaya (2004) ISBN 0-297-84371-0
* New Europe (2007) ISBN 0-297-84449-0
All his travel books can be read at no charge, complete and unabridged, on his website.
Autobiography (contributor)
* The Pythons Autobiography by The Pythons (2003) ISBN 0-7528-5293-0
Diaries
* Diaries 1963-1979. 2006. ISBN 0-297-84436-9
* Diaries 1980–1988: Halfway to Hollywood - The Film Years. London, Weidenfeld & Nicolson. 2009. ISBN 978-0-297-84440-2
Fiction
* Hemingway's chair (1995) ISBN 0-7493-1930-5
* Bert Fegg's Nasty Book for Boys and Girls w/Terry Jones, illus Martin Honeysett, Frank Bellamy et al. (1974) ISBN 0-413-32740-X
* Dr Fegg's Encyclopaedia of all world knowledge (1984) (expanded reprint of the above, with Terry Jones and Martin Honeysett) ISBN 0-8722-6005-4
Children's books
* Small Harry and the Toothache Pills (1982) ISBN 0-416-23690-1
* Limerics or The Limerick Book (1985) ISBN 0-09-161540-2
* Cyril and the House of Commons (1986) ISBN 1-85145-078-5
* Cyril and the Dinner Party (1986) ISBN 1-85145-069-6
* The Mirrorstone with Alan Lee and Richard Seymour (1986) ISBN 0-224-02408-6
Plays
* The Weekend (1994) ISBN 0-413-68940-9
Selected filmography
* And Now for Something Completely Different (1971)
* Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975)
* Three Men in a Boat (1975)
* Jabberwocky (1977)
* Monty Python's Life of Brian (1979)
* Time Bandits (1981)
* Monty Python Live at the Hollywood Bowl (1982)
* The Missionary (1982)
* Monty Python's The Meaning of Life (1983)
* A Private Function (1984)
* Brazil (1985)
* A Fish Called Wanda (1988)
* American Friends (1991)
* The Wind in the Willows (1996)
* The Willows in Winter (1996)
* Fierce Creatures (1997)
Television
* Now! (October 1965 – middle 1966)
* The Ken Dodd Show
* Billy Cotton Bandshow
* The Illustrated Weekly Hudd
* The Frost Report. (10 March 1966 – 29 June 1967)
* The Late Show (15 October 1966 - 1 April 1967)
* A Series of Bird's (1967) (3 October 1967 - 21 November 1967 screenwriter (guest stars)
* Twice a Fortnight (21 October 1967 - 23 December 1967)
* Do Not Adjust Your Set (26 December 1967 - 14 May 1969)
* Broaden Your Mind (1968)
* How to Irritate People (1968)
* Marty (TV series) (1968)
* The Complete and Utter History of Britain (1969)
* Monty Python's Flying Circus (5 October 1969–5 December 1974)
* Saturday Night Live (Hosted January 27th, 1979) with Musical Guests The Doobie Brothers
* Ripping Yarns (1976-1979)
* Great Railway Journeys of the World, episode title "Confessions of a Trainspotter" (1980)
* East of Ipswich (1987) writer
* Michael Palin: Around the World in 80 Days (1989)
* GBH (1991)
* Pole to Pole (1992)
* Great Railway Journeys, episode title "Derry to Kerry" (1994)
* Full Circle with Michael Palin (1997)
* Palin On Redpath (1997)
* Michael Palin's Hemingway Adventure (1999)
* Michael Palin On... The Colourists (2000)
* Sahara with Michael Palin (2002)
* Life on Air (2002)
* Himalaya with Michael Palin (2004)
* Michael Palin's New Europe (2007)
* Around the World in 20 Years (30 December 2008)
Awards
Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films
* 1982 Nominated - Saturn Award for Best Writing for Time Bandits (shared with Terry Gilliam)
Evening Standard British Film Awards
* 1986 Won - "Peter Sellers Award for Comedy"
Writers' Guild of Great Britain
* 1991 Won - Writers' Guild of Great Britain Award for "Film - Screenplay" for American Friends (shared with Tristram Powell)
DVD Exclusive Awards
* 2001 Nominated - "Video Premiere Award for Best Audio Commentary" for Monty Python and the Holy Grail (shared with John Cleese and Eric Idle)
British Comedy Awards
* 2002 Won - British Comedy Award for "Lifetime Achievement"
BAFTA Awards
* 1984 Nominated - BAFTA Award for "Best Original Song" (the award was discontinued after the 1985 ceremonies) for Every Sperm is Sacred from The Meaning of Life (shared with André Jacquemin, Dave Howman and Terry Jones)
* 1989 Won - BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role for A Fish Called Wanda (as Ken Pile)
* 1992 Nominated - British Academy Television Award for Best Actor for G.B.H.
* 2005 Won - BAFTA Special Award
* 2009 Won - BAFTA Special Award as part of the Monty Python team for outstanding contribution to film and television
Radio
* Biggles Flies North read by Michael Palin (2008-01-07 BBC Radio)
http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k320/radar27j/palin.jpg
http://i283.photobucket.com/albums/kk297/retrogrl_fan/palin_hand4.jpg
Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: ninny on 05/05/10 at 5:50 am
The person who died on this day...George Sidney
George Sidney (October 4, 1916 – May 5, 2002) was an American film director and film producer who worked primarily at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.Born in Long Island City, New York, Sidney began his career as an assistant at MGM until being assigned to direct the Our Gang comedies, which MGM had just acquired from Hal Roach, in 1938. Sidney, then age 21, was the youngest Our Gang senior director ever, and was only nine years older than the eldest Our Gang kid, Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer's brother Harold.
After a year of working on Our Gang shorts, Sidney moved on to the Crime Does Not Pay series and popular Pete Smith specialties. He soon graduated to features, including The Harvey Girls (1946), The Three Musketeers (1948), Annie Get Your Gun (1950), The Red Danube (1950), Kiss Me, Kate (1953), Jupiter's Darling (1955), The Eddy Duchin Story (1956), Pal Joey (1957), Jeanne Eagels (1957), Bye Bye Birdie (1963), and Elvis Presley's Viva Las Vegas (1964). His last film was Half a Sixpence (1967).
Sidney became good friends with MGM animation directors William Hanna and Joseph Barbera. Hanna and Barbera's Jerry Mouse appeared alongside Gene Kelly in Sidney's film Anchors Aweigh (1945). After MGM close its animation studio in 1957, Sidney helped Hanna and Barbera form a deal with Screen Gems, the television division of Columbia Pictures, to form the successful television animation studio Hanna-Barbera Productions, for which Sidney served as a boardmember for ten years. Sidney later featured Hanna-Barbera's Fred Flintstone and Huckleberry Hound in Bye Bye Birdie.
Sidney was nominated for the Directors Guild of America Award four times, starting with the lush Technicolor remake of Show Boat. In 1958 he was presented with a Golden Globe Award for Best World Entertainment Through Musical Films. For his work in the art of cinema, he was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. He died of complications from lymphoma in Las Vegas, Nevada at the age of 85. He was interred at Hillside Memorial Park Cemetery.
Motion picture actor George Sidney (1876-1945, born Samuel Greenfield) was his uncle.
Awards and nominations
Year Group Award Film Result
1952 Directors Guild of America Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Motion Pictures Show Boat Nominated
1953 Directors Guild of America Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Motion Pictures Scaramouche Nominated
1954 Directors Guild of America Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Motion Pictures Young Bess Nominated
1957 Directors Guild of America Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Motion Pictures The Eddy Duchin Story Nominated
1959 Directors Guild of America DGA Honorary Life Member Award
-
Won
1986 Directors Guild of America Robert B. Aldrich Achievement Award
-
Won
1998 Directors Guild of America President's Award
-
Won
1995 Golden Apple Award Louella Parsons Award
-
Won
1958 Golden Globe Award Best World Entertainment Through Musical Films
-
Won
1993 San Luis Obispo International Film Festival King Vidor Memorial Award
-
Won
Filmography
The following films are a partial listing of his films:
* The Swinger (1966)
* Viva Las Vegas (1964)
* Bye Bye Birdie (1963)
* Pal Joey (1957)
* The Eddy Duchin Story (1956)
* Jupiter's Darling (1955)
* Kiss Me Kate (1953)
* Young Bess (1953)
* Scaramouche (1952)
* Show Boat (1951)
* Annie Get Your Gun (1950)
* Key to the City (1950)
* The Red Danube (1949)
* The Three Musketeers (1948)
Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: Howard on 05/05/10 at 6:57 am
The person born on this day...Michael Palin
Michael Edward Palin, CBE FRGS (born 5 May 1943) is an English comedian, actor, writer and television presenter best known for being one of the members of the comedy group Monty Python and for his travel documentaries.
Palin wrote most of his comedic material with Terry Jones. Before Monty Python, they had worked on other shows such as The Ken Dodd Show, The Frost Report and Do Not Adjust Your Set. Palin appeared in some of the most famous Python sketches, including "Argument Clinic", "Dead Parrot", "The Lumberjack Song", "The Spanish Inquisition" and "Spam".
Palin continued to work with Jones after Python, co-writing Ripping Yarns. He has also appeared in several films directed by fellow Python Terry Gilliam and made notable appearances in other films such as A Fish Called Wanda, for which he won the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role. In a 2005 poll to find The Comedian's Comedian, he was voted the 30th favourite by fellow comedians and comedy insiders.
After Python, he began a new career as a travel writer and travel documentarian. His journeys have taken him across the world, including the North and South Poles, the Sahara desert, the Himalayas and, most recently, Eastern Europe. In 2000 Palin was honoured as a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) for his services to television. Palin was born in Broomhill, Sheffield, South Yorkshire, the second child and only son of Mary Rachel Lockhart (née Ovey) and Edward Moreton Palin. His father was an engineer working for a steel firm. He started his education at Birkdale Preparatory School, Sheffield, and later Shrewsbury School. His sister Angela was nine years older than he. Despite the age gap the two had a close relationship until her suicide in 1986.
When he was five years old, Palin had his first acting experience at Birkdale playing Martha Cratchit in a school performance of A Christmas Carol. At the age of 10, Palin, still interested in acting, made a comedy monologue and read a Shakespeare play to his mother while playing all the parts. After his school days in 1962 he went on to read modern history at Brasenose College, Oxford. With fellow student Robert Hewison he performed and wrote, for the first time, comedy material at a university Christmas party. Terry Jones, also a student in Oxford, saw that performance and began writing together with Hewison and Palin. In the same year Palin joined the Brightside and Carbrook Co-Operative Society Players and first gained fame when he won an acting award at a Co-Op drama festival. He also performed in the Oxford Revue with Jones.
In 1966 he married Helen Gibbins, whom he first met in 1959 on holiday in Southwold in Suffolk, where he has returned in recent years to live. This meeting was later fictionalised in Palin's play East of Ipswich. The couple have three children and a grandchild. While still a baby, his son William briefly appeared in Monty Python and the Holy Grail as "Sir Not-appearing-in-this-film".
After finishing university in 1965 Palin became a presenter on a comedy pop show called Now! for the television contractor Television Wales and the West. At the same time Palin was contacted by Jones, who had left university a year earlier, for assistance in writing a theatrical documentary about sex through the ages. Although this project was eventually abandoned, it brought Palin and Jones together as a writing duo and led them to write comedy for various BBC programmes, such as The Ken Dodd Show, The Billy Cotton Bandshow, and The Illustrated Weekly Hudd. They collaborated in writing lyrics for an album by Barry Booth called Diversions. They were also in the team of writers working for The Frost Report, whose other members included Frank Muir, Barry Cryer, Marty Feldman, Ronnie Barker, Ronnie Corbett, Dick Vosburgh, and future Monty Python members Graham Chapman, John Cleese and Eric Idle. Although the members of Monty Python had already encountered each other over the years, The Frost Report was the first time all the British members of Monty Python (its sixth member, Terry Gilliam, was at that time an American citizen) worked together. During the run of The Frost Report the Palin/Jones team contributed material to two shows starring John Bird: The Late Show and A series of Bird's. For A series of Bird's the Palin/Jones team had their first experience of writing narrative instead of the short sketches they were accustomed to conceiving.
Following The Frost Report the Palin/Jones team worked both as actors and writers on the show Twice a Fortnight with Graeme Garden, Bill Oddie and Jonathan Lynn, and the successful children's comedy show Do Not Adjust Your Set with Idle and David Jason. The show also featured musical numbers by the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band, including future Monty Python musical collaborator Neil Innes. The animations for Do Not Adjust Your Set were made by Terry Gilliam, who joined the cast on Cleese's recommendation and began working with the Palin/Jones team for the first time. Eager to work with Palin sans Jones, Cleese later asked him to perform in How to Irritate People together with Chapman and Tim Brooke-Taylor. The Palin/Jones team were reunited for The Complete and Utter History of Britain.
During this period Cleese contacted Palin about doing the show that would ultimately become Monty Python's Flying Circus. On the strength of their work on The Frost Report and other programmes, Cleese and Chapman had been offered a show by the BBC, but Cleese was reluctant to do a two-man show for various reasons, among them Chapman's reputedly difficult personality. At the same time the success of Do Not Adjust Your Set had led Palin, Jones, Idle, and Gilliam to be offered their own series and, while it was still in production, Palin agreed to Cleese's proposal and brought along Idle, Jones, and Gilliam. Thus the formation of the Monty Python troupe has been referred to as a result of Cleese's desire to work with Palin and the chance circumstances that brought the other four members into the fold.
Monty Python
Main article: Monty Python
Palin performs The Lumberjack Song, with Connie Booth as his "best girl."
In Monty Python, Palin played various roles, which ranged from manic enthusiasm (such as the lumberjack of the Lumberjack Song, or host of the game show "Blackmail") to unflappable calmness (such as the Dead Parrot vendor, Cheese Shop proprietor, or Postal Clerk). As a straight man he was often a foil to the rising ire of characters portrayed by John Cleese. He also played timid, socially inept characters such as Arthur Putey, the man who sits idly by as a marriage counsellor (Eric Idle) makes love to his wife (Carol Cleveland), and a chartered accountant who wants to become a lion tamer.
Palin frequently co-wrote sketches with Terry Jones, including "The Lumberjack Song" and "Spam". Some sketches Palin wrote by himself (or began by himself), such as the "Spanish Inquisition sketch", which included the catchphrase "Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition!"
Other performances
After the Monty Python television series ended in 1974, the Palin/Jones team worked on Ripping Yarns, an intermittent television comedy series broadcast over three years from 1976. They had earlier colloborated on the play "Secrets" from the BBC series Black and Blue in 1973. Palin also appeared in All You Need Is Cash (1978) as Eric Manchester (based on Derek Taylor), the press agent for The Rutles.
In 1980, Palin wrote Time Bandits with Terry Gilliam. He also acted in the film.
In 1982, Palin wrote and starred in The Missionary, co-starring Maggie Smith. In it, he plays the Reverend Charles Fortescue, who is recalled from Africa to aid prostitutes.
He appeared in Terry Gilliam's films Time Bandits, Jabberwocky, and Brazil. His biggest international role in a movie outside of Python was as stuttering would-be assassin Ken Pile in A Fish Called Wanda, for which he won the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role. The film was such a success that Cleese reunited the main cast almost a decade later to make Fierce Creatures.
After filming for Fierce Creatures finished, Palin went on a travel journey for a BBC documentary and, returning a year later, found that the end of Fierce Creatures had failed at test screenings and had to be reshot.
Apart from Fierce Creatures, Palin's last film role was a small part in The Wind in the Willows, a film directed by and starring Terry Jones. Palin also appeared with John Cleese in his documentary, The Human Face. Palin was in the cast of You've Got Mail, the Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan romantic comedy as a subplot novelist, but his role was eventually cut entirely for reasons that remain opaque.
He also assisted Campaign for Better Transport (UK) and others with campaigns on sustainable transport, particularly those relating to urban areas, and has been president of the campaign since 1986.
Palin has also appeared in serious drama. In 1991 Palin worked as producer and actor in the film American Friends based upon a real event in the life of his great grandfather, a fellow at St John's College, Oxford. In that same year he also played the part of a headmaster in Alan Bleasdale's Channel 4 drama series G.B.H..
Palin also had a small cameo role in Australian soap opera Home and Away. He played an English surfer with a fear of sharks, who interrupts a heart-to-heart between two main characters to ask whether there were any sharks in the sea. This was filmed while he was in Australia for the Full Circle series, with a segment about the filming of the role featuring in the series.
Television documentaries
Travel
Palin's first travel documentary was part of the 1980 BBC Television series Great Railway Journeys of the World, in which, humorously reminiscing about his childhood hobby of train spotting, he travelled throughout the UK by train, from London to the Kyle of Lochalsh, via Manchester, York, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Edinburgh and Inverness. At the Kyle of Lochalsh, Palin bought the station's long metal platform sign and is seen lugging it back to London with him.
In 1994, Palin travelled through Ireland for the same series, entitled "Derry to Kerry". In a quest for family roots, he attempted to trace his great grandmother — Brita Gallagher — who set sail from Ireland 150 years ago during the Great Famine (1845-1849), bound for a new life in Burlington, New Jersey. The series is a trip along the Palin family line.
Starting in 1989, Palin appeared as presenter in a series of travel programmes made for the BBC. It was after the veteran TV globetrotter Alan Whicker and journalist Miles Kington turned down presenting the first of these, Around the World in 80 Days, that gave Palin the opportunity to present his first and subsequent travel shows. These programmes have been broadcast around the world in syndication, and were also sold on VHS tape and later on DVD:
* Michael Palin: Around the World in 80 Days (Travel 1988; Programme release 1989): travelling as closely as possible the path described in the famous Jules Verne story without using aircraft.
* Pole to Pole (Travel 1991; Programme release 1992): travelling from the North Pole to the South Pole, following as closely as possible the 30 degree line of longitude, over as much land as possible, i.e., through Europe and Africa.
* Full Circle with Michael Palin (Travel 1996/97; Programme release 1997): in which he circumnavigated the lands around the Pacific Ocean counter-clockwise; a journey of 80,000 kilometres starting on Little Diomede Island in the Bering Strait and taking him through Asia, Oceania and the Americas.
* Michael Palin's Hemingway Adventure (1999): retracing the footsteps of Ernest Hemingway through the United States, Europe, Africa, and the Caribbean.
* Sahara with Michael Palin (Travel 2001/02; Programme release 2002): in which he trekked around and through the world's largest desert.
* Himalaya with Michael Palin (Travel 2003/04; Programme release 2004): in which he travels through the Himalaya region.
* Michael Palin's New Europe (Travel 2006/07; Programme release 2007): in which he travels through Central and Eastern Europe.
Following each trip, Palin wrote a book about his travels, providing information and insights not included in the TV programme. Each book is illustrated with photographs by Basil Pao, the stills photographer who was on the team. (Exception: the first book, Around the World in 80 Days, contains some pictures by Pao but most are by other photographers.)
All seven of these books were also made available as audio books, and all of them are read by Palin himself. Around the World in 80 Days and Hemingway Adventure are unabridged, while the other four books were made in both abridged and unabridged versions, although the unabridged versions can be very difficult to find.
For four of the trips a photography book was made by Pao, each with an introduction written by Palin. These are large coffee-table style books with pictures printed on glossy paper. The majority of the pictures are of various people encountered on the trip, as informal portraits or showing them engaged in some interesting activity. Some of the landscape photos are displayed as two-page spreads.
Palin's travel programmes are responsible for a phenomenon termed the "Palin effect": areas of the world that he has visited suddenly become popular tourist attractions — for example, the significant increase in the number of tourists interested in Peru after Palin visited Machu Picchu. In a 2006 survey of "15 of the world's top travel writers" by The Observer, Palin named Peru's Pongo de Mainique (canyon below the Machu Picchu) his "favourite place in the world".
Art and history
In recent years, Palin has written and presented occasional documentary programmes on artists that interest him. The first, on Scottish painter Anne Redpath, was Palin on Redpath in 1997. In The Bright Side of Life (2000), Palin continued on a Scottish theme, looking at the work of the Scottish Colourists. Two further programmes followed on European painters; Michael Palin and the Ladies Who Loved Matisse (2004) and Michael Palin and the Mystery of Hammershøi (2005), about the Danish artist Vilhelm Hammershøi. The DVD Michael Palin on Art contains all these documentaries except for the Matisse programme.
In November 2008, Palin presented a First World War documentary about Armistice Day, 11 November 1918, when thousands of soldiers lost their lives in battle after the war had officially ended. Palin filmed on the battlefields of northern France and Belgium for the programme, called The Last Day of World War One, produced for the BBC's Timewatch series.
Recognition
Class 153, no. 153335 'Michael Palin' at Cambridge.
Each member of Monty Python has an asteroid named after him. Palin's is Asteroid 9621 Michaelpalin.
In honour of his achievements as a traveller, especially rail travel, Palin has two British trains named after him. In 2002, Virgin Trains' new £5m high speed Super Voyager train number 221130 was named "Michael Palin" - it carries his name externally and a plaque is located adjacent to the onboard shop with information on Palin and his many journeys. Also, National Express East Anglia have named a British Rail Class 153 (unit number 153335) after him. In 2008, he received the James Joyce Award of the Literary and Historical Society in Dublin.
Palin was instrumental in setting up the Michael Palin Centre for Stammering Children in 1993.
In recognition of his services to the promotion of geography, Palin was awarded the Livingstone Medal of the Royal Scottish Geographical Society in March 2009, along with a Fellowship to the Society.
In June 2009 Palin was elected for a three-year term as President of the Royal Geographical Society.
Bibliography
Travel books
* Around the World in 80 Days (1989) ISBN 0-563-20826-0
* Pole to Pole (1992) ISBN 0-563-37065-3
* Full Circle (1997) ISBN 0-563-37121-8
* Michael Palin's Hemingway Adventure (1999) ISBN 0-297-82528-3
* Sahara (2002) ISBN 0-297-84303-6
* Himalaya (2004) ISBN 0-297-84371-0
* New Europe (2007) ISBN 0-297-84449-0
All his travel books can be read at no charge, complete and unabridged, on his website.
Autobiography (contributor)
* The Pythons Autobiography by The Pythons (2003) ISBN 0-7528-5293-0
Diaries
* Diaries 1963-1979. 2006. ISBN 0-297-84436-9
* Diaries 1980–1988: Halfway to Hollywood - The Film Years. London, Weidenfeld & Nicolson. 2009. ISBN 978-0-297-84440-2
Fiction
* Hemingway's chair (1995) ISBN 0-7493-1930-5
* Bert Fegg's Nasty Book for Boys and Girls w/Terry Jones, illus Martin Honeysett, Frank Bellamy et al. (1974) ISBN 0-413-32740-X
* Dr Fegg's Encyclopaedia of all world knowledge (1984) (expanded reprint of the above, with Terry Jones and Martin Honeysett) ISBN 0-8722-6005-4
Children's books
* Small Harry and the Toothache Pills (1982) ISBN 0-416-23690-1
* Limerics or The Limerick Book (1985) ISBN 0-09-161540-2
* Cyril and the House of Commons (1986) ISBN 1-85145-078-5
* Cyril and the Dinner Party (1986) ISBN 1-85145-069-6
* The Mirrorstone with Alan Lee and Richard Seymour (1986) ISBN 0-224-02408-6
Plays
* The Weekend (1994) ISBN 0-413-68940-9
Selected filmography
* And Now for Something Completely Different (1971)
* Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975)
* Three Men in a Boat (1975)
* Jabberwocky (1977)
* Monty Python's Life of Brian (1979)
* Time Bandits (1981)
* Monty Python Live at the Hollywood Bowl (1982)
* The Missionary (1982)
* Monty Python's The Meaning of Life (1983)
* A Private Function (1984)
* Brazil (1985)
* A Fish Called Wanda (1988)
* American Friends (1991)
* The Wind in the Willows (1996)
* The Willows in Winter (1996)
* Fierce Creatures (1997)
Television
* Now! (October 1965 – middle 1966)
* The Ken Dodd Show
* Billy Cotton Bandshow
* The Illustrated Weekly Hudd
* The Frost Report. (10 March 1966 – 29 June 1967)
* The Late Show (15 October 1966 - 1 April 1967)
* A Series of Bird's (1967) (3 October 1967 - 21 November 1967 screenwriter (guest stars)
* Twice a Fortnight (21 October 1967 - 23 December 1967)
* Do Not Adjust Your Set (26 December 1967 - 14 May 1969)
* Broaden Your Mind (1968)
* How to Irritate People (1968)
* Marty (TV series) (1968)
* The Complete and Utter History of Britain (1969)
* Monty Python's Flying Circus (5 October 1969–5 December 1974)
* Saturday Night Live (Hosted January 27th, 1979) with Musical Guests The Doobie Brothers
* Ripping Yarns (1976-1979)
* Great Railway Journeys of the World, episode title "Confessions of a Trainspotter" (1980)
* East of Ipswich (1987) writer
* Michael Palin: Around the World in 80 Days (1989)
* GBH (1991)
* Pole to Pole (1992)
* Great Railway Journeys, episode title "Derry to Kerry" (1994)
* Full Circle with Michael Palin (1997)
* Palin On Redpath (1997)
* Michael Palin's Hemingway Adventure (1999)
* Michael Palin On... The Colourists (2000)
* Sahara with Michael Palin (2002)
* Life on Air (2002)
* Himalaya with Michael Palin (2004)
* Michael Palin's New Europe (2007)
* Around the World in 20 Years (30 December 2008)
Awards
Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films
* 1982 Nominated - Saturn Award for Best Writing for Time Bandits (shared with Terry Gilliam)
Evening Standard British Film Awards
* 1986 Won - "Peter Sellers Award for Comedy"
Writers' Guild of Great Britain
* 1991 Won - Writers' Guild of Great Britain Award for "Film - Screenplay" for American Friends (shared with Tristram Powell)
DVD Exclusive Awards
* 2001 Nominated - "Video Premiere Award for Best Audio Commentary" for Monty Python and the Holy Grail (shared with John Cleese and Eric Idle)
British Comedy Awards
* 2002 Won - British Comedy Award for "Lifetime Achievement"
BAFTA Awards
* 1984 Nominated - BAFTA Award for "Best Original Song" (the award was discontinued after the 1985 ceremonies) for Every Sperm is Sacred from The Meaning of Life (shared with André Jacquemin, Dave Howman and Terry Jones)
* 1989 Won - BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role for A Fish Called Wanda (as Ken Pile)
* 1992 Nominated - British Academy Television Award for Best Actor for G.B.H.
* 2005 Won - BAFTA Special Award
* 2009 Won - BAFTA Special Award as part of the Monty Python team for outstanding contribution to film and television
Radio
* Biggles Flies North read by Michael Palin (2008-01-07 BBC Radio)
http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k320/radar27j/palin.jpg
http://i283.photobucket.com/albums/kk297/retrogrl_fan/palin_hand4.jpg
I like him,he's pretty funny.
Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: ninny on 05/05/10 at 10:28 am
I like him,he's pretty funny.
Yes he is :)
Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: CatwomanofV on 05/05/10 at 11:41 am
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQOMxz-O7Sc&feature=related
You KNEW someone had to post this. :D ;D ;D ;D
Cat
Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: Frank on 05/05/10 at 11:44 am
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQOMxz-O7Sc&feature=related
You KNEW someone had to post this. :D ;D ;D ;D
Cat
I'm a lumberjack and I'm okay
I sleep all night and I work all day
He's a lumberjack and he's okay
He sleeps all night and he works all day
I cut down trees, I eat my lunch
I go to the lavat'ry
On Wednesdays I go shopping
And have buttered scones for tea
He cuts down trees...
He's a lumberjack...
I cut down trees, I skip and jump
I love to press wild flow'rs
I put on women's clothing
And hang around in bars
I cut down trees, I wear high heels
Suspendies and a bra
I wish I'd been a girlie
Just like my dear papa
Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: ninny on 05/05/10 at 9:18 pm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQOMxz-O7Sc&feature=related
You KNEW someone had to post this. :D ;D ;D ;D
Cat
Yes indeed ;D
Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: ninny on 05/05/10 at 9:19 pm
I'm a lumberjack and I'm okay
I sleep all night and I work all day
He's a lumberjack and he's okay
He sleeps all night and he works all day
I cut down trees, I eat my lunch
I go to the lavat'ry
On Wednesdays I go shopping
And have buttered scones for tea
He cuts down trees...
He's a lumberjack...
I cut down trees, I skip and jump
I love to press wild flow'rs
I put on women's clothing
And hang around in bars
I cut down trees, I wear high heels
Suspendies and a bra
I wish I'd been a girlie
Just like my dear papa
Lets all sing a long :)
Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: ninny on 05/06/10 at 5:56 am
The word of the day...Chimes
#
hen a bell or a clock chimes, it makes ringing sounds. Verb
*
He heard the front doorbell chime. V
*
...as the Guildhall clock chimed three o'clock. V n
*
...a mahogany chiming clock. V-ing
#
A chime is a ringing sound made by a bell, especially when it is part of a clock. Noun (countable)
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At that moment a chime sounded from the front of the house.
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The ceremony started as the chimes of midnight struck. + 'of'
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Chimes are a set of small objects which make a ringing sound when they are blown by the wind. Noun (plural) usu supp N
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...the haunting sound of the wind chimes.
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Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: ninny on 05/06/10 at 6:33 am
The person born on this day...Orson Welles
George Orson Welles (May 6, 1915 – October 10, 1985), best known as Orson Welles, was an American film director, writer, actor, and producer, who worked extensively in film, theatre, television and radio. Noted for his innovative dramatic productions as well as his distinctive voice and personality, Welles is widely acknowledged as one of the most accomplished dramatic artists of the twentieth century, especially for his significant and impressive early work and despite his notoriously contentious relationship with Hollywood. His long career in film is noted for his struggle for artistic control in the face of pressure from studios, which resulted in many of his films being severely edited and others left unreleased. He has thus been praised as a major creative force and as "the ultimate auteur."
Welles first found national and international fame as the director and narrator of a 1938 radio adaptation of H. G. Wells's novel The War of the Worlds which, performed in the style of a news broadcast, caused widespread panic when listeners thought that an extraterrestrial invasion was occurring and being reported by newscasters. Citizen Kane (1941), his first film with RKO in which he starred in the iconic role of Charles Foster Kane, is often considered the greatest film ever made. Several of his other films, especially The Magnificent Ambersons (1942), Touch of Evil (1958), Chimes at Midnight (1965), and F for Fake (1974), are also widely considered to be masterpieces. In 2002 he was voted the greatest film director of all time in the British Film Institute's poll of Top Ten Directors. Welles, who was also an extremely well regarded actor, was voted number 16 in AFI's 100 Years... 100 Stars list of the greatest film actors of all time. He was also celebrated as a Shakespearean stage actor and was known for his distinctive baritone voice.
Welles was also an accomplished magician, starring in troop variety shows in the war years.
RKO Pictures president George Schaefer eventually offered Welles what generally is considered the greatest contract ever offered to an untried director: complete artistic control. RKO signed Welles in a two-picture deal; including script, cast, crew, and most importantly, final cut, although Welles had a budget limit for his projects. With this contract in hand, Welles (and nearly the entire Mercury Theatre troupe) moved to Hollywood. He commuted weekly to New York to maintain his commitment to The Campbell Playhouse.
Welles toyed with various ideas for his first project for RKO Pictures, settling on an adaptation of Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness, which he worked on in great detail. He planned to film the action with a subjective camera. When a budget was drawn up, RKO's enthusiasm cooled because it was greater than the previously agreed limit. RKO also declined to approve another Welles project, The Smiler with the Knife, ostensibly because they lacked faith in Lucille Ball's ability to carry the leading lady role.
In a sign of things to come, Welles left The Campbell Playhouse in 1940 due to creative differences with the sponsor. The show continued without him, produced by John Houseman. In perhaps another sign of things to come, Welles's first experience on a Hollywood film was narrator for RKO's 1940 production of The Swiss Family Robinson.
Citizen Kane
Main article: Citizen Kane
Production
Welles in Citizen Kane (1941)
RKO, having rejected Welles' first two movie proposals, agreed on the third offer Citizen Kane, which Welles co-wrote, produced, directed and performed the lead role.
Welles found a suitable film project in an idea he conceived with screenwriter Herman J. Mankiewicz, (who was then writing radio plays for The Campbell Playhouse). Initially entitled, American, it eventually became Welles's first feature film (also his most famous and honored role), Citizen Kane (1941).
Mankiewicz based his original notion on an exposé of the life of William Randolph Hearst whom he knew socially but now hated, having once been great friends with Hearst's mistress, Marion Davies. Mankiewicz had been banished from her company because of his perpetual drunkenness. Mankiewicz, a notorious gossip, exacted revenge with his unflattering depiction of Davies in Citizen Kane for which Welles bore most of the criticisms. Welles also had a connection with Davies through his first wife.
Kane's megalomania was modeled loosely on Robert McCormick, Howard Hughes and Joseph Pulitzer as Welles wanted to create a broad, complex character, intending to show him in the same scenes from several points of view. The use of multiple narrative perspectives in Conrad's Heart of Darkness influenced the treatment.
Supplying Mankiewicz with 300 pages of notes, Welles urged him to write the first draft of a screenplay under John Houseman, who was posted to ensure Mankiewicz stayed sober. On Welles's instruction, Houseman wrote the opening narration as a pastiche of The March of Time newsreels. Orson Welles explained to Peter Bogdanovich about the writers working separately by saying, "I left him on his own finally, because we'd started to waste too much time haggling. So, after mutual agreements on storyline and character, Mank went off with Houseman and did his version, while I stayed in Hollywood and wrote mine." Taking these drafts, Welles drastically condensed and rearranged them, then added scenes of his own. The industry accused Welles of underplaying Mankiewicz's contribution to the script but Welles countered the attacks by saying, "At the end, naturally, I was the one making the picture, after all--who had to make the decisions. I used what I wanted of Mank's and, rightly or wrongly, kept what I liked of my own."
Charles Foster Kane is based loosely on parts of Hearst's life. Nonetheless, autobiographical allusions to Welles were worked in, most noticeably in the treatment of Kane's childhood and particularly, regarding his guardianship. Welles then added features from other famous American lives to create a general and mysterious personality rather than the narrow journalistic portrait intended by Mankiewicz, whose first drafts included scandalous claims about the death of the film director Thomas Ince.
Once the script was completed, Welles attracted some of Hollywood's best technicians, including cinematographer Gregg Toland, who walked into Welles's office and announced he wanted to work on the picture. Welles later described Toland as "the fastest cameraman who ever lived." For the cast, Welles primarily used actors from his Mercury Theatre. He invited suggestions from everyone but only if they were directed through him. Filming Citizen Kane took ten weeks.
Reaction
Mankiewicz handed a copy of the final shooting script to his friend, Charles Lederer, husband of Welles's ex-wife, Virginia Nicholson as well as being the nephew of Hearst's mistress Marion Davies. Gossip columnist Hedda Hopper saw a small ad in a newspaper for a preview screening of Citizen Kane and went. Hopper, realizing immediately that the film was based on features of Hearst's life, reported this back to him and threatened to give "Hollywood, Private Lives" if that was what it wanted. Thus began the struggle over the attempted suppression of Citizen Kane.
Hearst's media outlets boycotted the film. They exerted enormous pressure on the Hollywood film community by threatening to expose fifteen years of suppressed scandals and the fact that most of the studio bosses were Jewish. At one point, the heads of the major studios jointly offered RKO the cost of the film in exchange for the negative and all existing prints, fully intending to burn them. RKO declined and the film was given a limited release. Hearst intimidated theater chains by threatening to ban advertising for any of their other films in any of his papers if they showed Citizen Kane.
While the film was well-received critically, by the time it reached the general public the publicity had waned. It garnered nine Academy Award nominations (Orson nominated as a producer, director, writer, and actor), but won only for Best Original Screenplay, shared by Mankiewicz and Welles. Although it basically was ignored at the Academy Awards, Citizen Kane now is hailed as one of the greatest films ever made. Andrew Sarris called it "the work that influenced the cinema more profoundly than any American film since The Birth of a Nation."
The delay in its release and its uneven distribution contributed to its average result at the box office, making back its budget and marketing but RKO lost any chance of a major profit. The fact that Citizen Kane ignored many Hollywood conventions also meant that the film confused and angered the 1940s cinema public. Exhibitor response was scathing; most theater owners complained bitterly about the adverse audience reaction and the many walkouts. Only a few saw fit to acknowledge Welles's artistic technique. RKO shelved the film and did not re-release it until 1956.
During the 1950s, the film came to be seen by young French film critics such as François Truffaut as exemplifying the "auteur theory", in which the director is the "author" of a film. Truffaut, Godard and others inspired by Welles's example made their own films, giving birth to the Nouvelle Vague. In the 1960s Citizen Kane became popular on college campuses as a film-study exercise and as an entertainment subject. Its frequent revivals on television, home video and DVD have enhanced its "classic" status and ultimately it recouped its costs. The film still is considered by most film critics and historians to be one of the greatest motion pictures in cinema history.
The Magnificent Ambersons
Welles's second film for RKO was The Magnificent Ambersons, adapted from the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Booth Tarkington. George Schaefer hoped to make back the money lost by Citizen Kane. Ambersons already had been adapted for The Campbell Playhouse by Welles for the stage, and he then wrote the screen adaptation. Toland was not available, so Stanley Cortez was named cinematographer. The meticulous Cortez, however, was slow and the film lagged behind schedule and over budget. Prior to productions, Welles' contract was renegotiated, revoking his right to control the final cut.
Joseph Cotten as Eugene Morgan in The Magnificent Ambersons (1942)
At RKO's request, simultaneously, Welles worked on an adaptation of Eric Ambler's spy thriller, Journey into Fear, which he co-wrote with Joseph Cotten. In addition to acting in the film, Welles also was producer. Direction was credited solely to Norman Foster. Welles later stated that they were in such a rush that the director of each scene was determined by whoever was closest to the camera.
Welles then was offered a new radio series by CBS. Called The Orson Welles Show, it was a half-hour variety show of short stories, comedy skits, poetry, and musical numbers. Joining the original Mercury Theatre cast for the show, was Cliff Edwards, the voice of Jiminy Cricket, "on loan from Walt Disney". The variety format was unpopular with listeners and Welles soon was forced to limit the content of the show simply to telling a one half-hour story for the entirety of each episode.
It's All True
To further complicate matters during the production of Ambersons and Journey into Fear, Welles was approached by Nelson Rockefeller and Jock Whitney to produce a documentary film about South America. This was at the behest of the federal government's Good Neighbor policy, a wartime propaganda effort designed to prevent Latin America from allying with the Axis powers. Welles saw his involvement as a form of national service, since his physical condition excused him from direct military service.
Expected to film the Carnaval in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Welles rushed to finish the editing on Ambersons and his acting scenes in Journey into Fear. Ending his CBS radio show, he lashed together a rough cut of Ambersons with Robert Wise, who had edited Citizen Kane, and left for Brazil. Wise was to join him in Rio to complete the film, but never arrived. A provisional final cut arranged via phone call, telegram, and shortwave radio was previewed without Welles's approval in Pomona in a double bill, to a mostly negative audience response, particularly to the character of Aunt Fanny played by Agnes Moorehead. Whereas Schaefer argued that Welles be allowed to complete his own version of the film, and that an archival copy be kept with the Museum of Modern Art in New York City, RKO disagreed. With Welles in South America, there was no practical means of having him edit the film.
Major changes occurred at RKO in 1942. Floyd Odlum took over control of the studio and began changing its direction. Rockefeller, the most significant backer of the Brazil project, left the RKO board of directors. Around the same time, the principal sponsor of Welles at RKO, studio president George Schaefer, resigned. The changes throughout RKO caused reevaluations of many projects. RKO took control of Ambersons, formed a committee which was ordered to edit the film into what the studio considered a commercial format. They removed fifty minutes of Welles's footage, re-shot sequences, rearranged the scene order, and added a happy ending. Koerner released the shortened film on the bottom of a double-bill with the Lupe Vélez comedy, Mexican Spitfire Sees a Ghost. Ambersons was an expensive flop for RKO, although it received four Academy Award nominations including Best Picture and Best Supporting Actress for Agnes Moorehead.
Welles's South American documentary, entitled It's All True, budgeted at one million dollars with half of its budget coming from the U.S. Government upon completion, grew in ambition and budget while Welles was in South America. While the film originally was to be a documentary on Carnaval, Welles added a new story which recreated the journey of the jangadeiros, four poor fishermen who had made a 1,500-mile (2,400 km) journey on their open raft to petition Brazilian President Vargas about their working conditions. The four had become national folk heroes; Welles first read of their journey in Time. Their leader, Jacare, died during a filming mishap. RKO, in limited contact with Welles, attempted to rein in the production. Most of the crew and budget were withdrawn from the film. In addition, the Mercury staff was removed from the studio in the U.S.
Welles requested resources to finish the film. He was given a limited amount of black-and-white stock and a silent camera. He completed the sequence, but RKO refused to support any further production on the film. Surviving footage was released in 1993, including a rough reconstruction of the "Four Men on a Raft" segment. Meanwhile, RKO asserted in public that Welles had gone to Brazil without a screenplay and that he had squandered a million dollars. Their official company slogan for the next year was, "Showmanship in place of Genius" -- which was taken as a slight against Welles.
Director for hire (1943–1946)
On returning to Hollywood, Welles found no studios interested in hiring him as a film director after the twin disasters of The Magnificent Ambersons and It's All True. Welles next worked on radio. CBS offered him two weekly series, Hello Americans, based on the research he'd done in Brazil, and Ceiling Unlimited, sponsored by Lockheed, a wartime salute to advances in aviation. Both featured several members of his original Mercury Theatre troupe. Within a few months, Hello Americans was canceled and Welles was replaced as host of Ceiling Unlimited by Joseph Cotten. Welles guest-starred on a great variety of shows, notably guest-hosting Jack Benny shows for a month in 1943. He took an increasingly active role in American and international politics and used journalism to communicate his forceful ideas widely.
In 1943, Welles married Rita Hayworth. They had one child, Rebecca Welles, and divorced five years later in 1948. In between, Welles found work as an actor in other directors' films. He starred in the 1944 film adaptation of Jane Eyre, trading credit as associate producer for top billing over Joan Fontaine. He also had a cameo in the 1944 wartime salute Follow the Boys, in which he performed his Mercury Wonder Show magic act and "sawed" Marlene Dietrich in half after Columbia Pictures head Harry Cohn refused to allow Hayworth to perform.
In 1944, Welles was offered a new radio show, broadcast only in California, Orson Welles's Almanac. It was another half-hour variety show, with Mobil Oil as sponsor. After the success of his stand-in hosting on The Jack Benny Show, the focus was primarily on comedy. His hosting on the Jack Benny show included several self-deprecating jokes and story lines about his being a "genius" and overriding any ideas advanced by other cast members. The trade papers were not eager to accept Welles as a comedian, and Welles often complained on-air about the poor quality of the scripts. When Welles started his Mercury Wonder Show a few months later, traveling to Armed Forces camps and performing magic tricks and doing comedy, the radio show was broadcast live from the camps and the material took on a decidedly wartime flavor. Of his original Mercury actors, only Agnes Moorehead remained working with him. The series was cancelled by year's end due to poor ratings.
While he found no studio willing to hire him as a film director, Welles's popularity as an actor continued. Pabst Blue Ribbon gave Welles their radio series This Is My Best to direct, but after one month he was fired for creative differences. He started writing a political column for the New York Post, again called Orson Welles's Almanac. While the paper wanted Welles to write about Hollywood gossip, Welles explored serious political issues. His activism for world peace took considerable amounts of his time. The Post column eventually failed in syndication because of contradictory expectations and was dropped by the Post.
Post-war work (1946–1948)
The Stranger
In 1946, International Pictures released Welles's film, The Stranger, starring Edward G. Robinson, Loretta Young, and Welles. Sam Spiegel produced the film, which follows the hunt for a Nazi war criminal living under an alias in America. While Anthony Veiller was credited with the screenplay, it had been rewritten by Welles and John Huston. Disputes occurred during the editing process between Spiegel and Welles. The film became a box office success and it helped his standing with the studios.
In the summer of 1946, Welles directed a musical stage version of Around the World in Eighty Days, with a comedic and ironic rewriting of the Jules Verne novel by Welles, incidental music and songs by Cole Porter, and production by Mike Todd, who would later produce the successful film version with David Niven. When Todd pulled out from the lavish and expensive production, Welles alone supported the finances. When he ran out of money at one point, he convinced Columbia president Harry Cohn to send him enough to continue the show, and in exchange, Welles promised to write, produce, direct, and star in a film for Cohn for no further fee. The stage show soon failed, due to poor box-office, with Welles unable to claim the losses on his taxes. The complicated financial arrangements concerning the show, its losses, and Welles's arrangement with Cohn, resulted in a tax dispute with the IRS.
At the same time in 1946 he began two new radio series, The Mercury Summer Theatre for CBS and Orson Welles Commentaries for ABC. While Summer Theatre featured half-hour adaptations of some of the classic Mercury radio shows from the 1930s, the first episode was a condensation of his Around the World stage play, and remains the only record of Cole Porter's music for the project. Several original Mercury actors returned for the series, as well as Bernard Herrmann. It only was scheduled for the summer months, and Welles invested his earnings into his failing stage play. Commentaries was a political vehicle for him, continuing the themes from his New York Post column. Again, Welles lacked a clear focus, until the NAACP brought to his attention the case of Isaac Woodard. Welles brought significant attention to Woodard's cause. Soon Welles was being hanged in effigy in the South and theaters refused to show the The Stranger in several southern states.
Welles as Michael O'Hara in The Lady from Shanghai (1947)
The Lady from Shanghai
The film Welles was obliged to make for Cohn helping him complete Around the World in Eighty Days ended up being The Lady from Shanghai, filmed in 1947 for Columbia Pictures. Intended to be a modest thriller, the budget skyrocketed after Cohn suggested that Welles's then-estranged second wife Rita Hayworth co-star. Cohn disliked Welles's rough-cut, particularly the confusing plot and lack of close-ups, and was not in sympathy with Welles' Brechtian use of irony and black comedy, especially in a farcical courtroom scene. Cohn ordered extensive editing and re-shoots. After heavy editing by the studio, approximately one hour of Welles's first cut had been removed, including much of a climactic confrontation scene in an amusement park funhouse. While expressing displeasure at the cuts, Welles was appalled particularly by the soundtrack, objecting to the musical score. The film was considered a disaster in America at the time of release, though the closing shootout in a hall of mirrors has since become one of the touchstones of film noir. Not long after release, Welles and Hayworth finalized their divorce. Although The Lady From Shanghai was acclaimed in Europe, it was not embraced in the U.S. for several decades. Influential modern critics including David Kehr have subsequently declared it a masterpiece, with Kehr calling it "the weirdest great movie ever made." A similar situation occurred when Welles suggested to Charlie Chaplin that he star in a film directed by Welles based on the life of the French serial killer, Henri Désiré Landru. Instead, Chaplin adapted the idea for his own film, Monsieur Verdoux, with Welles officially credited for the idea.
Macbeth
In 1948 Welles convinced Republic Pictures to let him direct a low-budget version of Macbeth, which featured extremely stylized sets and costumes, and a cast of actors lip-syncing to a prerecorded soundtrack, one of many innovative cost-cutting techniques Welles deployed in an attempt to make an epic film from B-movie resources. The script, adapted by Welles, is a violent reworking of the Shakespearean original, freely cutting and pasting lines into new contexts via a collage technique, and recasting Macbeth as a clash of pagan and proto-Christian ideologies. Some of the voodoo trappings of the famous Welles/Houseman Negro Theatre stage adaptation are also visible, especially in the film's characterization of the Weird Sisters, who create an effigy of Macbeth as a charm to enchant him. Of all Welles' post-Kane Hollywood productions, Macbeth is closest to Citizen Kane in its use of long takes and deep focus photography. Shots of the increasingly isolated Scottish king looming in the foreground while other characters address him from deep in the background overtly reference Kane.
Republic initially trumpeted the film as an important work but decided it did not care for the Scottish accents on the soundtrack and held up general release for almost a year after early negative press reaction, which included Life Magazine's comment that Welles' film "doth foully slaughter Shakespeare.'" Welles left for Europe, while his co-producer and life-long supporter Richard Wilson reworked the soundtrack. Welles ultimately returned and cut twenty minutes from the film at Republic's request and recorded narration to cover the gaps. The film was decried as another disaster. Macbeth had its share of influential fans in Europe, especially the French poet and filmmaker Jean Cocteau, who hailed the film's "crude, irreverent power" and careful shot design, and described the characters as haunting “the corridors of some dreamlike subway, an abandoned coal mine, and ruined cellars oozing with water.” In the late 1970s, a fully restored version of Macbeth was released that followed Welles's original vision, and all prints of the truncated continuity have gradually been withdrawn from circulation, turning Welles compulsory recut, which has the distinction of being created by the director himself, into something of a lost work.
* itizen Kane was nominated for numerous prizes at the 1941 Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Actor in a Leading Role. The only Oscar won, however, was Best Original Screenplay, which Welles shared with Herman J. Mankiewicz. Welles later gave his statuette to cinematographer Gary Garver as payment for services rendered. Also, the film The Magnificent Ambersons was nominated for Best Picture, a year later.
* The Stranger was nominated for the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival in 1947. Welles himself was awarded a Career Golden Lion in 1970.
* In 1952, Welles's Othello won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival.
* Welles was nominated for Best Foreign Actor in a Leading Role at the 1968 BAFTA Awards for his performance in Chimes at Midnight.
* Welles was given the first Career Golden Lion award in the Venice Film Festival in 1970.
* In 1970, Welles won an Honorary Academy Award for "superlative and distinguished service in the making of motion pictures." In light of his poor treatment by the Academy and by the American film industry in general, Welles did not attend the ceremony.
* In 1970, he was awarded the French Légion d'honneur, the highest civilian decoration in France. Welles was also a distinguished Foreign Member of the Académie française, succeeded by Peter Ustinov.
* Welles was given a Lifetime Achievement Award by the American Film Institute in 1975.
* In 1978, Welles was presented with the Los Angeles Film Critics Career Achievement Award.
* Welles was inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame in 1979.
* In 1982, Welles was nominated for Best Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture at the Golden Globe Awards for his role in Butterfly, and won a Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Recording for his role on Donovan's Brain.
* Welles was awarded a Fellowship of the British Film Institute in 1983.
* In 1984, Welles was given the D. W. Griffith Award of the Directors Guild of America.
* In 1999, the American Film Institute ranked Welles as the 16th Greatest Male Star of All Time.
* When asked to describe Welles's influence, Jean-Luc Godard remarked: "Everyone will always owe him everything." (Ciment, 42)
* A highly divergent genus of Hawaiian spiders "Orsonwelles" is named in his honour (Hormiga et al 2003)
Filmography and awards
Further information: Orson Welles filmography
Further information: List of awards and nominations received by Orson Welles
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Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: Howard on 05/06/10 at 6:34 am
May 6
George Clooney
Alma Ajazi
Gabourey Sidibe
Tom Bergeron
Bob Seger
Is it also one of these people's birthdays? ???
Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: ninny on 05/06/10 at 6:41 am
The person who died on this day...Wilfrid Hyde-White
Wilfrid Hyde-White (12 May 1903 — 6 May 1991) was an English character actor.
Wilfrid Hyde White was born at the rectory in Bourton-on-the-Water in Gloucestershire, the son of William Edward White, canon of Gloucester Cathedral, and his wife, Ethel Adelaide Drought. He was educated at Marlborough College, where he decided on an acting career — his uncle was the actor J. Fisher White. He studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and made his stage début as Maitland in the Evans-Valentine hit comedy Tons of Money (1922) at Ryde, Isle of Wight, and his London début as a juror in Beggar on Horseback (1925) at the Queen's. On 17 December 1927, he married Blanche Hope Aitken (b. 1896/1897), who used the stage name Blanche Glynne; they had one son.
He worked steadily on the stage, including a tour of South Africa in 1932 before making his film debut, in Josser on the Farm credited as "Hyde White" in 1934. He appeared in the George Formby comedy Turned Out Nice Again in 1941 and after a memorable supporting role in The Third Man, he became a fixture in British films of the 1950s. Two-Way Stretch probably shows best the more roguish side to some of the characters he played in this period. Hyde-White's debonair, often roguish charm was instantly recognizable; ‘his unfailing imperturbability and unruffled acceptance of every eventuality made him an ideal choice for light comedy of the drawing room school’. From 1962 to 1965 he also starred in the BBC radio comedy The Men from the Ministry.
After the death of his first wife, Hyde-White married the American actress Ethel Korenman (stage name Ethel Drew) in 1957. They had a son, the actor Alex Hyde-White, and a daughter.
My Fair Lady
Hyde-White was increasingly busy on screen, usually as lords, gentlemen, or conmen, often "smallish roles which he somehow succeeded in making appear bigger," such as The Browning Version as the headmaster, and in his own favourite role, as the bogus Reverend Fowler (alias "Soapy" Stevens) in Two Way Stretch. In that year he was in Hollywood for Let's Make Love with Marilyn Monroe, and many films in the film capital followed. In particular, he co-starred in My Fair Lady from the Lerner and Loewe musical as Colonel Pickering, the avuncular companion of Rex Harrison's Professor Higgins. It was a role which brought him international recognition.
He continued to act on the stage, and played opposite Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh in Caesar and Cleopatra and Antony and Cleopatra in 1951. He also appeared on Broadway and was nominated for two Tony Awards as best actor.
In the 1970s and 1980s, he featured in the US TV series Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, Battlestar Galactica and The Associates.
His television movies and guest appearances kept him busy from the late 1960s to the early 1980s. His lifestyle had been expensive to maintain in real life, exemplified by Rolls-Royces, racehorses, and mistresses, which led to his being declared bankrupt in London in 1979. His wife left him. Chastened, he managed to give up his gambling on horses for a year, becoming even busier on television.
Later career
He appeared in two episodes of the mystery series Columbo, starring Peter Falk as the rumpled detective. Although the first, Dagger of the Mind (1972), was set in England and concerned Columbo paying a visit to Scotland Yard, Hyde White's ongoing tax problems in Britain meant that, unlike other cast members Falk, Honor Blackman, Richard Basehart, Bernard Fox, John Fraser and Arthur Malet, he was unable to take part in location filming in the UK. His scenes as a butler were filmed instead in California, at a supposed country house. His second appearance was in the episode Last Salute to the Commodore (1976).
His career was somewhat revived by the television series The Associates, in which he played the senior partner of a New York law firm. He also memorably portrayed Barkley, an employee of wealthy businessman U.S. Bates (Jackie Gleason) in the film The Toy. His last film appearance was in the British/West German co-production Fanny Hill.
Final years and death
In 1985, White became a resident of the Motion Picture and Television Hospital in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, California, for his last few years being almost bedridden. He died of congestive heart failure on 6 May 1991 (6 days before his 88th birthday), survived by his wife and children.
Selected filmography
* Josser on the Farm (1934)
* Admirals All (1935)
* Rembrandt (1936)
* Elephant Boy (1937)
* Back Room Boy (1942)
* The Ghosts of Berkeley Square (1947)
* The Winslow Boy (1948)
* Quartet (1948)
* The Passionate Friends (1949)
* Adam and Evelyne (1949)
* The Third Man (1949)
* Last Holiday (1950)
* Trio (1950)
* Highly Dangerous (1950)
* The Browning Version (1951)
* Outcast of the Islands (1952)
* Top Secret (1952)
* The Story of Gilbert and Sullivan (1953)
* The Million Pound Note (1953)
* Betrayed (1954)
* The Adventures of Quentin Durward (1955)
* The Silken Affair (1956)
* The Vicious Circle (1957)
* Carry On Nurse (1959)
* Life in Emergency Ward 10 (1959)
* North West Frontier (1959)
* Libel (1959)
* Two-Way Stretch (1960)
* Let's Make Love (1960)
* On the Double (1961)
* On the Fiddle (1961)
* In Search of the Castaways (1962)
* Crooks Anonymous (1962)
* My Fair Lady (1964)
* John Goldfarb, Please Come Home (1965)
* You Must Be Joking! (1965)
* Ten Little Indians (1965)
* The Sandwich Man (1966)
* The Million Eyes of Sumuru (1967)
* Mission: Impossible: Echo of Yesterday (1967) (TV)
* Run a Crooked Mile (1969) (TV)
* The Magic Christian (1969)
* Gaily, Gaily (1969)
* The Cherry Picker (1972)
* Columbo: Dagger of the Mind (1972)
* Columbo: Last Salute to the Commodore (1976)
* The Cat and the Canary (1979)
* Oh, God! Book II (1980)
* Xanadu (1980)
* The Toy (1982)
* Fanny Hill (1983)
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Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: Howard on 05/06/10 at 6:44 am
The person who died on this day...Wilfrid Hyde-White
Wilfrid Hyde-White (12 May 1903 — 6 May 1991) was an English character actor.
Wilfrid Hyde White was born at the rectory in Bourton-on-the-Water in Gloucestershire, the son of William Edward White, canon of Gloucester Cathedral, and his wife, Ethel Adelaide Drought. He was educated at Marlborough College, where he decided on an acting career — his uncle was the actor J. Fisher White. He studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and made his stage début as Maitland in the Evans-Valentine hit comedy Tons of Money (1922) at Ryde, Isle of Wight, and his London début as a juror in Beggar on Horseback (1925) at the Queen's. On 17 December 1927, he married Blanche Hope Aitken (b. 1896/1897), who used the stage name Blanche Glynne; they had one son.
He worked steadily on the stage, including a tour of South Africa in 1932 before making his film debut, in Josser on the Farm credited as "Hyde White" in 1934. He appeared in the George Formby comedy Turned Out Nice Again in 1941 and after a memorable supporting role in The Third Man, he became a fixture in British films of the 1950s. Two-Way Stretch probably shows best the more roguish side to some of the characters he played in this period. Hyde-White's debonair, often roguish charm was instantly recognizable; ‘his unfailing imperturbability and unruffled acceptance of every eventuality made him an ideal choice for light comedy of the drawing room school’. From 1962 to 1965 he also starred in the BBC radio comedy The Men from the Ministry.
After the death of his first wife, Hyde-White married the American actress Ethel Korenman (stage name Ethel Drew) in 1957. They had a son, the actor Alex Hyde-White, and a daughter.
My Fair Lady
Hyde-White was increasingly busy on screen, usually as lords, gentlemen, or conmen, often "smallish roles which he somehow succeeded in making appear bigger," such as The Browning Version as the headmaster, and in his own favourite role, as the bogus Reverend Fowler (alias "Soapy" Stevens) in Two Way Stretch. In that year he was in Hollywood for Let's Make Love with Marilyn Monroe, and many films in the film capital followed. In particular, he co-starred in My Fair Lady from the Lerner and Loewe musical as Colonel Pickering, the avuncular companion of Rex Harrison's Professor Higgins. It was a role which brought him international recognition.
He continued to act on the stage, and played opposite Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh in Caesar and Cleopatra and Antony and Cleopatra in 1951. He also appeared on Broadway and was nominated for two Tony Awards as best actor.
In the 1970s and 1980s, he featured in the US TV series Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, Battlestar Galactica and The Associates.
His television movies and guest appearances kept him busy from the late 1960s to the early 1980s. His lifestyle had been expensive to maintain in real life, exemplified by Rolls-Royces, racehorses, and mistresses, which led to his being declared bankrupt in London in 1979. His wife left him. Chastened, he managed to give up his gambling on horses for a year, becoming even busier on television.
Later career
He appeared in two episodes of the mystery series Columbo, starring Peter Falk as the rumpled detective. Although the first, Dagger of the Mind (1972), was set in England and concerned Columbo paying a visit to Scotland Yard, Hyde White's ongoing tax problems in Britain meant that, unlike other cast members Falk, Honor Blackman, Richard Basehart, Bernard Fox, John Fraser and Arthur Malet, he was unable to take part in location filming in the UK. His scenes as a butler were filmed instead in California, at a supposed country house. His second appearance was in the episode Last Salute to the Commodore (1976).
His career was somewhat revived by the television series The Associates, in which he played the senior partner of a New York law firm. He also memorably portrayed Barkley, an employee of wealthy businessman U.S. Bates (Jackie Gleason) in the film The Toy. His last film appearance was in the British/West German co-production Fanny Hill.
Final years and death
In 1985, White became a resident of the Motion Picture and Television Hospital in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, California, for his last few years being almost bedridden. He died of congestive heart failure on 6 May 1991 (6 days before his 88th birthday), survived by his wife and children.
Selected filmography
* Josser on the Farm (1934)
* Admirals All (1935)
* Rembrandt (1936)
* Elephant Boy (1937)
* Back Room Boy (1942)
* The Ghosts of Berkeley Square (1947)
* The Winslow Boy (1948)
* Quartet (1948)
* The Passionate Friends (1949)
* Adam and Evelyne (1949)
* The Third Man (1949)
* Last Holiday (1950)
* Trio (1950)
* Highly Dangerous (1950)
* The Browning Version (1951)
* Outcast of the Islands (1952)
* Top Secret (1952)
* The Story of Gilbert and Sullivan (1953)
* The Million Pound Note (1953)
* Betrayed (1954)
* The Adventures of Quentin Durward (1955)
* The Silken Affair (1956)
* The Vicious Circle (1957)
* Carry On Nurse (1959)
* Life in Emergency Ward 10 (1959)
* North West Frontier (1959)
* Libel (1959)
* Two-Way Stretch (1960)
* Let's Make Love (1960)
* On the Double (1961)
* On the Fiddle (1961)
* In Search of the Castaways (1962)
* Crooks Anonymous (1962)
* My Fair Lady (1964)
* John Goldfarb, Please Come Home (1965)
* You Must Be Joking! (1965)
* Ten Little Indians (1965)
* The Sandwich Man (1966)
* The Million Eyes of Sumuru (1967)
* Mission: Impossible: Echo of Yesterday (1967) (TV)
* Run a Crooked Mile (1969) (TV)
* The Magic Christian (1969)
* Gaily, Gaily (1969)
* The Cherry Picker (1972)
* Columbo: Dagger of the Mind (1972)
* Columbo: Last Salute to the Commodore (1976)
* The Cat and the Canary (1979)
* Oh, God! Book II (1980)
* Xanadu (1980)
* The Toy (1982)
* Fanny Hill (1983)
http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z180/IrishSkye/80sKid%20nostalgia/Buck%20Rogers/buck_cast01.jpg
I remember that guy,Battlestar Galactica.
Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: ninny on 05/06/10 at 9:51 am
May 6
George Clooney
Alma Ajazi
Gabourey Sidibe
Tom Bergeron
Bob Seger
Is it also one of these people's birthdays? ???
I know..it's hard to just pick one person..I know that last year I did more than one person so a lot of them are repeats :-[
I don't even know the 2nd person listed and the 3rd person just started acting. I try to pick people who have more of an impact in peoples lives.
Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: Frank on 05/06/10 at 11:02 am
Rosebud
Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: CatwomanofV on 05/06/10 at 12:28 pm
Rosebud
You know, I have NEVER seen that movie. :-[
Cat
Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: Frank on 05/06/10 at 4:44 pm
You know, I have NEVER seen that movie. :-[
Cat
Take a chance and watch it. It's not bad. I don't think it's as good as everyone says, but it's pretty good.
Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: Frank on 05/06/10 at 5:28 pm
Sports person of the day: Wilie Mays
William Howard "Willie" Mays, Jr. (born May 6, 1931) is a retired American baseball player who played the majority of his career with the New York and San Francisco Giants before finishing with the New York Mets. Nicknamed The Say Hey Kid, Mays was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1979, his first year of eligibility. Many consider him to be the greatest all-around player of all time.
http://blogs.villagevoice.com/runninscared/Mays.jpg
Mays won two MVP awards and tied a record with 24 appearances in the All-Star Game. He ended his career with 660 career home runs, third at the time of his retirement, and currently fourth all-time. In 1999, Mays placed second on The Sporting News list of the 100 Greatest Baseball Players, making him the highest-ranking living player. Later that year, he was also elected to the Major League Baseball All-Century Team. Mays is the only Major League player to have hit a home run in every inning from the 1st through the 16th. He finished his career with a record 22 extra-inning home runs. Mays is one of four NL players to have eight consecutive 100-RBI seasons, along with Mel Ott, Sammy Sosa and Albert Pujols. Mays hit 50 or more home runs in both 1955 and 1965. This time span represents the longest stretch between 50 plus home run seasons for any player in Major League Baseball history.
The 1954 series is perhaps best remembered for "The Catch," an over-the-shoulder running grab by Mays in deep center field of the Polo Grounds of a long drive off the bat of Vic Wertz during the eighth inning of Game 1. Considered the iconic image of Mays' playing career and one of baseball's most memorable fielding plays, the catch prevented two Indians runners from scoring, preserving a tie game. The Giants won the game in the 10th inning, with Mays scoring the winning run.
http://fullcountpitch.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/willie-mays.jpg
Mays' first Major League manager, Leo Durocher, said of Mays: "He could do the five things you have to do to be a superstar: hit, hit with power, run, throw, and field. And he had that other ingredient that turns a superstar into a super superstar. He lit up the room when he came in. He was a joy to be around."
Upon his Hall of Fame induction, Mays was asked who was the best player that he had seen during his career. Mays replied, "I thought I was." Ted Williams once said "They invented the All-Star Game for Willie Mays.
http://i.cdn.turner.com/si/multimedia/photo_gallery/0905/this.day.sports.history.may28/images/willie-mays.jpg
Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: Howard on 05/06/10 at 7:29 pm
I know..it's hard to just pick one person..I know that last year I did more than one person so a lot of them are repeats :-[
I don't even know the 2nd person listed and the 3rd person just started acting. I try to pick people who have more of an impact in peoples lives.
It's ok,take your time. :)
Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: gibbo on 05/06/10 at 8:37 pm
You know, I have NEVER seen that movie. :-[
Cat
Strangely...it is one of the few classics I haven't yet seen as well.... :-[
Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: gibbo on 05/06/10 at 8:40 pm
Take a chance and watch it. It's not bad. I don't think it's as good as everyone says, but it's pretty good.
There's just something about Awesome Wells that I don't like. Although I enjoyed his performance in The Third Man (with Joseph Cotton....and all that Zither music).
Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: ninny on 05/07/10 at 12:50 pm
You know, I have NEVER seen that movie. :-[
Cat
I've only seen bits and pieces.
Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: ninny on 05/07/10 at 12:51 pm
Sports person of the day: Wilie Mays
William Howard "Willie" Mays, Jr. (born May 6, 1931) is a retired American baseball player who played the majority of his career with the New York and San Francisco Giants before finishing with the New York Mets. Nicknamed The Say Hey Kid, Mays was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1979, his first year of eligibility. Many consider him to be the greatest all-around player of all time.
http://blogs.villagevoice.com/runninscared/Mays.jpg
Mays won two MVP awards and tied a record with 24 appearances in the All-Star Game. He ended his career with 660 career home runs, third at the time of his retirement, and currently fourth all-time. In 1999, Mays placed second on The Sporting News list of the 100 Greatest Baseball Players, making him the highest-ranking living player. Later that year, he was also elected to the Major League Baseball All-Century Team. Mays is the only Major League player to have hit a home run in every inning from the 1st through the 16th. He finished his career with a record 22 extra-inning home runs. Mays is one of four NL players to have eight consecutive 100-RBI seasons, along with Mel Ott, Sammy Sosa and Albert Pujols. Mays hit 50 or more home runs in both 1955 and 1965. This time span represents the longest stretch between 50 plus home run seasons for any player in Major League Baseball history.
The 1954 series is perhaps best remembered for "The Catch," an over-the-shoulder running grab by Mays in deep center field of the Polo Grounds of a long drive off the bat of Vic Wertz during the eighth inning of Game 1. Considered the iconic image of Mays' playing career and one of baseball's most memorable fielding plays, the catch prevented two Indians runners from scoring, preserving a tie game. The Giants won the game in the 10th inning, with Mays scoring the winning run.
http://fullcountpitch.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/03/willie-mays.jpg
Mays' first Major League manager, Leo Durocher, said of Mays: "He could do the five things you have to do to be a superstar: hit, hit with power, run, throw, and field. And he had that other ingredient that turns a superstar into a super superstar. He lit up the room when he came in. He was a joy to be around."
Upon his Hall of Fame induction, Mays was asked who was the best player that he had seen during his career. Mays replied, "I thought I was." Ted Williams once said "They invented the All-Star Game for Willie Mays.
http://i.cdn.turner.com/si/multimedia/photo_gallery/0905/this.day.sports.history.may28/images/willie-mays.jpg
He had an amazing career.
Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: ninny on 05/07/10 at 12:57 pm
The word or phrase of the day...Pied Piper
# a leader who entices people to follow (especially to their doom)
# the title character in a German folk tale and in a poem by Robert Browning
http://i166.photobucket.com/albums/u114/Hilary3160/2nd%20May%202010/DSCF0861.jpg
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l317/bonnieusascot/PHOTOS/pied.jpg
http://i559.photobucket.com/albums/ss31/forthtay/pied_piper_final.jpg
http://i167.photobucket.com/albums/u134/elysamac/Betsie/thepiedpiper.jpg
http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z220/ladybeabea/PiedPiper.jpg
http://i452.photobucket.com/albums/qq248/trumpetmanjez/Picture2.png
http://i171.photobucket.com/albums/u296/azdimd/the_pied_piper.jpg
http://i249.photobucket.com/albums/gg224/charlie_is_our_boy/Hpim0687.jpg
Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: ninny on 05/07/10 at 12:59 pm
The person born on this day...Anne Baxter
Anne Baxter (May 7, 1923 – December 12, 1985) was an American actress known for her performances in films such as The Magnificent Ambersons (1942), All About Eve (1950), The Razor's Edge (1946) and The Ten Commandments (1956).
Baxter was born in Michigan City, Indiana to Kenneth Stuart Baxter and Catherine Wright; her maternal grandfather was the architect Frank Lloyd Wright. Baxter's father was a prominent executive with the Seagrams Distillery Co. and she was raised in New York City in a well-to-do home, and attended the prestigious Brearley School. At age 10, Baxter attended a Broadway play starring Helen Hayes, and was so impressed that she declared to her family that she wanted to become an actress. By the age of 13, she had appeared on Broadway. During this period, Baxter learned her acting craft as a student of the famed teacher Maria Ouspenskaya.
Career
Baxter as Eve Harrington, from the trailer for All About Eve (1950)
At 16 Baxter screen-tested for the role of Mrs. DeWinter in Rebecca, losing out to Joan Fontaine because director Alfred Hitchcock considered her "too young" for the role, but the strength of that first foray into movie acting secured her a seven-year contract with 20th Century Fox. Her first movie role was in 20 Mule Team in 1940. She was chosen by director Orson Welles to appear in The Magnificent Ambersons (1942), based on the novel by Booth Tarkington. Baxter co-starred with Tyrone Power and Gene Tierney in 1946's The Razor's Edge, for which she won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.
In 1950, she was chosen to co-star in All About Eve, largely because of a resemblance to Claudette Colbert, who had initially been chosen to co-star in the film; the original idea being to have her character gradually come to visually mirror Colbert's over the course of the film. Baxter received a nomination for Best Actress for the title role of Eve Harrington. Later during that decade, Baxter also continued to act in professional theater. According to a program from the production, Baxter appeared on Broadway in 1953 opposite Tyrone Power in Charles Laughton's John Brown's Body, a play based upon the narrative poem by Stephen Vincent Benét (though the Internet Broadway Database states that Power's co-star was Judith Anderson). In 1953 she appeared opposite Montgomery Clift in Alfred Hitchcock's I Confess.
Baxter with Yul Brynner, from the trailer for The Ten Commandments (1956)
Baxter is also remembered for her role as the Egyptian princess Nefertiri opposite Charlton Heston's portrayal of Moses in Cecil B. DeMille's award winning The Ten Commandments (1956).
Baxter appeared regularly on television in the 1960s. For example, she did a stint as one of the What's My Line? "Mystery Guests" on the popular Sunday night CBS-TV quiz program. She also starred as guest villain "Zelda the Great" in two episodes of the superhero show Batman. She appeared as another villain, "Olga, Queen of the Cossacks," opposite Vincent Price's "Egghead" in three episodes of the show's third season. She also played an old flame of Raymond Burr on his crime series Ironside.
Baxter returned to Broadway during the 1970s in Applause, the musical version of All About Eve, but this time in the "Margo Channing" role played by Bette Davis in the film. (She was replacing Lauren Bacall, who won a Tony Award in the role.)
In the 1970s, Baxter was a frequent guest and stand-in host on the popular daytime TV talk-fest The Mike Douglas Show, since Baxter and host Mike Douglas were friends. She portrayed a homicidal movie star on an episode of Columbo called "Requiem for a Fallen Star."
In 1983, Baxter starred in the television series Hotel, replacing Bette Davis in the cast after Davis was taken ill.
Baxter has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6741 Hollywood Blvd.
Personal life
In the 1950s Baxter was married to and then divorced from actor John Hodiak; they had a daughter, Katrina.
In 1960 Baxter married her second husband, Randolph Galt. They left Hollywood to briefly live on a cattle station in the Australian outback before moving to New Mexico and Hawaii before settling back in Brentwood, California. She told the story in her memoir Intermission: A True Story. In the book, Baxter blamed the failure of her first marriage to Hodiak on herself. Baxter and Galt had two daughters - Melissa, an interior designer, and Maginel, a Roman Catholic nun in Rome.
Baxter was briefly married again in 1977 to David Klee, a prominent stockbroker, but was widowed when he died unexpectedly from illness. Baxter never remarried. They had purchased a sprawling property in Easton, Connecticut which was extensively remodeled, but Klee did not live to see the renovations completed. The house was architecturally reminiscent of Frank Lloyd Wright's flat-roofed 'Prairie School Architecture' structures. Baxter remodeled the living-room fireplace to resemble the one in her grandfather's masterpiece, Fallingwater. Although Baxter maintained a residence in West Hollywood, California, she considered her beloved Connecticut home to be her primary residence.
She was a lifelong friend of the late costume designer Edith Head, whom she first met on the set of The Ten Commandments and who also appeared in a cameo role with Baxter in the Columbo episode in which Baxter starred. Upon Head's death in 1981, Baxter's daughter, Melissa, who was also a goddaughter of Head, was bequeathed her extraordinary collection of jewelry.
Death
Baxter died from a brain aneurysm on December 12, 1985, while walking down Madison Avenue in New York City. She is buried on the estate of Frank Lloyd Wright at Lloyd Jones Cemetery in Spring Green, Wisconsin. She was survived by her three daughters.
Filmography
* 20 Mule Team (1940)
* The Great Profile (1940)
* Charley's Aunt (1941)
* Swamp Water (1941)
* The Pied Piper (1942)
* The Magnificent Ambersons (1942)
* Crash Dive (1943)
* Five Graves to Cairo (1943)
* The North Star (1943)
* The Sullivans (1944)
* The Eve of St. Mark (1944)
* Sunday Dinner for a Soldier (1944)
* Guest in the House (1944)
* A Royal Scandal (1945)
* Smoky (1946)
* Angel on My Shoulder (1946)
* The Razor's Edge (1946)
* Blaze of Noon (1947)
* Mother Wore Tights (1947) (narrator)
* Homecoming (1948)
* The Walls of Jericho (1948)
* The Luck of the Irish (1948)
* Yellow Sky (1949)
* You're My Everything (1949)
* A Ticket to Tomahawk (1950)
* All About Eve (1950)
* Follow the Sun (1951)
* The Outcasts of Poker Flat (1952)
* O. Henry's Full House (1952)
* My Wife's Best Friend (1952)
* I Confess (1953)
* The Blue Gardenia (1953)
* Carnival Story (1954) (also cameo in German version titled Carnival of Love)
* Bedevilled (1955)
* One Desire (1955)
* The Spoilers (1955)
* The Come On (1956)
* The Ten Commandments (1956)
* Chase a Crooked Shadow (1957)
* Three Violent People (1957)
* Summer of the Seventeenth Doll (1959)
* Cimarron (1960)
* The DuPont Show with June Allyson, as Louise in "The Dance Man" (CBS, 1960)
* Mix Me a Person (1962)
* Walk on the Wild Side (1962)
* The Family Jewels (1965) (Cameo)
* Seven Vengeful Women (1966)
* The Busy Body (1967)
* Fools' Parade (1971)
* The Late Liz (1971)
* Columbo: Requiem for a Falling Star (1973)
* Jane Austen in Manhattan (1980)
http://i226.photobucket.com/albums/dd10/mmtrbfan83_84/anne-baxter.jpg
http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k36/scalphunterfire/us/AnneBaxtershinymetal.jpg
Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: Frank on 05/07/10 at 12:59 pm
The word or phrase of the day...Pied Piper
# a leader who entices people to follow (especially to their doom)
# the title character in a German folk tale and in a poem by Robert Browning
http://i166.photobucket.com/albums/u114/Hilary3160/2nd%20May%202010/DSCF0861.jpg
http://i99.photobucket.com/albums/l317/bonnieusascot/PHOTOS/pied.jpg
http://i559.photobucket.com/albums/ss31/forthtay/pied_piper_final.jpg
http://i167.photobucket.com/albums/u134/elysamac/Betsie/thepiedpiper.jpg
http://i193.photobucket.com/albums/z220/ladybeabea/PiedPiper.jpg
http://i452.photobucket.com/albums/qq248/trumpetmanjez/Picture2.png
http://i171.photobucket.com/albums/u296/azdimd/the_pied_piper.jpg
http://i249.photobucket.com/albums/gg224/charlie_is_our_boy/Hpim0687.jpg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JNJiJkV_rCk
Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: CatwomanofV on 05/07/10 at 1:04 pm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_AMGpqP6Ds
Cat
Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: ninny on 05/07/10 at 1:05 pm
The person who died on this day...Douglas Fairbanks Jr.
Douglas Elton Fairbanks, Jr. KBE (December 9, 1909 – May 7, 2000) was an American actor and a highly decorated naval officer of World War II.
Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. was born in New York City, the son of actor Douglas Fairbanks, and his first wife, Anna Beth Sully. His parents divorced when he was nine years old. He lived with his mother in New York, California, Paris and London.
Hollywood
Fairbanks' father was one of cinema's first icons, noted for such swashbuckling adventure films as The Mark of Zorro, Robin Hood and The Thief of Bagdad. Largely on the basis of his father's name, Fairbanks, Jr. was given a contract with Paramount Pictures at age 14. After making some undistinguished films, he took to the stage, where he impressed his father, his stepmother Mary Pickford, and Charlie Chaplin, who encouraged him to continue with acting.
He began his career during the silent film era. He initially played mainly supporting roles in a range of films featuring many of the leading female players of the day: Belle Bennett in Stella Dallas (1925), Esther Ralston in An American Venus (1926) and Pauline Starke in Women Love Diamonds (1927). In the last years of the silent period he was upped to star billing opposite Loretta Young in several pre-Code films and Joan Crawford in Our Modern Maidens (1929). He supported John Gilbert and Greta Garbo in Woman of Affairs (1929). Progressing to sound, he played opposite Katharine Hepburn in her Oscar-winning role in the film Morning Glory (1933).
With Outward Bound (1930), The Dawn Patrol (1930), Little Caesar (1931), and Gunga Din (1939), his movies began to have more commercial success.
Marriages
His first notable relationship was with the actress Joan Crawford, whom he began to date seriously during the filming of Our Modern Maidens. On June 3, 1929, at St Malachy in New York City, Crawford and Fairbanks married. Fairbanks was only 19 and Crawford was several years older.
They went on a delayed honeymoon to England, where he was entertained by Noël Coward and Prince George, Duke of Kent. He became active in both society and politics, but Crawford was far more interested in her career and had an affair with Clark Gable. The couple divorced in 1933.
Despite their divorce, Fairbanks was quick to defend Crawford when her adopted daughter Christina Crawford, published Mommie Dearest, a scathing biography of Crawford's personal life. He firmly stated, "The Joan Crawford that I've heard about in Mommie Dearest is not the Joan Crawford I knew back then."
On April 22, 1939, Fairbanks married Mary Lee Hartford (née Mary Lee Epling), a former wife of Huntington Hartford, the Great Atlantic and Pacific Tea Company heir. They remained together until her death in 1988, and had three daughters: Daphne, Victoria, and Melissa.
On May 30, 1991, Fairbanks wed Vera Lee Shelton, a merchandiser for QVC Network Inc.
World War II
Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.
December 9, 1909 – May 7, 2000 (aged 90)
CDRDouglasFairbanks.jpg
Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., "Father of the U.S. Navy Beach Jumpers"
Place of birth New York City
Place of death New York City
Allegiance United States of America
Service/branch United States Navy
Years of service 1941–1954
Rank Captain
Unit Beach Jumpers
Battles/wars World War II
* Operation Husky
* Operation Dragoon
Awards Legion of Merit, Italian War Cross, Legion d'Honneur, Croix de Guerre, Distinguished Service Cross, Silver Star,
Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire (Honorary)
Other work Actor
In 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt appointed him a special envoy to South America.
Although celebrated as an actor, Fairbanks was commissioned a reserve officer in the United States Navy at the onset of World War II and assigned to Lord Louis Mountbatten's Commando staff in England.
Having witnessed (and participated in) British training and cross-channel harassment operations emphasizing the military art of deception, Fairbanks attained a depth of understanding and appreciation of military deception then unheard of in the United States Navy. Lieutenant Fairbanks was subsequently transferred to Virginia Beach where he came under the command of Admiral H. Kent Hewitt, who was preparing U.S. Naval forces for the invasion of North Africa.
Fairbanks convinced Hewitt of the advantages of such a unit, then repeated the proposal at Hewett's behest to Admiral Ernest King, Chief of Naval Operations. King thereupon issued a secret letter on March 5, 1943 charging the Vice Chief of Naval Operations with the recruitment of 180 officers and 300 enlisted men for the Beach Jumper program.
The Beach Jumpers' mission would simulate amphibious landings with a very limited force. Operating dozens of kilometers from the actual landing beaches and utilizing their deception equipment, the Beach Jumpers would lure the enemy into believing that theirs was the principal landing.
United States Navy Beach Jumpers saw their initial action in Operation Husky, the invasion of Sicily. Throughout the remainder of the war, the Beach Jumpers conducted their hazardous, shallow-water operations throughout the Mediterranean.
For his planning the diversion-deception operations and his part in the amphibious assault on Southern France, Lieutenant Commander Fairbanks was awarded the United States Navy's Legion of Merit with bronze V (for valor), the Italian War Cross for Military Valor, the French Légion d'honneur and the Croix de guerre with Palm, and the British Distinguished Service Cross. Fairbanks was also awarded the Silver Star for valor displayed while serving on PT boats.
He was made an Honorary Knight Commander of the British Empire (KBE) in 1949. Fairbanks stayed in the Naval Reserve after the war and ultimately retired a captain in 1954.
Post-war years
Fairbanks returned to Hollywood at the conclusion of World War II, but as a confirmed Anglophile, he spent a considerable amount of his time in the United Kingdom, where he was well known in the highest social circles. Between 1954 and 1956 he also made a number of half-hour programs at one of the smaller Elstree film studios as part of a syndicated anthology series for television called Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., Presents. The College of Arms in London granted Fairbanks a coat of arms symbolising the U.S. and Britain united across the blue Atlantic Ocean by a silken knot of friendship.
It has been claimed that Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. was one of the naked men in the incriminating photos used as evidence in the divorce trial of Margaret Campbell, Duchess of Argyll in 1963.
He was good friends with Sir Laurence Olivier, and was one of the contributors to a documentary by The South Bank Show called Laurence Olivier: A Life. He was also a close friend of Sir Rex Harrison and was a presenter at Harrison's New York City memorial service.
Fairbanks died of a heart attack in New York at the age of 90 and is interred in the Hollywood Forever Cemetery in Hollywood, California, in the same crypt as his father.
Legacy
Fairbanks has two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, one for motion pictures at 6318 Hollywood Boulevard and one for television at 6665 Hollywood Boulevard.
Partial filmography
* Stephen Steps Out (1923)
* The Air Mail (1925)
* Wild Horse Mesa (1925)
* Stella Dallas (1925)
* The American Venus (1926)
* Padlocked (1926)
* Broken Hearts of Hollywood (1926)
* Man Bait (1927)
* Women Love Diamonds (1927)
* Is Zat So? (1927)
* A Texas Steer (1927)
* Dead Man's Curve (1928)
* Modern Mothers (1928)
* The Toilers (1928)
* The Power of the Press (1928)
* The Barker (1928)
* A Woman of Affairs (1928)
* Hollywood Snapshots #11 (1929) (short subject)
* The Forward Pass (1929)
* The Jazz Age (1929)
* Our Modern Maidens (1929)
* Little Caesar (1931)
* I Like Your Nerve (1931)
* Union Depot (1932)
* Scarlet Dawn (1932)
* Parachute Jumper (1933)
* Captured! (1933)
* Morning Glory (1933)
* Catherine the Great (1934)
* Man of the Moment (1935)
* The Amateur Gentleman (1936)
* The Prisoner of Zenda (1937)
* Joy of Living (1938)
* The Rage of Paris (1938)
* Having Wonderful Time (1938)
* The Young in Heart (1938)
* Gunga Din (1939)
* Green Hell (1940)
* Angels Over Broadway (1940)
* The Corsican Brothers (1941)
* Sinbad the Sailor (1947)
* The Exile (1947)
* That Lady in Ermine (1948)
* The Triangle (1953)
* The Genie (1953)
* Ghost Story (1981)
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Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: ninny on 05/07/10 at 1:08 pm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JNJiJkV_rCk
Good song :)
Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: Frank on 05/07/10 at 1:10 pm
The person born on this day...Anne Baxter
Anne Baxter (May 7, 1923 – December 12, 1985) was an American actress known for her performances in films such as The Magnificent Ambersons (1942), All About Eve (1950), The Razor's Edge (1946) and The Ten Commandments (1956).
Baxter was born in Michigan City, Indiana to Kenneth Stuart Baxter and Catherine Wright; her maternal grandfather was the architect Frank Lloyd Wright. Baxter's father was a prominent executive with the Seagrams Distillery Co. and she was raised in New York City in a well-to-do home, and attended the prestigious Brearley School. At age 10, Baxter attended a Broadway play starring Helen Hayes, and was so impressed that she declared to her family that she wanted to become an actress. By the age of 13, she had appeared on Broadway. During this period, Baxter learned her acting craft as a student of the famed teacher Maria Ouspenskaya.
Career
Baxter as Eve Harrington, from the trailer for All About Eve (1950)
At 16 Baxter screen-tested for the role of Mrs. DeWinter in Rebecca, losing out to Joan Fontaine because director Alfred Hitchcock considered her "too young" for the role, but the strength of that first foray into movie acting secured her a seven-year contract with 20th Century Fox. Her first movie role was in 20 Mule Team in 1940. She was chosen by director Orson Welles to appear in The Magnificent Ambersons (1942), based on the novel by Booth Tarkington. Baxter co-starred with Tyrone Power and Gene Tierney in 1946's The Razor's Edge, for which she won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.
In 1950, she was chosen to co-star in All About Eve, largely because of a resemblance to Claudette Colbert, who had initially been chosen to co-star in the film; the original idea being to have her character gradually come to visually mirror Colbert's over the course of the film. Baxter received a nomination for Best Actress for the title role of Eve Harrington. Later during that decade, Baxter also continued to act in professional theater. According to a program from the production, Baxter appeared on Broadway in 1953 opposite Tyrone Power in Charles Laughton's John Brown's Body, a play based upon the narrative poem by Stephen Vincent Benét (though the Internet Broadway Database states that Power's co-star was Judith Anderson). In 1953 she appeared opposite Montgomery Clift in Alfred Hitchcock's I Confess.
Baxter with Yul Brynner, from the trailer for The Ten Commandments (1956)
Baxter is also remembered for her role as the Egyptian princess Nefertiri opposite Charlton Heston's portrayal of Moses in Cecil B. DeMille's award winning The Ten Commandments (1956).
Baxter appeared regularly on television in the 1960s. For example, she did a stint as one of the What's My Line? "Mystery Guests" on the popular Sunday night CBS-TV quiz program. She also starred as guest villain "Zelda the Great" in two episodes of the superhero show Batman. She appeared as another villain, "Olga, Queen of the Cossacks," opposite Vincent Price's "Egghead" in three episodes of the show's third season. She also played an old flame of Raymond Burr on his crime series Ironside.
Baxter returned to Broadway during the 1970s in Applause, the musical version of All About Eve, but this time in the "Margo Channing" role played by Bette Davis in the film. (She was replacing Lauren Bacall, who won a Tony Award in the role.)
In the 1970s, Baxter was a frequent guest and stand-in host on the popular daytime TV talk-fest The Mike Douglas Show, since Baxter and host Mike Douglas were friends. She portrayed a homicidal movie star on an episode of Columbo called "Requiem for a Fallen Star."
In 1983, Baxter starred in the television series Hotel, replacing Bette Davis in the cast after Davis was taken ill.
Baxter has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6741 Hollywood Blvd.
Personal life
In the 1950s Baxter was married to and then divorced from actor John Hodiak; they had a daughter, Katrina.
In 1960 Baxter married her second husband, Randolph Galt. They left Hollywood to briefly live on a cattle station in the Australian outback before moving to New Mexico and Hawaii before settling back in Brentwood, California. She told the story in her memoir Intermission: A True Story. In the book, Baxter blamed the failure of her first marriage to Hodiak on herself. Baxter and Galt had two daughters - Melissa, an interior designer, and Maginel, a Roman Catholic nun in Rome.
Baxter was briefly married again in 1977 to David Klee, a prominent stockbroker, but was widowed when he died unexpectedly from illness. Baxter never remarried. They had purchased a sprawling property in Easton, Connecticut which was extensively remodeled, but Klee did not live to see the renovations completed. The house was architecturally reminiscent of Frank Lloyd Wright's flat-roofed 'Prairie School Architecture' structures. Baxter remodeled the living-room fireplace to resemble the one in her grandfather's masterpiece, Fallingwater. Although Baxter maintained a residence in West Hollywood, California, she considered her beloved Connecticut home to be her primary residence.
She was a lifelong friend of the late costume designer Edith Head, whom she first met on the set of The Ten Commandments and who also appeared in a cameo role with Baxter in the Columbo episode in which Baxter starred. Upon Head's death in 1981, Baxter's daughter, Melissa, who was also a goddaughter of Head, was bequeathed her extraordinary collection of jewelry.
Death
Baxter died from a brain aneurysm on December 12, 1985, while walking down Madison Avenue in New York City. She is buried on the estate of Frank Lloyd Wright at Lloyd Jones Cemetery in Spring Green, Wisconsin. She was survived by her three daughters.
Filmography
* 20 Mule Team (1940)
* The Great Profile (1940)
* Charley's Aunt (1941)
* Swamp Water (1941)
* The Pied Piper (1942)
* The Magnificent Ambersons (1942)
* Crash Dive (1943)
* Five Graves to Cairo (1943)
* The North Star (1943)
* The Sullivans (1944)
* The Eve of St. Mark (1944)
* Sunday Dinner for a Soldier (1944)
* Guest in the House (1944)
* A Royal Scandal (1945)
* Smoky (1946)
* Angel on My Shoulder (1946)
* The Razor's Edge (1946)
* Blaze of Noon (1947)
* Mother Wore Tights (1947) (narrator)
* Homecoming (1948)
* The Walls of Jericho (1948)
* The Luck of the Irish (1948)
* Yellow Sky (1949)
* You're My Everything (1949)
* A Ticket to Tomahawk (1950)
* All About Eve (1950)
* Follow the Sun (1951)
* The Outcasts of Poker Flat (1952)
* O. Henry's Full House (1952)
* My Wife's Best Friend (1952)
* I Confess (1953)
* The Blue Gardenia (1953)
* Carnival Story (1954) (also cameo in German version titled Carnival of Love)
* Bedevilled (1955)
* One Desire (1955)
* The Spoilers (1955)
* The Come On (1956)
* The Ten Commandments (1956)
* Chase a Crooked Shadow (1957)
* Three Violent People (1957)
* Summer of the Seventeenth Doll (1959)
* Cimarron (1960)
* The DuPont Show with June Allyson, as Louise in "The Dance Man" (CBS, 1960)
* Mix Me a Person (1962)
* Walk on the Wild Side (1962)
* The Family Jewels (1965) (Cameo)
* Seven Vengeful Women (1966)
* The Busy Body (1967)
* Fools' Parade (1971)
* The Late Liz (1971)
* Columbo: Requiem for a Falling Star (1973)
* Jane Austen in Manhattan (1980)
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I liked her voice, sexy kind of voice. I'll always remember her from the 10 Commandments.
Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: ninny on 05/07/10 at 1:11 pm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_AMGpqP6Ds
Cat
Not bad.I never heard the song before.
Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: CatwomanofV on 05/07/10 at 1:12 pm
Not bad.I never heard the song before.
Listened to it as I was posting it. Brings me back to another place, another time in my life.
Cat
Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: Frank on 05/07/10 at 1:14 pm
Not bad.I never heard the song before.
I haven't heard that since high school. Eons ago.
Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: Howard on 05/07/10 at 2:55 pm
The word or phrase of the day...Pied Piper
# a leader who entices people to follow (especially to their doom)
# the title character in a German folk tale and in a poem by Robert Browning
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I remember a Bugs Bunny cartoon with The Pied Piper.
Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: nally on 05/08/10 at 12:57 am
I remember a Bugs Bunny cartoon with The Pied Piper.
I'm not sure if I've seen that one or not.
Was it this one?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qgZShxrcXvk
(Sorry about the picture quality; it's just that the person who uploaded this had obviously taped it off their VCR way back in the day.)
Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: Philip Eno on 05/08/10 at 4:09 am
I have plenty to catch up on here.
Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: ninny on 05/08/10 at 5:58 am
I have plenty to catch up on here.
Welcome to the weekend Phil :)
Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: ninny on 05/08/10 at 6:05 am
The word of the day...Prairie
Prairies are considered part of the temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands biome by ecologists, based on similar temperate climates, moderate rainfall, and grasses, herbs, and shrubs, rather than trees, as the dominant vegetation type. Temperate grassland regions include the Pampas of Argentina, and the steppes of Eurasia.
Lands typically referred to as "prairie" tend to be in North America. The term encompasses much of the area referred to as the Great Plains of the United States and Canada. In the U.S., the area is constituted by most or all of the states of North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, Colorado, Wyoming and Montana, and sizable parts of the states of Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Wisconsin, Missouri, and Minnesota. The Central Valley of California is also prairie. The Canadian Prairies occupy vast areas of Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta.
http://i220.photobucket.com/albums/dd187/FroggieLegs/Wyoming%202010/Devils%20Tower%20and%20upper%20NE%20Wyoming/Picture059.jpg
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Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: ninny on 05/08/10 at 6:07 am
The person born on this day...Melissa Gilbert
Melissa Ellen Gilbert (born May 8, 1964) is an American actress, writer, and producer, primarily in movies and television. Gilbert is best known as a child actress who co-starred as Charles Ingalls' (played by Michael Landon) second daughter, Laura Ingalls Wilder, on the dramatic television series Little House on the Prairie (1974–1984). As an adult, she has a very long list of acting, voicework, writing, producing, and directing credits. Melissa also served two terms as President of the Screen Actors Guild. On June 9, 2009 her autobiography Prairie Tale: A Memoir was released.Born in Los Angeles, California, Gilbert was adopted one day later by actor and comedian Paul Gilbert (born Ed MacMahon, he changed his name to Paul Gilbert to get a Screen Actors Guild card) and his wife, dancer and actress Barbara Crane (later Barbara Gilbert, Barbara Abeles, Barbara Gilbert Cowan). Barbara was the daughter of The Honeymooners creator Harry Crane. The couple later adopted a son, Jonathan Gilbert, who co-starred with Melissa as Willie Oleson on Little House on the Prairie. When Melissa was 8 her parents divorced. Barbara then married Harold Abeles, and together they had biological daughter Sara Abeles (also known as Sara Gilbert), born January 29, 1975. On February 12, 1975, while Melissa was at her mother's home with the flu, Paul Gilbert suffered a stroke and died at the age of 56.
Barbara's marriage to Abeles also ended in divorce.
With Hollywood connections in her family background and a natural ability for entertaining at a very young age, Gilbert had already done dozens of commercials, including one for Alpo dog food with Lorne Greene (Michael Landon's television father on Bonanza). She then tried out for the role of Michael Landon's middle daughter, Laura Ingalls on NBC's 2-hour pilot of the book Little House on the Prairie. Michael Landon loved her instantly. Growing up she was unfamiliar with Landon, having never met him or watched "Bonanza." Gilbert attended school with his daughter, Leslie Landon who guested on Little House as a teen and then played school teacher Etta Plumb during the last season. It was Leslie who informed her that she had won the role of Laura, beating out over 500 child actresses for this part. The pilot was shot in 1973 and was a ratings success. Almost a year later Gilbert began filming the series.
Gilbert became extremely close to the Landon family after her adoptive father died. Landon became her surrogate father both on and off the set. Gilbert spent weekends and vacations with the Landons. As a teen, she dated Michael Landon Jr. and they went to their proms together. A rift, however, developed between Michael Landon and Gilbert after the revelation of Landon's affair with Little House's young makeup artist, Cindy Clerico.
Gilbert had no contact with Landon after Little House ended during the 1983/1984 season. Seven years later, on May 9, 1991, when she saw a gaunt-looking Landon on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson discussing his pancreatic cancer, she was compelled to finally telephone him. She visited Landon at his Malibu home where he was, by then, bed-ridden, and they spent the afternoon together. Landon died one week later. When Gilbert gave birth to her son with second husband Bruce Boxleitner on October 6, 1995, they named him Michael in honor of Landon.
Career after Little House
Gilbert has continued to work regularly, mainly in television. She starred as Jean Donovan in the biopic Choices of the Heart (1983), and as Anna Sheridan in three episodes of Babylon 5 with husband Bruce Boxleitner in 1996. She is known as "The Queen of the television movies and mini-series" having starred in over 45 of them since the late 1970s. During the three months of filming for the television mini-series, Zoya, in St. Petersburg, London, Paris, Montreal, and New York, she was pregnant with her second child.
In 1998, she was inducted into the Western Performers Hall of Fame at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
In 2006, Gilbert appeared as Shari Noble, a patient looking to reconstruct her nipples after committing zoophilia with her dog in a season 4 episode of Nip/Tuck.
Gilbert regularly keeps in contact with her friend Alison Arngrim, who played her nemesis Nellie Oleson on Little House on the Prairie. Although their respective characters were enemies for years, in real life, they are close friends.
In 2008 and through 2009, Gilbert plays Caroline "Ma" Ingalls in the musical adaptation of Little House on the Prairie. This world premiere production at the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis was directed by Francesca Zambello and also stars Kara Lindsay as Laura. The show ran through October 19 and is on a US National tour for 2009–10.
For her contribution to the television industry, Gilbert has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6429 Hollywood Blvd in 1985. Her then fiance, Rob Lowe, was present with her when her star was unveiled during the ceremony. She is one of the youngest actresses to have been honored with a star.
Screen Actor's Guild Presidency
Melissa won the Screen Actors Guild presidency in 2001 after a contentious election in which she ultimately beat her opponent, Rhoda actress Valerie Harper, 21,351 votes to 12,613 votes after a second vote was taken. In 2003, she was re-elected, defeating Kent McCord with 50% of the vote to his 42%. In July 2005, she announced that she would not seek a third term and she was succeeded by Alan Rosenberg, who assumed the Guild presidency on September 25.
Personal life
At 17, she reconnected with then little-known actor Rob Lowe, also 17. They met briefly when they were about 14. In 1981, Melissa, in her convertible, saw Lowe stopped next to her at a red light. Gilbert dated Lowe on-and-off for six years. During this time, both had affairs with other famous people. Melissa dated Tom Cruise, John Cusack, Scott Baio, and Billy Idol. After Lowe's failed romance with Princess Stéphanie, he suddenly proposed to Gilbert. While making wedding plans, Gilbert found out she was pregnant. Upon being informed of the pregnancy, Lowe ended their relationship. Gilbert miscarried days later..
Heart-broken, Gilbert left for New York City to star in the play A Shayna Maidel. Gilbert was set up with actor Bo Brinkman, a cousin of actors Randy Quaid and Dennis Quaid. The couple married on February 22, 1988, only seven weeks after she ended her relationship with Rob Lowe. Gilbert became pregnant months later. US Magazine featured a very pregnant Gilbert wrapped in a sheer sheet and named her one of "America's Ten Most Beautiful Women" in 1988. On May 1, 1989, she gave birth to Dakota Paul Brinkman. After Dakota's birth, the couple began to have marital problems and divorced 1992.
Only weeks after Gilbert's divorce filing, Bruce Boxleitner's ex-wife (Kathryn Holcomb) set Bruce up with Gilbert. Holcomb by then was married to actor, Ian Ogilvy. Gilbert had met Boxleitner as a teenager when they both were on Battle of the Network Stars. Gilbert introduced herself as she had a pin-up of him in her locker. Boxleitner ignored her as she was a teen and he was many years older than her. The couple was on-and-off for over a year. They were engaged twice and Boxleitner broke up with her each time. After re-uniting for a third time, they finally married on January 1, 1995 in her mother's living room. Gilbert quickly became pregnant, but went into premature labor more than two months before her due date. She gave birth to a son, Michael Garrett Boxleitner, named in honor of Michael Landon, on October 6, 1995. His middle name is in honor of Garret Peckinpah, her friend Sandy Peckinpah's son, who had died suddenly of meningitis at age 16.
Gilbert is also stepmother to Boxleitner's two sons with Holcomb, Sam (b. 1980) and Lee (b. 1985).
She has battled alcoholism and drug abuse, which she wrote about in her 2009 autobiography.
Filmography
Films
Year Film Role Notes
1977 Circus, Lions, Tigers and Melissas Too -
Christmas Miracle in Caufield, U.S.A. Kelly Sullivan TV movie
1979 Nutcracker Fantasy Clara Voice
The Miracle Worker Helen Keller TV movie / Nominated for an Emmy Award
1980 The Diary of Anne Frank Anne Frank TV movie
1981 Splendor in the Grass Wilma Dean 'Deanie' Loomis TV movie
1983 Choices of the Heart Jean Donovan TV movie
Little House: Look Back to Yesterday Laura Ingalls Wilder TV movie
Little House: Bless All the Dear Children Laura Ingalls Wilder TV movie
1984 Little House: The Last Farewell Laura Ingalls Wilder TV movie
Family Secrets Sara Calloway TV movie
1985 Sylvester Charlie
1986 Drug Free Kids: A Parents' Guide - Direct-to-video
Choices Terry Granger TV movie
The Penalty Phase Leah Furman TV movie
1987 Blood Vows: The Story of a Mafia Wife Marian TV movie
1988 Killer Instinct Dr. Lisa DaVito TV movie
1989 Ice House Kay
1990 Without Her Consent Emily Briggs TV movie
Forbidden Nights Judith Shapiro TV movie
Joshua's Heart Claudia TV movie
Donor Dr. Kristine Lipton TV movie
The Lookalike Gina/Jennifer TV movie
1992 With a Vengeance Janet King/Vanessa TV movie
1993 Family of Strangers Julie TV movie
With Hostile Intent Miranda Berkley TV movie
Shattered Trust: The Shari Karney Story Shari Karney TV movie
House of Secrets Marion Ravinel TV movie
Dying to Remember Lynn Matthews TV movie
1994 The Babymaker: The Dr. Cecil Jacobson Story Mary Bennett TV movie
Against Her Will: The Carrie Buck Story Melissa Prentice TV movie
Cries from the Heart Karen TV movie
1995 Zoya Zoya Ossipov TV movie
1996 Christmas in My Hometown
(a.k.a. A Holiday for Love) Emma Murphy TV movie
1997 Seduction in a Small Town Sarah Jenks TV movie
Childhood Sweetheart? Karen Carlson TV movie
1998 Her Own Rules Meredith Sanders TV movie
1999 Murder at 75 Birch Gwen Todson TV movie
The Soul Collector Rebecca TV movie
Switched at Birth Sarah Barlow TV movie
2000 A Vision of Murder: The Story of Donielle Donielle TV movie
2001 Sanctuary Jo Ellen Hathaway TV movie
2003 Hollywood Wives: The New Generation Taylor Singer TV movie
2004 Heart of the Storm Cassie Broadbeck
2005 Thicker Than Water Natalie Jones TV movie
2007 Sacrifices of the Heart originally titled Spring Thaw Kate Weston/Anne Weston TV movie
Safe Harbour Ophelia Direct-to-video
TV series
Year Title Role Seasons Notes
1974–83 Little House on the Prairie Laura Ingalls Wilder 1–9 Won two Young Artist Awards. Also nominated for a Golden Globe Award
1992 Stand By Your Man Rochelle Dumphy 1
1992–95 Batman: The Animated Series Barbara Gordon/Batgirl 2–3 Voice
1994–95 Sweet Justice Kate Delacroy 1
TV appearances
Year Title Season Role Episode Notes
1972 Gunsmoke 18 Spratt's Child "The Judgement" Episode 4
Emergency! 2 Jenny "Dinner Date" Episode 10
1978 The Love Boat 2 Rocky "Julie's Dilemma/Who's Who/Rocky" Episode 3
1985 Faerie Tale Theatre 4 Gerda "The Snow Queen" Episode 2
1991 The Hidden Room 1 - "Spirit Cabinet" Episode 4
1996 Babylon 5 3 Anna Sheridan "War Without End: Part 2"
"Shadow Dancing"
"Z'ha'dum" Episode 17
Episode 21
Episode 22
1998 The Outer Limits 4 Teresa Janovitch "Relativity Theory" Episode 6
Touched by an Angel 5 Michelle Tanner "The Peacemaker" Episode 10
2002 Providence 4 Lorna Berlin "Smoke and Mirrors" Episode 21
Presidio Med 1 Grace Bennett "Once Upon a Family" Episode 7
2005 7th Heaven 9 Marie Wagner "Honor Thy Mother" Episode 18
2006 Nip/Tuck 4 Shari Noble "Shari Noble" Episode 4
2009 Chelsea Lately 3 Herself "Chelsea Lately" Episode 131
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Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: ninny on 05/08/10 at 6:10 am
The person who died on this day...George Peppard
George Peppard, Jr. (October 1, 1928 – May 8, 1994) was an American film and television actor. He secured a major role when he starred alongside Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961), and he played the title role of the millionaire sleuth Thomas Banacek in the early-1970s television series Banacek, but he is probably best known to younger audiences for his role as Col. John "Hannibal" Smith, the cigar-chomping leader of a renegade commando squad, in the 1980s television show The A-Team.
George Peppard, Jr. was born in Detroit, Michigan, the son of building contractor George Peppard, Sr. and opera singer Vernelle Rohrer. He graduated from Dearborn High School in Dearborn, Michigan.
Peppard enlisted in the United States Marine Corps at 17 on July 8, 1946 and rose to rank of Corporal in the 10th Marines, leaving the Marines at the end of his enlistment in January 1948.
From 1948 to 1949, he studied Civil Engineering at Purdue University where he was a member of the Purdue Playmakers theatre troupe and Beta Theta Pi. He then transferred to Carnegie Institute of Technology (now Carnegie Mellon University) in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where he received his bachelor's degree in 1955.
Acting career
Peppard made his stage debut in 1949 at the Pittsburgh Playhouse. After moving to New York, Peppard enrolled in The Actors Studio, where he studied the Method with Lee Strasberg. His first work on Broadway led to his first television appearance, with a young Paul Newman, in The United States Steel Hour (1956). Peppard’s Broadway appearance in The Pleasure of His Company (1958) led to an MGM contract. Prior to a strong film debut in The Strange One (1957), he was discovered playing the illegitimate son of Robert Mitchum's character in the popular melodrama Home from the Hill (1960).
His good looks, elegant manner and superior acting skills landed Peppard his most famous film role as Paul Varjak in Breakfast at Tiffany's with Audrey Hepburn. This role boosted him briefly to a major film star. His leading roles in that film's wake included How the West Was Won in 1962, The Victors in 1963, The Carpetbaggers in 1964 and The Blue Max in 1966.
Peppard developed a tendency to choose tough guy roles in big, ambitious pictures where he was somewhat overshadowed by ensemble casts; for example, his role as German pilot Bruno Stachel, an obsessively competitive officer from humble beginnings who challenges the Prussian aristocracy during World War I in The Blue Max (1966). For this role, Peppard learned to fly, earned a private pilot's license and did much of his own stunt flying, although stunt pilot Derek Piggott was at the controls for the famous under-the-bridge scene.
Due to Peppard's tendencies toward alcohol, his career devolved into a string of B films, except for a brief moment of notable success with the highly successful TV series Banacek (1972–74), (part of the NBC Mystery Movie series), and one of his most critically acclaimed, though rarely seen, performances in the TV movie Guilty or Innocent: The Sam Sheppard Murder Case (1975).
Among the disappointing films was the 1970 Western, Cannon for Cordoba, in which Peppard played the steely Captain Rod Douglas, who has been put in charge of gathering a group of soldiers on a dangerous mission into Mexico, and 1967's Rough Night in Jericho in which he co-starred with Dean Martin. Peppard appeared in the short-lived (half a season) Doctors' Hospital (1975) and several other television films. He was in the science fiction film Damnation Alley in 1977. With fewer interesting film roles coming his way, he acted in, directed and produced the drama Five Days from Home in 1979.
In a rare game show appearance, Peppard did a week of shows on Password Plus in 1979. Out of five shows, one was never broadcast on NBC (but aired much later on GSN) due to a rant where he expressed dissatisfaction with NBC executives watching "as if you're some sort of crook." Peppard was never asked to return to the show again.
Dynasty
In 1981, Peppard was offered, and accepted, the role of Blake Carrington in the TV series Dynasty. During the filming of the pilot episode, which also featured Linda Evans and Bo Hopkins, Peppard repeatedly clashed with the show's producers, Richard and Esther Shapiro; among other things, he felt that his role was too similar to that of J.R. Ewing in the series Dallas. Three weeks later, before filming was to begin on additional episodes, Peppard was fired and the part was offered to John Forsythe; the scenes with Peppard were reshot.
The A-Team
In the early 1980s, George Peppard re-emerged as a television star for his role as Colonel John "Hannibal" Smith in the action adventure series The A-Team, acting alongside Mr. T, Dirk Benedict and Dwight Schultz. In the series, the A-Team was a crack squad of renegade commandos on the run from the military for a crime they did not commit while serving in the Vietnam war. The A-Team made a living as soldiers of fortune, albeit only helping people with a just grievance.
"Hannibal" Smith was the leader of the A-Team, distinguished by his cigar smoking, black leather gloves, disguises and catch phrase, "I love it when a plan comes together." The show ran five seasons on NBC from 1983–1987. It made Peppard known to a younger generation and is arguably his most well-known role. The role was reportedly written with James Coburn in mind, but went to Peppard when Coburn had to pull out.
Man against the Mob
Peppard's last series was an intended occasional series of television movie features entitled "Man against the Mob" set in the 1940s. In these TV detective films, Peppard played Los Angeles Police Detective Sgt. Frank Doakey. The second film "Man Against the Mob: The Chinatown Murders" was broadcast in December 1989. A third film in this series was planned, but Peppard died before it was filmed.
Personal life
Peppard married five times, and was the father of three children:
* Helen Davies (1954–1964): two children, Bradford and Julie
* Elizabeth Ashley (1966–1972), his co-star in The Carpetbaggers: one son, Christian
* Sherry Boucher-Lytle (1975–1979), originally from Springhill in north Louisiana
* Alexis Adams (1984–1986)
* Laura Taylor (1992–1994)
Death
A life-long smoker, Peppard was diagnosed with lung cancer in 1992 and subsequently quit. Cancer never forced his retirement from acting, and Peppard completed a pilot for a new series in 1994 (a Matlock spin-off) shortly before his death. Peppard died on May 8, 1994, in Los Angeles, California. Although he was still being treated for lung cancer, the direct cause of death was pneumonia. He is buried in Northview Cemetery in Dearborn, Michigan.
Awards
* 1960 NBR Award (National Board of Review of Motion Pictures) for Home from the Hill as Best Supporting Actor
* 1961 BAFTA Award Nomination (British Academy Award) for Home From The Hill
* 1961 Promising newcomer to leading film roles
* Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame (Category Motion Pictures, 6675 Hollywood Blvd., Los Angeles)
Filmography
* The Tigress (1992)
* Ultra Warrior (1990)
* Night of the Fox (1990)
* The A-Team (1983–1987)
* Hit Man (1982)
* Race for the Yankee Zephyr (1981)
* Your Ticket Is No Longer Valid (1981)
* Battle Beyond the Stars (1980)
* Crisis in Mid-Air (1979)
* From Hell to Victory (1979)
* Five Days from Home (1979)
* Damnation Alley (1977)
* Doctors' Hospital (1975–76)
* Newman's Law (1974)
* Banacek (1972–1974) TV series
* The Groundstar Conspiracy (1972)
* One More Train to Rob (1971)
* Cannon for Cordoba (1970)
* The Executioner (1970)
* Pendulum (1969)
* House of Cards (1968)
* What's So Bad About Feeling Good? (1968)
* P.J. (1968)
* Rough Night in Jericho (1967)
* Tobruk (1967)
* The Blue Max (1966)
* The Third Day (1965)
* Operation Crossbow (1965)
* The Carpetbaggers (1964)
* The Victors (1963)
* How the West Was Won (1962)
* Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961)
* The Subterraneans (1960)
* Home from the Hill (1960)
* Pork Chop Hill (1959)
* The Strange One (1957)
http://i64.photobucket.com/albums/h162/Dark_Enigma_2006/George_Peppard7.jpg
http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c334/deondrap/Actors%20and%20Actresses/g_peppard_bio_.jpg
Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: Philip Eno on 05/08/10 at 6:40 am
Welcome to the weekend Phil :)
Thanks!
Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: Howard on 05/08/10 at 7:00 am
I have plenty to catch up on here.
Hey Phil. :)
Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: Howard on 05/08/10 at 7:02 am
The person born on this day...Melissa Gilbert
Melissa Ellen Gilbert (born May 8, 1964) is an American actress, writer, and producer, primarily in movies and television. Gilbert is best known as a child actress who co-starred as Charles Ingalls' (played by Michael Landon) second daughter, Laura Ingalls Wilder, on the dramatic television series Little House on the Prairie (1974–1984). As an adult, she has a very long list of acting, voicework, writing, producing, and directing credits. Melissa also served two terms as President of the Screen Actors Guild. On June 9, 2009 her autobiography Prairie Tale: A Memoir was released.Born in Los Angeles, California, Gilbert was adopted one day later by actor and comedian Paul Gilbert (born Ed MacMahon, he changed his name to Paul Gilbert to get a Screen Actors Guild card) and his wife, dancer and actress Barbara Crane (later Barbara Gilbert, Barbara Abeles, Barbara Gilbert Cowan). Barbara was the daughter of The Honeymooners creator Harry Crane. The couple later adopted a son, Jonathan Gilbert, who co-starred with Melissa as Willie Oleson on Little House on the Prairie. When Melissa was 8 her parents divorced. Barbara then married Harold Abeles, and together they had biological daughter Sara Abeles (also known as Sara Gilbert), born January 29, 1975. On February 12, 1975, while Melissa was at her mother's home with the flu, Paul Gilbert suffered a stroke and died at the age of 56.
Barbara's marriage to Abeles also ended in divorce.
With Hollywood connections in her family background and a natural ability for entertaining at a very young age, Gilbert had already done dozens of commercials, including one for Alpo dog food with Lorne Greene (Michael Landon's television father on Bonanza). She then tried out for the role of Michael Landon's middle daughter, Laura Ingalls on NBC's 2-hour pilot of the book Little House on the Prairie. Michael Landon loved her instantly. Growing up she was unfamiliar with Landon, having never met him or watched "Bonanza." Gilbert attended school with his daughter, Leslie Landon who guested on Little House as a teen and then played school teacher Etta Plumb during the last season. It was Leslie who informed her that she had won the role of Laura, beating out over 500 child actresses for this part. The pilot was shot in 1973 and was a ratings success. Almost a year later Gilbert began filming the series.
Gilbert became extremely close to the Landon family after her adoptive father died. Landon became her surrogate father both on and off the set. Gilbert spent weekends and vacations with the Landons. As a teen, she dated Michael Landon Jr. and they went to their proms together. A rift, however, developed between Michael Landon and Gilbert after the revelation of Landon's affair with Little House's young makeup artist, Cindy Clerico.
Gilbert had no contact with Landon after Little House ended during the 1983/1984 season. Seven years later, on May 9, 1991, when she saw a gaunt-looking Landon on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson discussing his pancreatic cancer, she was compelled to finally telephone him. She visited Landon at his Malibu home where he was, by then, bed-ridden, and they spent the afternoon together. Landon died one week later. When Gilbert gave birth to her son with second husband Bruce Boxleitner on October 6, 1995, they named him Michael in honor of Landon.
Career after Little House
Gilbert has continued to work regularly, mainly in television. She starred as Jean Donovan in the biopic Choices of the Heart (1983), and as Anna Sheridan in three episodes of Babylon 5 with husband Bruce Boxleitner in 1996. She is known as "The Queen of the television movies and mini-series" having starred in over 45 of them since the late 1970s. During the three months of filming for the television mini-series, Zoya, in St. Petersburg, London, Paris, Montreal, and New York, she was pregnant with her second child.
In 1998, she was inducted into the Western Performers Hall of Fame at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
In 2006, Gilbert appeared as Shari Noble, a patient looking to reconstruct her nipples after committing zoophilia with her dog in a season 4 episode of Nip/Tuck.
Gilbert regularly keeps in contact with her friend Alison Arngrim, who played her nemesis Nellie Oleson on Little House on the Prairie. Although their respective characters were enemies for years, in real life, they are close friends.
In 2008 and through 2009, Gilbert plays Caroline "Ma" Ingalls in the musical adaptation of Little House on the Prairie. This world premiere production at the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis was directed by Francesca Zambello and also stars Kara Lindsay as Laura. The show ran through October 19 and is on a US National tour for 2009–10.
For her contribution to the television industry, Gilbert has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6429 Hollywood Blvd in 1985. Her then fiance, Rob Lowe, was present with her when her star was unveiled during the ceremony. She is one of the youngest actresses to have been honored with a star.
Screen Actor's Guild Presidency
Melissa won the Screen Actors Guild presidency in 2001 after a contentious election in which she ultimately beat her opponent, Rhoda actress Valerie Harper, 21,351 votes to 12,613 votes after a second vote was taken. In 2003, she was re-elected, defeating Kent McCord with 50% of the vote to his 42%. In July 2005, she announced that she would not seek a third term and she was succeeded by Alan Rosenberg, who assumed the Guild presidency on September 25.
Personal life
At 17, she reconnected with then little-known actor Rob Lowe, also 17. They met briefly when they were about 14. In 1981, Melissa, in her convertible, saw Lowe stopped next to her at a red light. Gilbert dated Lowe on-and-off for six years. During this time, both had affairs with other famous people. Melissa dated Tom Cruise, John Cusack, Scott Baio, and Billy Idol. After Lowe's failed romance with Princess Stéphanie, he suddenly proposed to Gilbert. While making wedding plans, Gilbert found out she was pregnant. Upon being informed of the pregnancy, Lowe ended their relationship. Gilbert miscarried days later..
Heart-broken, Gilbert left for New York City to star in the play A Shayna Maidel. Gilbert was set up with actor Bo Brinkman, a cousin of actors Randy Quaid and Dennis Quaid. The couple married on February 22, 1988, only seven weeks after she ended her relationship with Rob Lowe. Gilbert became pregnant months later. US Magazine featured a very pregnant Gilbert wrapped in a sheer sheet and named her one of "America's Ten Most Beautiful Women" in 1988. On May 1, 1989, she gave birth to Dakota Paul Brinkman. After Dakota's birth, the couple began to have marital problems and divorced 1992.
Only weeks after Gilbert's divorce filing, Bruce Boxleitner's ex-wife (Kathryn Holcomb) set Bruce up with Gilbert. Holcomb by then was married to actor, Ian Ogilvy. Gilbert had met Boxleitner as a teenager when they both were on Battle of the Network Stars. Gilbert introduced herself as she had a pin-up of him in her locker. Boxleitner ignored her as she was a teen and he was many years older than her. The couple was on-and-off for over a year. They were engaged twice and Boxleitner broke up with her each time. After re-uniting for a third time, they finally married on January 1, 1995 in her mother's living room. Gilbert quickly became pregnant, but went into premature labor more than two months before her due date. She gave birth to a son, Michael Garrett Boxleitner, named in honor of Michael Landon, on October 6, 1995. His middle name is in honor of Garret Peckinpah, her friend Sandy Peckinpah's son, who had died suddenly of meningitis at age 16.
Gilbert is also stepmother to Boxleitner's two sons with Holcomb, Sam (b. 1980) and Lee (b. 1985).
She has battled alcoholism and drug abuse, which she wrote about in her 2009 autobiography.
Filmography
Films
Year Film Role Notes
1977 Circus, Lions, Tigers and Melissas Too -
Christmas Miracle in Caufield, U.S.A. Kelly Sullivan TV movie
1979 Nutcracker Fantasy Clara Voice
The Miracle Worker Helen Keller TV movie / Nominated for an Emmy Award
1980 The Diary of Anne Frank Anne Frank TV movie
1981 Splendor in the Grass Wilma Dean 'Deanie' Loomis TV movie
1983 Choices of the Heart Jean Donovan TV movie
Little House: Look Back to Yesterday Laura Ingalls Wilder TV movie
Little House: Bless All the Dear Children Laura Ingalls Wilder TV movie
1984 Little House: The Last Farewell Laura Ingalls Wilder TV movie
Family Secrets Sara Calloway TV movie
1985 Sylvester Charlie
1986 Drug Free Kids: A Parents' Guide - Direct-to-video
Choices Terry Granger TV movie
The Penalty Phase Leah Furman TV movie
1987 Blood Vows: The Story of a Mafia Wife Marian TV movie
1988 Killer Instinct Dr. Lisa DaVito TV movie
1989 Ice House Kay
1990 Without Her Consent Emily Briggs TV movie
Forbidden Nights Judith Shapiro TV movie
Joshua's Heart Claudia TV movie
Donor Dr. Kristine Lipton TV movie
The Lookalike Gina/Jennifer TV movie
1992 With a Vengeance Janet King/Vanessa TV movie
1993 Family of Strangers Julie TV movie
With Hostile Intent Miranda Berkley TV movie
Shattered Trust: The Shari Karney Story Shari Karney TV movie
House of Secrets Marion Ravinel TV movie
Dying to Remember Lynn Matthews TV movie
1994 The Babymaker: The Dr. Cecil Jacobson Story Mary Bennett TV movie
Against Her Will: The Carrie Buck Story Melissa Prentice TV movie
Cries from the Heart Karen TV movie
1995 Zoya Zoya Ossipov TV movie
1996 Christmas in My Hometown
(a.k.a. A Holiday for Love) Emma Murphy TV movie
1997 Seduction in a Small Town Sarah Jenks TV movie
Childhood Sweetheart? Karen Carlson TV movie
1998 Her Own Rules Meredith Sanders TV movie
1999 Murder at 75 Birch Gwen Todson TV movie
The Soul Collector Rebecca TV movie
Switched at Birth Sarah Barlow TV movie
2000 A Vision of Murder: The Story of Donielle Donielle TV movie
2001 Sanctuary Jo Ellen Hathaway TV movie
2003 Hollywood Wives: The New Generation Taylor Singer TV movie
2004 Heart of the Storm Cassie Broadbeck
2005 Thicker Than Water Natalie Jones TV movie
2007 Sacrifices of the Heart originally titled Spring Thaw Kate Weston/Anne Weston TV movie
Safe Harbour Ophelia Direct-to-video
TV series
Year Title Role Seasons Notes
1974–83 Little House on the Prairie Laura Ingalls Wilder 1–9 Won two Young Artist Awards. Also nominated for a Golden Globe Award
1992 Stand By Your Man Rochelle Dumphy 1
1992–95 Batman: The Animated Series Barbara Gordon/Batgirl 2–3 Voice
1994–95 Sweet Justice Kate Delacroy 1
TV appearances
Year Title Season Role Episode Notes
1972 Gunsmoke 18 Spratt's Child "The Judgement" Episode 4
Emergency! 2 Jenny "Dinner Date" Episode 10
1978 The Love Boat 2 Rocky "Julie's Dilemma/Who's Who/Rocky" Episode 3
1985 Faerie Tale Theatre 4 Gerda "The Snow Queen" Episode 2
1991 The Hidden Room 1 - "Spirit Cabinet" Episode 4
1996 Babylon 5 3 Anna Sheridan "War Without End: Part 2"
"Shadow Dancing"
"Z'ha'dum" Episode 17
Episode 21
Episode 22
1998 The Outer Limits 4 Teresa Janovitch "Relativity Theory" Episode 6
Touched by an Angel 5 Michelle Tanner "The Peacemaker" Episode 10
2002 Providence 4 Lorna Berlin "Smoke and Mirrors" Episode 21
Presidio Med 1 Grace Bennett "Once Upon a Family" Episode 7
2005 7th Heaven 9 Marie Wagner "Honor Thy Mother" Episode 18
2006 Nip/Tuck 4 Shari Noble "Shari Noble" Episode 4
2009 Chelsea Lately 3 Herself "Chelsea Lately" Episode 131
http://i186.photobucket.com/albums/x132/coc3nhep/melissa_gilbert22.jpg
http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o293/chrisballyballard/melissagilbert1.jpg
She grew up to be very pretty.
Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: ninny on 05/08/10 at 8:39 am
She grew up to be very pretty.
yes she did. I named my daughter after her. :)
Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: Frank on 05/08/10 at 12:53 pm
I always likd Geroge Peppard. The Blue Max, Breakfast at Tiffany's, How the west was won, and Banacek
Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: Frank on 05/08/10 at 12:54 pm
yes she did. I named my daughter after her. :)
Really? what 's your daughter's name? ;)
Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: Howard on 05/08/10 at 12:57 pm
yes she did. I named my daughter after her. :)
Melissa Gilbert?
Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: Frank on 05/08/10 at 12:58 pm
Melissa Gilbert?
Nope, just "Gilbert" :D
Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: Howard on 05/08/10 at 1:01 pm
Nope, just "Gilbert" :D
a daughter named Gilbert? ???
Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: CatwomanofV on 05/08/10 at 4:31 pm
I have an uncle named Gilbert.
Cat
Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: Philip Eno on 05/09/10 at 1:47 am
British Person of the Day: J. M. Barrie
Sir James Matthew Barrie was born on 9 May 1860 in Kirriemuir, Angus, Scotland, the son of a weaver. He was the ninth of ten children. Barrie's childhood was difficult, as his father David was distant to the point of neglect and his mother Margaret, though loving, became severely depressed after the death of her son David in 1867. Barrie craved his mother's attention, but had difficulty breaking through her grief. He wrote a glowing biography of Margaret after her death in 1896, and his relationship with her would remain an influence throughout his life. Conversely, Barrie rarely mentioned his father in his writings.
Barrie left home to attend school at the age of 13. He became interested in theatre and literature early on and was a diligent student, earning his Master's degree from Dumfries Academy at the University of Edinburgh in 1882. Barrie worked briefly as a journalist before moving to London, where he wrote freelance, in 1885. Three years later, he published his first novel, a humorous work entitled Better Dead. Many novels and plays followed, some using Barrie's Scottish background as inspiration. His first play, The Little Minister, began as a book in 1891 and was dramatized to great success in 1897.
Barrie's friends and acquaintances read as a Who's Who of Victorian literature, including Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, H. G. Wells, George Bernard Shaw, Robert Lewis Stevenson, Jerome K. Jerome, P. G. Wodehouse, and A. A. Milne. Barrie married actress Mary Ansell in 1894, but their marriage was childless and allegedly unconsummated and ended in divorce in 1909 following Mary's infidelity. Barrie first met the Llewelyn-Davies, who would become his surrogate family, in Kensington Gardens in 1897.
Barrie's relationship with the Llewelyn-Davies and the stories he made up for the boys inspired the first literary incarnation of Peter Pan, in the 1901 adult novel The Little White Bird. The character was named after Peter Llewelyn-Davies and the Greek god Pan. Later, the story evolved into a stage play premiering in December 1904 and finally emerged as the 1911 novel. The book's heroine, Wendy, takes her name from a nickname of Barrie's, and the novel was responsible for popularizing the name for girls, as it was a quite a rare name before. J. M. Barrie became the Llewelyn-Davies boys' guardian and trustee after their father's death in 1907 and unofficially adopted them when their mother died in 1910.
Peter Pan made Barrie a beloved celebrity in England and beyond. He became a baronet in 1913 and received the Order of Merit in 1922. Later, he became the lord rector of St. Andrew's University and the chancellor of Edinburgh University. J. M. Barrie died on 3 June 1937.
Though his children's books brought joy to many, J. M. Barrie was in many ways a tortured figure whose tragic childhood never left him. Some biographers have speculated that Peter Pan, the boy who wouldn't grow up, was a veiled expression of Barrie's own predicament, as he never grew past five feet (1.5 meters). Others believe that Peter Pan may refer to Barrie's brother David, who died as a child. J. M. Barrie also suffered the death of two of the Llewelyn-Davies boys, George at the age of 22 on the World War I front, and Michael in a swimming accident and possible suicide just a month before his 21st birthday. However, he remained close to the other Llewelyn-Davies and had continued success as a playwright and author.
Works
* Auld Licht Idylls (1888)
* Better Dead (1888)
* A Window in Thrums (1889)
* My Lady Nicotine (1890), republished in 1926 with subtitle A Study in Smoke
* The Little Minister (1891)
* Sentimental Tommy, The Story of His Boyhood (1896)
* Margaret Ogilvy (1896)
* Tommy and Grizel (1900)
* Quality Street (1901)
* The Admirable Crichton (1902)
* The Little White Bird; or, Adventures in Kensington Gardens (1902)
* Peter Pan (1904)
* Pantaloon (1905)
* Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens (1906)
* What Every Woman Knows (1906)
* When Wendy Grew Up - An Afterthought (1908)
* Peter and Wendy (novel) (1911)
* Dear Brutus (1917)
* Echoes of the War (1918)
* The Old Lady Shows Her Medals (1918), basis for the movie Seven Days Leave (1930), starring Gary Cooper
* A New World (1918)
* Barbara's Wedding (1918)
* A Well-Remembered Voice (1918)
* Alice Sit-By-The-Fire (1919)
* Mary Rose (1920)
* Farewell Miss Julie Logan (1932)
* The Boy David (1936)
* story treatment for film As You Like It (1936)
* Stories by English Authors: London (selected by Scribners, as contributor)
* Stories by English Authors: Scotland (selected by Scribners, as contributor)
* The Young Visiters or, Mr. Salteena's Plan by Daisy Ashford (preface)
http://www.classic-literature.co.uk/scottish-authors/james-barrie/james-barrie.jpg
http://cravenhillgardens.org/stock/chg-plaque-jmbarrie-360.jpg
On a house opposite Kensington Gardens in London.
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/157/437080380_8e83cb62bf.jpg
The Peter Pan staute in Kensington Gardens in London.
Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: ninny on 05/09/10 at 5:43 am
Nope, just "Gilbert" :D
;D
Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: ninny on 05/09/10 at 5:44 am
British Person of the Day: J. M. Barrie
Sir James Matthew Barrie was born on 9 May 1860 in Kirriemuir, Angus, Scotland, the son of a weaver. He was the ninth of ten children. Barrie's childhood was difficult, as his father David was distant to the point of neglect and his mother Margaret, though loving, became severely depressed after the death of her son David in 1867. Barrie craved his mother's attention, but had difficulty breaking through her grief. He wrote a glowing biography of Margaret after her death in 1896, and his relationship with her would remain an influence throughout his life. Conversely, Barrie rarely mentioned his father in his writings.
Barrie left home to attend school at the age of 13. He became interested in theatre and literature early on and was a diligent student, earning his Master's degree from Dumfries Academy at the University of Edinburgh in 1882. Barrie worked briefly as a journalist before moving to London, where he wrote freelance, in 1885. Three years later, he published his first novel, a humorous work entitled Better Dead. Many novels and plays followed, some using Barrie's Scottish background as inspiration. His first play, The Little Minister, began as a book in 1891 and was dramatized to great success in 1897.
Barrie's friends and acquaintances read as a Who's Who of Victorian literature, including Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, H. G. Wells, George Bernard Shaw, Robert Lewis Stevenson, Jerome K. Jerome, P. G. Wodehouse, and A. A. Milne. Barrie married actress Mary Ansell in 1894, but their marriage was childless and allegedly unconsummated and ended in divorce in 1909 following Mary's infidelity. Barrie first met the Llewelyn-Davies, who would become his surrogate family, in Kensington Gardens in 1897.
Barrie's relationship with the Llewelyn-Davies and the stories he made up for the boys inspired the first literary incarnation of Peter Pan, in the 1901 adult novel The Little White Bird. The character was named after Peter Llewelyn-Davies and the Greek god Pan. Later, the story evolved into a stage play premiering in December 1904 and finally emerged as the 1911 novel. The book's heroine, Wendy, takes her name from a nickname of Barrie's, and the novel was responsible for popularizing the name for girls, as it was a quite a rare name before. J. M. Barrie became the Llewelyn-Davies boys' guardian and trustee after their father's death in 1907 and unofficially adopted them when their mother died in 1910.
Peter Pan made Barrie a beloved celebrity in England and beyond. He became a baronet in 1913 and received the Order of Merit in 1922. Later, he became the lord rector of St. Andrew's University and the chancellor of Edinburgh University. J. M. Barrie died on 3 June 1937.
Though his children's books brought joy to many, J. M. Barrie was in many ways a tortured figure whose tragic childhood never left him. Some biographers have speculated that Peter Pan, the boy who wouldn't grow up, was a veiled expression of Barrie's own predicament, as he never grew past five feet (1.5 meters). Others believe that Peter Pan may refer to Barrie's brother David, who died as a child. J. M. Barrie also suffered the death of two of the Llewelyn-Davies boys, George at the age of 22 on the World War I front, and Michael in a swimming accident and possible suicide just a month before his 21st birthday. However, he remained close to the other Llewelyn-Davies and had continued success as a playwright and author.
Works
* Auld Licht Idylls (1888)
* Better Dead (1888)
* A Window in Thrums (1889)
* My Lady Nicotine (1890), republished in 1926 with subtitle A Study in Smoke
* The Little Minister (1891)
* Sentimental Tommy, The Story of His Boyhood (1896)
* Margaret Ogilvy (1896)
* Tommy and Grizel (1900)
* Quality Street (1901)
* The Admirable Crichton (1902)
* The Little White Bird; or, Adventures in Kensington Gardens (1902)
* Peter Pan (1904)
* Pantaloon (1905)
* Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens (1906)
* What Every Woman Knows (1906)
* When Wendy Grew Up - An Afterthought (1908)
* Peter and Wendy (novel) (1911)
* Dear Brutus (1917)
* Echoes of the War (1918)
* The Old Lady Shows Her Medals (1918), basis for the movie Seven Days Leave (1930), starring Gary Cooper
* A New World (1918)
* Barbara's Wedding (1918)
* A Well-Remembered Voice (1918)
* Alice Sit-By-The-Fire (1919)
* Mary Rose (1920)
* Farewell Miss Julie Logan (1932)
* The Boy David (1936)
* story treatment for film As You Like It (1936)
* Stories by English Authors: London (selected by Scribners, as contributor)
* Stories by English Authors: Scotland (selected by Scribners, as contributor)
* The Young Visiters or, Mr. Salteena's Plan by Daisy Ashford (preface)
http://www.classic-literature.co.uk/scottish-authors/james-barrie/james-barrie.jpg
http://cravenhillgardens.org/stock/chg-plaque-jmbarrie-360.jpg
On a house opposite Kensington Gardens in London.
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/157/437080380_8e83cb62bf.jpg
The Peter Pan staute in Kensington Gardens in London.
Thanks Phil :)
Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: ninny on 05/09/10 at 5:49 am
The word of the day...Woman
A woman (irregular plural: women) is a female human. The term woman is usually reserved for an adult, with the term girl being the usual term for a female child or adolescent. However, the term woman is also sometimes used to identify a female human, regardless of age, as in phrases such as "Women's rights".
http://i671.photobucket.com/albums/vv71/mycircleoflife/Thewomen-movie.jpg
http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e124/Dr_Dozzy/Gamer%20Army/women.jpg
http://i267.photobucket.com/albums/ii310/MCART1131/women-jazz-web2.jpg
http://i839.photobucket.com/albums/zz315/lulusback/Laura/KarensPictures034.jpg
http://i997.photobucket.com/albums/af92/H-DAtlanta/womenriders2.jpg
http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh187/markrossiter/Varanasi%201989/Varanasicrouchingwomen.jpg
Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: ninny on 05/09/10 at 5:51 am
The person born on this day...Glenda Jackson
Glenda May Jackson, CBE (born 9 May 1936) is a British Labour politician and former actress, who is the Member of Parliament for Hampstead and Kilburn, a constituency first fought in the 2010 general election, and was re-elected in the closest result of the entire election due to the Tories targeting her new constituency. She retained her seat with a majority of 42 votes. She previously served as MP for Hampstead and Highgate, having been first elected in 1992. As an actress, she won Academy Awards for Women in Love and A Touch of Class. ackson was born in Birkenhead on the Wirral, Cheshire (now Merseyside) where her father was a bricklayer.
Education
Jackson was educated at the West Kirby County Grammar School for Girls, then worked for two years in a Boots chemist shop, before studying at RADA in Bloomsbury.
Career in acting
Having studied acting at RADA, Jackson made her professional stage debut in Terence Rattigan's Separate Tables in 1957, and her film debut in This Sporting Life in 1963. Subsequently a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company for four years, she worked for director Peter Brook in several productions, including of Peter Weiss' Marat/Sade as Charlotte Corday. Jackson also appeared in the film version.
Glenda Jackson in A Touch of Class.
Fame came with Jackson's starring role in the controversial Women in Love (1969) for which she won her first Academy Award for Best Actress, and another controversial role as Tchaikovsky's nymphomaniac wife in Ken Russell's The Music Lovers added to her image of being prepared to do almost anything for her art. She confirmed this by having her head shaved in order to play Queen Elizabeth I of England in the BBC's 1971 blockbuster serial, Elizabeth R. She received two Emmy Awards for her work in this series. She also appeared on the Morecambe and Wise Show in 1971, playing Cleopatra in a comedy sketch. This led to many other appearances on the show, including the Christmas Shows of 1971 and 1972.
Filmmaker Melvin Frank saw her comedic potential and offered her the lead female role in his next project. She earned a second Academy Award for Best Actress for A Touch of Class (1973). Eric and Ernie apparently sent her a telegram saying: 'Stick with us kid, and we'll get you a third!'. She also portrayed Queen Elizabeth in a film about the life of Mary, Queen of Scots. She has been recognized as one of Britain's leading actresses. In 1978, she was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire.
The Glenda Jackson Theatre, on the Borough Road campus of Wirral Metropolitan College, Birkenhead, was named after her in 1983. It closed in 2003, and was demolished by Wirral Council, to make way for a new housing estate, in 2004.
Career in politics
Jackson retired from acting in order to enter the House of Commons in the 1992 general election as the Labour MP for Hampstead and Highgate. After the 1997 general election, she was appointed a junior minister in the government of Prime Minister Tony Blair, with responsibility for London Transport, a post she resigned before an attempt to be nominated as the Labour Party candidate for the election of the first Mayor of London in 2000. The nomination was eventually won by Frank Dobson, who lost the election to Ken Livingstone, the independent candidate. In the 2005 general election, she received 14,615 votes, representing 38.29% of the votes cast in the constituency.
As a high profile backbencher she became a regular critic of Blair over his plans to introduce top-up fees in England. She also called for him to resign following the Judicial Enquiry by Lord Hutton in 2003 surrounding the reasons for going to war in Iraq and the death of government adviser Dr. David Kelly. Jackson was generally considered to be a traditional left-winger, often disagreeing with the dominant Blairite governing Third Way faction in the Labour Party.
By October 2005, her problems with Blair's leadership swelled to a point where she threatened to challenge the Prime Minister as a stalking horse candidate in a leadership contest if he didn't stand down within a reasonable amount of time. On 31 October 2006, Jackson was one of 12 Labour MPs to back Plaid Cymru and the Scottish National Party's call for an inquiry into the Iraq War.
Her constituency boundaries changed for the 2010 general election. The Gospel Oak and Highgate wards became part of Holborn & St Pancras, and the new Hampstead & Kilburn ward will switched into Brent to include Brondesbury, Kilburn and Queens Park wards (from the old Brent East and Brent South seats). On 6 May 2010, Jackson was elected as the MP for the new Hampstead and Kilburn constituency with a margin of 42 votes over Conservative Christopher Philp and Liberal Democrat Edward Fordham. Due to both the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats targeting the seat highly, she had the closest result and smallest majority of any MP in the 2010 election.
She has one son by her ex-husband, Roy Hodges, whom she married in 1958 and divorced in 1976.
Filmography
Year Film Role Notes
1963 This Sporting Life Singer at party Uncredited
1967 Benefit of the Doubt Bit part
Marat/Sade Inmate portraying Charlotte Corday
1968 Tell Me Lies Guest
The Wednesday Play Julie Let's Murder Vivaldi
Negatives Vivien
1969 Women in Love Gudrun Brangwen Academy Award for Best Actress
National Board of Review Award for Best Actress
National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actress
New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress
Nominated — BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama
ITV Saturday Night Theatre Marina Palek Salve Regina
1970 Play of the Month Howards End
Nominated — British Academy Television Award for Best Actress
The Music Lovers Nina (Antonina Milyukova)
1971 Sunday Bloody Sunday Alex Greville BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role
Nominated — Academy Award for Best Actress
The Boy Friend Rita Uncredited
Mary, Queen of Scots Queen Elizabeth I David di Donatello Special David
Evening Standard British Film Award for Best Actress
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama
Elizabeth R Queen Elizabeth I TV mini-series
Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress – Drama Series
Nominated - British Academy Television Award for Best Actress
1972 The Triple Echo Alice
1973 A Touch of Class Vicki Allessio Academy Award for Best Actress
Evening Standard British Film Award for Best Actress
Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
Prize San Sebastián for Best Actress
Nominated — BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role
A Bequest to the Nation Lady Hamilton
1974 The Maids Solange
1975 The Romantic Englishwoman Elizabeth Fielding
Il Sorriso del grande tentatore Sister Geraldine
Hedda Hedda Gabler David di Donatello Award for Best Foreign Actress
Nominated — Academy Award for Best Actress
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama
1976 The Incredible Sarah Sarah Bernhardt Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama
1977 Nasty Habits Sister Alexandra
1978 House Calls Ann Atkinson
Stevie Stevie Smith Montreal World Film Festival Award for Best Actress
National Board of Review Award for Best Actress
New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama
The Class of Miss MacMichael Conor MacMichael
1979 Lost and Found Tricia
1980 Hopscotch Isobel von Schonenberg
Health Isabella Garnell
1981 The Patricia Neal Story Patricia Neal TV
Nominated — Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress – Miniseries or a Movie
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Miniseries or Television Film
1982 The Return of the Soldier Margaret Grey
Giro City Sophie
1984 Sakharov Yelena Bonner (Sakharova) TV
CableACE Award for Actress in a Movie or Miniseries
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Miniseries or Television Film
1985 Turtle Diary Neaera Duncan
1987 Beyond Therapy Charlotte
Business as Usual Babs Flynn
1988 Strange Interlude Nina Leeds TV
Salome's Last Dance Herodias / Lady Alice
1989 The Rainbow Anna Brangwen
King of the Wind Queen Caroline
Doombeach Miss
1990 T-Bag's Christmas Ding Dong Vanity Bag TV
The Real Story of Humpty Dumpty Glitch the Witch (voice)
1991 The House of Bernarda Alba Bernarda Alba TV
A Murder of Quality Ailsa Brimley TV
1992 The Secret Life of Arnold Bax Harriet Cohen TV
1994 A Wave of Passion: The Life of Alexandra Kollontai Alexandra Kollontai TV (voice)
http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j113/BathshebaSunrise/GlendaJackson.jpg
http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d25/bookwriter/df.jpg
Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: Philip Eno on 05/09/10 at 5:57 am
The person born on this day...Glenda Jackson
Glenda May Jackson, CBE (born 9 May 1936) is a British Labour politician and former actress, who is the Member of Parliament for Hampstead and Kilburn, a constituency first fought in the 2010 general election, and was re-elected in the closest result of the entire election due to the Tories targeting her new constituency. She retained her seat with a majority of 42 votes. She previously served as MP for Hampstead and Highgate, having been first elected in 1992. As an actress, she won Academy Awards for Women in Love and A Touch of Class. ackson was born in Birkenhead on the Wirral, Cheshire (now Merseyside) where her father was a bricklayer.
Education
Jackson was educated at the West Kirby County Grammar School for Girls, then worked for two years in a Boots chemist shop, before studying at RADA in Bloomsbury.
Career in acting
Having studied acting at RADA, Jackson made her professional stage debut in Terence Rattigan's Separate Tables in 1957, and her film debut in This Sporting Life in 1963. Subsequently a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company for four years, she worked for director Peter Brook in several productions, including of Peter Weiss' Marat/Sade as Charlotte Corday. Jackson also appeared in the film version.
Glenda Jackson in A Touch of Class.
Fame came with Jackson's starring role in the controversial Women in Love (1969) for which she won her first Academy Award for Best Actress, and another controversial role as Tchaikovsky's nymphomaniac wife in Ken Russell's The Music Lovers added to her image of being prepared to do almost anything for her art. She confirmed this by having her head shaved in order to play Queen Elizabeth I of England in the BBC's 1971 blockbuster serial, Elizabeth R. She received two Emmy Awards for her work in this series. She also appeared on the Morecambe and Wise Show in 1971, playing Cleopatra in a comedy sketch. This led to many other appearances on the show, including the Christmas Shows of 1971 and 1972.
Filmmaker Melvin Frank saw her comedic potential and offered her the lead female role in his next project. She earned a second Academy Award for Best Actress for A Touch of Class (1973). Eric and Ernie apparently sent her a telegram saying: 'Stick with us kid, and we'll get you a third!'. She also portrayed Queen Elizabeth in a film about the life of Mary, Queen of Scots. She has been recognized as one of Britain's leading actresses. In 1978, she was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire.
The Glenda Jackson Theatre, on the Borough Road campus of Wirral Metropolitan College, Birkenhead, was named after her in 1983. It closed in 2003, and was demolished by Wirral Council, to make way for a new housing estate, in 2004.
Career in politics
Jackson retired from acting in order to enter the House of Commons in the 1992 general election as the Labour MP for Hampstead and Highgate. After the 1997 general election, she was appointed a junior minister in the government of Prime Minister Tony Blair, with responsibility for London Transport, a post she resigned before an attempt to be nominated as the Labour Party candidate for the election of the first Mayor of London in 2000. The nomination was eventually won by Frank Dobson, who lost the election to Ken Livingstone, the independent candidate. In the 2005 general election, she received 14,615 votes, representing 38.29% of the votes cast in the constituency.
As a high profile backbencher she became a regular critic of Blair over his plans to introduce top-up fees in England. She also called for him to resign following the Judicial Enquiry by Lord Hutton in 2003 surrounding the reasons for going to war in Iraq and the death of government adviser Dr. David Kelly. Jackson was generally considered to be a traditional left-winger, often disagreeing with the dominant Blairite governing Third Way faction in the Labour Party.
By October 2005, her problems with Blair's leadership swelled to a point where she threatened to challenge the Prime Minister as a stalking horse candidate in a leadership contest if he didn't stand down within a reasonable amount of time. On 31 October 2006, Jackson was one of 12 Labour MPs to back Plaid Cymru and the Scottish National Party's call for an inquiry into the Iraq War.
Her constituency boundaries changed for the 2010 general election. The Gospel Oak and Highgate wards became part of Holborn & St Pancras, and the new Hampstead & Kilburn ward will switched into Brent to include Brondesbury, Kilburn and Queens Park wards (from the old Brent East and Brent South seats). On 6 May 2010, Jackson was elected as the MP for the new Hampstead and Kilburn constituency with a margin of 42 votes over Conservative Christopher Philp and Liberal Democrat Edward Fordham. Due to both the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats targeting the seat highly, she had the closest result and smallest majority of any MP in the 2010 election.
She has one son by her ex-husband, Roy Hodges, whom she married in 1958 and divorced in 1976.
Filmography
Year Film Role Notes
1963 This Sporting Life Singer at party Uncredited
1967 Benefit of the Doubt Bit part
Marat/Sade Inmate portraying Charlotte Corday
1968 Tell Me Lies Guest
The Wednesday Play Julie Let's Murder Vivaldi
Negatives Vivien
1969 Women in Love Gudrun Brangwen Academy Award for Best Actress
National Board of Review Award for Best Actress
National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Actress
New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress
Nominated — BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama
ITV Saturday Night Theatre Marina Palek Salve Regina
1970 Play of the Month Howards End
Nominated — British Academy Television Award for Best Actress
The Music Lovers Nina (Antonina Milyukova)
1971 Sunday Bloody Sunday Alex Greville BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role
Nominated — Academy Award for Best Actress
The Boy Friend Rita Uncredited
Mary, Queen of Scots Queen Elizabeth I David di Donatello Special David
Evening Standard British Film Award for Best Actress
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama
Elizabeth R Queen Elizabeth I TV mini-series
Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress – Drama Series
Nominated - British Academy Television Award for Best Actress
1972 The Triple Echo Alice
1973 A Touch of Class Vicki Allessio Academy Award for Best Actress
Evening Standard British Film Award for Best Actress
Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
Prize San Sebastián for Best Actress
Nominated — BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role
A Bequest to the Nation Lady Hamilton
1974 The Maids Solange
1975 The Romantic Englishwoman Elizabeth Fielding
Il Sorriso del grande tentatore Sister Geraldine
Hedda Hedda Gabler David di Donatello Award for Best Foreign Actress
Nominated — Academy Award for Best Actress
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama
1976 The Incredible Sarah Sarah Bernhardt Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama
1977 Nasty Habits Sister Alexandra
1978 House Calls Ann Atkinson
Stevie Stevie Smith Montreal World Film Festival Award for Best Actress
National Board of Review Award for Best Actress
New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama
The Class of Miss MacMichael Conor MacMichael
1979 Lost and Found Tricia
1980 Hopscotch Isobel von Schonenberg
Health Isabella Garnell
1981 The Patricia Neal Story Patricia Neal TV
Nominated — Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress – Miniseries or a Movie
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Miniseries or Television Film
1982 The Return of the Soldier Margaret Grey
Giro City Sophie
1984 Sakharov Yelena Bonner (Sakharova) TV
CableACE Award for Actress in a Movie or Miniseries
Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Miniseries or Television Film
1985 Turtle Diary Neaera Duncan
1987 Beyond Therapy Charlotte
Business as Usual Babs Flynn
1988 Strange Interlude Nina Leeds TV
Salome's Last Dance Herodias / Lady Alice
1989 The Rainbow Anna Brangwen
King of the Wind Queen Caroline
Doombeach Miss
1990 T-Bag's Christmas Ding Dong Vanity Bag TV
The Real Story of Humpty Dumpty Glitch the Witch (voice)
1991 The House of Bernarda Alba Bernarda Alba TV
A Murder of Quality Ailsa Brimley TV
1992 The Secret Life of Arnold Bax Harriet Cohen TV
1994 A Wave of Passion: The Life of Alexandra Kollontai Alexandra Kollontai TV (voice)
http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j113/BathshebaSunrise/GlendaJackson.jpg
http://i32.photobucket.com/albums/d25/bookwriter/df.jpg
I know she won her constituency vote, but did not realise with a margin of 42 votes, that was close!
Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: ninny on 05/09/10 at 5:57 am
The person who died on this day...Edmond O'Brien
Edmond O'Brien (September 10, 1915 – May 9, 1985) was an American film actor who is perhaps best remembered for his role in D.O.A. (1950). He also co-starred with Richard Rust in the NBC legal drama Sam Benedict, which aired during the 1962-1963 television season.
Born in New York, New York, O'Brien made his film debut in 1938, and gradually built a career as a highly regarded supporting actor. During World War II, he served in the U.S. Army Air Forces and appeared in the Air Forces' Broadway play and film Winged Victory.
He won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role as a harried publicity agent in The Barefoot Contessa (1954) and was also nominated for his role as an alcoholic U.S. senator in Seven Days in May (1964). Prior to that, O'Brien had an acclaimed role in 1950's D.O.A. as a poisoned man who sets out to find his own murderer before he dies.
His other notable films include The Killers (1946), White Heat (1949), The Girl Can't Help It (1956), The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962), Birdman of Alcatraz (1962), The Longest Day (1962), Fantastic Voyage (1966), and The Wild Bunch (1969).
From 1950 to 1952, O'Brien starred in the radio drama "Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar". He appeared extensively in television, including the 1957 live 90-minute broadcast on Playhouse 90 of The Comedian, a drama written by Rod Serling and directed by John Frankenheimer in which Mickey Rooney portrays a television comedian while O'Brien plays a writer driven to the brink of insanity.
In the 1957-1958 television season, O'Brien guest-starred three times in Harbor Command, Wendell Corey's syndicated drama about the United States Coast Guard. From 1959-1960, O'Brien portrayed the title role in the syndicated crime drama Johnny Midnight, the story of a New York City actor-turned-private detective. Two years after Johnny Midnight, he was cast as lawyer Sam Benedict.
O'Brien had roles on many television series, including an appearance on October 20, 1961, in the episode "The Invisible Government," along with Felicia Farr, in ABC's Target: The Corruptors!. He played Buck Denholt in the 1964 episode entitled "The Color of Sunset" on NBC's medical drama about psychiatry The Eleventh Hour starring Ralph Bellamy and Jack Ging. He also appeared as Roger Conning in the 1964 episode "Tide of Darkness" on the ABC drama about psychiatry, Breaking Point, starring Paul Richards.
In the mid-1960s, O'Brien co-starred with Roger Mobley and Harvey Korman in the "Gallegher" episodes of NBC's Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color.
Personal life
He was divorced from actresses Nancy Kelly and Olga San Juan. San Juan was the mother of his three children, including television producer Bridget O'Brien and actors Maria O'Brien and Brendan O'Brien.
He died in Inglewood, California, of Alzheimer's disease and was interred at the Holy Cross Cemetery in Culver City, California.
For his contribution to the motion picture industry, Edmond O'Brien has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1725 Vine Street, and a second star at 6523 Hollywood Blvd. for his contribution to the television industry.
Filmography
* Prison Break (1938) (extra role)
* The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1939)
* A Girl, a Guy, and a Gob (1941)
* Parachute Battalion (1941)
* Obliging Young Lady (1942)
* Powder Town (1942)
* The Amazing Mrs. Holliday (1943)
* Winged Victory (1944)
* The Killers (1946)
* The Web (1947)
* A Double Life (1947)
* Another Part of the Forest (1948)
* For the Love of Mary (1948)
* Fighter Squadron (1948)
* An Act of Murder (1948)
* Task Force (1949) (voice)
* White Heat (1949)
* Backfire (1950)
* D.O.A. (1950)
* 711 Ocean Drive (1950)
* Between Midnight and Dawn (1950)
* The Admiral Was a Lady (1950)
* The Redhead and the Cowboy (1951)
* Two of a Kind (1951)
* Warpath (1951)
* The Greatest Show on Earth (1952; unbilled cameo appearance)
* Denver and Rio Grande (1952)
* The Turning Point (1952)
* Man in the Dark (1953)
* Cow Country (1953)
* The Hitch-Hiker (1953)
* Julius Caesar (1953)
* China Venture (1953)
* The Bigamist (1953)
* Shield for Murder (1954)
* The Shanghai Story (1954)
* The Barefoot Contessa (1954)
* Pete Kelly's Blues (1955)
* D-Day the Sixth of June (1956)
* A Cry in the Night (1956)
* 1984 (1956)
* The Rack (1956)
* The Girl Can't Help It (1956)
* The Big Land (1957)
* Stopover Tokyo (1957)
* The World Was His Jury (1958)
* Sing, Boy, Sing (1958)
* L’ Ambitieuse (1959)
* Up Periscope (1959)
* The Last Voyage (1960)
* The 3rd Voice (1960)
* The Great Impostor (1961)
* Man-Trap (1961)
* Moon Pilot (1962)
* The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962)
* Birdman of Alcatraz (1962)
* The Longest Day (1962)
* Seven Days in May (1964)
* Rio Conchos (1964)
* Sylvia (1965)
* Synanon (1965)
* Fantastic Voyage (1966)
* Peau d'espion (1967)
* Le Vicomte règle ses comptes (1967)
* The Wild Bunch (1969)
* The Love God? (1969)
* Dream No Evil (1970)
* The Other Side of the Wind (1972)
* They Only Kill Their Masters (1972)
* Lucky Luciano (1974)
* 99 and 44/100% Dead (1974)
Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: ninny on 05/09/10 at 5:59 am
I know she won her constituency vote, but did not realise with a margin of 42 votes, that was close!
I never knew till now that she ran for office.
Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: Howard on 05/09/10 at 7:00 am
The word of the day...Woman
A woman (irregular plural: women) is a female human. The term woman is usually reserved for an adult, with the term girl being the usual term for a female child or adolescent. However, the term woman is also sometimes used to identify a female human, regardless of age, as in phrases such as "Women's rights".
http://i671.photobucket.com/albums/vv71/mycircleoflife/Thewomen-movie.jpg
http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e124/Dr_Dozzy/Gamer%20Army/women.jpg
http://i267.photobucket.com/albums/ii310/MCART1131/women-jazz-web2.jpg
http://i839.photobucket.com/albums/zz315/lulusback/Laura/KarensPictures034.jpg
http://i997.photobucket.com/albums/af92/H-DAtlanta/womenriders2.jpg
http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh187/markrossiter/Varanasi%201989/Varanasicrouchingwomen.jpg
Chaka Khan - I'm Every Woman.
Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: ninny on 05/09/10 at 8:34 am
Chaka Khan - I'm Every Woman.
Great song :)
Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: CatwomanofV on 05/09/10 at 12:25 pm
British Person of the Day: J. M. Barrie
Sir James Matthew Barrie was born on 9 May 1860 in Kirriemuir, Angus, Scotland, the son of a weaver. He was the ninth of ten children. Barrie's childhood was difficult, as his father David was distant to the point of neglect and his mother Margaret, though loving, became severely depressed after the death of her son David in 1867. Barrie craved his mother's attention, but had difficulty breaking through her grief. He wrote a glowing biography of Margaret after her death in 1896, and his relationship with her would remain an influence throughout his life. Conversely, Barrie rarely mentioned his father in his writings.
Barrie left home to attend school at the age of 13. He became interested in theatre and literature early on and was a diligent student, earning his Master's degree from Dumfries Academy at the University of Edinburgh in 1882. Barrie worked briefly as a journalist before moving to London, where he wrote freelance, in 1885. Three years later, he published his first novel, a humorous work entitled Better Dead. Many novels and plays followed, some using Barrie's Scottish background as inspiration. His first play, The Little Minister, began as a book in 1891 and was dramatized to great success in 1897.
Barrie's friends and acquaintances read as a Who's Who of Victorian literature, including Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, H. G. Wells, George Bernard Shaw, Robert Lewis Stevenson, Jerome K. Jerome, P. G. Wodehouse, and A. A. Milne. Barrie married actress Mary Ansell in 1894, but their marriage was childless and allegedly unconsummated and ended in divorce in 1909 following Mary's infidelity. Barrie first met the Llewelyn-Davies, who would become his surrogate family, in Kensington Gardens in 1897.
Barrie's relationship with the Llewelyn-Davies and the stories he made up for the boys inspired the first literary incarnation of Peter Pan, in the 1901 adult novel The Little White Bird. The character was named after Peter Llewelyn-Davies and the Greek god Pan. Later, the story evolved into a stage play premiering in December 1904 and finally emerged as the 1911 novel. The book's heroine, Wendy, takes her name from a nickname of Barrie's, and the novel was responsible for popularizing the name for girls, as it was a quite a rare name before. J. M. Barrie became the Llewelyn-Davies boys' guardian and trustee after their father's death in 1907 and unofficially adopted them when their mother died in 1910.
Peter Pan made Barrie a beloved celebrity in England and beyond. He became a baronet in 1913 and received the Order of Merit in 1922. Later, he became the lord rector of St. Andrew's University and the chancellor of Edinburgh University. J. M. Barrie died on 3 June 1937.
Though his children's books brought joy to many, J. M. Barrie was in many ways a tortured figure whose tragic childhood never left him. Some biographers have speculated that Peter Pan, the boy who wouldn't grow up, was a veiled expression of Barrie's own predicament, as he never grew past five feet (1.5 meters). Others believe that Peter Pan may refer to Barrie's brother David, who died as a child. J. M. Barrie also suffered the death of two of the Llewelyn-Davies boys, George at the age of 22 on the World War I front, and Michael in a swimming accident and possible suicide just a month before his 21st birthday. However, he remained close to the other Llewelyn-Davies and had continued success as a playwright and author.
Works
* Auld Licht Idylls (1888)
* Better Dead (1888)
* A Window in Thrums (1889)
* My Lady Nicotine (1890), republished in 1926 with subtitle A Study in Smoke
* The Little Minister (1891)
* Sentimental Tommy, The Story of His Boyhood (1896)
* Margaret Ogilvy (1896)
* Tommy and Grizel (1900)
* Quality Street (1901)
* The Admirable Crichton (1902)
* The Little White Bird; or, Adventures in Kensington Gardens (1902)
* Peter Pan (1904)
* Pantaloon (1905)
* Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens (1906)
* What Every Woman Knows (1906)
* When Wendy Grew Up - An Afterthought (1908)
* Peter and Wendy (novel) (1911)
* Dear Brutus (1917)
* Echoes of the War (1918)
* The Old Lady Shows Her Medals (1918), basis for the movie Seven Days Leave (1930), starring Gary Cooper
* A New World (1918)
* Barbara's Wedding (1918)
* A Well-Remembered Voice (1918)
* Alice Sit-By-The-Fire (1919)
* Mary Rose (1920)
* Farewell Miss Julie Logan (1932)
* The Boy David (1936)
* story treatment for film As You Like It (1936)
* Stories by English Authors: London (selected by Scribners, as contributor)
* Stories by English Authors: Scotland (selected by Scribners, as contributor)
* The Young Visiters or, Mr. Salteena's Plan by Daisy Ashford (preface)
http://www.classic-literature.co.uk/scottish-authors/james-barrie/james-barrie.jpg
http://cravenhillgardens.org/stock/chg-plaque-jmbarrie-360.jpg
On a house opposite Kensington Gardens in London.
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/157/437080380_8e83cb62bf.jpg
The Peter Pan staute in Kensington Gardens in London.
I will always have a special place in my heart for Peter Pan. On my 8th birthday, there was a school trip to see the play (which a girl from our school played Michael. ) My mother was one of the chaperons. I didn't have my permission slip and made a comment to my teacher about not having it with my mother standing right there. My teacher said, "I think we can let it slide this time."
After the show, my class ate lunch outside (a beautiful spring day). I had to go to the little girls room and my teacher gave me the trash to dump on my way. Before I could get back outside, half my class came up to me and told me that my teacher wanted to see me. They made it sound so urgent and I wondered if I was in trouble. When I went back outside, there was a birthday cake for me. :) It turned out to be one of the best birthdays I had. Oh yeah, one of my gifts that year was a picture book of (what else?) Peter Pan.
I once wrote a children's story (that I never did have published). In the story, there is one boy who is referred to Tinkerbell. When I was contemplating having it published, I looked into royalties on it. After doing some research, I found out that the royalties for Peter Pan are owned by The Great Ormond Street Hospital which were given to them by Barrie before his death and was confirmed after.
A few years back, they were seeking someone to write a sequel. They found Geraldine McCaughrean who wrote Peter Pan in Scarlet which was published in 2004.
http://www.gosh.org/peterpan/
Cat
Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: CatwomanofV on 05/09/10 at 12:30 pm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MUBnxqEVKlk
Cat
Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: Howard on 05/09/10 at 1:48 pm
Wow,Helen Reddy has a website. :o
Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: ninny on 05/09/10 at 8:44 pm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MUBnxqEVKlk
Cat
Another great song :)
Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: ninny on 05/10/10 at 5:46 am
The word of the day...Humanitarian
a person promoting human welfare and social reform
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Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: ninny on 05/10/10 at 5:49 am
The person born on this day...Bono
Paul David Hewson, KBE (born 10 May 1960), most commonly known by his stage name Bono, is an Irish singer and musician, best known for being the main vocalist of the Dublin-based rock band U2. Bono was born and raised in Dublin, Ireland, and attended Mount Temple Comprehensive School where he met his future wife, Ali Hewson, and the future members of U2. Bono writes almost all U2 lyrics, often using political, social, and religious themes. During their early years, Bono's lyrics contributed to U2's rebellious and spiritual tone. As the band matured, his lyrics became inspired more by personal experiences shared with members of U2.
Outside the band, he has collaborated and recorded with numerous artists, sits on the board of Elevation Partners, and has refurbished and owns The Clarence Hotel in Dublin with The Edge. Bono is also widely known for his activism concerning Africa, for which he co-founded DATA, EDUN, the ONE Campaign and Product Red. He has organized and played in several benefit concerts and has met with influential politicians. Bono has been praised and criticized for his activism and involvement with U2. He has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, was granted an honorary knighthood by Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom, and was named as a Person of the Year by Time, among other awards and nominations.
On 25 September 1976, Bono, David Evans ("The Edge"), his brother Dik, and Adam Clayton responded to an advertisement on a bulletin board at Mount Temple posted by fellow student Larry Mullen Jr. to form a rock band. The band had occasional jam sessions in which they did covers of other bands. Tired of long guitar solos and hard rock, Bono wanted to play Rolling Stones and The Beach Boys songs. Unfortunately the band could not play covers very well, so they started writing their own songs.
The band went by the name "Feedback" for a few months, before changing to "The Hype" later on. After Dik Evans left the group to join another local band, the Virgin Prunes, the remaining four officially changed the name from "The Hype" to "U2". Initially Bono sang, played guitar, and wrote the band's songs. He said of his early guitar playing in a 1982 interview, "When we started out I was the guitar player, along with the Edge—except I couldn't play guitar. I still can't. I was such a lousy guitar player that one day they broke it to me that maybe I should sing instead. I had tried before, but I had no voice at all. I remember the day I found I could sing. I said, 'Oh, that's how you do it.'" When The Edge's guitar playing improved, Bono was relegated mostly to the microphone, although he occasionally still plays rhythm guitar and harmonica. As of 2006, Bono has taken piano lessons from his children's piano teacher as a means to improve his songwriting.
Bono writes the lyrics for almost all U2 songs, which are often rich in social and political themes. His lyrics frequently allude to a religious connection or meaning, evident in songs such as "Gloria" from the band's album October, and "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" from The Joshua Tree. During the band's early years, Bono was known for his rebellious tone which turned to political anger and rage during the band's War, The Joshua Tree and Rattle and Hum eras. Following the Enniskillen bombing that left 11 dead and 63 injured on 8 November 1987, the Provisional IRA paramilitaries threatened to kidnap Bono. IRA supporters also attacked a vehicle carrying the band members. These acts were in response to his speech condemning the Remembrance Day Bombing during a live performance of "Sunday Bloody Sunday". The singer had been advised to cut his on-stage outburst from the Rattle and Hum film, but it was left in. Also featured in the film is footage of Bono spray-painting a monument during an outdoor performance; Bono was forced to pay a fine.
U2's sound and focus dramatically changed with their 1991 album, Achtung Baby. Bono's lyrics became more personal, inspired by experiences related to the private lives of the members of the band. During the band's Zoo TV Tour several of his stage personas were showcased; these included "The Fly", a stereotypical rock star, the "Mirror Ball Man", a parody of American televangelists, and "Mr. MacPhisto", a combination of a corrupted rock star and the Devil.
Bono playing guitar on the U2 360° Tour.
During performances he attempts to interact with the crowd as often as possible and is known for pulling audience members onto the stage or moving himself down to the physical level of the audience. This has happened on several occasions including at the Live Aid concert in 1985 where he leapt off the stage and pulled a woman from the crowd to dance with her as the band played "Bad", and in 2005 during U2's Vertigo Tour stop in Chicago, where he pulled a boy onto the stage during the song "An Cat Dubh / Into the Heart". Bono has often allowed fans to come on stage and perform songs with the band.
Bono has won numerous awards with U2, including 22 Grammy awards and the 2003 Golden Globe award for best original song, "The Hands That Built America", for the film Gangs of New York. During the live broadcast of the ceremony, Bono called the award "really, really fudgeing brilliant!" In response, the Parents Television Council condemned Bono for his profanity and started a campaign for its members to file complaints with the FCC. Although Bono's use of "fudge" violated FCC indecency standards, the FCC refused to fine NBC because the network did not receive advance notice of the consequences of broadcasting such profanity and the profanity in question was not used in its literal sexual meaning.
U2 performing at Madison Square Garden in November 2005.
In 2005, the U2 band members were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, in their first year of eligibility. In November 2008, Rolling Stone ranked Bono the 32nd greatest singer of all time.
Bono and his bandmates were criticized in 2007 for moving part of their multi-million euro song catalogue from Ireland to Amsterdam six months before Ireland ended a tax exemption on musicians' royalties. Under Dutch tax law, bands are subject to low to non-existent tax rates. U2's manager, Paul McGuinness, stated that the arrangement is legal and customary and businesses often seek to minimize their tax burdens. The move prompted criticisms in the Irish parliament. The band later responded by stating that approximately 95% of their business took place outside Ireland, and that they were taxed globally because of this. Bono was one of several super-rich figures whose tax arrangements were singled out for criticism in a report by the charity Christian Aid in 2008.
Collaborations
In addition to his work with U2, he has collaborated with Zucchero, Frank Sinatra, Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, Luciano Pavarotti, Sinéad O'Connor, Green Day, Roy Orbison, Bob Dylan, Tina Turner, and BB King. He has recorded with Ray Charles, Quincy Jones, Kirk Franklin, Bruce Springsteen, Tony Bennett, Clannad, The Corrs, Wyclef Jean, Kylie Minogue, Jay-Z and Rihanna, as well as reportedly completing an unreleased duet with Jennifer Lopez. On Robbie Robertson's 1987 eponymous album, he plays bass guitar and vocals. On Michael Hutchence's 1999 posthumous eponymous album, Bono completed a recording of Slide Away as a duet with Hutchence.
Other endeavours
In 1992 Bono bought and hired people to refurbish Dublin's two-star 70-bedroom Clarence Hotel with The Edge, and converted it into a five-star 49-bedroom hotel. The Edge and Bono have recorded several songs together, exclusive of the band. They have also been working on penning the score for the upcoming Spider-Man Musical. Bono is a known Celtic F.C. fan, and in 1998 it was rumoured that Bono intended to buy shares in the Scottish club. However, it was reported on 28 April 1998 that this was not the case with Bono saying "it's rubbish. I've been to a couple of games and I'm a fan, but I've got no financial connections."
In May 2007, MTV reported that Bono was writing the foreword for a collection of poetry entitled "Third Rail". The book's foreword gives detail of the meanings of the poetry, saying "The poets who fill the pews here have come to testify, to bear witness to the mysterious power of rock and roll...Rock and roll is truly a broad church, but each lights a candle to their vision of what it is." The collection, which is edited by poet Jonathan Wells, contains titles such as "Punk rock You're My Big Crybaby", "Variation on a Theme by Whitesnake", and "Vince Neil Meets Josh in a Chinese Restaurant in Malibu (After Ezra Pound)."
Bono is on the board of the Elevation Partners private-equity firm, which attempted to purchase Eidos Interactive in 2005 and has since gone on to invest in other entertainment businesses. Bono has invested in the Forbes Media group in the US through Elevation Partners. Elevation Partners became the first outsider to invest in the company, taking a minority stake in Forbes Media LLC, a new company encompassing the 89-year-old business which includes Forbes magazine, the Forbes.com website and other assets. The terms of the deal were not disclosed, but reports said the stake was worth about €194 million ($250m).
In film, Bono has played the character of "Dr. Robert", an anti-war shaman, in the musical Across the Universe. Also in this movie, he sang the Beatles songs "I am the Walrus" and "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds". Bono's other acting credits include cameos in 1999's Entropy and 2000's Million Dollar Hotel, the latter of which was based on a story conceived by Bono. In 2000 he acted as himself in the short film Sightings of Bono, adapted from a short story by Irish writer Gerard Beirne.
Humanitarian work
Bono with President Lula da Silva of Brazil in 2006
Bono has become one of the world's best-known philanthropic performers. He has been dubbed, "the face of fusion philanthropy", both for his success enlisting powerful allies from a diverse spectrum of leaders in government, religious institutions, philanthropic organizations, popular media, and the business world, as well as for spearheading new organizational networks that bind global humanitarian relief with geopolitical activism and corporate commercial enterprise.
In a 1986 interview with Rolling Stone magazine, Bono explained that he was motivated to become involved in social and political causes by seeing one of the Secret Policeman's Ball benefit shows, staged by John Cleese and producer Martin Lewis for the human-rights organization Amnesty International in 1979. "I saw 'The Secret Policeman’s Ball' and it became a part of me. It sowed a seed..." In 2001, Bono arranged for U2 to videotape a special live performance for that year's Amnesty benefit show.
Bono and U2 performed on Amnesty's Conspiracy Of Hope tour of the United States in 1986 alongside Sting. U2 also performed in the Band Aid and Live Aid projects, organized by Bob Geldof. In 1984, Bono sang on the Band Aid single "Do They Know it's Christmas?/Feed the World" (a role that was reprised on the 2004 Band Aid 20 single of the same name). Geldof and Bono later collaborated to organize the 2005 Live 8 project, where U2 also performed.
Bono and U.S. President George W. Bush in 2006
Since 1999, Bono has become increasingly involved in campaigning for third-world debt relief and raising awareness of the plight of Africa, including the AIDS pandemic. In the past decade Bono has met with several influential politicians, including former United States President George W. Bush and Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin. During a March 2002 visit to the White House, after President Bush unveiled a $5 billion aid package, he accompanied the President for a speech on the White House lawn where he stated, "This is an important first step, and a serious and impressive new level of commitment. ... This must happen urgently, because this is a crisis." In May of that year, Bono took US Treasury Secretary Paul H. O'Neill on a four-country tour of Africa. In contrast, in 2005, Bono spoke on CBC Radio, alleging then Prime Minister Martin was being slow about increasing Canada's foreign aid. He was a nominee for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2003, 2005, and 2006 for his philanthropy.
In 2004, he was awarded the Pablo Neruda International Presidential Medal of Honour from the Government of Chile. Time Magazine named Bono one of the "100 Most Influential People" in its May 2004 special issue, and again in the 2006 Time 100 special issue. In 2005, Time named Bono a Person of the Year along with Bill and Melinda Gates. Also in 2005, he received the Portuguese Order of Liberty for his humanitarian work. That year Bono was also among the first three recipients of the TED Prize, which grants each winner "A wish to change the world". Bono made three wishes, the first two related to the ONE campaign and the third that every hospital, health clinic and school in Ethiopia should be connected to the Internet. TED rejected the third wish as being a sub-optimal way for TED to help Africa and instead organized a TED conference in Arusha, Tanzania. Bono attended the conference, which was held in June 2007, and attracted headlines with his foul-mouthed heckling of a speech by Andrew Mwenda.
Bono at the World Economic Forum meeting in Davos, 2008.
In 2007, Bono was named in the UK's New Years Honours List as an honorary Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire. He was formally granted knighthood on 29 March 2007 in a ceremony at the residence of British Ambassador David Reddaway in Dublin, Ireland.
Bono also received the NAACP Image Award's Chairman's Award in 2007. On 24 May 2007, the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia announced that Bono would receive the Philadelphia Liberty Medal on 27 September 2007 for his work to end world poverty and hunger. On 28 September 2007, in accepting the Liberty Medal, Bono said, "When you are trapped by poverty, you are not free. When trade laws prevent you from selling the food you grew, you are not free, ... When you are a monk in Burma this very week, barred from entering a temple because of your gospel of peace ... well, then none of us are truly free." Bono donated the $100,000 prize to the organization. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala accepted the award for the Washington-based Debt AIDS Trade Africa.
In 2005 he recorded a version of Don't Give Up with Alicia Keys, with proceeds going to Keep a Child Alive.
On 15 December 2005, Paul Theroux published an op-ed in the New York Times called The Rock Star's Burden (cf. Kipling's The White Man's Burden) that criticized stars such as Bono, Brad Pitt, and Angelina Jolie, labelling them as "mythomaniacs, people who wish to convince the world of their worth." Theroux, who lived in Africa as a Peace Corps Volunteer, added that "the impression that Africa is fatally troubled and can be saved only by outside help—not to mention celebrities and charity concerts—is a destructive and misleading conceit." Elsewhere, Bono has been criticised, along with other celebrities, for " the legitimate voices of Africa and a global movement for justice into a grand orgy of narcissistic philanthropy.
On 3 April 2005, Bono paid a personal tribute to John Paul II and called him "a street fighter and a wily campaigner on behalf of the world's poor. We would never have gotten the debts of 23 countries completely canceled without him." Bono spoke in advance of President Bush at the 54th Annual National Prayer Breakfast, held at the Hilton Washington Hotel on 2 February 2006. In a speech containing biblical references, Bono encouraged the care of the socially and economically depressed. His comments included a call for an extra one percent tithe of the United States' national budget. He brought his Christian views into harmony with other faiths by noting that Christian, Jewish, and Muslim writings all call for the care of the widow, orphan, and stranger. President Bush received praise from the singer-activist for the United States' increase in aid for the African continent. Bono continued by saying much work is left to be done to be a part of God's ongoing purposes.
The organization DATA (Debt, AIDS, Trade, Africa) was established in 2002 by Bono and Bobby Shriver, along with activists from the Jubilee 2000 Drop the Debt Campaign. DATA aims to eradicate poverty and HIV/AIDS in Africa. DATA encourages Americans to contact senators and other legislators and elected officials to voice their opinions.
In early 2005, Bono, his wife Ali Hewson, and New York-based Irish fashion designer Rogan Gregory launched the socially conscious line EDUN in an attempt to shift the focus in Africa from aid to trade. EDUN's goal is to use factories in Africa, South America, and India that provide fair wages to workers and practice good business ethics to create a business model that will encourage investment in developing nations.
Bono after accepting the Philadelphia Liberty Medal on 27 September 2007.
Bono was a special guest editor of the July 2007 issue of Vanity Fair magazine. The issue was named "The Africa Issue: Politics & Power" and featured an assortment of 20 different covers, with photographs by Annie Leibovitz of a number of prominent celebrities, political leaders, and philanthropists. Each one showcased in the issue for their contributions to the humanitarian relief in Africa.
In an article in Bloomberg Markets in March 2007, journalists Richard Tomlinson and Fergal O’Brien noted that Bono used his band's 2006 Vertigo world tour to promote his ONE Campaign while at the same time "U2 was racking up $389 million in gross ticket receipts, making Vertigo the second-most lucrative tour of all time, according to Billboard magazine. . . . Revenue from the Vertigo tour is funneled through companies that are mostly registered in Ireland and structured to minimize taxes."
Further criticism came in November 2007, when Bono's various charity campaigns were targeted by Jobs Selasie, head of African Aid Action. Selasie claimed that these charities had increased corruption and dependency in Africa because they failed to work with African entrepreneurs and grassroots organizations, and as a result, Africa has become more dependent on international handouts. Bono responded to his critics in Times Online on 19 February 2006, calling them "cranks carping from the sidelines. A lot of them wouldn’t know what to do if they were on the field. They’re the party who will always be in opposition so they’ll never have to take responsibility for decisions because they know they’ll never be able to implement them."
In November 2007, Bono was honoured by NBC Nightly News as someone "making a difference" in the world. He and anchor Brian Williams had traveled to Africa in May 2007 to showcase the humanitarian crisis on the continent. On 11 December 2008, Bono was given the annual Man of Peace prize, awarded by several Nobel Peace Prize laureates in Paris, France.
Product Red is another initiative begun by Bono and Bobby Shriver to raise money for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria. Bobby Shriver has been announced as the CEO of Product Red, whilst Bono is currently an active public spokesperson for the brand. Product Red is a brand that is licensed to partner companies, such as American Express, Apple, Converse, Motorola, Microsoft, Dell, The Gap, and Giorgio Armani. Each company creates a product with the Product Red logo and a percentage of the profits from the sale of these labelled products will go to the Global Fund.
However, in 2009, Bono and his U2 bandmates came under fire for moving a substantial portion of their wealth to a tax haven in order to avoid paying Irish taxes on royalties.
See also
* Timeline of U2
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Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: ninny on 05/10/10 at 5:55 am
The person who died on this day...Susan Oliver
Susan Oliver (February 13, 1932 – May 10, 1990), stage name of Charlotte Gercke, was an Emmy-nominated American actress, television director and aviator. Susan Oliver was born Charlotte Gercke, the daughter of journalist George Gercke and astrology practitioner Ruth Hale Oliver, in New York City in 1932. Her parents divorced when she was still a child. In June 1949, Oliver joined her mother in Southern California, where Ruth Hale Oliver was in the process of becoming a well-known Hollywood astrologer. Oliver made a decision to embark upon a career as an actress and chose the stage name Susan Oliver.
Early career 1955-1958
By September 1949, using her new name, Oliver returned to the East Coast to begin drama studies at Swarthmore College, followed by professional training at the Neighborhood Playhouse in New York City. After working in summer stock, regional theater and in unbilled bits in daytime and primetime TV shows and commercials, she made her first major television appearance playing a supporting role in the July 31, 1955 episode of the live drama series Goodyear TV Playhouse, and quickly progressed to leading parts in other shows.
Broadway
In 1957, Oliver did numerous TV shows and a starring role in a movie. She began the year with an important ingenue part, as the daughter of an 18th century Manhattan family, in her first Broadway play, Small War on Murray Hill, a Robert E. Sherwood comedy. Also in 1957, Oliver replaced Mary Ure as the female lead in the Broadway production of John Osborne's play, Look Back in Anger.
Television and films
The play's short run was immediately followed by larger roles in live TV plays on Kaiser Aluminum Hour, The United States Steel Hour and Matinee Theater. Oliver then went to Hollywood, where she appeared in the November 14, 1957 episode of Climax!, one of the few live drama series based on the West Coast, as well as in a number of filmed shows, including one of the first episodes of NBC's Wagon Train, aired on October 30, 1957. Three years later, she appeared with Brad Johnson in the November 9, 1960, Wagon Train episode entitled "The Cathy Eckhardt Story". She performed the title role of "Country Cousin," an installment of Father Knows Best broadcast on March 5, 1958. She appeared in an episode of John Cassavetes's 1959-1960 detective series, Johnny Staccato.
In July 1957, Oliver was chosen for the title role in her first motion picture, The Green-Eyed Blonde, a low-budget independent melodrama released by Warner Brothers in December on the bottom half of a double bill. It is the only motion picture on which Oliver received top billing.
At the close of the year, Oliver returned to New York, appearing in Robert Alan Aurthur's "The Thundering Wave," the December 12, 1957 broadcast of the prestigious live drama series Playhouse 90. Her performance in the John Frankenheimer-directed teleplay was well-received and she was invited to Playhouse 90 two more times, March 26, 1959 and January 21, 1960.
As the next year began, Oliver continued to be a part of the Golden Age of TV Drama, acting in the February 26, 1958 episode of Kraft Television Theatre and "The Woman Who Turned to Salt", the June 16, 1958 installment of Suspicion, an hour-long suspense anthology series produced by Alfred Hitchcock. Oliver's entry, directed by Robert Stevens, also starred Michael Rennie along with Hitchcock's daughter, Patricia.
Patate
In mid-1958, Oliver began rehearsals for a co-starring role in Patate, her second Broadway play. Its seven-performance run was even shorter than that of Small War on Murray Hill but won Oliver a Theatre World Award for "outstanding breakout performance." It was her last Broadway appearance.
West Coast career 1959-1980
Oliver spent the remainder of her career in Hollywood, going on to play in more than 100 television shows, five made-for-TV movies, as well as 12 theatrical features. She appeared in three more episodes of Wagon Train, four episodes of The Virginian, three episodes each of Adventures in Paradise, Route 66 and Dr. Kildare as well as "Never Wave Goodbye," a critically praised October 8–15, 1963 two-part episode of The Fugitive. On April 12, 1961 she appeared in an episode of The Naked City, "A Memory of Crying." That same year, she guest starred in the NBC anthology series, The Barbara Stanwyck Show.
She was fourth-billed in her second theatrical feature, 1959's The Gene Krupa Story. Her next movie was the 1960 Elizabeth Taylor vehicle Butterfield 8.
The subsequent three-year period between 1960 and 1963 saw Oliver do more than 30 guest-star appearances in primetime series as well as a fourth feature film in the role of psychiatric nurse Cathy Clark in Warner Brothers 1963 hospital melodrama The Caretakers. Robert Stack, Polly Bergen and Joan Crawford were top-billed, along with two stars of the studio's 1960-62 TV detective series Surfside 6, Diane McBain and Van Williams. In the film's tangential plotline, however, Williams' doctor character is drawn to Oliver, as evidenced by their only scene together, a brief dinner sequence.
In 1963, Oliver guest starred on the Aaron Spelling series "Burke's Law" where she played Janet Fielding, the secretary of a murdered psychologist. She was lured from her desk by a phone call indicating her mother was involved in a car accident, which proved to be false.
At the end of 1963, Oliver filmed a guest-starring spot on the ABC western The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters, which featured 12-year-old Kurt Russell in the title role. The 26-episode series about a westward-bound wagon train originally focused on the relationship between the boy and his free-spirited Scottish physician father (Dan O'Herlihy). The 13th episode, however, introduced the new wagonmaster Linc Murdock, played by Charles Bronson who, along with Russell's Jaimie, became the focus of the remaining storylines.
"The Day of the Reckoning", shown on March 15, 1964 as the show's final installment, presented Oliver as Maria, Murdock's former love. With an eye towards expanding it, the filming was done on color stock and additional scenes were lensed to bring the running time to 75 minutes, the pre-commercial length of a 90-minute TV "movie of the week". Entitled Guns of Diablo the "movie" has a cast composed of familiar TV faces from the 1960s and further betrays its origins by including the prominent commercial break fade-ins and outs typical of TV product from that era.
By January 1965, the film, with Bronson billed first, Oliver second and Russell third above the title, already had showings in West German cinemas and was later released to theaters in other parts of Europe as well as Asia, Africa and Latin America to capitalize on Bronson's eventual worldwide popularity.
In addition to six TV shows in 1964, Oliver had major roles in three features — Looking for Love , The Disorderly Orderly and, most prominently, Your Cheatin' Heart, in which she was second-billed as Audrey Williams, wife of country music legend Hank Williams, portrayed by George Hamilton. Hamilton, along with a number of other guest stars, also popped up in a cameo appearance in Looking for Love, a Connie Francis vehicle, with Oliver in support as Connie's friend.
The Frank Tashlin-directed Disorderly Orderly was another entry in the then-popular Jerry Lewis theatrical series. Amidst the wild slapstick, Oliver was cast in an oddly serious role as a beautiful former cheerleader from Lewis's high school days.
The Andy Griffith Show
One of Oliver's 1964 TV appearances was an infrequent outing on a sitcom. As in The Disorderly Orderly, her handful of comedy acting turns were played relatively straight, including an episode of CBS' top-rated The Andy Griffith Show called "Prisoner of Love." The storyline plays out almost entirely in the holding cell area of the Mayberry town jail.
The Twilight Zone
In the Rod Serling-scripted "People Are Alike All Over", the last of three entries helmed for the series by veteran movie director Mitchell Leisen, Roddy McDowall stars as Sam Conrad, an astronaut who lands on Mars, which he finds to be inhabited by a seemingly-human race, one of whom was played by Oliver. She is the romantic interest of McDowall's character.
Star Trek
Four years later, Oliver was cast in a storyline which evoked similar themes, "The Cage", the unsold 1964 pilot episode of Star Trek. In what could have been a pivotal role of her career, she portrays Vina, the lone survivor of a long-ago crash landing on the distant planet Talos IV, whose idealized image becomes the irresistible fulfillment of love for Captain Christopher Pike (Jeffrey Hunter). Although the network executives saw no fault with the ensemble cast, "The Cage" is believed to have been deemed "too cerebral" and, in a rare move, NBC asked for a revised pilot, made a year later with William Shatner as Captain Kirk.
Seen ten weeks after Star Trek's September premiere, the November 17–24, 1966 two-part episode "The Menagerie" incorporated, in re-edited form, about 80 percent of "The Cage"'s footage. "The Menagerie" was well-received by the science-fiction community and garnered a Hugo Award for dramatic presentation, although Oliver and Hunter were not recalled to film any additional revised scenes. Twenty-two years later, less than two years before Oliver's death (Jeffrey Hunter died in 1969), "The Cage" was finally telecast to a new generation of fans as a 1988 syndicated special, hosted by Gene Roddenberry. Finally, in the end-credit still images seen in early episodes of Star Trek, fans also take note of a striking visual of Oliver as the archetypal green-skinned "Orion Slave Girl". It is her portrayal that created a fair standard for other actresses in this type of Star Trek role.
Additional genre performances
Remaining with the genre, Oliver was seen in two episodes of Quinn Martin's Larry Cohen-created alien-impostors-on-Earth series, The Invaders, "The Ivy Curtain" (March 21, 1967) and "Inquisition" (March 26, 1968), as well as playing the unreliable associate of dwarf-like recurring villain mastermind Miguelito Loveless (Michael Dunn) in "The Night Dr. Loveless Died", the September 29, 1967 episode of The Wild Wild West. She also appeared in non-genre episodes of Thriller ("Choose a Victim", January 24, 1961, directed by Richard Carlson, the star of a number of 1950s sci-fi films, such as It Came from Outer Space) and The Alfred Hitchcock Hour (in the title role of "Annabel", November 1, 1962, scripted by Psycho's Robert Bloch from the novel by Patricia Highsmith, and directed by another actor, Paul Henreid.
In a brief footnote, twelve years after her Twilight Zone performance, Oliver was seen in one of the stories on the January 5, 1972 episode of the Rod Serling-hosted Night Gallery. In the 15-minute ghost tale "The Tune in Dan's Cafe", she is the unhappily-married wife of Pernell Roberts, as the couple experiences an emotional epiphany, triggered by the single song ("If You Leave Me Tonight I'll Cry", sung by Jerry Wallace) emanating from a cafeteria jukebox.
Final theatrical films
Oliver spent most of 1966 in the continuing role of the tragic Ann Howard on ABC's prime-time serial Peyton Place, and in 1967 had her a role in one of the first movies to portray the newly emerging counterculture, The Love-Ins. In the independently produced film, Richard Todd starred as a Timothy Leary-like professor who promotes himself into an LSD-advocating media star. He lures Oliver's character into his hallucinogenic world, impregnates and rebuffs her, causing her to suffer a breakdown. In response, her former lover, underground publisher James MacArthur, who has been supporting the demagogue in his paper, assassinates him at one of his mass rallies. Oliver's most memorable scene depicts her LSD "trip" in which she visualizes herself as "Alice in Wonderland". At the scene's abrupt conclusion, the image disintegrates as she tears off the remnants of her clothing. The sensational nature of the film caused it to be banned in the United Kingdom.
Oliver co-starred in three medium- to low-budget features released from 1968-69. She was one of two female leads in A Man Called Gannon, a western with Anthony Franciosa, which was a little-noticed remake of the 1955 Kirk Douglas vehicle Man Without a Star. It received spotty local distribution at the end of 1968 and into 1969.
The remaining two films, Change of Mind and The Monitors may be considered science fiction, although neither fits into the traditional definition of the genre. Change of Mind was filmed in Toronto by Robert Stevens, who had directed Oliver eleven years earlier in the episode of Suspicion. Despite the recently-found freedom of cinematic subject matter, the specter of implied miscegenation was still reflected in the prejudices of the period, thus consigning Mind to exploitation grindhouses upon its release on October 1, 1969.
Monitors, the last of the three titles, was released a week later, on October 8, 1969. The independently made, poorly distributed satire was filmed in Chicago by The Second City troupe and depicted derby-wearing, slogan-chanting aliens who pacify Earth "for its own good" by negating human emotions and turning America into a passive nation, which spends its time watching brainwashed celebrities appear in TV ads designed to perpetuate the regime. Guy Stockwell and Oliver starred as the leaders of an opposition underground dedicated to the overthrow of the ostensibly benevolent alien dictatorship. The numerous familiar faces in the film included Sherry Jackson, Larry Storch, Avery Schreiber, Keenan Wynn, Ed Begley and Peter Boyle, with "alien TV" cameo appearances by Alan Arkin, Adam Arkin, Xavier Cugat, Stubby Kaye, Jackie Vernon and even the gravelly voiced U.S. Senator Everett Dirksen, who died a month before the film's release.
Carter's Army
At the start of the following decade, Oliver appeared in the first of her five made-for-TV-movies, all of which placed her in supporting roles. Carter's Army, co-scripted by Aaron Spelling, premiered January 27, 1970 as one of the entries on ABC's Tuesday night 90-minute Movie of the Week. Oliver, as the sole female member of the cast, appears in a 10-minute role as Anna, a war widow in 1944 Germany, helping captain Beau Carter (Stephen Boyd), a racially insensitive Southerner, and his all-black platoon capture a vital roadway over a dam. Following Oliver's controversial turn in Change of Mind, Carter's Army again (briefly) raises the flag of "forbidden" romance as Anna kisses the second-in-command, African-American lieutenant Wallace (Robert Hooks). Michael Weldon in his Psychotronic Video Guide write-up of the film's video version, Black Brigade, credits Oliver with "TV's first interracial kiss".
Third-billed in Carter's Army (after Boyd and Hooks), a year later Oliver fell to sixth (after Gene Barry, Lloyd Bridges, Diane Baker, Joseph Cotten and Sidney Blackmer) in her second made-for-TV film, NBC's Do You Take This Stranger?. The two-hour identity-switch suspenser, broadcast January 18, 1971, gave Oliver three scenes, but left most of the dramatics to the other cast members.
Emmy nomination
During 1975-76 she was a regular cast member of the soap opera Days of our Lives and received her only Emmy nomination (for "Outstanding Performance by a Supporting Actress") in the 3-hour October 25, 1976 NBC made-for-TV movie, Amelia Earhart. Playing Amelia's (Susan Clark) friend and mentor, aviatrix Neta Snook, was a natural for Oliver, a genuine flying enthusiast who piloted her own aircraft. The two were further connected by a near-birthdate — "Snookie" (as she is called in the film), 80 years old at the time of production, was born on February 14 (1896) to Oliver's February 13. Neta Snook, who ultimately continued past her 95th birthday, died on March 23, 1991, outlived Oliver by ten-and-a-half months.
Oliver's final three theatrical features were dispersed between 1974 and 1979. In the first, 1974's Ginger in the Morning, she appeared with another rarely-seen black hairdo (apparently not a wig, since her hair stylist received a separate credit). Monte Markham was billed first and Oliver second, but audiences first saw her 45 minutes into the 90-minute film, which gave its real star fourth billing: "and Sissy Spacek as Ginger."
Three years later, Oliver had a supporting role in a theatrical movie, an obscure Spanish-made item entitled Nido de viudas, which was barely shown in Los Angeles in December 1977 as Widow's Nest. Despite a cast which included Oscar winners Patricia Neal and Lila Kedrova, the film quickly disappeared and has remained obscure.
At the end of the 1970s, Oliver appeared in her last theatrically released motion picture. It was a reunion with her old friend Jerry Lewis in his self-directed comeback vehicle, Hardly Working, in which she was second-billed as Jerry's long-suffering sister. Following the pattern of her earlier dramatic turn in The Disorderly Orderly, this role was a straight one, as the better part of an unhappy comedy which sat on the shelf for over two years before receiving a perfunctory release in 1980-81.
Director
By the late 1970s, with acting assignments becoming scarcer, Oliver turned to part-time directing. In 1977, twenty-eight years after her early experiences in Japan, she wrote and directed Cowboysan, a short film which presents the fantasy scenario of a Japanese actor and actress playing leads in an American western.
Oliver also directed several TV episodes, including the October 25, 1982 installment of M*A*S*H and the December 4, 1983 entry of one of its sequel series, Trapper John, M.D., whose title character was her former Night Gallery co-star Pernell Roberts.
Late career
Oliver continued to act through the 1980s, playing supporting roles in her final two films, Tomorrow's Child and International Airport, both TV movies made for ABC. "Child," broadcast on March 22, 1982, was the second of two consecutive TV films about the then-sensational topic of surrogate motherhood (the first one, CBS' The Gift of Life was seen on March 16). "Airport," shown on May 25, 1985, was an all-star unsold pilot integrating multiple stories and characters into a plot-driven mix of suspense and danger at a giant airport. Produced by Aaron Spelling, it had most of the multi-star elements typical of his successful shows Fantasy Island and The Love Boat, which had already hosted Oliver in its January 24, 1981 episode.
In Oliver's last fully active year, she also appeared in the February 21, 1985 episode of Magnum, P.I. and two episodes of Murder, She Wrote, March 31 and December 1. The February 12, 1987 episode of Simon and Simon
The January 10, 1988 episode of the NBC domestic drama Our House and the November 6, 1988 episode of the syndicated horror anthology Freddy's Nightmares. In the "Nightmares" hour-long entry "Judy Miller, Come on Down," she appears in the second half-hour as a mysteriously gloomy maid who arrives at the young title character's home and reveals herself to "Judy" as seemingly her own gray-haired future self. In Oliver's final scene, she turns away from "Judy" and leaves the house, disappearing into the fog.
Susan Oliver
Aviator and author
After surviving a 1966 plane crash which almost took her life, Oliver co-piloted her Piper Comanche to victory in 1970 in the 2760-mile transcontinental race known as the "Powder Puff Derby", which resulted in her being named Pilot of the Year.
In 1967 she became the fourth woman to fly a single-engined aircraft solo across the Atlantic Ocean and the second to do it from New York City. She was attempting to fly to Moscow, her odyssey ended in Denmark after the government of the Soviet Union denied her permission to enter its air space. Oliver wrote about her aviation exploits and philosophy of life in an autobiography published in 1983 as Odyssey: A Daring Transatlantic Journey.
Death
A heavy smoker, Susan Oliver died from lung cancer in Woodland Hills, California, on May 10, 1990.
Her age at death was 58, but in the city of her birth, the New York Times obituary stated that she was 61 years old. Virtually all older editions of printed reference works have perpetuated outdated biographical details, giving her birth year as 1936 or 1937 although, according to the (relatively minor) Times obit, the actual year would have to be 1929.
As of the 2000s, the majority of biographical references have accepted 1932 as the most likely year. Additional details have been provided by the passenger manifest of the USAT General Daniel I. Sultan and Swarthmore College registration records. The manifest listed Charlotte Gercke as departing Yokohama, Japan, on May 28, 1949, and arriving in San Francisco on June 7. Her age on the manifest was given as 17, confirming the birth year as 1932. Swarthmore records also confirm this, showing that a student named Susan Oliver, born February 13, 1932, attended classes from September 1949 to May 1950
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Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: Howard on 05/10/10 at 6:43 am
The person born on this day...Bono
Paul David Hewson, KBE (born 10 May 1960), most commonly known by his stage name Bono, is an Irish singer and musician, best known for being the main vocalist of the Dublin-based rock band U2. Bono was born and raised in Dublin, Ireland, and attended Mount Temple Comprehensive School where he met his future wife, Ali Hewson, and the future members of U2. Bono writes almost all U2 lyrics, often using political, social, and religious themes. During their early years, Bono's lyrics contributed to U2's rebellious and spiritual tone. As the band matured, his lyrics became inspired more by personal experiences shared with members of U2.
Outside the band, he has collaborated and recorded with numerous artists, sits on the board of Elevation Partners, and has refurbished and owns The Clarence Hotel in Dublin with The Edge. Bono is also widely known for his activism concerning Africa, for which he co-founded DATA, EDUN, the ONE Campaign and Product Red. He has organized and played in several benefit concerts and has met with influential politicians. Bono has been praised and criticized for his activism and involvement with U2. He has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, was granted an honorary knighthood by Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom, and was named as a Person of the Year by Time, among other awards and nominations.
On 25 September 1976, Bono, David Evans ("The Edge"), his brother Dik, and Adam Clayton responded to an advertisement on a bulletin board at Mount Temple posted by fellow student Larry Mullen Jr. to form a rock band. The band had occasional jam sessions in which they did covers of other bands. Tired of long guitar solos and hard rock, Bono wanted to play Rolling Stones and The Beach Boys songs. Unfortunately the band could not play covers very well, so they started writing their own songs.
The band went by the name "Feedback" for a few months, before changing to "The Hype" later on. After Dik Evans left the group to join another local band, the Virgin Prunes, the remaining four officially changed the name from "The Hype" to "U2". Initially Bono sang, played guitar, and wrote the band's songs. He said of his early guitar playing in a 1982 interview, "When we started out I was the guitar player, along with the Edge—except I couldn't play guitar. I still can't. I was such a lousy guitar player that one day they broke it to me that maybe I should sing instead. I had tried before, but I had no voice at all. I remember the day I found I could sing. I said, 'Oh, that's how you do it.'" When The Edge's guitar playing improved, Bono was relegated mostly to the microphone, although he occasionally still plays rhythm guitar and harmonica. As of 2006, Bono has taken piano lessons from his children's piano teacher as a means to improve his songwriting.
Bono writes the lyrics for almost all U2 songs, which are often rich in social and political themes. His lyrics frequently allude to a religious connection or meaning, evident in songs such as "Gloria" from the band's album October, and "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For" from The Joshua Tree. During the band's early years, Bono was known for his rebellious tone which turned to political anger and rage during the band's War, The Joshua Tree and Rattle and Hum eras. Following the Enniskillen bombing that left 11 dead and 63 injured on 8 November 1987, the Provisional IRA paramilitaries threatened to kidnap Bono. IRA supporters also attacked a vehicle carrying the band members. These acts were in response to his speech condemning the Remembrance Day Bombing during a live performance of "Sunday Bloody Sunday". The singer had been advised to cut his on-stage outburst from the Rattle and Hum film, but it was left in. Also featured in the film is footage of Bono spray-painting a monument during an outdoor performance; Bono was forced to pay a fine.
U2's sound and focus dramatically changed with their 1991 album, Achtung Baby. Bono's lyrics became more personal, inspired by experiences related to the private lives of the members of the band. During the band's Zoo TV Tour several of his stage personas were showcased; these included "The Fly", a stereotypical rock star, the "Mirror Ball Man", a parody of American televangelists, and "Mr. MacPhisto", a combination of a corrupted rock star and the Devil.
Bono playing guitar on the U2 360° Tour.
During performances he attempts to interact with the crowd as often as possible and is known for pulling audience members onto the stage or moving himself down to the physical level of the audience. This has happened on several occasions including at the Live Aid concert in 1985 where he leapt off the stage and pulled a woman from the crowd to dance with her as the band played "Bad", and in 2005 during U2's Vertigo Tour stop in Chicago, where he pulled a boy onto the stage during the song "An Cat Dubh / Into the Heart". Bono has often allowed fans to come on stage and perform songs with the band.
Bono has won numerous awards with U2, including 22 Grammy awards and the 2003 Golden Globe award for best original song, "The Hands That Built America", for the film Gangs of New York. During the live broadcast of the ceremony, Bono called the award "really, really fudgeing brilliant!" In response, the Parents Television Council condemned Bono for his profanity and started a campaign for its members to file complaints with the FCC. Although Bono's use of "fudge" violated FCC indecency standards, the FCC refused to fine NBC because the network did not receive advance notice of the consequences of broadcasting such profanity and the profanity in question was not used in its literal sexual meaning.
U2 performing at Madison Square Garden in November 2005.
In 2005, the U2 band members were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, in their first year of eligibility. In November 2008, Rolling Stone ranked Bono the 32nd greatest singer of all time.
Bono and his bandmates were criticized in 2007 for moving part of their multi-million euro song catalogue from Ireland to Amsterdam six months before Ireland ended a tax exemption on musicians' royalties. Under Dutch tax law, bands are subject to low to non-existent tax rates. U2's manager, Paul McGuinness, stated that the arrangement is legal and customary and businesses often seek to minimize their tax burdens. The move prompted criticisms in the Irish parliament. The band later responded by stating that approximately 95% of their business took place outside Ireland, and that they were taxed globally because of this. Bono was one of several super-rich figures whose tax arrangements were singled out for criticism in a report by the charity Christian Aid in 2008.
Collaborations
In addition to his work with U2, he has collaborated with Zucchero, Frank Sinatra, Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, Luciano Pavarotti, Sinéad O'Connor, Green Day, Roy Orbison, Bob Dylan, Tina Turner, and BB King. He has recorded with Ray Charles, Quincy Jones, Kirk Franklin, Bruce Springsteen, Tony Bennett, Clannad, The Corrs, Wyclef Jean, Kylie Minogue, Jay-Z and Rihanna, as well as reportedly completing an unreleased duet with Jennifer Lopez. On Robbie Robertson's 1987 eponymous album, he plays bass guitar and vocals. On Michael Hutchence's 1999 posthumous eponymous album, Bono completed a recording of Slide Away as a duet with Hutchence.
Other endeavours
In 1992 Bono bought and hired people to refurbish Dublin's two-star 70-bedroom Clarence Hotel with The Edge, and converted it into a five-star 49-bedroom hotel. The Edge and Bono have recorded several songs together, exclusive of the band. They have also been working on penning the score for the upcoming Spider-Man Musical. Bono is a known Celtic F.C. fan, and in 1998 it was rumoured that Bono intended to buy shares in the Scottish club. However, it was reported on 28 April 1998 that this was not the case with Bono saying "it's rubbish. I've been to a couple of games and I'm a fan, but I've got no financial connections."
In May 2007, MTV reported that Bono was writing the foreword for a collection of poetry entitled "Third Rail". The book's foreword gives detail of the meanings of the poetry, saying "The poets who fill the pews here have come to testify, to bear witness to the mysterious power of rock and roll...Rock and roll is truly a broad church, but each lights a candle to their vision of what it is." The collection, which is edited by poet Jonathan Wells, contains titles such as "Punk rock You're My Big Crybaby", "Variation on a Theme by Whitesnake", and "Vince Neil Meets Josh in a Chinese Restaurant in Malibu (After Ezra Pound)."
Bono is on the board of the Elevation Partners private-equity firm, which attempted to purchase Eidos Interactive in 2005 and has since gone on to invest in other entertainment businesses. Bono has invested in the Forbes Media group in the US through Elevation Partners. Elevation Partners became the first outsider to invest in the company, taking a minority stake in Forbes Media LLC, a new company encompassing the 89-year-old business which includes Forbes magazine, the Forbes.com website and other assets. The terms of the deal were not disclosed, but reports said the stake was worth about €194 million ($250m).
In film, Bono has played the character of "Dr. Robert", an anti-war shaman, in the musical Across the Universe. Also in this movie, he sang the Beatles songs "I am the Walrus" and "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds". Bono's other acting credits include cameos in 1999's Entropy and 2000's Million Dollar Hotel, the latter of which was based on a story conceived by Bono. In 2000 he acted as himself in the short film Sightings of Bono, adapted from a short story by Irish writer Gerard Beirne.
Humanitarian work
Bono with President Lula da Silva of Brazil in 2006
Bono has become one of the world's best-known philanthropic performers. He has been dubbed, "the face of fusion philanthropy", both for his success enlisting powerful allies from a diverse spectrum of leaders in government, religious institutions, philanthropic organizations, popular media, and the business world, as well as for spearheading new organizational networks that bind global humanitarian relief with geopolitical activism and corporate commercial enterprise.
In a 1986 interview with Rolling Stone magazine, Bono explained that he was motivated to become involved in social and political causes by seeing one of the Secret Policeman's Ball benefit shows, staged by John Cleese and producer Martin Lewis for the human-rights organization Amnesty International in 1979. "I saw 'The Secret Policeman’s Ball' and it became a part of me. It sowed a seed..." In 2001, Bono arranged for U2 to videotape a special live performance for that year's Amnesty benefit show.
Bono and U2 performed on Amnesty's Conspiracy Of Hope tour of the United States in 1986 alongside Sting. U2 also performed in the Band Aid and Live Aid projects, organized by Bob Geldof. In 1984, Bono sang on the Band Aid single "Do They Know it's Christmas?/Feed the World" (a role that was reprised on the 2004 Band Aid 20 single of the same name). Geldof and Bono later collaborated to organize the 2005 Live 8 project, where U2 also performed.
Bono and U.S. President George W. Bush in 2006
Since 1999, Bono has become increasingly involved in campaigning for third-world debt relief and raising awareness of the plight of Africa, including the AIDS pandemic. In the past decade Bono has met with several influential politicians, including former United States President George W. Bush and Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin. During a March 2002 visit to the White House, after President Bush unveiled a $5 billion aid package, he accompanied the President for a speech on the White House lawn where he stated, "This is an important first step, and a serious and impressive new level of commitment. ... This must happen urgently, because this is a crisis." In May of that year, Bono took US Treasury Secretary Paul H. O'Neill on a four-country tour of Africa. In contrast, in 2005, Bono spoke on CBC Radio, alleging then Prime Minister Martin was being slow about increasing Canada's foreign aid. He was a nominee for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2003, 2005, and 2006 for his philanthropy.
In 2004, he was awarded the Pablo Neruda International Presidential Medal of Honour from the Government of Chile. Time Magazine named Bono one of the "100 Most Influential People" in its May 2004 special issue, and again in the 2006 Time 100 special issue. In 2005, Time named Bono a Person of the Year along with Bill and Melinda Gates. Also in 2005, he received the Portuguese Order of Liberty for his humanitarian work. That year Bono was also among the first three recipients of the TED Prize, which grants each winner "A wish to change the world". Bono made three wishes, the first two related to the ONE campaign and the third that every hospital, health clinic and school in Ethiopia should be connected to the Internet. TED rejected the third wish as being a sub-optimal way for TED to help Africa and instead organized a TED conference in Arusha, Tanzania. Bono attended the conference, which was held in June 2007, and attracted headlines with his foul-mouthed heckling of a speech by Andrew Mwenda.
Bono at the World Economic Forum meeting in Davos, 2008.
In 2007, Bono was named in the UK's New Years Honours List as an honorary Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire. He was formally granted knighthood on 29 March 2007 in a ceremony at the residence of British Ambassador David Reddaway in Dublin, Ireland.
Bono also received the NAACP Image Award's Chairman's Award in 2007. On 24 May 2007, the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia announced that Bono would receive the Philadelphia Liberty Medal on 27 September 2007 for his work to end world poverty and hunger. On 28 September 2007, in accepting the Liberty Medal, Bono said, "When you are trapped by poverty, you are not free. When trade laws prevent you from selling the food you grew, you are not free, ... When you are a monk in Burma this very week, barred from entering a temple because of your gospel of peace ... well, then none of us are truly free." Bono donated the $100,000 prize to the organization. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala accepted the award for the Washington-based Debt AIDS Trade Africa.
In 2005 he recorded a version of Don't Give Up with Alicia Keys, with proceeds going to Keep a Child Alive.
On 15 December 2005, Paul Theroux published an op-ed in the New York Times called The Rock Star's Burden (cf. Kipling's The White Man's Burden) that criticized stars such as Bono, Brad Pitt, and Angelina Jolie, labelling them as "mythomaniacs, people who wish to convince the world of their worth." Theroux, who lived in Africa as a Peace Corps Volunteer, added that "the impression that Africa is fatally troubled and can be saved only by outside help—not to mention celebrities and charity concerts—is a destructive and misleading conceit." Elsewhere, Bono has been criticised, along with other celebrities, for " the legitimate voices of Africa and a global movement for justice into a grand orgy of narcissistic philanthropy.
On 3 April 2005, Bono paid a personal tribute to John Paul II and called him "a street fighter and a wily campaigner on behalf of the world's poor. We would never have gotten the debts of 23 countries completely canceled without him." Bono spoke in advance of President Bush at the 54th Annual National Prayer Breakfast, held at the Hilton Washington Hotel on 2 February 2006. In a speech containing biblical references, Bono encouraged the care of the socially and economically depressed. His comments included a call for an extra one percent tithe of the United States' national budget. He brought his Christian views into harmony with other faiths by noting that Christian, Jewish, and Muslim writings all call for the care of the widow, orphan, and stranger. President Bush received praise from the singer-activist for the United States' increase in aid for the African continent. Bono continued by saying much work is left to be done to be a part of God's ongoing purposes.
The organization DATA (Debt, AIDS, Trade, Africa) was established in 2002 by Bono and Bobby Shriver, along with activists from the Jubilee 2000 Drop the Debt Campaign. DATA aims to eradicate poverty and HIV/AIDS in Africa. DATA encourages Americans to contact senators and other legislators and elected officials to voice their opinions.
In early 2005, Bono, his wife Ali Hewson, and New York-based Irish fashion designer Rogan Gregory launched the socially conscious line EDUN in an attempt to shift the focus in Africa from aid to trade. EDUN's goal is to use factories in Africa, South America, and India that provide fair wages to workers and practice good business ethics to create a business model that will encourage investment in developing nations.
Bono after accepting the Philadelphia Liberty Medal on 27 September 2007.
Bono was a special guest editor of the July 2007 issue of Vanity Fair magazine. The issue was named "The Africa Issue: Politics & Power" and featured an assortment of 20 different covers, with photographs by Annie Leibovitz of a number of prominent celebrities, political leaders, and philanthropists. Each one showcased in the issue for their contributions to the humanitarian relief in Africa.
In an article in Bloomberg Markets in March 2007, journalists Richard Tomlinson and Fergal O’Brien noted that Bono used his band's 2006 Vertigo world tour to promote his ONE Campaign while at the same time "U2 was racking up $389 million in gross ticket receipts, making Vertigo the second-most lucrative tour of all time, according to Billboard magazine. . . . Revenue from the Vertigo tour is funneled through companies that are mostly registered in Ireland and structured to minimize taxes."
Further criticism came in November 2007, when Bono's various charity campaigns were targeted by Jobs Selasie, head of African Aid Action. Selasie claimed that these charities had increased corruption and dependency in Africa because they failed to work with African entrepreneurs and grassroots organizations, and as a result, Africa has become more dependent on international handouts. Bono responded to his critics in Times Online on 19 February 2006, calling them "cranks carping from the sidelines. A lot of them wouldn’t know what to do if they were on the field. They’re the party who will always be in opposition so they’ll never have to take responsibility for decisions because they know they’ll never be able to implement them."
In November 2007, Bono was honoured by NBC Nightly News as someone "making a difference" in the world. He and anchor Brian Williams had traveled to Africa in May 2007 to showcase the humanitarian crisis on the continent. On 11 December 2008, Bono was given the annual Man of Peace prize, awarded by several Nobel Peace Prize laureates in Paris, France.
Product Red is another initiative begun by Bono and Bobby Shriver to raise money for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria. Bobby Shriver has been announced as the CEO of Product Red, whilst Bono is currently an active public spokesperson for the brand. Product Red is a brand that is licensed to partner companies, such as American Express, Apple, Converse, Motorola, Microsoft, Dell, The Gap, and Giorgio Armani. Each company creates a product with the Product Red logo and a percentage of the profits from the sale of these labelled products will go to the Global Fund.
However, in 2009, Bono and his U2 bandmates came under fire for moving a substantial portion of their wealth to a tax haven in order to avoid paying Irish taxes on royalties.
See also
* Timeline of U2
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Bobo is everywhere. :o
Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: ninny on 05/10/10 at 7:30 am
Bobo is everywhere. :o
Bobo ;D Bono is everywhere :)
Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: Howard on 05/10/10 at 6:34 pm
Bobo ;D Bono is everywhere :)
Oh Snap,I mean Bono Sorry Ninny,I forgot I wrote Bobo. ;D
Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: ninny on 05/11/10 at 5:52 am
The word of the day...Parade
A parade (also called march or marchpast) is a procession of people, usually organized along a street, often in costume, and often accompanied by marching bands, floats or sometimes large balloons. Parades are held for a wide range of reasons, but are usually celebrations of some kind. In Britain the term parade is usually reserved for either military parades or other occasions where participants march in formation; for celebratory occasions the word procession is more usual. In the Canadian Forces the term also has several less formal connotations.
Protest demonstrations can also take the form of a parade, but in such cases are usually referred to as a march instead.
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Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: ninny on 05/11/10 at 5:59 am
The person born on this day...Irving Berlin
Irving Berlin (May 11, 1888 – September 22, 1989) was an American composer and lyricist widely considered one of the greatest songwriters in history.
His first hit song, "Alexander's Ragtime Band", became world famous. The song sparked an international dance craze in places as far away as Russia, which also "flung itself into the ragtime beat with an abandon bordering on mania." Over the years he was known for writing music and lyrics in the American vernacular: uncomplicated, simple and direct, with his aim being to "reach the heart of the average American" whom he saw as the "real soul of the country."
He wrote hundreds of songs, many becoming major hits, which made him "a legend" before he turned thirty. During his 60-year career he wrote an estimated 1,500 songs, including the scores for 19 Broadway shows and 18 Hollywood films, with his songs nominated eight times for Academy Awards. Many songs became popular themes and anthems, including "Easter Parade", "White Christmas", "Happy Holiday", "This is the Army, Mr. Jones", and "There's No Business Like Show Business". His Broadway musical and 1942 film, This is the Army, with Ronald Reagan, had Kate Smith singing Berlin's "God Bless America" which was first performed in 1938. After the September 11 attacks in 2001, Celine Dion recorded it as a tribute, making it #1 on the charts.
Berlin's songs have reached the top of the charts 25 times and have been re-recorded countless times by singers including Frank Sinatra, Barbra Streisand, Linda Ronstadt, Rosemary Clooney, Diana Ross, Bing Crosby, Rita Reys, Frankie Laine, Johnnie Ray, Al Jolson, Nat King Cole, Billie Holiday, and Ella Fitzgerald. Composer Douglas Moore sets Berlin apart from all other contemporary songwriters, and includes him instead with Stephen Foster, Walt Whitman, and Carl Sandburg, as a "great American minstrel" – someone who has "caught and immortalized in his songs what we say, what we think about, and what we believe." Composer George Gershwin called him "the greatest songwriter that has ever lived", and composer Jerome Kern concluded that "Irving Berlin has no place in American music - he is American music."
From this early position, Hamm writes, his "meteoric rise as a songwriter" in Tin Pan Alley and then on Broadway, began with his first world-famous hit song, "Alexander's Ragtime Band," in 1911. As a result of his instant notoriety, he was the feature performer later that year at Oscar Hammerstein's vaudeville house, where he introduced dozens of other songs to the audience. The New York Telegraph wrote a story about the event, reporting that a "delegation of two hundred of his friends from the pent and huddled East Side appeared... to see 'their boy.'" The news story added that "all the little writer could do was to finger the buttons on his coat while tears ran down his cheeks--in a vaudeville house!":ix
Music historian Richard Corliss, wrote about the song in a Time magazine profile of Berlin in 2001:
"Alexander's Ragtime Band" (1911). It was a march, not a rag, and its savviest musicality comprised quotes from a bugle call and "Swanee River". But the tune, which revived the ragtime fervor that Scott Joplin had stoked a decade earlier, made Berlin a songwriting star. On its first release and subsequent releases, the song was consistently near the top of the charts: Bessie Smith, in 1927, and Louis Armstrong, in 1937; # 1 by Bing Crosby and Connee Boswell; Al Jolson, in 1947. Johnny Mercer in 1945, and Nellie Lutcher in 1948. Add Ray Charles's big-band version in 1959, and "Alexander" had a dozen hit versions in a bit under a half century.
Despite its success, the song was not initially recognized as a hit: at a private audition of the song to Broadway producer Jesse Lasky, Lasky’s response was uncertain, although he did put it in his “Folies” show. After a number of performances as an instrumental, the song did not impress audiences, and was soon dropped from the show’s score, causing Berlin to regard it as a “dead failure.” But later that year, after writing lyrics to the music, it played again in another Broadway Review, and Variety news weekly proclaimed the song "the musical sensation of the decade.":68 Composer George Gershwin, foreseeing its influence, said, "The first real American musical work is "Alexander's Ragtime Band." Berlin had shown us the way; it was now easier to attain our ideal.":117
Sparking a national dance craze
Enjoying early success circa 1911
Berlin was "flabbergasted," by the sudden international popularity of the song, and began to ask himself "Why? Why?" Berlin later wrote,
And I got an answer. The melody... started the heels and shoulders of all America and a good section of Europe to rocking. The lyric, silly though it was, was fundamentally right.:69
Quotes- Irving Berlin once said, "Talent is only a starting point." He meant that, although he undisputably had talent, he would never have become famous if he hadn't made something of his talent.
"Watch Your Step"
Furia writes that the international success of "Alexander's Ragtime Band" gave ragtime "new life and sparked a national dance craze." Two dancers who expressed that craze were Irene and Vernon Castle. In 1914, Berlin wrote a ragtime revue, "Watch Your Step," which starred the couple and showcased their talents on stage. That musical revue became Berlin's first complete score and Furia notes that "its songs radiated musical and lyrical sophistication." Berlin's ragtime songs, he adds, had "quickly come to signify modernism, and Berlin caught the cultural struggle between Victorian gentility and the purveyors of liberation, indulgence, and leisure with songs such as "Play a Simple Melody." That particular song, according to Furia, also became the first of his famous "double" songs in which two different melodies and lyrics are counterpointed against one another.
Variety called it "The First Syncopated Musical," where the "sets and the girls were gorgeous." But most of the success or otherwise of the show was riding on the Berlin name, according to Whitcomb. He notes that Variety... marked the show as a "terrific hit" from opening night alone:
Irving Berlin stands out like the Times building does in the Square. That youthful marvel of syncopated melody is proving things in 'Watch Your Step', firstly that he is not alone a rag composer, and that he is one of the greatest lyric writers America has ever produced.... Besides rags Berlin wrote a polka that was very pretty, and he intermingled ballads with trots, which, including the grand opera medley, gives 'Watch Your Step' all the kind of music there is.:173
Whitcomb also points out the irony that Russia, the country Berlin's family was forced to leave, flung itself into "the ragtime beat with an abandon bordering on mania":
... like a display of medieval religious frenzy; some seemed to be doing a dance of death. Lady Diana Manners, at a London ball reviving the Age of Chivalry, was escorted by Prince Felix Yusupov. This young man, a recent Oxford undergraduate, had an impeccable Russian noble lineage: a descendant of Frederick of Prussia, he was heir to the largest estate in Russia, he would be richer than the Tsar. He was exquisite and heavily bejewelled, but Lady Diana was irritated by his 'wriggling around the ballroom like a demented worm, screaming for 'more ragtime and more champagne'.:183
Lady Diana Manners was apparently not alone in her dislike of ragtime. A newspaper clipping found in Berlin's scrapbook included an article titled, "Calls Ragtime Insanity Sign":
"Alexander's Ragtime Band" is a public menace.... The authority for these statements is Dr. Ludwig Gruener of Berlin, a German who has devoted twenty years' study to the criminally insane.... He says, 'Hysteria is the form of insanity that an abnormal love for ragtime seems to produce. It is as much a mental disease as acute mania—it has the same symptoms. When there is nothing done to check this form it produces idiocy'. He also stated that 90 percent of the inmates of the American asylums he has visited are abnormally fond of ragtime.:23
Simple and romantic ballads
In future years he made every effort to write lyrics in the American vernacular: uncomplicated, simple and direct, once stating:
My ambition is to reach the heart of the average American, not the highbrow nor the lowbrow but that vast intermediate crew which is the real soul of the country. The highbrow is likely to be superficial, overtrained, supersensitive. The lowbrow is warped, subnormal. My public is the real people.
With Al Jolson, star of The Jazz Singer,
circa 1927
Berlin also created songs out of his own sadness. In 1912, he married Dorothy Goetz, the sister of songwriter E. Ray Goetz. She died six months later of typhoid fever contracted during their honeymoon in Havana. The song he wrote to express his grief, "When I Lost You," was his first ballad. It was an immediate popular hit and sold more than a million copies. In 1916, he collaborated with Victor Herbert on the score of "The Century Girl."
He began to realize that the slang of ragtime would be an "inappropriate idiom for serious romantic expression," and over the next few years would begin to adapt his style by writing more love songs. In 1915 he wrote the hit, "I Love a Piano," which was an erotic, but comical, ragtime love song (Read lyrics).
By 1918 he had written hundreds of songs, mostly topical, which enjoyed brief popularity. Many of the songs were for the new dances then appearing, such as the "grizzly bear," "chicken walk," or fox trot. After a Hawaiian dance craze began, he wrote "That Hula-Hula," and then did a string of southern songs, such as "When the Midnight Choo-Choo Leaves for Alabam." During this period he was creating a few new songs every week, including numerous rags and songs aimed at the various immigrant cultures arriving from Europe. Furia tells of a train trip Berlin was on where he decided to entertain the fellow passengers. Later on they asked him how he knew so many hit songs, and Berlin would modestly reply, "I wrote them.":53
One of the key songs that Berlin wrote in his transition from ragtime to lyrical ballads was "A Pretty Girl is Like a Melody," which was considered one of Berlin's "first big guns," according to historian Alec Wilder. The song was written for Ziegfeld's Follies of 1919 and became the musical's leading song. Its popularity was so great that it became the theme for all of Ziegfeld's revues, and later the theme song in the 1936 film The Great Ziegfeld (Watch). Wilder puts it "on a level with Jerome Kern's "pure melodies," and in comparison with Berlin's earlier music, finds it "extraordinary that such a development in style and sophistication should have taken place in a single year.":53
World War I
On 1 April 1917 President Woodrow Wilson declared that America would enter World War I, and, as Whitcomb writes:
The beleaguered Allies would be rescued from the evil Central Powers by a noble American game-plan and a barrel of morals.... The whistle was blown, the game was on. There must be no shirkers or doubters in the team. Americans must pull together as one man or else. Said President Wilson: 'Woe to the man or group of men that seeks to stand in our way in this day of high resolution!' Irish-Americans, Italian-Americans, Jewish-Americans, and, especially, German-Americans, must now be plain, straight-ahead Americans.
Tin Pan Alley would do its duty and support the slogan at the time that "Music is essential to win the war." Berlin joined the effort and wrote, "For Your Country and My Country," adding "we must speak with the sword not the pen to show our appreciation to America for opening up her heart and welcoming every immigrant group." He then joined with George Meyer and his old colleague Edgar Leslie in a song that demanded an end to ethnicity: "Let's All Be Americans Now.":197
"Yip Yip Yaphank"
In 1917 Berlin was drafted into the army, and the news of his induction became headline news: "Army Takes Berlin!" one paper read. However, the army only wanted Berlin, now aged 30, to do what he knew best: to write songs of patriotism. Hence, while stationed at Camp Upton in New York, he composed an all-soldier musical revue titled "Yip Yip Yaphank," written to be patriotic tribute to the United States Army. By the following summer the show was taken to Broadway where it also included a number of hits, including "Mandy" and "Oh! How I Hate to Get Up in the Morning," which he performed himself. The shows earned $150,000 for a camp service center. One song he wrote for the show but decided not use, he would introduce twenty years later: "God Bless America."
According to Whitcomb, "at the grand finale, General Bell made a thank-you speech from his box, while Sergeant Berlin, on stage, declined to utter a word. Then, under orders from the War Department, Sergeant Berlin led the entire 300-person cast off the stage, marching them down the theater's aisles, singing 'We're on Our Way to France,' all to tumultuous applause. The cast carried off their little producer like he was victor ludorum." Berlin's mother, having seen her son perform for the first (and last) time in her life, was shocked. The soldier-actors continued out into the downtown street and up the plank to the waiting troop carrier. "Tin Pan Alley had joined hands with real life," writes Whitcomb.:199Watch
1920 to 1940
Berlin returned to Tin Pan Alley after the war and in 1921 created a partnership with Sam Harris to build the Music Box Theater. He maintained an interest in the theater throughout his life, and even in his last years was known to call the Shubert Organization, his partner, to check on the receipts. In its early years, the theater was a showcase for revues by Berlin. As theater owner, producer and composer, he looked after every detail of his shows, from the costumes and sets to the casting and musical arrangements.
According to Berlin biographer David Leopold, the theater, located at 239 West 45th St., was the only Broadway house built to accommodate the works of a songwriter. It was the home of Berlin's "Music Box Revue" from 1921 to 1925 and "As Thousands Cheer" in 1933 and today includes an exhibition devoted to Berlin in the lobby.
Various hit songs
By 1926, Berlin had written the scores to two editions of the Ziegfeld Follies and four "Music Box Revues." Life magazine called him the "Lullaby Kid," noting that "couples at country-club dances grew misty-eyed when the band went into "Always," because they were positive that Berlin had written it just for them. When they quarreled and parted in the crepuscular bitter-sweetness of the 1920s, it was Berlin who gave eloquence to their heartbreak by way of "What'll I Do" and "Remember" and "All Alone."
"What'll I Do?" (1924)
This ballad of love and longing, was a #1 hit for Paul Whiteman and had five other top-12 renditions in 1924. Twenty-four years later the song went to #22 for Nat Cole and #23 for Frank Sinatra.
"Always" (1925)
Written when he fell in love with Ellin Mackay who later became his wife. The song became two #1's (for Vincent Lopez and George Olsen) in its first incarnation. There were four more hit versions in 1944-45. In 1959 Sammy Turner took the song to #2 on the R&B chart. It became Patsy Cline's postmortem anthem and hit #18 on the country chart in 1980, 17 years after her death, and a tribute musical called "Patsy Cline ... Always," played a two-year Nashville run that ended in 1995.
Blue Skies" (1926)
Written after his first daughter's birth as a song just for her. In it he distilled his feelings about being married and a father for the first time: "Blue days, all of them gone; nothing but blue skies, from now on." #1 for Ben Selvin with five other hits in 1927, besides being the first song performed by Al Jolson in the first feature sound film, "The Jazz Singer that same year." In 1946 it returned to the top 10 on the charts with Count Basie and Benny Goodman. In 1978, Willie Nelson made the song a #1 country hit — 52 years after it was written.
"Marie" (1929)
A waltz-time hit became #2 by Rudy Vallee and in 1937 reached #1 with Tommy Dorsey. It was again in the charts in 1953 and a #15 for the Bachelors in 1965 – 36 years after its first appearance.
"Puttin' on the Ritz" (1930)
An instant standard with one of Berlin's most "intricately syncopated choruses," is associated with Fred Astaire, who danced to it in the 1946 film "Blue Skies." It was first sung by Harry Richman in 1930 and became a #1 hit, and in 1939 Clark Gable sang it in the movie "Idiot's Delight."
"Say It Isn't So" (1932)
Rudy Vallee performed it on his radio show and the song, it was a #1 hit for George Olsen and awarded top-10 positions with versions by Connee Boswell and Ozzie Nelson's band. In 1963 Aretha Franklin produced a single of the song in 1963 – 31 years later. Furia notes that when Rudy Vallee first introduced the song on his radio show, the "song not only became an overnight hit, it saved Vallee's marriage: The Vallees had planned to get a divorce, but after Vallee sang Berlin's romantic lyrics on the air, "both he and his wife dissolved in tears" and decided to stay together.
"I've Got My Love to Keep Me Warm" (1937)
Performed by Dick Powell in the 1937 film "On the Avenue." Later it had four top-12 versions, including Billie Holiday, and Les Brown, who took it to #1.
"God Bless America" (1938)
Singing "God Bless America" at the Pentagon memorial dedication, September 11, 2008
Written by Berlin twenty years earlier, he filed it away until 1938, when Kate Smith's manager asked Berlin if he had a patriotic song Smith might sing to mark the 20th anniversary of Armistice Day. It was "a simple plea for divine protection in a dark time — a plangent anthem in just 40 words," writes Corliss. It quickly became the second National Anthem after America entered World War II, and over the decades, has earned millions for the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts, to whom Berlin assigned all royalties. The phrase "God Bless America" was taken from Berlin's mother:
While he was growing up on the Lower East Side, she would say "God bless America" often, to indicate that, without America, her family would have had no place to go. The Economist magazine wrote that by writing "God Bless America", Berlin was "producing a deep-felt paean to the country that had given him what he would have said was everything. It is a melody that still makes his fellow countrymen want to stand up and place their hands over their hearts."
On the afternoon of September 11, 2001, U.S. Senators and Congressmen stood on the Capitol steps and sang it after the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center. Two nights later, when Broadway turned its lights back on, the casts of numerous shows led theatergoers in renditions of the same song.
Richard Corliss notes that the next day, at an official requiem at the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C., it was played by the U.S. Army Orchestra. The following Monday, to mark the reopening of the New York Stock Exchange, New York Governor George Pataki and Mayor Rudolph Giuliani joined traders in singing it. That evening, as major league baseball games resumed around the country it replaced "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" as the theme song of the seventh-inning stretch. Over the following weeks, everyone — Celine Dion, Marc Anthony, New York City Police Department officer Daniel Rodriguez, the whole country — sang "God Bless America."
Describing the mood at the time and the significance of the song, Corliss wrote in Time magazine that December:
In times of crisis, the nation loses its short-term cultural memory — puts aside idiot movie comics, suicidal rock lyrics, must-see reality TV and the pursuit of the moral triviality that is Gary Condit — and, like a senior citizen finding solace in the distant past, rekindles that old feeling. In pop culture, at least for a while, many Americans traded in cool pop culture for warm, sarcasm for sentiment, alienation for community. In the blink of a national tragedy, we went from jaded to nice, just like that.
The popularity of the song, when it was first introduced in 1938, was also related to its release near the end of the Depression which had gone on for nine years. As a result, one writer concludes that the song's introduction at that time "enshrines a strain of official patriotism intertwined with a religious faith that runs deep in the American psyche. Patriotic razzle-dazzle, sophisticated melancholy and humble sentiments: Berlin songs span the emotional terrain of America with a thoroughness that others may have equaled but none have surpassed."
The song has also been adopted by various sports teams over the years. The Philadelphia Flyers hockey team started playing it before crucial contests, and won some 80% of those games – including all three when Kate Smith arrived to sing it in person. "Many credited Smith for lifting the crowd and the team to new heights," notes columnist John Bacon. When the 1980 U.S. Olympic hockey team pulled off the "greatest upset in sports history," referred to as the "Miracle on Ice," the players spontaneously broke into a chorus – not of "The Star Spangled Banner," but "God Bless America," with ESPN TV noting, "Americans were overcome by patriotism."
The New York Times, after his death in 1989, wrote, "Irving Berlin set the tone and the tempo for the tunes America played and sang and danced to for much of the 20th century." An immigrant from Russia, his life became the "classic rags-to-riches story that he never forgot could have happened only in America." During his career he wrote an estimated 1,500 songs, and was a legend by the time he turned 30. He went on to write the scores for 19 Broadway shows and 18 Hollywood films, with his songs nominated for Academy Awards on eight occasions. Music historian Susannah McCorkle writes that "in scope, quantity, and quality his work was amazing."
Berlin receiving Medal of Merit from President Eisenhower, 1954
During his six-decade career, from 1907 to 1966, he produced sheet music, Broadway shows, recordings, and scores played on radio, in films and on television, and his tunes continue to evoke powerful emotions for millions around the world. He wrote songs like "Alexander's Ragtime Band," "Cheek to Cheek", "There's No Business Like Show Business", "Blue Skies" and "Puttin' On the Ritz." Some of his songs have become holiday anthems, such as "Easter Parade," "White Christmas," and "Happy Holiday." "White Christmas" alone sold over 50 million records, won an ASCAP and an Academy Award, and is one of the most frequently played songs ever written. According to McCorkle, of the top five songwriters in America, only Berlin and Cole Porter wrote both their words and music.
In 1938 "God Bless America" became the unofficial national anthem of the United States, and on September 11, 2001, members of the House of Representatives stood on the steps of the Capitol and solemnly sang "God Bless America" together. The song returned to #1 shortly after 9/11, when Celine Dion recorded it as the title track of a 9/11 benefit album. The following year, the Postal Service issued a commemorative stamp of Berlin. By then, the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts of New York had received more than $10 million in royalties from "God Bless America" as a result of Berlin's donation of royalties. According to music historian Gary Giddins, "No other songwriter has written as many anthems.... No one else has written as many pop songs, period... his gift for economy, directness, and slang, presents Berlin as an obsessive, often despairing commentator on the passing scene.":405
In 1934 Life Magazine put him on its cover, and inside hailed "this itinerant son of a Russian cantor" as "an American institution." And again in 1943 Life described his songs,
They possess a permanence not generally associated with Tin Pan Alley products and it is more than remotely possible that in days to come Berlin will be looked upon as the Stephen Foster of the 20th century.
At various times his songs were also rallying cries for different causes: he produced musical editorials supporting Al Smith and Dwight Eisenhower as presidential candidates; he wrote songs opposing Prohibition; defending the gold standard; calming the wounds of the Great Depression; helping the war against Hitler; and in 1950 wrote an anthem for the state of Israel. Biographer David Leopold adds that "We all know his songs... they are all part of who we are."
At his 100th-birthday celebration in May 1988, violinist Isaac Stern said, "the career of Irving Berlin and American music were intertwined forever - American music was born at his piano," while songwriter Sammy Cahn pointed out that "If a man, in a lifetime of 50 years, can point to six songs that are immediately identifiable, he has achieved something. Irving Berlin can sing 60 that are immediately identifiable... you couldn't have a holiday without his permission." Composer Douglas Moore added:
It's a rare gift which sets Irving Berlin apart from all other contemporary songwriters. It is a gift which qualifies him, along with Stephen Foster, Walt Whitman, Vachel Lindsay and Carl Sandburg, as a great American minstrel. He has caught and immortalized in his songs what we say, what we think about, and what we believe.
ASCAP's records show that 25 of Berlin's songs reached the top of the charts and were re-recorded by dozens of famous singers over the years, such as Frank Sinatra, Barbra Streisand, Linda Ronstadt, Rosemary Clooney, Diana Ross, Bing Crosby, Al Jolson, Nat King Cole, and Ella Fitzgerald. In 1924, when Berlin was 36, his biography, The Story of Irving Berlin, was being written by Alexander Woollcott. In a letter to Woollcott, Jerome Kern offered what one writer said "may be the last word" on the significance of Irving Berlin:
Awards and celebrations
* Received the Army's Medal of Merit on Oct. 2, 1945 from General George C. Marshall, at the direction of President Harry S. Truman, in appreciation for writing the music and lyrics to "This Is the Army."
* Won a Tony Award in 1951 for Best Score for the musical, Call Me Madam.
* Received a special Congressional Gold Medal in 1954 from President Dwight D. Eisenhower for contributing the song, "God Bless America." Berlin had also written three songs for his candidacy, including "I Like Ike."
* Won a Special Tony Award (New York City) in 1963 for his contributions to the American musical.
* Awarded a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1968.
* Was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1970.
* Was presented with the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1977 by President Gerald Ford
* Won a Lawrence Langner Tony Award (New York City) in 1978 for his distinguished life in the American theater.
* Awarded (in absentia,) a Medal of Liberty during centennial celebrations for the Statue of Liberty in 1986.
* His 100th-birthday celebration concert for the benefit of Carnegie Hall and ASCAP on May 11, 1988.
* Awarded a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Musical scores
The following list includes scores mostly produced by Berlin. Although some of the plays using his songs were later adapted to films, the list will not include the film unless he was the primary composer.
Stage
* "Watch Your Step" (1914)
* "Stop! Look! Listen!" (1915)
* "The Century Girl" (1916)
* "Yip! Yip! Yaphank" (1918)
* "Ziegfeld Follies" (1919)
* "Music Box Revue" (1921)
* "Music Box Revue" (1922)
* "Music Box Revue" (1923)
* "Music Box Revue" (1924)
* "The Cocoanuts" (1925)
* "Face the Music" (1932)
* "As Thousands Cheer" (1933)
* "Louisiana Purchase" (1940)
* "This Is the Army" (1942)
* "Annie Get Your Gun" (1946)
* "Miss Liberty" (1949)
* "Call Me Madam" (1950)
* "Mr. President" (1962)
Film scores
* Puttin' on the Ritz (1929)
* The Cocoanuts (1929)
* Top Hat (1935)
* Follow the Fleet (1936)
* On the Avenue (1937)
* Carefree (1938)
* Alexander's Ragtime Band (1938)
* Second Fiddle (1939)
* Holiday Inn (1942)
* This Is the Army (1943)
* Easter Parade (1948)
* Annie Get Your Gun (1950)
* Call Me Madam (1953)
* There's No Business Like Show Business (1954)
* White Christmas (1954)
Song lists
Main article: List of Irving Berlin songs
Further information: List of 850 Irving Berlin songs
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Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: ninny on 05/11/10 at 6:03 am
The person who died on this day...Bob Marley
Robert Nesta "Bob" Marley (February 6, 1945 – May 11, 1981) was a Jamaican singer-songwriter and musician. He was the lead singer, songwriter and guitarist for the ska, rocksteady and reggae bands The Wailers (1964–1974) and Bob Marley & The Wailers (1974–1981). Marley remains the most widely known and revered performer of reggae music, and is credited for helping spread both Jamaican music and the Rastafari movement to a worldwide audience.
Marley's best known hits include "I Shot the Sheriff", "No Woman, No Cry", "Could You Be Loved", "Stir It Up", "Jamming", "Redemption Song", "One Love" and, together with The Wailers, "Three Little Birds", as well as the posthumous releases "Buffalo Soldier" and "Iron Lion Zion". The compilation album, Legend (1984), released three years after his death, is reggae's best-selling album, being 10 times Platinum (Diamond) in the U.S., and selling 20 million copies worldwide Bob Marley was born in the small village of Nine Mile in Saint Ann Parish, Jamaica as Nesta Robert Marley. A Jamaican passport official would later swap his first and middle names. His father, Norval Sinclair Marley, was a Jamaican of English descent, whose family came from Essex, England. Norval was a captain in the Royal Marines, as well as a plantation overseer, when he married Cedella Booker, an Afro-Jamaican then 18 years old. Norval provided financial support for his wife and child, but seldom saw them, as he was often away on trips. In 1955, when Marley was 10 years old, his father died of a heart attack at age 60. Marley was teased as a youth because of his mixed racial origins, and faced questions about his own racial identity throughout his life. He once reflected: "I don't have prejudice against meself. My father was a white and my mother was black. Them call me half-caste or whatever. Me don't dip on nobody's side. Me don't dip on the black man's side nor the white man's side. Me dip on God's side, the one who create me and cause me to come from black and white." Although Marley recognized his mixed ancestry, throughout his life and because of his beliefs, he self-identified as a black African. In songs such as "Black Survivor", "Babylon System", and "Blackman Redemption", Marley sings about the struggles of blacks and Africans against oppression from the West or "Babylon".
Marley became friends with Neville "Bunny" Livingston (later known as Bunny Wailer), with whom he started to play music. He left school at the age of 14 to make music with Joe Higgs, a local singer and devout Rastafari. It was at a jam session with Higgs and Livingston that Marley met Peter McIntosh (later known as Peter Tosh), who had similar musical ambitions. In 1962, Marley recorded his first two singles, "Judge Not" and "One Cup of Coffee", with local music producer Leslie Kong. These songs, released on the Beverley's label under the pseudonym of Bobby Martell, attracted little attention. The songs were later re-released on the box set, Songs of Freedom, a posthumous collection of Marley's work.
Musical career
The Wailers
Main article: The Wailers (reggae band)
Search Wikinews Wikinews has related news: Vivien Goldman: An interview with Bob Marley's biographer
In 1963, Bob Marley, Bunny Wailer, Peter Tosh, Junior Braithwaite, Beverley Kelso, and Cherry Smith formed a ska and rocksteady group, calling themselves "The Teenagers". They later changed their name to "The Wailing Rudeboys", then to "The Wailing Wailers", at which point they were discovered by record producer Coxsone Dodd, and finally to "The Wailers". By 1966, Braithwaite, Kelso, and Smith had left The Wailers, leaving the core trio of Bob Marley, Bunny Wailer, and Peter Tosh. In 1966, Marley married Rita Anderson, and moved near his mother's residence in Wilmington, Delaware in the United States for a short time, during which he worked as a DuPont lab assistant and on the assembly line at a Chrysler plant, under the alias Donald Marley.
Upon returning to Jamaica, Marley became a member of the Rastafari movement, and started to wear his trademark dreadlocks (see the religion section for more on Marley's religious views). After a conflict with Dodd, Marley and his band teamed up with Lee "Scratch" Perry and his studio band, The Upsetters. Although the alliance lasted less than a year, they recorded what many consider The Wailers' finest work. Marley and Perry split after a dispute regarding the assignment of recording rights, but they would remain friends and work together again. Between 1968 and 1972, Bob and Rita Marley, Peter Tosh and Bunny Wailer re-cut some old tracks with JAD Records in Kingston and London in an attempt to commercialize The Wailers' sound. Bunny later asserted that these songs "should never be released on an album … they were just demos for record companies to listen to." Also in 1968, Bob and Rita visited the Bronx to see Johnny Nash's songwriter Jimmy Norman. A three day jam session with Norman and others, including Norman's co-writer Al Pyfrom, resulted in a 24-minute tape of Marley performing several of his own and Norman-Pyfrom's compositions which is, according to Reggae archivist Roger Steffens, rare in that it was influenced by pop rather than reggae, as part of the effort to break Marley into American charts. According to an article in The New York Times, Marley experimented on the tape with different sounds, adopting a doo-wop style on "Stay With Me" and "the slow love song style of 1960's artists" on "Splish for My Splash". The Wailers' first album, Catch a Fire, was released worldwide in 1973, and sold well. It was followed a year later by Burnin', which included the songs "Get Up, Stand Up" and "I Shot the Sheriff". Eric Clapton made a hit cover of "I Shot the Sheriff" in 1974, raising Marley's international profile. The Wailers broke up in 1974 with each of the three main members going on to pursue solo careers. The reason for the breakup is shrouded in conjecture; some believe that there were disagreements amongst Bunny, Peter, and Bob concerning performances, while others claim that Bunny and Peter simply preferred solo work.
Bob Marley & The Wailers
A crowd of people standing in water and listening to a band perform on stage.
Bob Marley & The Wailers live at Crystal Palace Park during the Uprising Tour
Main article: Bob Marley & The Wailers
Despite the breakup, Marley continued recording as "Bob Marley & The Wailers". His new backing band included brothers Carlton and Aston "Family Man" Barrett on drums and bass respectively, Junior Marvin and Al Anderson on lead guitar, Tyrone Downie and Earl "Wya" Lindo on keyboards, and Alvin "Seeco" Patterson on percussion. The "I Threes", consisting of Judy Mowatt, Marcia Griffiths, and Marley's wife, Rita, provided backing vocals. In 1975, Marley had his international breakthrough with his first hit outside Jamaica, "No Woman, No Cry", from the Natty Dread album. This was followed by his breakthrough album in the United States, Rastaman Vibration (1976), which spent four weeks on the Billboard Hot 100. In December 1976, two days before "Smile Jamaica", a free concert organized by the Jamaican Prime Minister Michael Manley in an attempt to ease tension between two warring political groups, Marley, his wife, and manager Don Taylor were wounded in an assault by unknown gunmen inside Marley's home. Taylor and Marley's wife sustained serious injuries, but later made full recoveries. Bob Marley received minor wounds in the chest and arm. The shooting was thought to have been politically motivated, as many felt the concert was really a support rally for Manley. Nonetheless, the concert proceeded, and an injured Marley performed as scheduled, two days after the attempt. When asked why, Marley responded, "the people who are trying to make this world worse aren’t taking a day off. How can I?" The members of the group Zap Pow, which had no radical religious or political beliefs, played as Bob Marley's backup band before a festival crowd of 80,000 while members of The Wailers were still missing or in hiding.
Marley left Jamaica at the end of 1976 for England, where he spent two years in self-imposed exile. Whilst there he recorded his Exodus and Kaya albums. Exodus stayed on the British album charts for 56 consecutive weeks. It included four UK hit singles: "Exodus", "Waiting in Vain", "Jamming", and "One Love" (a rendition of Curtis Mayfield's hit, "People Get Ready"). During his time in London, he was arrested and received a conviction for possession of a small quantity of cannabis . In 1978, Marley returned to Jamaica and performed at another political concert, the One Love Peace Concert, again in an effort to calm warring parties. Near the end of the performance, by Marley's request, Michael Manley (leader of then-ruling People's National Party) and his political rival Edward Seaga (leader of the opposing Jamaica Labour Party), joined each other on stage and shook hands.
Under the name Bob Marley and the Wailers eleven albums were released, four live albums and seven studio albums. The releases included Babylon by Bus, a double live album with 13 tracks, was released in 1978 to critical acclaim. This album, and specifically the final track "Jammin'" with the audience in a frenzy, captured the intensity of Marley's live performances. Survival, a defiant and politically charged album, was released in 1979. Tracks such as "Zimbabwe", "Africa Unite", "Wake Up and Live", and "Survival" reflected Marley's support for the struggles of Africans. His appearance at the Amandla Festival in Boston in July 1979 showed his strong opposition to South African apartheid, which he already had shown in his song "War" in 1976. In early 1980, he was invited to perform at the April 17 celebration of Zimbabwe's Independence Day. Uprising (1980) was Bob Marley's final studio album, and is one of his most religious productions, including "Redemption Song" and "Forever Loving Jah". Confrontation, released posthumously in 1983, contained unreleased material recorded during Marley's lifetime, including the hit "Buffalo Soldier" and new mixes of singles previously only available in Jamaica.
Later years
Illness
In July 1977, Marley was found to have acral lentiginous melanoma, a form of malignant melanoma, in a wound reportedly picked up in a friendly football match. After the album Uprising was released in May 1980 the band completed a major tour of Europe, where they played their biggest ever concert, to a hundred thousand people in Milan. After the tour Marley went to America, where he performed two shows at Madison Square Garden as part of the Uprising Tour. Shortly afterwards his health deteriorated and he became very ill, the cancer had spread throughout his body. The rest of the tour was cancelled and Marley sought treatment at the Bavarian clinic of Josef Issels, where he received a controversial type of cancer therapy partly based on avoidance of certain foods, drinks and other substances. After fighting the cancer without success for eight months he boarded a plane for his home in Jamaica.
Death and posthumous reputation
While flying home from Germany to Jamaica, accepting that he was going to die, Marley's vital functions worsened. After landing in Miami, he was taken to hospital for immediate medical attention. He died at Cedars of Lebanon Hospital in Miami on the morning of May 11, 1981, at the age of 36. The spread of melanoma to his lungs and brain caused his death. His final words to his son Ziggy were "Money can't buy life." Marley received a state funeral in Jamaica on May 21, 1981, which combined elements of Ethiopian Orthodoxy and Rastafari tradition. He was buried in a chapel near his birthplace with his red Fender Stratocaster (some accounts say it was a Gibson Les Paul ). A month before his death, he had also been awarded the Jamaican Order of Merit.
In 1994 Marley was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and in 1999 Time magazine chose Bob Marley & The Wailers' Exodus as the greatest album of the 20th century. In 2001, he was posthumously awarded the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, and a feature-length documentary about his life, Rebel Music, won various awards at the Grammys. With contributions from Rita, The Wailers, and Marley's lovers and children, it also tells much of the story in his own words.A statue was inaugurated, next to the national stadium on Arthur Wint Drive in Kingston to commemorate him. In 2006, the State of New York renamed a portion of Church Avenue from Remsen Avenue to East 98th Street in the East Flatbush section of Brooklyn "Bob Marley Boulevard".
Religion
Rastafari movement
Flag of Ethiopia (1897).svg
Main doctrines
Jah · Afrocentrism · Ital · Zion · Cannabis use
Central figures
Queen of Sheba · King Solomon · Haile Selassie · Marcus Garvey · Leonard Howell · God
Key scriptures
Bible · Kebra Nagast · The Promise Key · Holy Piby · My Life and Ethiopia's Progress · Royal Parchment Scroll of Black Supremacy
Branches and festivals
Mansions · United States · Shashamane · Grounation Day
Notable individuals
Bob Marley · Peter Tosh · Walter Rodney · Mutabaruka · Benjamin Zephaniah
See also:
Vocabulary · Persecution · Dreadlocks · Reggae · Ethiopian Christianity · Index of Rastafari articles
This box: view • talk • edit
Bob Marley was a member of the Rastafari movement, whose culture was a key element in the development of reggae. Bob Marley became a leading proponent of the Rastafari, taking their music out of the socially deprived areas of Jamaica and onto the international music scene. According to his biographers, he affiliated with the Twelve Tribes Mansion. He was in the denomination known as "Tribe of Joseph", because he was born in February (each of the twelve sects being composed of members born in a distinct month). As genuine Rastas practice a diet excluding meat, which is known as Ital, Marley was a vegetarian. He signified this in his album liner notes, quoting the portion from Genesis that includes Jacob's blessing to his son Joseph. Marley was baptized by the Archbishop of the Ethiopian Orthodox Christian Church in Kingston, Jamaica, on November 4, 1980.
Wife and children
Bob Marley had a number of children: three with his wife Rita, two adopted from Rita's previous relationships, and several others with different women. The Bob Marley official website acknowledges eleven children.
Those listed on the official site are:
1. Sharon, born November 23, 1964, to Rita in previous relationship
2. Cedella born August 23, 1967, to Rita
3. David "Ziggy", born October 17, 1968, to Rita
4. Stephen, born April 20, 1972, to Rita
5. Robert "Robbie", born May 16, 1972, to Pat Williams
6. Rohan, born May 19, 1972, to Janet Hunt
7. Karen, born 1973 to Janet Bowen
8. Stephanie, born August 17, 1974; according to Cedella Booker she was the daughter of Rita and a man called Ital with whom Rita had an affair; nonetheless she was acknowledged as Bob's daughter
9. Julian, born June 4, 1975, to Lucy Pounder
10. Ky-Mani, born February 26, 1976, to Anita Belnavis
11. Damian, born July 21, 1978, to Cindy Breakspeare
Makeda was born on May 30, 1981, to Yvette Crichton, after Marley's death. lists her as Marley's child, but she is not listed as such on the Bob Marley official website.
Various websites, (for example ) also list Imani Carole, born May 22, 1963 to Cheryl Murray; but she does not appear on the official Bob Marley website.
Discography
Main article: Bob Marley and The Wailers discography
Tours
* Apr–Jul 1973: Catch a Fire Tour (England, USA)
* Oct–Nov 1973: Burnin' Tour (USA, England)
* Jun–Jul 1975: Natty Dread Tour (USA, Canada, England)
* Apr–Jul 1976: Rastaman Vibration Tour (USA, Canada, Germany, Sweden, Netherlands, France, England, Wales)
* May–Jun 1977: Exodus Tour (France, Belgium, Netherlands, Germany, Sweden, Denmark, England)
* May–Aug 1978: Kaya Tour (USA, Canada, England, France, Spain, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Netherlands, Belgium)
* Apr–May 1979: Babylon by Bus Tour (Japan, New Zealand, Australia, Hawaii)
* Oct 1979–Jan 1980: Survival Tour (USA, Canada, Trinidad/Tobago, Bahamas, Gabon)
* May–Sep 1980: Uprising Tour (Switzerland, Germany, France, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Belgium, Netherlands, Italy, Spain, Ireland, England, Scotland, Wales, USA)
Awards and honours
A five pointed pink star inlaid in the sidewalk with Bob Marley written on it.
Marley's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
* 1976: Band of the Year (Rolling Stone)
* June 1978: Awarded the Peace Medal of the Third World from the United Nations
* February 1981: Awarded Jamaica's third highest honor, the Jamaican Order of Merit
* March 1994: Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
* 1999: Album of the Century for Exodus (Time)
* February 2001: A star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
* February 2001: Awarded Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award
* 2004: Rolling Stone ranked him #11 on their list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time
* "One Love" named song of the millennium by BBC
* Voted as one of the greatest lyricists of all time by a BBC poll.
* 2006: A plaque dedicated to him by Nubian Jak community trust and supported by Her Majesty's Foreign Office.
* 2010 "Catch a Fire" inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame (Reggae Album).
Film adaptation(s)
In February 2008, director Martin Scorsese announced his intention to produce a documentary movie on Marley. The film was set to be released on February 6, 2010, on what would have been Marley's 65th birthday. Recently, however, Scorsese dropped out due to scheduling problems. He is being replaced by Jonathan Demme.
In March 2008, The Weinstein Company announced its plans to produce a biopic of Bob Marley, based on the book No Woman No Cry: My Life With Bob Marley by Rita Marley. Rudy Langlais will produce the script by Lizzie Borden and Rita Marley will be executive producer.
http://i735.photobucket.com/albums/ww357/lion_corbus/Bob-Marley.jpg
http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t270/monieboo1/Bob-Marley--.jpg
Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: Frank on 05/11/10 at 10:41 am
I remember Bob Marley died in my last few weeks of High School, in fact a few of the guys had a "pot party" a week or so after he died to celebrate his life. This is a true story.
Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: ninny on 05/11/10 at 12:30 pm
I remember Bob Marley died in my last few weeks of High School, in fact a few of the guys had a "pot party" a week or so after he died to celebrate his life. This is a true story.
How else to remember him, than jammin with a joint ;D
Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: Frank on 05/11/10 at 12:36 pm
How else to remember him, than jammin with a joint ;D
That's pretrty much how those guys at school felt. I think they had a great time. It was a sad year as we had lost John Lennon some 5 months before that.
Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: Howard on 05/11/10 at 2:59 pm
The person who died on this day...Bob Marley
Robert Nesta "Bob" Marley (February 6, 1945 – May 11, 1981) was a Jamaican singer-songwriter and musician. He was the lead singer, songwriter and guitarist for the ska, rocksteady and reggae bands The Wailers (1964–1974) and Bob Marley & The Wailers (1974–1981). Marley remains the most widely known and revered performer of reggae music, and is credited for helping spread both Jamaican music and the Rastafari movement to a worldwide audience.
Marley's best known hits include "I Shot the Sheriff", "No Woman, No Cry", "Could You Be Loved", "Stir It Up", "Jamming", "Redemption Song", "One Love" and, together with The Wailers, "Three Little Birds", as well as the posthumous releases "Buffalo Soldier" and "Iron Lion Zion". The compilation album, Legend (1984), released three years after his death, is reggae's best-selling album, being 10 times Platinum (Diamond) in the U.S., and selling 20 million copies worldwide Bob Marley was born in the small village of Nine Mile in Saint Ann Parish, Jamaica as Nesta Robert Marley. A Jamaican passport official would later swap his first and middle names. His father, Norval Sinclair Marley, was a Jamaican of English descent, whose family came from Essex, England. Norval was a captain in the Royal Marines, as well as a plantation overseer, when he married Cedella Booker, an Afro-Jamaican then 18 years old. Norval provided financial support for his wife and child, but seldom saw them, as he was often away on trips. In 1955, when Marley was 10 years old, his father died of a heart attack at age 60. Marley was teased as a youth because of his mixed racial origins, and faced questions about his own racial identity throughout his life. He once reflected: "I don't have prejudice against meself. My father was a white and my mother was black. Them call me half-caste or whatever. Me don't dip on nobody's side. Me don't dip on the black man's side nor the white man's side. Me dip on God's side, the one who create me and cause me to come from black and white." Although Marley recognized his mixed ancestry, throughout his life and because of his beliefs, he self-identified as a black African. In songs such as "Black Survivor", "Babylon System", and "Blackman Redemption", Marley sings about the struggles of blacks and Africans against oppression from the West or "Babylon".
Marley became friends with Neville "Bunny" Livingston (later known as Bunny Wailer), with whom he started to play music. He left school at the age of 14 to make music with Joe Higgs, a local singer and devout Rastafari. It was at a jam session with Higgs and Livingston that Marley met Peter McIntosh (later known as Peter Tosh), who had similar musical ambitions. In 1962, Marley recorded his first two singles, "Judge Not" and "One Cup of Coffee", with local music producer Leslie Kong. These songs, released on the Beverley's label under the pseudonym of Bobby Martell, attracted little attention. The songs were later re-released on the box set, Songs of Freedom, a posthumous collection of Marley's work.
Musical career
The Wailers
Main article: The Wailers (reggae band)
Search Wikinews Wikinews has related news: Vivien Goldman: An interview with Bob Marley's biographer
In 1963, Bob Marley, Bunny Wailer, Peter Tosh, Junior Braithwaite, Beverley Kelso, and Cherry Smith formed a ska and rocksteady group, calling themselves "The Teenagers". They later changed their name to "The Wailing Rudeboys", then to "The Wailing Wailers", at which point they were discovered by record producer Coxsone Dodd, and finally to "The Wailers". By 1966, Braithwaite, Kelso, and Smith had left The Wailers, leaving the core trio of Bob Marley, Bunny Wailer, and Peter Tosh. In 1966, Marley married Rita Anderson, and moved near his mother's residence in Wilmington, Delaware in the United States for a short time, during which he worked as a DuPont lab assistant and on the assembly line at a Chrysler plant, under the alias Donald Marley.
Upon returning to Jamaica, Marley became a member of the Rastafari movement, and started to wear his trademark dreadlocks (see the religion section for more on Marley's religious views). After a conflict with Dodd, Marley and his band teamed up with Lee "Scratch" Perry and his studio band, The Upsetters. Although the alliance lasted less than a year, they recorded what many consider The Wailers' finest work. Marley and Perry split after a dispute regarding the assignment of recording rights, but they would remain friends and work together again. Between 1968 and 1972, Bob and Rita Marley, Peter Tosh and Bunny Wailer re-cut some old tracks with JAD Records in Kingston and London in an attempt to commercialize The Wailers' sound. Bunny later asserted that these songs "should never be released on an album … they were just demos for record companies to listen to." Also in 1968, Bob and Rita visited the Bronx to see Johnny Nash's songwriter Jimmy Norman. A three day jam session with Norman and others, including Norman's co-writer Al Pyfrom, resulted in a 24-minute tape of Marley performing several of his own and Norman-Pyfrom's compositions which is, according to Reggae archivist Roger Steffens, rare in that it was influenced by pop rather than reggae, as part of the effort to break Marley into American charts. According to an article in The New York Times, Marley experimented on the tape with different sounds, adopting a doo-wop style on "Stay With Me" and "the slow love song style of 1960's artists" on "Splish for My Splash". The Wailers' first album, Catch a Fire, was released worldwide in 1973, and sold well. It was followed a year later by Burnin', which included the songs "Get Up, Stand Up" and "I Shot the Sheriff". Eric Clapton made a hit cover of "I Shot the Sheriff" in 1974, raising Marley's international profile. The Wailers broke up in 1974 with each of the three main members going on to pursue solo careers. The reason for the breakup is shrouded in conjecture; some believe that there were disagreements amongst Bunny, Peter, and Bob concerning performances, while others claim that Bunny and Peter simply preferred solo work.
Bob Marley & The Wailers
A crowd of people standing in water and listening to a band perform on stage.
Bob Marley & The Wailers live at Crystal Palace Park during the Uprising Tour
Main article: Bob Marley & The Wailers
Despite the breakup, Marley continued recording as "Bob Marley & The Wailers". His new backing band included brothers Carlton and Aston "Family Man" Barrett on drums and bass respectively, Junior Marvin and Al Anderson on lead guitar, Tyrone Downie and Earl "Wya" Lindo on keyboards, and Alvin "Seeco" Patterson on percussion. The "I Threes", consisting of Judy Mowatt, Marcia Griffiths, and Marley's wife, Rita, provided backing vocals. In 1975, Marley had his international breakthrough with his first hit outside Jamaica, "No Woman, No Cry", from the Natty Dread album. This was followed by his breakthrough album in the United States, Rastaman Vibration (1976), which spent four weeks on the Billboard Hot 100. In December 1976, two days before "Smile Jamaica", a free concert organized by the Jamaican Prime Minister Michael Manley in an attempt to ease tension between two warring political groups, Marley, his wife, and manager Don Taylor were wounded in an assault by unknown gunmen inside Marley's home. Taylor and Marley's wife sustained serious injuries, but later made full recoveries. Bob Marley received minor wounds in the chest and arm. The shooting was thought to have been politically motivated, as many felt the concert was really a support rally for Manley. Nonetheless, the concert proceeded, and an injured Marley performed as scheduled, two days after the attempt. When asked why, Marley responded, "the people who are trying to make this world worse aren’t taking a day off. How can I?" The members of the group Zap Pow, which had no radical religious or political beliefs, played as Bob Marley's backup band before a festival crowd of 80,000 while members of The Wailers were still missing or in hiding.
Marley left Jamaica at the end of 1976 for England, where he spent two years in self-imposed exile. Whilst there he recorded his Exodus and Kaya albums. Exodus stayed on the British album charts for 56 consecutive weeks. It included four UK hit singles: "Exodus", "Waiting in Vain", "Jamming", and "One Love" (a rendition of Curtis Mayfield's hit, "People Get Ready"). During his time in London, he was arrested and received a conviction for possession of a small quantity of cannabis . In 1978, Marley returned to Jamaica and performed at another political concert, the One Love Peace Concert, again in an effort to calm warring parties. Near the end of the performance, by Marley's request, Michael Manley (leader of then-ruling People's National Party) and his political rival Edward Seaga (leader of the opposing Jamaica Labour Party), joined each other on stage and shook hands.
Under the name Bob Marley and the Wailers eleven albums were released, four live albums and seven studio albums. The releases included Babylon by Bus, a double live album with 13 tracks, was released in 1978 to critical acclaim. This album, and specifically the final track "Jammin'" with the audience in a frenzy, captured the intensity of Marley's live performances. Survival, a defiant and politically charged album, was released in 1979. Tracks such as "Zimbabwe", "Africa Unite", "Wake Up and Live", and "Survival" reflected Marley's support for the struggles of Africans. His appearance at the Amandla Festival in Boston in July 1979 showed his strong opposition to South African apartheid, which he already had shown in his song "War" in 1976. In early 1980, he was invited to perform at the April 17 celebration of Zimbabwe's Independence Day. Uprising (1980) was Bob Marley's final studio album, and is one of his most religious productions, including "Redemption Song" and "Forever Loving Jah". Confrontation, released posthumously in 1983, contained unreleased material recorded during Marley's lifetime, including the hit "Buffalo Soldier" and new mixes of singles previously only available in Jamaica.
Later years
Illness
In July 1977, Marley was found to have acral lentiginous melanoma, a form of malignant melanoma, in a wound reportedly picked up in a friendly football match. After the album Uprising was released in May 1980 the band completed a major tour of Europe, where they played their biggest ever concert, to a hundred thousand people in Milan. After the tour Marley went to America, where he performed two shows at Madison Square Garden as part of the Uprising Tour. Shortly afterwards his health deteriorated and he became very ill, the cancer had spread throughout his body. The rest of the tour was cancelled and Marley sought treatment at the Bavarian clinic of Josef Issels, where he received a controversial type of cancer therapy partly based on avoidance of certain foods, drinks and other substances. After fighting the cancer without success for eight months he boarded a plane for his home in Jamaica.
Death and posthumous reputation
While flying home from Germany to Jamaica, accepting that he was going to die, Marley's vital functions worsened. After landing in Miami, he was taken to hospital for immediate medical attention. He died at Cedars of Lebanon Hospital in Miami on the morning of May 11, 1981, at the age of 36. The spread of melanoma to his lungs and brain caused his death. His final words to his son Ziggy were "Money can't buy life." Marley received a state funeral in Jamaica on May 21, 1981, which combined elements of Ethiopian Orthodoxy and Rastafari tradition. He was buried in a chapel near his birthplace with his red Fender Stratocaster (some accounts say it was a Gibson Les Paul ). A month before his death, he had also been awarded the Jamaican Order of Merit.
In 1994 Marley was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and in 1999 Time magazine chose Bob Marley & The Wailers' Exodus as the greatest album of the 20th century. In 2001, he was posthumously awarded the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, and a feature-length documentary about his life, Rebel Music, won various awards at the Grammys. With contributions from Rita, The Wailers, and Marley's lovers and children, it also tells much of the story in his own words.A statue was inaugurated, next to the national stadium on Arthur Wint Drive in Kingston to commemorate him. In 2006, the State of New York renamed a portion of Church Avenue from Remsen Avenue to East 98th Street in the East Flatbush section of Brooklyn "Bob Marley Boulevard".
Religion
Rastafari movement
Flag of Ethiopia (1897).svg
Main doctrines
Jah · Afrocentrism · Ital · Zion · Cannabis use
Central figures
Queen of Sheba · King Solomon · Haile Selassie · Marcus Garvey · Leonard Howell · God
Key scriptures
Bible · Kebra Nagast · The Promise Key · Holy Piby · My Life and Ethiopia's Progress · Royal Parchment Scroll of Black Supremacy
Branches and festivals
Mansions · United States · Shashamane · Grounation Day
Notable individuals
Bob Marley · Peter Tosh · Walter Rodney · Mutabaruka · Benjamin Zephaniah
See also:
Vocabulary · Persecution · Dreadlocks · Reggae · Ethiopian Christianity · Index of Rastafari articles
This box: view • talk • edit
Bob Marley was a member of the Rastafari movement, whose culture was a key element in the development of reggae. Bob Marley became a leading proponent of the Rastafari, taking their music out of the socially deprived areas of Jamaica and onto the international music scene. According to his biographers, he affiliated with the Twelve Tribes Mansion. He was in the denomination known as "Tribe of Joseph", because he was born in February (each of the twelve sects being composed of members born in a distinct month). As genuine Rastas practice a diet excluding meat, which is known as Ital, Marley was a vegetarian. He signified this in his album liner notes, quoting the portion from Genesis that includes Jacob's blessing to his son Joseph. Marley was baptized by the Archbishop of the Ethiopian Orthodox Christian Church in Kingston, Jamaica, on November 4, 1980.
Wife and children
Bob Marley had a number of children: three with his wife Rita, two adopted from Rita's previous relationships, and several others with different women. The Bob Marley official website acknowledges eleven children.
Those listed on the official site are:
1. Sharon, born November 23, 1964, to Rita in previous relationship
2. Cedella born August 23, 1967, to Rita
3. David "Ziggy", born October 17, 1968, to Rita
4. Stephen, born April 20, 1972, to Rita
5. Robert "Robbie", born May 16, 1972, to Pat Williams
6. Rohan, born May 19, 1972, to Janet Hunt
7. Karen, born 1973 to Janet Bowen
8. Stephanie, born August 17, 1974; according to Cedella Booker she was the daughter of Rita and a man called Ital with whom Rita had an affair; nonetheless she was acknowledged as Bob's daughter
9. Julian, born June 4, 1975, to Lucy Pounder
10. Ky-Mani, born February 26, 1976, to Anita Belnavis
11. Damian, born July 21, 1978, to Cindy Breakspeare
Makeda was born on May 30, 1981, to Yvette Crichton, after Marley's death. lists her as Marley's child, but she is not listed as such on the Bob Marley official website.
Various websites, (for example ) also list Imani Carole, born May 22, 1963 to Cheryl Murray; but she does not appear on the official Bob Marley website.
Discography
Main article: Bob Marley and The Wailers discography
Tours
* Apr–Jul 1973: Catch a Fire Tour (England, USA)
* Oct–Nov 1973: Burnin' Tour (USA, England)
* Jun–Jul 1975: Natty Dread Tour (USA, Canada, England)
* Apr–Jul 1976: Rastaman Vibration Tour (USA, Canada, Germany, Sweden, Netherlands, France, England, Wales)
* May–Jun 1977: Exodus Tour (France, Belgium, Netherlands, Germany, Sweden, Denmark, England)
* May–Aug 1978: Kaya Tour (USA, Canada, England, France, Spain, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Netherlands, Belgium)
* Apr–May 1979: Babylon by Bus Tour (Japan, New Zealand, Australia, Hawaii)
* Oct 1979–Jan 1980: Survival Tour (USA, Canada, Trinidad/Tobago, Bahamas, Gabon)
* May–Sep 1980: Uprising Tour (Switzerland, Germany, France, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Belgium, Netherlands, Italy, Spain, Ireland, England, Scotland, Wales, USA)
Awards and honours
A five pointed pink star inlaid in the sidewalk with Bob Marley written on it.
Marley's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
* 1976: Band of the Year (Rolling Stone)
* June 1978: Awarded the Peace Medal of the Third World from the United Nations
* February 1981: Awarded Jamaica's third highest honor, the Jamaican Order of Merit
* March 1994: Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
* 1999: Album of the Century for Exodus (Time)
* February 2001: A star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
* February 2001: Awarded Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award
* 2004: Rolling Stone ranked him #11 on their list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time
* "One Love" named song of the millennium by BBC
* Voted as one of the greatest lyricists of all time by a BBC poll.
* 2006: A plaque dedicated to him by Nubian Jak community trust and supported by Her Majesty's Foreign Office.
* 2010 "Catch a Fire" inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame (Reggae Album).
Film adaptation(s)
In February 2008, director Martin Scorsese announced his intention to produce a documentary movie on Marley. The film was set to be released on February 6, 2010, on what would have been Marley's 65th birthday. Recently, however, Scorsese dropped out due to scheduling problems. He is being replaced by Jonathan Demme.
In March 2008, The Weinstein Company announced its plans to produce a biopic of Bob Marley, based on the book No Woman No Cry: My Life With Bob Marley by Rita Marley. Rudy Langlais will produce the script by Lizzie Borden and Rita Marley will be executive producer.
http://i735.photobucket.com/albums/ww357/lion_corbus/Bob-Marley.jpg
http://i162.photobucket.com/albums/t270/monieboo1/Bob-Marley--.jpg
WOW OMG almost 30 years ago when he died. :o
Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: Howard on 05/11/10 at 3:00 pm
The word of the day...Parade
A parade (also called march or marchpast) is a procession of people, usually organized along a street, often in costume, and often accompanied by marching bands, floats or sometimes large balloons. Parades are held for a wide range of reasons, but are usually celebrations of some kind. In Britain the term parade is usually reserved for either military parades or other occasions where participants march in formation; for celebratory occasions the word procession is more usual. In the Canadian Forces the term also has several less formal connotations.
Protest demonstrations can also take the form of a parade, but in such cases are usually referred to as a march instead.
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The Memorial Day parade is coming up in just a couple of weeks.
Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: ninny on 05/11/10 at 4:11 pm
The Memorial Day parade is coming up in just a couple of weeks.
Yes it is :)
Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: CatwomanofV on 05/11/10 at 5:00 pm
The parade goes right past our house on Spring Fling (the Saturday before Memorial Day).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZyUl0aYK8Ws
Cat
Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: ninny on 05/12/10 at 5:39 am
The word of the day...Raindrops
Rain is liquid precipitation, as opposed to other kinds of precipitation such as snow, hail and sleet. Rain requires the presence of a thick layer of the atmosphere to have temperatures above the melting point of water near and above the Earth's surface. On Earth, it is the condensation of atmospheric water vapor into drops of water heavy enough to fall, often making it to the surface. Two processes, possibly acting together, can lead to air becoming saturated leading to rainfall: cooling the air or adding water vapour to the air. Virga is precipitation that begins falling to the earth but evaporates before reaching the surface; it is one of the ways air can become saturated. Precipitation forms via collision with other rain drops or ice crystals within a cloud. Rain drops range in size from oblate, pancake-like shapes for larger drops, to small spheres for smaller drops.
http://i839.photobucket.com/albums/zz320/Zadakov/P4201204JPG_effected.jpg
http://i824.photobucket.com/albums/zz163/wildwolf100/Nature/raindrops.jpg
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Subject: Re: ninny's New Person & Word of the Day
Written By: ninny on 05/12/10 at 5:42 am
The person born on this day...Burt Bacharach
Burt F. Bacharach (pronounced /ˈbækəræk/, BAK-ə-rak; born May 12, 1928) is an American pianist, composer and music producer. He is reknown for his popular hit songs and compositions from the early 1960's through the 1980's, with lyrics written by Hal David. Many of their hits were produced specifically for, and performed by, Dionne Warwick. Following on with the initial success of this collaboration, Bacharach went on to produce hits with other greats such as Dusty Springfield and Bobbie Gentry.
As of 2006, Bacharach had written 70 Top 40 hits in the US, and 52 Top 40 hits in the UK.
Burt Bacharach was born in Kansas City, Missouri, the son of Irma (née Freeman) and Bert Bacharach, a syndicated newspaper columnist. He is of German-Jewish descent. Bacharach studied music at McGill University, the Mannes School of Music, and the Music Academy of the West in Montecito, California. His composition teachers included Darius Milhaud, Bohuslav Martinů, and Henry Cowell. After leaving the Army, Bacharach worked as a pianist, sometimes playing solo and sometimes accompanying singers such as Vic Damone, Polly Bergen, Steve Lawrence, the Ames Brothers and Paula Stewart (who became his first wife). For some years he was musical arranger for Marlene Dietrich as well as touring with her.
Early songwriting work
In 1957, Bacharach and lyricist Hal David were introduced while at the Brill Building in New York City, and began their writing partnership. Almost a year later, they received a significant career break when their song "The Story of My Life" was recorded by Marty Robbins for Columbia Records, becoming a No. 1 hit on the U.S. Country charts in late 1957. Soon after, "Magic Moments" was recorded by Perry Como for RCA Records, and became a No. 4 U.S. hit in February of that year. These two songs hit No. 1 in the UK back-to-back ("The Story of My Life" in a version by Michael Holiday), giving Burt and lyricist Hal David the honor of being the first songwriters in UK history to have written consecutive No. 1 hits. In 1959, their song "Make Room for the Joy" was featured in Columbia's film musical "Jukebox Rhythm," sung by Jack Jones.
In the early 1960s, Bacharach wrote well over a hundred songs with David. Bacharach and David were associated throughout the sixties with Dionne Warwick, a conservatory-trained vocalist whom the duo met in 1961. She began working for the duo when they needed a singer to "demo" their songs for other artists. Bacharach and David noticed that Warwick's demos often surpassed the quality of the performances others were recording. They started writing a portion of their work specifically with Warwick in mind, which led to one of the most successful teams in music history.
Over a 20-year period, beginning in the early 1960s, Warwick charted 38 singles co-written or produced by Bacharach, including 22 Top-40, 12 Top-20, and nine Top-10 hits on the American Billboard Hot 100 charts. During the early '60s, Bacharach also collaborated with Bob Hilliard on a number of songs such as "Mexican Divorce" for The Drifters, "Any Day Now" for Chuck Jackson, and "Dreamin' All the Time" and "Pick Up the Pieces" for Jack Jones.
Other singers of his songs in the 60s and 70s included Dusty Springfield ("The Look of Love" from Casino Royale), (a cover of Dionne Warwick's "Wishin' and Hopin"), Cilla Black (a cover of Dionne Warwick's "Anyone Who Had A Heart"), ("Alfie"), The Shirelles, The Beatles ("Baby, It's You"), The Carpenters ("(They Long to Be) Close to You"), Aretha Franklin, Isaac Hayes ("Walk On By" on the Hot Buttered Soul album), B.J. Thomas ("Raindrops Keep Falling on my Head"), Tom Jones ("What's New, Pussycat"), Engelbert Humperdinck ("I'm A Better Man"), The Stranglers, The Drifters, Jack Jones ("Wives and Lovers"), Jackie DeShannon ("What the World Needs Now is Love"), Gene Pitney, Herb Alpert, Jerry Butler and Luther Vandross in the 1980s and 1990s.
Bacharach songs were adapted by jazz artists of the time, such as Stan Getz, Cal Tjader and Wes Montgomery. The Bacharach/David composition, "My Little Red Book", originally recorded by Manfred Mann for the film What's New, Pussycat?, and promptly covered by Love in 1966, has become a rock music standard; however, according to Robin Platts' book "Burt Bacharach and Hal David", the composer did not like this version.
Bacharach composed and arranged the soundtrack of the 1967 film Casino Royale which was "The Look of Love", performed by Dusty Springfield. Bacharach and David also collaborated with Broadway producer David Merrick on the 1968 musical production of Promises, Promises, which yielded hit songs (including the title tune). The year 1969 featured, perhaps, the most successful Bacharach-David collaboration, with the song "Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head", which was written for and prominently featured in the acclaimed film Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.
Style
Bacharach's music is characterized by unusual chord progressions, striking syncopated rhythmic patterns, irregular phrasing, frequent modulation, and odd, changing meters. It tends toward a greater climactic effect than most popular music, especially greater than most popular music of the period with which he is most associated. Bacharach has arranged, conducted, and co-produced much of his recorded output.
An example of his distinctive use of changing meter is found in "Promises, Promises" (from his score for the musical of the same name). His style is sometimes also associated with particular instrumental combinations he is assumed to favor or to have favored, including the prominent use of the flugelhorn in such works as "Walk on By", "Nikki", and "Toledo".
1970's and 1980's
In 1970, Johnny Mathis issued a double-LP album set, "Sings the Music of Bacharach & Kaempfert," for Columbia. It consisted of 21 tracks in a heavyweight gatefold picture sleeve. The Bert Kaempfert tracks were done in the arrangement style of the German composer and orchestra leader, and the Bacharach tracks were in the American's upbeat style.
In 1973, Bacharach and David were commissioned to score the Ross Hunter-produced revival of the 1937 film, Lost Horizon for Columbia Pictures. The result was a critical and commercial disaster, and resulted in a flurry of lawsuits between the composer and the lyricist, as well as from Warwick. She reportedly felt abandoned when Bacharach and David refused to work together. Bacharach tried several solo projects (including the 1977 album Futures), but the projects failed to yield hits.
By the early 1980s, Bacharach's marriage to Angie Dickinson had ended, but a new partnership with lyricist Carole Bayer Sager proved rewarding, both commercially and personally. The two married and collaborated on several major hits during the decade, including "Arthur's Theme (Best That You Can Do)" (Christopher Cross), "Heartlight" (Neil Diamond), "Making Love" (Roberta Flack), "On My Own" (Michael McDonald with Patti Labelle), and perhaps most memorably, "That's What Friends Are For" in 1985, actually the second single which reunited Bacharach and singer Warwick. The profits for the latter song were given to AIDS research. Bacharach's 1980s tunes showed a new sound.
Other artists continued to revive Bacharach's earlier hits, giving them a new audience in the 1980s and 1990s. Examples included Naked Eyes' 1983 pop hit version of "(There's) Always Something There to Remind Me", Ronnie Milsap's 1982 country version of "Any Day Now", and others. Bacharach continued a concert career, appearing at auditoriums throughout the world, often featuring large orchestras as accompaniment. He occasionally joined with Warwick, appearing in sold-out concerts in New York, Las Vegas, and Los Angeles.
1990's and beyond
In 1996, jazz pianist McCoy Tyner recorded an album of nine Bacharach standards that featured Tyner's trio with an orchestra arranged and conducted by John Clayton. In 1998, Bacharach co-wrote and recorded a Grammy-winning album with Elvis Costello, Painted from Memory, on which the compositions began to take on the sound of his earlier work. In 2006, he recorded a jazz album with Trijntje Oosterhuis and the Metropole Orchestra called The Look of Love (Burt Bacharach Songbook) which was released in November that year. Bacharach collaborated with Cathy Dennis in 2002 to write an original song for the Pop Idol winner Will Young. This was "What's In Goodbye", and it appears on Young's debut album From Now On. During July 2002, Young was a guest vocalist at two of Bacharach's concerts, one at the Hammersmith Apollo and the other at Liverpool Pops.
Another star treatment of his compositions was the 2003 album Here I Am featuring Ronald Isley, revisiting a number of his 1960s compositions, and also the Vandross arrangement of A House Is Not a Home.
Bacharach's 2005 solo album At This Time saw a departure from past works in that Bacharach penned his own lyrics, some of which dealt with political themes. Guest stars on some tracks included Elvis Costello and Rufus Wainwright.
He worked with hip-hop producer Dr. Dre on his recent album At This Time and is expected to work on Dr. Dre's Detox album.
On October 24, 2008, Bacharach opened the BBC Electric Proms at The Roundhouse in London, performing with the BBC Concert Orchestra accompanied by guest vocalists Adele, Beth Rowley and Jamie Cullum. The concert was a retrospective look back at his unparalleled six-decade career, including classics such as "Walk On By", "The Look of Love", "I Say a Little Prayer", "What The World Needs Now", "Anyone Who Had A Heart", "24 Hours from Tulsa" and "Make It Easy On Yourself", featuring Jamie Cullum.
In early 2009 Bacharach worked with Italian soul singer Karima Ammar and produced her critically acclaimed debut single Come In Ogni Ora. The song has been heard during the 59th Sanremo Music Festival and also features him playing piano.
Film and Television
Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, Bacharach was featured in a dozen TV musical and variety specials videotaped in the UK for ITC, several were nominated for Emmy awards for direction (by Dwight Hemion). The guests included artists such as Joel Grey, Dusty Springfield, Dionne Warwick, and Barbra Streisand. Bacharach and David did the score for a short-lived ABC-TV series, ABC Stage 67, for a show titled On the Flip Side, starring Rick Nelson as a faded pop star trying for a comeback. While the series' ratings were dismal, the soundtrack showcased Bacharach's abilities to try different kinds of musical styles, ranging from (almost) 1960s rock, to pop, ballads, and Latin-tinged dance numbers.
In 1969, Harry Betts arranged a new "Movie of the Week" theme for the ABC Movie of the Week, a TV series which eventually ran on various nights of the week until 1975. In making the ABC theme sound "contemporary" Betts adapted the instrumental composition "Nikki"(named for Bacharach's daughter)for ABC. The arrangement by Harry Betts is published by MCA Duchess Music Corporation (BMI.)
Also during the 1970s, Bacharach and then-wife Angie Dickinson appeared in several TV commercials for Martini & Rossi beverages, and even penned a short jingle ("Say Yes") for the spots. Bacharach also occasionally appeared on TV/variety shows, such as The Merv Griffin Show, The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, and many others.
In the 1990s and 2000s, Bacharach had cameo roles in Hollywood movies including all three Austin Powers movies. His music is credited as providing inspiration for these movies, partially stemming from Bacharach's score for the 1967 James Bond film Casino Royale. During subsequent Bacharach concert tours, each show would open with a very brief video clip from the movie Austin Powers: International Man Of Mystery, with Mike Myers (as Austin Powers) uttering "Ladies and Gentlemen, Mr. Burt Bacharach."
Bacharach appeared as a celebrity performer and guest vocal coach for contestants on the television show, "American Idol" during the 2006 season, during which an entire episode was dedicated to his music. In late 2006, Bacharach appeared as the celebrity in a Geico auto insurance commercial, where he sings and plays the piano. He translates the customer's story through song ("I was hit...in the rear!")
In 2008, Bacharach featured in the BBC Electric Proms at The Roundhouse with the BBC Concert Orchestra. He performed similar shows in the same year at the Walt Disney Concert Hall and with the Sydney Symphony.
Legacy and influence
* Songwriter Jimmy Webb has acknowledged Bacharach's influence on his work. So did singer-songwriters Laura Nyro and Mark Hollis.
* On Status Quo's album Heavy Traffic, Track number 8 is named "Diggin' Burt Bacharach."
* In interviews, Donald Fagen from Steely Dan has frequently cited Bacharach's combination of "Ravel-like harmony and street corner soul" as an early influence. Bacharach has praised Steely Dan's Aja highly.
* On the cover of Oasis' first album Definitely Maybe, there is a framed picture of Bacharach to the left resting up against the sofa. Later, Oasis guitarist Noel Gallagher performed a duet of "This Guy's In Love With You" live with Bacharach. Gallagher admits to having stolen elements of that same song when composing the Oasis track "Half the World Away".
* Alternative-avant garde guitarist and composer Leonid Soybelman released an album named Much Ado About Burt Bacharach's Walk On By.
* The British duo Swing Out Sister cites Bacharach as a major influence as well.
* Composer, singer, and songwriter Mary Edwards used Bacharach-influenced motifs on her debut album "A Smile in the Mind".
* The British band Saint Etienne were influenced heavily by Bacharach's piano motifs.
* Beach Boys lead man Brian Wilson has cited Bacharach as a heavy influence on his songwriting.
* Welsh rock/electronic/psychedelic band Super Furry Animals were influenced by Bacharach's distinctive sound.
Personal Life
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Bacharach has been married four times. His first marriage was to Paula Stewart, which lasted five years (1953–58). His second marriage was to actress Angie Dickinson, which lasted fifteen years (1965–80). Bacharach and Dickinson had a daughter, Nikki, who is now deceased (see Angie_Dickinson#Personal_life). His third marriage was to lyricist Carole Bayer Sager, which lasted nine years (1982–91). Bacharach and Bayer Sager collaborated on a number of musical pieces, and had a son, Cristopher. Bacharach married his current wife, Jane Hansen, in 1993; they have two children.
Film appearances
* Analyze This
* Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery
* Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me
* Austin Powers in Goldmember
* Bruce Almighty
Discography
Albums
* Hitmaker! Burt Bacharach Plays His Hits (1965)
* What's New Pussycat (Film Soundtrack) (1965)
* After the Fox (Film Soundtrack) (1966)
* Reach Out (1967)
* Casino Royale (Film Soundtrack) (1967)
* On The Flip Side (Television soundtrack) (1967)
* Make it Easy on Yourself (1969)
* Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (Film Soundtrack) (1969)
* Promises, Promises (Original Broadway Cast Recording) (1969)
* Burt Bacharach (1971)
* Lost Horizon (Film soundtrack) (1973)
* Burt Bacharach in Concert (1974)
* Living Together (1974)
* Futures (1977)
* Woman (1979)
* Arthur (Film soundtrack) (1981)
* Night Shift (Film soundtrack) (1982)
* Arthur 2: On The Rocks (Film soundtrack) (1988)
* One Amazing Night (1998)
* Painted From Memory with Elvis Costello (1998)
* The Look Of Love: The Burt Bacharach Collection (2001)
* Motown Salutes Bacharach (2002)
* Isley Meets Bacharach: Here I Am with Ronald Isley (2003)*
* Blue Note Plays Burt Bacharach (2004)
* At This Time (2005)
* Colour Collection (2007)
* Marlene Dietrich with the Burt Bacharach Orchestra (2007)
* Burt Bacharach: Live at the Sydney Opera House with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra (Live) (2008)
Singles
* "The Story of My Life" Marty Robbins, US No. 15, C&W No. 1, 1957 - his first hit. Michael Holiday UK No. 1, Gary Miller UK No. 14, Dave King UK No. 20, Alma Cogan UK No. 25
* "Magic Moments" (Perry Como, US No. 4 / UK No. 1, 1957/1958 – his first big pop hit)
* "The Blob" (The Five Blobs, US No. 33 1958 with Mack David—brother of Hal David—from the movie The Blob)
* "Heavenly" (Johnny Mathis 1959)
* "Faithfully" (Johnny Mathis 1959)
* "With Open Arms" Jane Morgan US No. 39 1959
* "Tower of Strength" Gloria Lynne 1961, Gene McDaniels US No. 5 1961, Frankie Vaughan UK No. 1 1961
* "Another Tear Falls" Gene McDaniels, 1961, Walker Brothers UK No. 12 1966.
* "Baby It's You" (The Shirelles, US No. 8 1962, then The Beatles, 1963, then Smith, 1969 US No. 8)
* "Please Stay" (The Drifters, US No. 14 1961; The Cryin' Shames, UK No. 26 1966; Marc Almond, 2001)
* "Any Day Now" (Chuck Jackson, US No. 23 1962, Elvis Presley, 1969, then Ronnie Milsap, US No. 14 1982)
* "(The Man Who Shot) Liberty Valance" (Gene Pitney, US No. 4 1962)
* "Only Love Can Break a Heart" (Gene Pitney, US No. 2 1962)
* "Don't Make Me Over" (Dionne Warwick, US No. 21 1962) (The Swinging Blue Jeans, UK No. 31 1966) (Petula Clark in 1976), (Sybil, 1989)
* "Make It Easy On Yourself" (Dionne Warwick, demo 1962, then Jerry Butler), US No. 20 1962, then The Walker Brothers, US No. 16, UK No. 1 1965); then Dionne Warwick live from Garden State Arts Center, USNo. 37 1970)
* "Don't You Believe It" Andy Williams US No. 39 1962
* "Twenty Four Hours From Tulsa" (Gene Pitney, US No. 17, UK No. 5 1963)
* "Be True To Yourself" Bobby Vee US No. 34 1963
* "Blue on Blue" (Bobby Vinton, US No. 3 1963)
* "Anyone Who Had a Heart" (Dionne Warwick, US No. 8, UK No. 42, 1963; then Cilla Black, UK No. 1 1964; Dusty Springfield, 1964; Tim Curry, 1978; Luther Vandross, 1986; Linda Ronstadt, 1991; Maureen McGovern, 1992; Olivia Newton-John, 2004; Shelby Lynne, 2007)
* "(They Long to Be) Close to You" (Richard Chamberlain, 1963, then Dionne Warwick, 1964, Dusty Springfield, 1964, Johnny Mathis and The Carpenters US No. 1, UK No. 6 1970). In 1969 Grammy nominee Record of the Year.
* "True Love Never Runs Smooth" Don and Juan, 1963, Gene Pitney US No. 21 1963.
* "Wives and Lovers" (Jack Jones, US No. 14 1963). Grammy nominee Record of the Year and Song of the Year
* "Wishin' and Hopin'" (Dionne Warwick, 1963, then Dusty Springfield US No. 6 1964, Merseybeats UK No. 13 1964, Ani DiFranco (on the My Best Friend's Wedding soundtrack), 1997, Stephanie McIntosh, 2006)
* "Walk On By" Dionne Warwick, US No. 6, UK No. 8 1964, then Isaac Hayes, US No. 30 1969 and The Stranglers in 1978) 1983 Jo Jo Zep, 1989 Sybil, 2006 Seal
* "Reach Out for Me" Lou Johnson, 1964, then Dionne Warwick, US No. 20, Canada No. 12, UK No. 23 1964
* "I Just Don't Know What to Do with Myself" Tommy Hunt, 1962 Dusty Springfield, UK No. 3 1964, Dionne Warwick, US No. 26 1966, then The White Stripes, 2003)
* "(There's) Always Something There to Remind Me" (Lou Johnson, 1964 then Sandie Shaw, UK No. 1, 1964, Dionne Warwick, 1967,then Naked Eyes, 1982)
* "A House Is Not a Home" (Brook Benton, 1964; Dionne Warwick, 1964; Barbra Streisand, 1971; Luther Vandross, 1981)
* "A Message to Martha" Lou Johnson, UK No. 36 1964, Adam Faith, UK No. 12, 1964, Recorded as "Message to Michael" Dionne Warwick, US No. 8 1966, Lena Horne & Gabor Szabo in 1970
* "You'll Never Get to Heaven" 1964 Dionne Warwick US No. 32, UK No. 12, Canada No. 23, then Stylistics, US No. 23, 1973 UK No. 24 (EP) 1976)
* "What the World Needs Now Is Love" 1965 Jackie DeShannon US No. 7, then Dionne Warwick 1967, then Daniel Johnston, 1988; Dionne Warwick and the Hip-Hop Nation United, 1998
* "Long After Tonight Is All Over" Jimmy Radcliffe UK No. 40 1965
* "What's New Pussycat?" (Tom Jones, US No. 3, UK No. 11 1965, from the film What's New, Pussycat?)
Nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Song, 1965.
* "Here I Am" (Dionne Warwick, 1965, from the film What's New, Pussycat?, US No. 65 AC No. 11, Canada No. 19)
* "Trains and Boats and Planes" Burt Bacharach, UK No. 4 1965, Billy J. Kramer & the Dakotas, UK No. 12 1965, Dionne Warwick, US No. 22 1966.
* "My Little Red Book" (Manfred Mann, June 1965) (Love, 1966) (Tony Middleton, 1965)
* "Are You There (With Another Girl)?" Dionne Warwick US No. 39 1966
* "Alfie" (Cilla Black, 1966 UK No. 8, US No. 95, then Cher, US No. 32 1966, then Dionne Warwick, US No. 15, No. 5 R&B 1967, originally from the movie of the same name). Nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Song, 1966. Won Bacharach a Grammy for instrumental arrangement in 1967. Everything But The Girl 1986.
* "The Windows of the World" (Dionne Warwick, US No. 32 1967)
* "I Say a Little Prayer" (Dionne Warwick, US No. 4 1967, then Aretha Franklin US No. 10, UK No. 4 1968, then Diana King, 1997)
* "The Look of Love" (Dusty Springfield, US No. 22 1967, from the soundtrack of the movie Casino Royale, then Sérgio Mendes & Brasil '66, US No. 4 1968, Roger Williams, 1969, Gladys Knight & the Pips, UK No. 21 1973). Nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Song in 1967.
* "Casino Royale" Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass US No. 27, UK No. 27 1967.
* "One Less Bell to Answer" (Keely Smith, 1967, then The 5th Dimension, 1970 US No. 2, then (Dionne Warwick), 1971)
* "This Guy's in Love with You" (Herb Alpert, US No. 1, (4 weeks), UK No. 3 1968; Dionne Warwick), US No. 7 1969
This song was also recorded much later by Oasis' Noel Gallagher in tribute to Bacharach on his 70th Birthday. According to Robin Platts' book What The World Needs Now the song was not written with Alpert, a non-singer with limited range, in mind, but was altered to suit him. Originally written as "This Girl's In Love With You" and recorded with that title by Dionne Warwick.
* "Do You Know the Way to San Jose?" (Dionne Warwick, 1968 US No. 10, UK No. 8)
* "Promises, Promises" (Dionne Warwick, 1968 US No. 19, and Jill O'Hara, 1968). Warwick's version was released prior to the opening of the show and the release of the Broadway cast album. Bacharach recorded Dionne's version to help the cast learn the difficult tune. The B" side of Warwick's single was another Bacharach/David tune from the show "Whoever You Are (I Love You)". The Broadway soundtrack won Bacharach a Grammy in 1969.
* "The April Fools" (Dionne Warwick, US No. 37 1969, from the film The April Fools, US No. 37, AC No. 8, Canada No. 32)
* "I'm a Better Man (For Having Loved You)" Engelbert Humperdinck US No. 38, UK No. 15, 1969.
* "Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head" (B.J. Thomas, US No. 1, 1969, UK No. 38 1970 Johnny Mathis 1969 in Great Britain, Sacha Distel, UK No. 10 1970, Bobbie Gentry UK No. 40, 1970. from the movie Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid). Won the Academy Award for Best Original Song in 1969. The movie score by Bacharach won the Academy Awards and Grammy for Original Score. Grammy nominee for Song of the Year
* "I'll Never Fall in Love Again" Bobbie Gentry (UK No. 1, 1969), Dionne Warwick US No. 6 1970, Anne Murray in 1971, originally from the musical Promises, Promises). Grammy nominee Song of the Year
* "Everybody's Out Of Town" B.J. Thomas US No. 26 1970
* "Let Me Go To Him" (Dionne Warwick, 1970, US No. 32 AC No. 5, Canada No. 30)
* "Paper Mache" (Dionne Warwick, 1970, US No. 43, AC No. 6)
* "The Green Grass Starts to Grow" (Dionne Warwick, 1971, US No. 43, AC No. 2, Canada No. 35)
* "Who Gets the Guy" (Dionne Warwick, 1971, US No. 57 R & B 41, AC No. 6)
* "Arthur's Theme (Best That You Can Do)" (Christopher Cross, 1981, from the movie Arthur). Won the Academy Award for Best Original Song in 1981. Grammy nominee for Record of the Year and Song of the Year.
* "That's What Friends Are For" (1982)
This song was originally written for the movie Night Shift and performed on the soundtrack by Rod Stewart. In 1986, a version by Dionne Warwick, Stevie Wonder, Gladys Knight, and Elton John became an enormous hit, raising millions for AIDS charities. The song also won the Grammy for Song of the Year. Grammy nominee for Record of the Year
* "On My Own" (Patti LaBelle and Michael McDonald, US no. 1, 1986)
* "Love Power" (Dionne Warwick and Jeffrey Osborne, US no. 12, AC No. 1, 1987)
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